Izakaya

    An izakaya is a Japanese bar, and one of my favorite places to eat. Not that I like all izakayas, for they are as varied as bars and pubs are anywhere else. Some izakayas cater to younger people, some to office workers, and others to a more diverse clientele. Some have really great food while others have food that you would only want to put inside your body after an adequate number of drinks. I obviously like the ones that serve great food. 

    In Japan, it's typical for restaurants to specialize. Just as you would go to a ramen shop for only ramen, you would do the same for soba (buckwheat noodles) or yakitori (grilled chicken). The same for grilled eel, sushi, pork cutlets, udon, tempura, etc. These restaurants will all do one thing but do them well. You won't see many Japanese places with eclectic menus. The izakaya is unique in this aspect and usually serves many different types of dishes in small portions. Their varied menu gives them more creative latitude too, so it's fun to discover Japanese flavors presented in novel and modern ways. This is one of the main reasons I like izakayas. 

    The downside of izakayas is that they can be really smoky inside. They are not places you would want to go with little kids. Anyways, they are places where you would want to sit, talk, and eat slowly - things that are difficult to do with toddlers. Because of this, and because izakayas are part of the nightlife establishment, we haven't been to even one since moving to Japan. So it was really very exciting when we handed the kids over to the grandparents on Saturday and headed to our neighborhood izakaya, Kogane. 

    Kogane is a small izakaya that uses variety meats in its menu, which includes many other things such as seafood, vegetables, and noodles. They have a good selection of sake, which pairs nicely with the food. Kogane is also a non-smoking establishment, which is great even if you don't have kids. There are several options for seating: floor, bar, or table. We chose the bar. 

    The food is some of the most delicious and interesting I've ever had. Even the ordinary items like onigiri and truffle fries are really well made. One particularly memorable dish was thinly sliced tripe and vegetables, chilled, mixed with pesto, topped with walnuts and served as a salad. No photo of that one, unfortunately, but here are other things we ate: 

Onigiri with ume (pickled plum).

Bonito sashimi in the front and braised beef tendon and daikon soup in the back. 

Truffle fries.

Japanese horse mackerel, fried and served with Japanese tartar sauce.

Grilled duck with negi. 

    As for drink, I had an organic lemon sour and a shared flask of sake. We chose a sake based on their recommendation. I know nothing about sake and rarely drink it, so there is not much basis for comparison. The only thing I can say about it is that it was light and sweet and paired beautifully with the food. 

    Given that I had an organic lemon sour, you can likely guess that this particular izakaya belongs to a newer breed of izakayas. Kogane's food and atmosphere reflects modern sentiments for fine-casual dining while retaining the essence of izakaya culture. Like Tokyo itself, it is a flattering mix of the new and old. 

    Izakaya food is rarely pretentious. It's first and foremost about flavor and enjoyment (and in some cases, simply putting something in your stomach to absorb the alcohol). In the case of this izakaya, I love that it could transform a humble ingredient like tripe into a great dish that most people would enjoy. Here's to a nice night out and many more to come. 

A Weekend in Tokyo

    Between extracurricular activities, birthday parties, and day drips, it's rare for us to spend the weekend in the city with no agenda. But that is how we spent last Saturday. There is someone else in Tokyo as well: Joe Biden, my mother-in-law tells me. One clue was the incessant sound of helicopters overhead. American heads of state and diplomats always exact the biggest fanfare. Since we mostly stay in our neighborhood and get around by bicycle, the visit didn't really affect us. 

    Saturday started out cool and cloudy - perfect weather for a cup of coffee and some reading. Although I received a kindle for my birthday last year, it took me a long time to warm up to it. I used to read a lot (also a symptom of living down the street from a public library), mostly during my commute to work and during lunch. Once I no longer had that, I found it difficult to sit still and read. Something about moving and settling into a new environment threw my head into disarray. Daily tasks required more energy than usual, and I guess there was just no mental space for anything other than surviving gracefully day to day. 

    A few months ago, at the one year mark of our arrival in Japan, I suddenly started reading with my kindle. I just felt like it one day. And I realized that I could access any English book I wanted this way (it's obvious, I know). I've been reading a lot of Murakami recently. I am now reading his book Underground, which is a collection of interviews and reflection about the 1995 sarin attacks in Tokyo. For a terrorist attack of that magnitude, there isn't as much literature as you would expect. The book is thought-provoking and introspective. It asks how the event, and even more so the public's reaction to it, reflected Japanese society and its psyche at the time, and perhaps even now. 

    Anyways, I was able to read a good hour before my kids woke up. This is a true luxury. Since the kids must get up and get ready early on weekdays, their accumulated sleep deprivation allows them to sleep as late as 8:30 am on Saturday mornings. M slept until 9 am, a real win win situation. Naturally, we had a slow morning. By the time everyone at breakfast and got ready, it was 10:30 am. Despite a light drizzle, we headed to our local park, which was pleasantly empty. 

Our playground outing was short lived, as the rain started coming down hard after fifteen minutes. Our bicycles are rain proof, but it is never fun cycling in the rain, so we waited for the rain to die down before heading home. 

Since we moved so slowly through the morning, it was already past eleven when we returned home. Time to prepare lunch. We usually get ramen at our favorite neighborhood shop but stayed home for homemade ramen (i.e., packaged ramen from the supermarket). I had bought quail eggs on a whim a few days prior. Quail eggs are common in Japan. Ten quail eggs cost the equivalent of $1.50, so I wouldn't call them a delicacy here. Nonetheless, it is not something we usually eat, so it was interesting to try. They taste similar to chicken eggs. The kids loved eating them because they are small and therefore "cute".

They look different from chicken eggs, but they don't taste all that different. 

E no longer naps regularly, but she occasionally will on the weekends. So after lunch came nap time for the kids and coffee time and Japanese studying for me. On the one hand, I'm happy to have the free time while the kids nap. On the other hand, napping takes a big chunk out of the day and makes it trickier to make plans. 

Post-nap playtime. M wearing her sister's lunch bag. This went on for half an hour. Visual proof that anything can be a toy or a prop. 

    By the time the two wake up close to 4pm, it's almost time to go to Grandma's house. My mother-in-law was in Karuizawa for the last few weeks, so E had requested dinner with them. Usually my husband's grandmother cooks, but she too had just returned from a trip, so takeaway it was. 

    Japan makes it easy. Most large department stores have a food hall in the basement with a grocery store, gift foods, and different restaurant counters. You are spoiled for choice. The grandparents delivered with this beautiful sushi assortment in addition to a few side dishes. I don't know what it is about salmon eggs, ikura in Japanese, but kids love them. It's a little scary because they are on the pricey side as far as sushi selections go, and they throw them back like pizza rolls. While both love ikura, E doesn't like sushi as much as M, who really loves it, particularly the tuna rolls. She even surprised us by pointing to the roll and calling it "maguro." Who knew that she knew the specific names of fish? We don't even eat sushi often.

    Anyways, it was a really delicious end to our Saturday. I leave you to feast your eyes on these beautiful boxes of sushi:

Showa Kinen Park in the Spring

    One of the nicest things about Tokyo is the many parks around the city. Not that it helps reduce crowding; there is never enough of a good thing to go around at once in this metropolis. So while we love exploring new parks, the question holding us back is: will it be too crowded? Alas, we can't afford to think too much about it, or we would be sitting at home most of the time. 

    Last weekend we visited Showa Kinen Park for the second time. The first time was last summer, at the peak of summer. It was sunny and scorching hot then. We drank water constantly and ate shaved ice just to stay cool. Despite the heat, it was still fun. Since the spring weather has been nice lately, a return to Showa Kinen had been on my mind. So when I saw a cool and cloudy projection for Saturday, we decided to visit again. 

    Last time, we went by metro, which took an hour with one transfer. This time, we drove, which took about the same time. The kids prefer the metro, which is more fun and engaging. We also avoid sitting in traffic this way, so it will probably be our transportation of choice in the future. 

    The Tulip Garden was the main attraction last month. Sadly, all the tulips had faded and the main flower attraction were these little blue things (I've no idea what they are called).  

The kids, as soon as they saw the pedal boats, wanted to ride on them. Last year, M was too little. This year, she got to go along the ride as well. The rental is for half an hour, and though the kids are on the boat, their legs are not long enough to actually pedal. Nor would they have had enough strength even if their legs were long enough. The pedaling was hard work. Definitely two adults' worth of work. Half an hour of fun for the kids, half an hour of moderate exercise for the parents. 

    There are at least two large play areas for kids. Each area has multiple play structures for a wide range of ages. This was nice - it allowed us to keep an eye on both kids even as they could play with different things. We stayed in the first area for over an hour. We actually had to use lunch to bribe the kids away. We knew they would like the second play area even more, and it was already past 1 pm. 

    There are plenty of eating options inside the park. There are sit down restaurants, food trucks, and numerous stands all around. Last time, we ate at a sit down restaurant by the lake. This time, I brought plenty of food with us, and we supplemented with snacks from stands. The stands sell things like hotdogs, yakisoba, karaage, french fries, and of course soft serve. The restaurant we tried has your standard Japanese/modern Japanese fare (soba, curry, ramen, etc.). We got a doner kebab from the food trucks, which offer more variety. As with most public Japanese facilities, prices are reasonable. 

    After lunch, we finally make it to the area called the Children's Forest. This includes a massive playground with multiple tornado slides, a network of nets on which kids can climb and jump, and a series of bouncing domes. At this point, M was deteriorating without her usual nap, though E was still going strong. What a difference a year makes. E shied away from the intense slides last year and loved them this year, lining up to go again and again. On the nets, she managed to climb up different levels whereas last year, she only bounced around here and there. 

    Even after two hours, E had not gotten to the bouncing domes that she had loved last year. M, by then, was in no condition to try anything else. So we bought shaved ice for an afternoon treat and called it a day. 

    In the summer, the park opens up a section for water play. This was not open last year due to Covid but will likely be open this summer. Even though we did not get to everything on this trip, we will surely be back soon for the water park. We focused on kid friendly activities, but there is also a lot for adults, including a woodworking shop, a Japanese garden, and special events. This week, for example, there is a special Bonsai exhibition. It's truly a day trip destination. 

    As we had hoped, the kids fell asleep in the car just as they had last year on the train. Whatever effort it takes to get to here, you are nearly guaranteed a good nap afterwards! Goodbye and see you in a few months, Showa Kinen Park. 

Golden Week 2022

Golden Week is a cluster of Japanese holidays that all occur in the last week of April and the first week of May. The first two are historical holidays: Showa Day (honoring the Emperor Showa) and Constitution Day (celebrating the establishment of the modern Japanese Constitution). Then comes Greenery Day, which as its name would suggests, celebrates nature. Finally, there is Children's Day, which traditionally celebrated boys and fathers (there is a Girls Day in March) but now celebrates boys and girls as well as their parents and family unity in general. 

Japanese workplaces don't offer as many annual personal days or vacation days compared to its western European or even American counterparts. Yet the total number of days off most workers receive annually is not bad thanks to these national holidays. It's just that everyone has to take the same holidays, so it gets really, really crowded. Add to it the fact that foreign travel is still pretty much off limits, and you get crowds everywhere: the supermarket, parks, roads, museums, city offices - quite literally, everywhere. What to do then during Golden Week?

We went to Karuizawa in Nagano Prefecture last weekend. Of course, since Karuizawa is only a couple hours from Tokyo, it was also crowded, but we were able to stay away from the crowds for the most part. My mother-in-law's friend, who is also a tennis coach, gifted our girls two small tennis rackets and a net. We gave it a go in the backyard. Although they can't hit the ball over the net yet, they had a lot of fun trying. We also went hiking, as Karuizawa is home to many hiking paths with views of the Japanese Northern Alps. While the shopping streets were totally congested with people, the hiking paths were surprisingly empty. The rest of the time, it was raining anyways, so we stayed indoors doing puzzles and games. 

In a country as mountainous as Japan, you don't have to go far to experience early spring again. You might recall that Hakone. Though south of Tokyo, Hakone still had plenty of sakura blossoms due to its higher elevation. Karuizawa, on the other hand, is north of Tokyo and higher in elevation. There, you could still see sakura blossoms and many other ones, like these:

The last few days back in Tokyo, we have been taking a lot of walks, frequenting our regular park, and exploring new parks. And reading. A few weeks ago, I read Haruki Murakami's What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, which inspired me to read South of the Border West of the Sun (one of the few Murakami ebooks immediately available to borrow at the library). I enjoyed it more than expected, and so I am now reading Men Without Women, a collection of short stories. At least Golden Week gave me more time to read. 

Days off are great, but when the entire country is taking the same days off, and international travel is still unfeasible (per Japanese border regulations), the country feels like it is bursting at the seams with people. I suppose we will think of this the same way as we thought of the first lockdown: how many opportunities will we have to sit around and spend time together without distraction? That said, I hope next year brings more travel opportunities during Golden Week.