(Fukuoka Days) Out of Place...: A Fukuokan's Notes from Sapporo

Tokyo Freebie ― 2018/02/08

At a bakery, we were given two pieces of this cute plate, which my husband loves very much. He says that it is just right size to serve his treats (every two hours). The best thing of this plate, i guess, is that he doesn't have to worry about breaking it as it is free from the first place.

And i was given this (seemingly) wooden bowl when I bought a pair of wooden plates (1080 yen each) at the tableware festival. I wonder whether I can use it to serve anything to get into my mouth, though...

Taste of Tokyo ― 2018/02/07

My husband took me to a Unagi restaurant in a Shitamachi district to let me taste a "genuine" taste of Tokyo.

The resrtaurant was old, but clean and extremely well-mainttained. I loved it there. And the unagi itself and the rice was perfectly cooked. The only but fatal shortcoming was the "tare" on the eel. Frankly, I couldn't call it tare, which should taste much milder and sweeter than this condensed soy sauce.

Because of the salty sauce, the unagi became a different food-- it was just a well-cooked baked fish which looks like unagi.

Tableware Festival ― 2018/02/06

we still believe there is something like this in the western world...

I guess there are no people like Japanese people so enthusiastic about tableware. It is not uncommon for us to go on holidays to get new cups or plates which are not a part of a particular dinning set. Especially in obachans’ world, your choice of tableware talks about yourself; whether it is expensive or 100-yen, your personality, lifestyle and education will be revealed through the colour, pattern, and shape of the tableware of your choice and how you match them up.

Being an advanced obachan, I couldn’t miss out this event, which is basically a combination of a variety of exhibitions of luxury tableware and everyday tableware market, antique fair and promotions of newly launched food products.

It seemed almost every obachan from the metropolitan area gathered in Tokyo Dome.

The venue is usually used for baseball matches and big concerts. But on this special occasion, it was totally occupied by obachans. At first, I was just overwhelmed by their enthusiasm to get pieces which look sophisticated, in-vogue, Instagram-friendly and are within a reasonable price range —as impossible as to walk 100,000 step a day, don’t you think so? However difficult, we go for it.

Apart from our endless acquisitiveness, some not-for-sale displays were really impressive, especially well-made (which means far beyond my reach and style) hand-painted ones were just like art pieces, on which I feasted my eyes.

I don’t know what kind of people would use these in their everyday lives. Rich Taiwanese people, perhaps?

Some sections were featuring European style, or rather, how we conceive “West”. It might be difficult to use this plate…what kind of food can go well with this fox?

The benches where baseball players usually sit were used as lost-and-found office.

Finally, feeling a bit intoxicated with petty greed and vanity exhaled from my fellow visitors, I managed to get these pieces after wondering around the ground a couple of times.

ramekins, 800 yen each

square wooden plates for toasts, 1000 yen each

I couldn't escape from my own pragmatism...

As a half-day outing, the event was not bad and quite enjoyable (I know I am trying to justify my splashing out on the entrance fee), but I doubt it was worth spending my remaining lifetime (I have already passed the halfway mark of Japanese women’s average life expectancy, you know) and my limited time to stay in Tokyo.

Shinkansen Journey, Winter 2018 ― 2018/02/05

This time, my shinkansen journey was more like attraction, rather than a means of transportation.

Because of a cold weather, the view from the window changed all the way to Tokyo. I never got bored on board for the full 5.5 hours.

At Shin-Osaka, it was a usual winter day.

Then, snow began to appear on the ground after passing Kyoto.

Then, the snow gradually became deeper and deeper.

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At the end, it didn't look like Japan. At this point, I didn't know the deep snow was affecting this area.

As we got closer to Nagoya, however, the sky became clearer and the snow was disappearingl.

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Then, the awe-inspiring Mt. Fuji appeared!

I enjoyed all these specutaclars while having a cup of hard-frozen ice cream, which is a shinkansen speciality.

It was so great and privileged that I felt it a kind of sinful.

Kyoto Magic ― 2018/01/11

(Sourced from: https://www.daimaru.co.jp/fukuoka/)

Why do we tend to loosen our purse strings when we hear the word "Kyoto"?

Today, I had a 500-yen coffee at a touring Kyoto market at a department store, just drunk with the Kyoto accent spoken in the venue.

A Day in Tokyo ― 2017/07/01

A no-shopping, no-fancy food day (a very unlikely way for me to spend a day in Tokyo).

1. Visit a fork museum

2. Then peep into a former daimyo’s house and get dumfounded at the disparity in the old days (although we are now living in a horrible world, it is a different story)

3. Go to a literature museum

Drop in at a café in the museum to enjoy a coffee (named Ogai, after a Meiji-era novelist) and a sense of intelligence.

Take a train to go to next place (and get lost at Shibuya)

4. Enjoy some sandwiches with a view

Drop in at possibly one of the biggest bookstores in Japan

5. Explore an old school building and have a tea there.

Duration: Around 6 hours (including the time for loitering around getting lost)

Expenditure:

· entrance fees (1,800 yen in total),

· coffee (700yen),

· a light meal(980yen)

· and transportation (which is actually the biggest spending of the day. It could feed us for 3 days at least.)

Souvenir of the Day:

Raisin bun. 140JPY (torn in half in picture)

The black bits are neither insects nor aliens (‘ eggs). The raisin are concentrated in the centre of the bun, not scattered in the dough. It feels heavy. Actually, so heavy that even my sweet-toothed husband could not eat it up at once.

Haneda, March 2017 ― 2017/03/22

I have been to Haneda Airport for the first time since it opened the International Terminal.
The terminal was full of "FujiyamaGeisha" atmosphere, which was apparently created for Gaijin-sans.

Beautiful works, if not overdoing.

However, the problem is, all of these "exotic Japan" things are at before-security area where most of tourists just pass through, and the after-security is a usual international airport featuring tax-free shops and ripping-off cafes.