Japan | Guy Portman's Blog

My Japanese Culinary Tour

Jan 30 2015

This week’s blog post is devoted to the dizzying array of culinary delights that I came across in Japan.

Osechi (see below) is traditional Japanese New Year’s fare. Osechi are served in boxes called jūbako (重箱).

On New Year’s Day there was also an abundance of sushi on offer.

Noodles are very popular in Japan, particularly at lunchtime. Below is a picture of a bowl of Soba noodles complete with egg, spinach and a tempura prawn.

Here is a picture I took of a chef making Soba noodles.

In my humble opinion Japanese KFC is far superior to the British version, and that is to say nothing of the customer service – read smiling and servility (including bowing). What more could anyone ask for from a fast food restaurant?

Whale meat is still widely eaten in Japan, much to the annoyance of Greenpeace. Below is a picture of whale bacon for sale in a fish market that I visited.

A strawberry and wasabi flavoured ice-cream.

There are a number of different types of restaurants that serve meat in Japan, including Teppanyaki and Yaki Niku (see below), where the customer cooks the meat themselves.

Below are two plates of gyoza. I went on to order a third. Gyoza are delicious but not particularly healthy.

A bowl of eel (unagi) on rice that I had for lunch one day in a traditional Japanese restaurant.

This sausage on a stick (see below) was probably the least appetising thing I ate in Japan. They can be purchased from service stations, and are best avoided.

The Japanese love ornate culinary displays (see below).

And yet more sushi.

A Tour of a High-Tech Japanese House

Jan 23 2015

As I have just returned from Japan I have decided to dedicate a couple of blog posts to my trip. I will return to my usual author/book related themed posts in a couple of weeks.

This week’s post takes the form of a tour of a high-tech Japanese house.

Below is a cross-section of someone’s kitchen wall. I have no idea what half of these do.

The picture below is of a Japanese bath. What more could you possibly want from a bath, except taps, I asked myself as I tried to figure out how to fill it with water.

As I don’t have an engineering degree and only a rudimentary knowledge of Japanese Kanji, it took quite a while to work out out how to fill the bath with water of the desired temperature.

It took me an eternity to figure out how to drain the water at the end of my bath. I assumed that as 出 means exit in Japanese that the button on the left of the control with the symbol 出 would do exactly that. However, despite hitting the button numerous times while cursing loudly, nothing happened. Eventually, after considerable trial and error, I discovered that to drain the bath one must press a manual plunger on the right of the tub. Later when I went to the living room I heard the house’s resident Japanese infant swearing in English. This Ied me to discover that the button with the 出 was a telecom system.

Above is a Japanese lavatory. It can initially be quite alarming when the seat opens automatically on entering the room. Below is the controller for the lavatory. It is not necessary to become familiar with the multitude of buttons, as it performs its one necessary function automatically.

I was so keen to show you my magic trick involving a tap that I purchased a WordPress premium package, in order to embed this video in the post, so I do hope you click on it.

I was very fatigued after trying to figure out the technological complexities of the Japanese house, so I went to the shop to buy an energy tonic. The shop had tonics for just about everything (see below).

Tokyo

Oct 12 2012

I am travelling on the Tokyo subway. The carriage despite being half full is silent and this along with the warmth and the constant motion is having a soporific effect. My eyelids flicker briefly and momentarily I lose consciousness. When I open them again, I am surprised to see a peculiar man in cross dress sitting opposite me (see picture 1). Even in Tokyo, a city that quite possibly embraces a wider range of attire than any other place in the world, this is an odd sight and he draws some concerned looks from my fellow train passengers. I subtly take a photograph with my iPhone, making sure not to draw any unwelcome attention from the subject.

Minutes later and I am at my stop. I leave the train hastily and head above ground. Waiting for the lights to change at the zebra crossing in front of me is a multi-coloured individual with bizarrely patterned apparel and hair that is blue on one side and pink on the other, inspired perhaps by a circus clown (see picture 2). I quickly take a photograph whilst he has his back to me and hurry across the road.

A short while later I am wandering around the fashionable Ginza area when I come across this famous Lottery booth (see picture 3). Note that the mostly elderly hopefuls are all queuing at booth 1, whilst no one is waiting at the other two booths. The reason for this is that booth 1 is apparently one of Japan’s luckiest lottery ticket locations. People travel here from afar in the hope of getting the lucky ticket. I buy my ticket from booth 2.

It is now evening and I am still in the Ginza vicinity doing nothing in particular other than observing the surroundings, when I stumble across this restaurant under a railway line (see picture 3). The waitresses are all wearing bizarre uniforms, which appear to me at least have an Alice in Wonderland theme. Resisting the temptation to rest my weary legs I continue onwards.

Sometime later I notice a rather quaint and incredibly narrow bar (see picture 3). Quite possibly the world’s narrowest drinking establishment I conclude on entering the premises and ordering a double Suntory whisky on the rocks.