Between our apartment and Waseda University lies 水稲荷神社, an Inari Shinto Shrine I like to stroll about. As mentioned previously, Inari shrines are famous for their foxes. The above is one of the many foxes (kitsune) on the premises.

In most udon shops one of the kinds of udon you can order is kitsune udon, which looks like the above. Kitsune udon features 油揚げ(あぶらあげ or sweetened, fried tofu). It’s one of my favorites.

If “fox udon” isn’t for you then try “raccoon dog udon” (otherwise known as tanuki udon). Instead of 油揚げ, you’ll get 天かす (tempura batter).

I don’t know why these animal names have been given to the various udon varieties, but it is fun ordering a different animal every time to see the different toppings that arrive with your new selection.

Posted on September 13th, 2009 under Japan. Tags: food, kitsune, shinto, udon. Comments Off on Kitsune Shrines and Kitsune Udon

Vending machines are everywhere in Japan. Instead of seeing one, every once in while, like in the states you’ll see three or four of them lined up nearly any place you turn to look. This set of four is a bit unusual though. Take a close look, and if you can figure out where this picture was taken from, post a comment with your guess.

I’ll let you know the answer in a couple of days.

Posted on September 9th, 2009 under Japan. Tags: food, jidohanbaiki. Comments: 4

There are tons of restaurants between Takadanobaba Station and Waseda University. Our apartment is located right in the middle of them all. The restaurants are almost all winter-related menus (udon, ramen, curry, etc.) For escaping the heat, while satisfying one’s hunger, there is nowhere to turn.

I am a huge fan of shabu-shabu and sukiyaki. Even though they are winter foods, I can eat them anytime. Just across Waseda Doori from our apartment is a shabu-shabu place called 歌千代さらしな. We decided to give it a try.

The sign above my daughter basically says that this establishment uses the finest, organic meat in their shabu-shabu. The fields the animals lived in are pesticide free. The animals were raised on clean water as well. Our shabu-shabu featured pork instead of the more typical beef.

The food was great and the price was very reasonable as well. The shabu-shabu included four courses: soba, yasai (vegetables), butaniku (pork), and udon. I should have ordered some rice too. I assumed it would be coming with, but that wasn’t the case. We split two orders between the four of us and that was perfect. Total price was 3,000 yen or about $33–not bad for a family of four. In Japan there is no tipping so eating out doesn’t have to be as expensive as in the U.S. Next time we’ll go for the sukiyaki (which I tend to like better than shabu-shabu).

Posted on September 8th, 2009 under Japan. Tags: food, nishi-waseda. Comments: 3

The other morning we rode the train from Takadanobaba to the Tamachi Station where my kids go to school. While crossing the street to get to Tokyo International School we have the above view of the Tokyo Tower.

The Tokyo Tower is actually higher than the Eiffel Tower it is modeled (copied) from, but it doesn’t seem as tall given the high rise buildings nearby. The Eiffel Tower, by comparison, has virtually no buildings right next to it, and those in the vicinity are usually no more than 3 stories high so it stands out much more.

After dropping the kids off we headed over to a pastry shop adjacent to the Tamachi Station. I had the asparagus, ham, and cheese pastry while my wife had a blueberry roll. The Koala bear pastries were the special of the day at only 80 yen so we grabbed one too. It wasn’t as good as it looked. The others were though.

Posted on September 6th, 2009 under Japan. Tags: food, Tokyo, tokyo tower. Comments: 3

The food at this party was more than I had anticipated. When Maya said it was a barbecue, I was picturing yakitori and yakiniku (shish kabobs). While there were those things, there was also much, much more. The above is one round of more than a dozen, different BBQ sessions. I didn’t count, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you told me that 30 different things were cooked for this party of about eight kids and six adults. There was salmon, oysters, octopus, squid, beef, chicken (many different parts), pig, shrimp, several other kinds of fish, many different vegetables including corn on the cob, many items I’ve never seen before (nor do I know what they were), and others that I’m probably not remembering. On top of things coming off the grill, there was onigiri, yakisoba, and several other things to choose from.

I think Maya’s mom cooked barely half of what she had purchased and barely half of what she cooked was eaten, even though we were all stuffed. Speaking of moms, I was the only dad there until later in the evening when one of the moms went home and told her husband to join us. He was hesitant to come at first because he didn’t realize I’d be able to speak Japanese. His wife assured him that I was harmless, and we’d be able to communicate in Japanese just fine. Until he arrived, it was rather embarrassing to have five Japanese ladies wait on me. I suppose there are worse fates in life though. 😉

After dinner we had a fireworks show in the street.

This last picture from the party is of my favorite little girl of the evening. She was the little sister of one of Maya’s friends and so darling. She was the only one of the kids–other than Maya–who, from the outset, was not the least bit afraid of us. She introduced herself to my daughter and gave my daughter the lowest (and most respectful) bow I think I have ever seen. She was the first to play with my daughter at the park. She said some of the most polite things I’ve ever heard come out of a Japanese child’s mouth.

During the fireworks she would go around to the adults to ask them if they had any fireworks for her with a cat picture on the side. I gave her all of mine with the cat pictures, and she was most gracious in accepting them. She came back after lighting them off to see if I had any more. I did not, but we chatted about what I did have. Eventually I sold her on lighting off the remaining fireworks I held which had pictures of apples, grapes, and other things. Again, she was so courteous in her acceptance that I wanted to have more to give her just to continue to hear her amazing responses.

The evening ended with Maya, and her two friends who bonded well with my daughter during the evening, walking us part way back to the train station. They disobeyed their moms who told them to only go as far as the first stop light with us. At the second stop light I told them, somewhat jokingly, they had better turn back to go home at that point as I didn’t want their moms mad at me. They did, but it was a tough parting. The girls had gone from complete strangers to near tears at parting in just a few hours, despite no common oral language in which they could communicate.

Posted on September 5th, 2009 under Japan. Tags: fireworks, food, kids, people. Comments: 1