Did I Mention I’m In Japan?

I am pretty sure I did.  If not: well, I am.  I left early Saturday morning with Sarah and spent a solid 24+ hours blearily stumbling from cars to planes to subways, finally arriving in Kyoto the following Sunday.  I realize some of you may have come to expect only video game news from Kotowari, so I warn you this post will have minimal gaming news — rather it will most likely be filled with nothing but stream-of-consciousness food, travel, and culture regurgitations.  You’ve been warned!

Right, so now that all the gaming nuts are gone we can get down to business.

As I said, we arrived in Kyoto which is a prefecture in the Kansai area.  It was once the capitol of Japan, so it prides itself on its deep art and culture.  In fact, when I studied abroad at Kansai Gaidai in Osaka (also a part of Kansai), a speaker at our graduation ceremony mentioned that he once saw a handmade broom on sale in Kyoto which was over 500 years old.  It was going for something like 2,000,000 yen, or $20,000 USD.  Yep. For a broom.  That sums up Kyoto well: lots of history here — and lots of strange artisanal skills bordering on art.

Since arriving in Japan, I had two goals in mind.  One goal is, of course, Tokyo Game Show, but that’s a topic for another day.  The other is food.  Food, food, food.  There are some foods that, despite your greatest efforts, can only be had in said food’s country of origin.  It has been my goal to find those foods and leave only an empty space where they once were.  The first day was kind of a wash due to residual jetlag, so I settled for konbini (convenience store) fare.  It was cheap and filling, and that was all I could ask for with a desire for sleep eclipsing my culinary desires.

The following day we were well-rested and ready to go.  There is a place close to Kyoto which is called Arashiyama (嵐山).  The kanji characters in the name are “storm” (嵐) and “mountain” (山) (isn’t that cool?)  The area is woodsy in comparison to most of Kyoto, but that isn’t really saying much since Japan in general is quite urbanized — aside from the sweeping mountains in the distance that are impossible to properly cultivate for buildings.  Now, just because you can’t build an office building on a mountain, that doesn’t mean that land is useless.

Arashiyama, for example, has a small mountain which has been used to create something of a natural zoo.  At the top is a troop of macaque monkeys 170+ strong.  A small hut is also at the top where hikers can purchase cold drinks and snacks to feed to the monkeys.  Due to the free food, the troop revolves around the hut and sees no reason to scatter back into the wilderness, creating as I said earlier: a natural zoo… or monkey park.

There are, however, a few rules:

Easy enough, right? Here are some monkey pics, ’cause I know you’ve been waiting for them:

Oh, and there were babies too:

Here I am feeding a monkey:

We also saw a wild boar piglet:

It was nice to spend some time immersed in nature after being cooped up in a metal cylinder at 36,000 feet.

On the train home we stopped in Sanjo, Kyoto to try and find a place to eat.  This is a harder decision than one might think.  Are there there other people eating there?  What time are they open until?  Is it just another chain? I am only here for two weeks — that’s about fourteen dinners, so I gotta make ‘em count!

We settled on a bustling ramen restaurant called Ramen Kairikiya.  The storefront was plastered with magazine clippings covering the restaurant’s infamous ramen, and the prices were modest so we waited in line.  Finally we were seated and placed our order.  Mine arrived, and I knew I had made the right decision:

I even tried a new technique I’ve been perfecting in which I dual wield chopsticks and a spoon; maintaining a steady supply of both noodles and broth in my mouth at all times.  It was… amazing.  I wanted to cry.  I wanted to cry for everyone who wasn’t able to eat it.

After passing out from pleasure, I woke up the following day at Universal Studios Japan in Osaka:

The park was gearing up for Halloween, but we were regrettably too early for zombie night.  Darn!  I was, however, in time for the small section of the park attracting a number of gamers, all sharing one common interest: Monster Hunter:

If you want to see and hear more on “Monster Hunter The Real”, be sure to stay tuned to My Fair Hunter!

My day at Universal was otherwise spent experiencing a number of rides (Jaws, Jurassic Park, Back to the Future) — all of which don’t allow you to take pictures, smoke cigarettes, or eat food while riding.  GOD, being in another country can be so testing at times!  The whole park also had some godawful soundtrack piped into every possible location where there were also human ears — even the bathrooms.  Between that and the oppressive heat the park was a bit exhausting at first.  Once the sun went down, a parade rolled through and it was time to go.

On the way back to the hotel we stopped in Osaka proper to dine on okonomiyaki, one of the city’s trademark dishes.  It consists of roughly chopped cabbage and a batter similar to that used to make pancakes.  You also add in various veggies and proteins of your liking.  They are cooked on a huge griddle and prepared to order right in front of you:

Mine contained green onion and crumbled potato.  You also apply generous amounts of sauce, mayo, and fish flakes:

It was warm, gooey, and crunchy!

The following day was spent with a family we met from studying abroad a few years back. We spent the day at their home in Osaka chatting and eating.  They had a fourth addition to the family who we met for the first time.  His name is Shinsei (新生), which has the kanji for “new” (新), and “life” (生) — isn’t that cool?  Shinsei has a bit of a gluten allergy which isn’t bad in a country which loves veggies as much as Japan, but hopefully he will outgrow it.  He also loves trains. A lot.

We played a cooking game, but I am not sure what it was. All I know is that it was much quieter than toys in America.

The family was very welcoming (as always) and provided an at-home feeling which is hard to find when abroad.

That brings us to this morning.  Since our plan was to spend a week in Kyoto and a week in Tokyo, we had to check out of our hotel.  After doing so I was determined to find a restaurant I had read about on a food blog called Honke Owariya in Kyoto.  Like that broom I mentioned earlier, this place is a part of history — founded in 1465.  Just for some perspective, that would make it older than America, the automobile, penicillin and a bunch of other things that may or may not matter to you.  It is authentic Kyoto cuisine, perfected over genrations.  Their specialty is soba, a type of noodle served either hot or cold.

Their menu is much more expansive, but I decided to go with their specialty: the soba proceeded by a series of regional appetizers:

The soba itself was served in a tower of trays along with sauce and various toppings (egg, tempura shrimp, seaweed, grated daikon, etc.) which you can combine to your liking.

Here is a glamour shot of those historic noodles:

Sarah ordered imo kakesoba, which consisted of grated mountain yam, soba noodles, and a raw egg:

After the soba I had a traditional tea made from the water the noodles were boiled in.  It didn’t taste like much, but this tea is said to lower blood pressure, so I gave it a try.  All in all, 500 years of history didn’t disappoint.  Finally we picked up our bags from the hotel and boarded the shinkansen (bullet train) bound for Tokyo.  It was a 2 hour ride quietly surrounded by businessmen, but exciting nonetheless.  Being able to see the Japanese countryside blend into urban sprawl at speeds in excess of 100 mph was truly amazing.

And tomorrow it’s back to business as usual: I will be headed to Tokyo Game Show to get my hands on some of the newest games and hardware.  Expect a full report not unlike my coverage of what I’ve been up to and what I have eaten while in Japan.