Honkki Japanese Restaurant menu (near back gate of Chonnam National University, Gwangju, South Korea)

Most Korean restaurants aren’t set up for single, foreign travelers. The menus are only in Korean, the portion sizes (and prices) are for two to four people ordering one thing, and the tables are set up for parties of four (or less frequently parties of two). Some places even turn you away if you come in by yourself. One workaround if you can read Japanese is to patronize Japanese restaurants in Korea. Although the employees won’t likely be able to speak English or Japanese, the two that I have been to have menus in both Korean and Japanese so at least I know what I’m ordering.

On this day I went with the Miso Ramen (みそら～めん).

It was good, one of the better bowls of ramen I’ve had outside Japan. The half a hard-boiled egg was a little different than how eggs are usually served in Japanese Ramen, but other than that it seemed pretty authentic.

Posted on July 5th, 2013 under Japan, Korea. Tags: food, gwangju, Nikon 24mm f/2.8 AF-D nikkor lens, Nikon D600, ramen. Comments Off on Ramen in Korea

Koba in Hiroshima, Japan

While cruising through Fukuoka and Hiroshima a couple weeks back, I tried to find a club with some live acts playing some kind of heavy metal. I couldn’t find anything so then I looked for a bar similar to Godz or Rock Bar Mother in Tokyo. No luck. The night I was in Hiroshima I planned to go to a Carp baseball game, but it got rained out. I then remembered that I had a Facebook friend from Hiroshima who is into hard rock and heavy metal so I sent him a quick message before heading out. He responded immediately that I should check out a place called Koba. I googled it, got an address, marked it on my map, and got on a nearby streetcar.

When I got to the spot on my map I couldn’t find Koba. I started walking in circles around the spot on my map, asking anyone who looked local if they knew of the place. No one did. I had gone down every street in the neighborhood at least twice. Finally, as I was about to give up, I walked into G.O.D Sports Bar. If they didn’t know where it was, I was going to just hang out there. The employee was so helpful that he looked it up on the internet for me and then walked me to Koba, making sure that I found it. Now that’s service! And from a competing bar no less.

Anyway, Koba (or コバ) is very hard to find, even with the address, as the only sign is about an inch high so I’ll help you with directions and maps below. I walked right past it several times in my search.

The guy sitting in the top photo is Mac from Macbar or MAC Bar (not sure how to spell it), another Hiroshima Bar that I’d like to visit on my next time through.

Koba is very close to the Hondori (本通) Shopping Arcade. If you aren’t there already, take a streetcar to the Fukuromachi or Tatemachi stops.

Above is a closer view and also shows you how to get there from Heiwa Odori.

When you approach the A on the maps, look for something like the above. It will probably be dark and not this clear. However, if you go up really close to the sign you will see this:

広島 Koba is upstairs. Head on in and up. The food is great. The company is great. The atmosphere is excellent. Everyone is very foreigner friendly in this place.

As I walked in Michael Schenker’s “Rock My Nights Away” was playing. The words were very fitting.
“When I’m sad and lonely
Far from home
Who’s gonna rock my nights away”

I recorded that song off the radio and onto a cassette tape in 1983, but probably hadn’t heard it since 1986 or so. Hearing it in Koba on this evening in 2013 sounded like it was written just for me at that moment. Koba was clearly going to rock my night away.

The place isn’t really Heavy Heavy Metal like Godz and Rock Bar Mother can be. Instead, it’s more 80s hard rock. I can’t remember all of the other albums played on this evening but one was Ozzy Osbourne’s “Diary of a Madman” (or was it Blizzard of Oz?). Anyway, Koba is a fun place so be sure to check it out the next time you are in Hiroshima.

The address is
１-４ Funairi Nakamachi
Naka Ward, Hiroshima, 730-0037

Tel: 082-249-6556
広島県広島市中区中町1-4

Koba is usually closed on Wednesdays.

Posted on July 3rd, 2013 under Japan. Tags: beer, hiroshima, Nikon 24mm f/2.8 AF-D nikkor lens, Nikon D600, photomerge. Comments Off on Koba (コバ) in Hiroshima

Moss-covered stone lantern surrounded by Japanese maples

Posted on June 30th, 2013 under Japan. Tags: japanese maple, lanterns, miyajima, Nikon 24-120mm f/4 VR G lens, Nikon D600. Comments Off on Momijidani Park (紅葉谷公園)

大竹寛

My first visit to MAZDA Zoom-Zoom Stadium Hiroshima (広島市民球場) featured the Hiroshima Toyo Carp and my Yakult Swallows. I saw these two play in Tokyo three years prior. In both cases the visiting team won. The Carp are in the Central League so the pitchers bat. (The other league uses a DH like the American League in MLB.) In today’s photo you can see the Carp pitcher, Kan Otake, bat. It was an amazing at bat for a pitcher. He worked the count from 0-2 to 3-2, fouled off numerous pitches with a 3-2 count, and then finally made an out.

Posted on June 29th, 2013 under Japan. Tags: baseball, hiroshima, Nikon AF-S VR Zoom-NIKKOR 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED Telephoto Lens, Nikon D600. Comments Off on More Carp

10,000 Korean Won Bill

One of the most popular posts on this blog is the one dealing with getting the best rate when you change dollars into Japanese Yen. Here is a 2013 update based on my actual experience, and my exchange rate and fees for converting my dollars into Korean Won.

First, the yen…
My 2009 experience held true in 2013. I was planning to get money out of an ATM in the Narita airport while transferring planes to Fukuoka. However, once I went through customs and security in Narita, there were no ATMs so I couldn’t get yen out of an ATM there. You can obtain yen in the Narita airport if you are departing from there, and perhaps you can near customs, but I didn’t think to look until after I went through security for domestic transfers as I was more concerned with finding my gate than obtaining yen. In Fukuoka I didn’t look for an ATM in the airport (as I had brought enough yen with me to get to my ryokan). The next morning I walked into the first 7-Eleven I saw, inserted my (Wells Fargo issued) ATM card (which has Plus, Star, Instant Cash, and Interlink logos on the back), and without any troubles withdrew my maximum allowed on the US side (which I had raised via a phone call before leaving). The yen came out at the market rate and Wells Fargo charged me a $5 fee (which means my total exchange fee was 1/3 of 1%). Rates for changing cash in the US airport were more than 5% and in Japan the rates were about 2 or 3% so the ATM card is still the way to go (if you need to change more than a couple hundred dollars).

Next, the won…
The English instructions at the first ATM I went to in the Korean airport were pretty confusing, and I couldn’t get any won out using my ATM card. I asked someone for help, and they assisted me even though they couldn’t speak English. We went through three ATM machines before we found one that gave me won. Also, the ATM machine in Korea spit out only 10,000 won bills. In the USA I’m used to getting $20 bills out of ATM machines. In Japan you get (mostly) 10,000 yen bills (about $100). A 10,000 won bill is worth less than $9 so that means if you are pulling out the equivalent of, say, $1,500 in US$ you will receive about 160 bills! Try fitting that into your wallet! The rate charged was the market rate, and Wells Fargo charged me $5 so, again, the ATM was the way to go for getting the best rate (if you are pulling out large sums of money). The number of ATMs that work in Korea don’t seem to be as high as those in Japan (I’ve never had an ATM in Japan–whether that be an airport, convenience store, bank, or post office–not work), but don’t give up. Just try another machine until you find one that will give you Korean Won with your foreign bank card.

Posted on June 28th, 2013 under Japan, Korea. Tags: getting the best rate to change convert USD into yen, Travel. Comments: 5