Best Omiyage from Japan

Omiyage, お土産 is the Japanese word for souvenirs. Japan is a country where souvenir giving is important. Hence, there are lots of options for souvenirs when you travel to Japan.

A friend of mine is working on a project at the moment in Japan. When I first heard that she was going to be working on a project in Japan, my first reaction was - "Whoopee, I now have a stable source for my favourite omiyage, Yoku Moku".

What is Yoku Moku?

It's a company that sells butter cookies from Japan.. You can find them in the food level of most major departmental stores in Japan.

Yoku Moku is famous for their "cigare" - These are delicate rolled cookies with a light butter-vanilla taste.

Like most Japanese souvenirs, they come beautifully packaged. Each cookie is individually wrapped and come in a beautiful box. I've been eating them since I was 18 and I've kept all the boxes I've bought.. The basic cigare always come in a blue box, although the shape and size of the box have changed over the years.

The "cigare" also comes in other flavours like chocolate and coffee.. They are all great, but I like the plain vanilla version best.

They are my favourite omiyage from Japan. Whenever I travel to Japan myself and have to think of a gift for friends or colleagues, I'd end up buying these. Whenever I have good friends going to Japan, I'd ask for a box of these as well.

I got a box of these in September and they served me well during my confinement. I'd treat myself to one whenever I got stressed out. Needless to say, they ran out pretty quickly!

Japan - One year on

Today marks the first anniversary of the terrible earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan last year, followed by the nuclear crisis at Fukushima.

It's about 2 years since our last visit to Japan.

Coincidentally, our last trip was to the Tohoku region, north-eastern area of Japan, where the earthquake and tsunami hit.

It is sad that such a beautiful region should be hit by such tragedy.

It'd be some time before The Husband and I would be able to visit Japan again though.

Hopefully, by then, these places and their people would be well on their way in building a new future.

Beautiful sites from around the Tohoku region (North-east region of Japan)

Sendai - This time last year

 A sign-board at Matsushima. The Husband and I stopped to take a picture of this. 

It seems incredulous that a tsunami did strike one year on..

The Husband and I took a trip to Tohoku and Tokyo last year this exact same time. Our first stop was the city of Sendai. Sendai is a wonderful city, capital of the Miyagi prefecture and I blogged much about the great food and beef tongue.

We also visited several coastal cities nearby such as the famous Matsushima and the town of good sushi, Shiogama.

It was in horror as we watched on TV yesterday that an 8.9 earthquake and destructive tsunami just hit the area, causing hundreds of deaths and massive destruction.

We'd be praying for you, Japan.

The retro bus that brings you around Sendai

Sendai's famous grilled beef tongue

The oyako-don that left a deep impression on us - we said we'd go back to Sendai for this..

One of the 3 most famous scenic sites of Japan - Matsushima

 Matsushima is a beautiful place

I wonder what happened to Matsushima

The coastal town with a large fishing port, famous for its sushi - Shiogama

Kiritanpo Nabe

 

 The Kiritanpo Nabe I had in Akita

Kiritanpo is a cylinder-shaped rice cake. It's a speciality food of Akita region, Japan.

Kiritanpo nabe is hot pot with Kiritanpo. In Akita, this nabe is usually made with a chicken-based broth. The chicken used is usually Hinai jidori (比内地鶏), a specialty of Akita - especially flavourful and low in fat. Besides chicken meat, lots of vegetables like cabbage, leek and mushrooms, as well as konnyaku, are also typically added to the hotpot.

I made this nabe for dinner tonight.. but I kind of "cheated" because I used some vacuum-packed Kiritanpo and Hinai Jidori stock concentrate to make the nabe. I had bought a couple of packets of these "instant Kiritanpo nabe" back from Akita. All I had to do was to add some chicken meat and vegetables.

If you are interested to make this nabe at home, this website give a pretty good guide on how to make it. You'd have to make your own Kiritanpo though, by mashing up cooked rice and then wrapping the rice around wooden sticks before toasting.

An easier way would be to make Damako Nabe (Rice Ball Hotpot) instead. The rice balls can be made rather easily. The recipe on this website looks easy enough.

 "Instant" Kiritanpo Nabe

Home-made Kritanpo Nabe with extra vegetables and mushrooms

My favourite part of the nabe - the Kiritanpo, of course.. and the leeks. Yummy!

Green Tea Kit Kat

In my world, all tidbits should be either savoury or else sweet. Anything in between - like chocolate potato chips, doesn't quite work out for me..

I tend to like savoury tidbits more than sweet ones.. except when the sweet ones are chocolate, Pocky or Kit Kat.. or something similar to chocolate, Pocky and Kit Kat...

Recently, I've found out that Kit Kat now comes in a lot more flavour than the regular milk chocolate and dark chocolate they had when I was younger.. There is strawberry Kit Kat, banana Kit Kat, blueberry Kit Kata and so on available in the States.

During my trip to Japan, I managed to find more Asian flavoured ones.. I picked up some Matcha Kit Kat and Sakura Matcha Kit Kat.

I've heard that there are red bean Kit Kats and chestnut Kit Kats for sale too.. so I'd be watching out for more exotic flavours in future when I travel or visit Japanese supermarkets..

Matcha Kit Kat

Sakura Matcha Kit Kat

A Handy Device - Anylock

I came across this product on another blog (although I really can't remember which blog it was) and decided that I would hunt these down in Japan.

Anylock is actually a device that helps seal up bags of food. Now, of course ziplock bag does the trick perfectly as well.. but when it comes to flour for baking, this device is very useful for sealing unused flour. Especially since I have so many different types of flour at home - plain flour, cake flour, bread flour, wholemeal flour, rye flour, corn meal... etc etc.

Left: Anylock - they come in delicious looking colours..

Top right: Just fold the bag and slide in the Anylock

Bottom right: Sealed and airtight

Now these are really pretty useful. I used to use those clips you find in Ikea or at supermarkets.. but with the clips you have to be careful about the way you cut open bags of flour.. and sometimes it is not so easy to secure the bags well.. and you end up with messy, rolled-up, rubber-band tied bags of flour.. With the Anylock, everything is neat, air-tight and pretty flat.. and I can line up my bags of flour neatly in my cupboard. It's really a cool product. And very easy to use too... just fold the bag and slide the Anylock stick through..

I bought mine from Tokyo Hands in Japan.. only to find them on sale at Takashimaya in Singapore. But it seemed to me that they were on sale in Takashimaya only as part of a promotion.. not sure if they are regular products. Which reminds me... I think I should go down to Takashimaya and buy a few more.

Oh, by the way.. this is not an advertisement. Just wanted to share a neat find.

Japanese Vending Machines

I am always impressed by the vending machines in Japan.

The drinks vending machines come in many different shapes and designs - some look like a Pepsi can, some have traditional Japanese "roofs", others look like a bottle of drink.. etc..

 

Some interesting vending machines

And the things they sell! 

I've seen vending machines for ice-cream, for fried and baked food like fries and tako-yaki, for soup, for beer and cocktails and even for piping hot noodles!

 

Fries, Hot Dog Buns and Tako-yaki

Even the regular drink vending machines can be very cool.. They sell interesting drinks like limited edition flavours, tie-ups with cartoon or movie characters etc.

I couldn't help taking photos of some of the more interesting ones I came across..

Anyone remember Ultraman?

Limited edition drinks - Sakura Milk Tea and Fauchon Apple Tea

Pickled Sakura

A box of pickled sakura

I came across these pickled sakura blossoms at Tokyo's tsukiji market and I just had to buy them. Pickled sakura is actually sakura blossoms pickled with salt.

Pickled sakura and sakurayu

They can be used for making sakurayu, which is pickled sakura with hot water. These are typically drunk at festive events and hanami. To be honest, I think this drink taste a little bit odd.. It is a little like drinking hot brine... but the drink looks so pretty, with the flowers unfolding and "dancing" around in the hot water.

Sakurayu

Pickled sakura is also used to make sakura mochi, a pink Japanese glutinous rice dumpling containing sweet red bean paste wrapped cherry-tree leaf. The pink colour and taste of the glutinous rice comes from the pickled sakura.

Picture source: See here

I have also seen pickled sakura used as garnish for Japanese bentos and desserts.

Actually, I bought these pickled sakura more because I wanted to use them as a garnish for cupcakes and desserts.

Pickled sakura being used as a garnish

The Elusive Mount Fuji

I've reserved perhaps the last post of my recent Japan trip for the elusive Mount Fuji.

I almost thought I would not be able to see Mount Fuji this trip.. It was a gloomy and rainy day when we went to Lake Kawaguchi, of Fujigoko.

Fujigoko (Fuji Five Lakes) is located at the foot of Mount Fuji at an altitude of roughly 1000 meters above sea level in mountainous Yamanashi Prefecture. It is one of the best places to view Mount Fuji from a close distance and a convenient base for climbing the mountain. Lake Kawaguchi is the largest and most easily accessible of the five lakes.

Lake Kawaguchi is a touristy hot spring resort town.. with a lake and a great view. A retro bus brings you around most of the cute little tourist attractions in the area - herb gardens, music forest, jewellery museum etc. The southeastern shores of Lake Kawaguchi are littered with big and small ryokans.

At Lake Kawaguchi, we stayed at a very good but somewhat overpriced ryokan, Shuhoukaku Kogetsu. It was supposed to have a fantastic view of the lake and Mount Fuji. When we got there, we couldn't see either. And I was bitterly disappointed. But the food and the onsen was pretty good.. and the room we had was fantastic - it had a private foot soak in the balcony. But still... after all that journey and no Mount Fuji?

The weather cleared up the next morning.. but still no Mount Fuji. We planned to leave the region at around 10am. But the sky started clearing up.. and we changed our plans.. and after noon... Mount Fuji was there.. smiling at us.

That's the good thing about vacations where everything is at your own time and schedule.

It was a rainy and cloudy day at Lake Kawaguchi

Ukai Music Forest - a pretty little place with some very interesting music boxes

Shuhoukaku Kogetsu, the ryokan hotel we stayed at

Our ryokan room

The balcony with the foot soak

The onsen

Dinner - part 1

Dinner - Part 2

Breakfast - my favourite part actually

Mount Fuji... just before we left Lake Kawaguchi

Tsukiji Market

The Tsukiji Market (築地市場, Tsukiji shijo) is a must visit for any tourist to Tokyo. It is the largest wholesale fish market in Japan and possibly, the world.

Many go in the wee hours of morning to watch the bidding for the seafood in the "inner market". I've heard that it is pretty interesting.. although the regular tourist will probably not understand a thing. But I really don't know.. because I have never seen it.. nor do I want to really wake up that early in the morning on a vacation..

The "outer market" consist of a mixture of wholesale and retail shops. You can find many shops that sell seafood, vegetables and groceries, Japanese kitchen tools, restaurant supplies and so on. There are also many shops selling semi-processed and cooked food for Japanese housewives to bring home for dinner. I particularly liked these shops.. because you can also buy some of them as snacks to eat as you shop. There are shops that specialises in tamagoyaki (grilled egg rolls) shops, fish cakes, tempura, Japanese pickles, tea leaves etc.. Everything is very interesting.. and delicious looking.

Then of course, there are the restaurants. Tsukiji is particularly famous for fresh sushi and sashimi (of course)... and very surprisingly, ramen. There are always long queues for almost every restaurant at the market that sells these.

My Japanese friend who went to the market with us said that the old coffee shops at Tsukiji market are also pretty popular with the locals..

Hm.. I guess that is the appeal of Tsukiji market. In spite of its fame as a major tourist attraction, locals (whether housewives or restaurant owners) frequent the place too.. and so Tsukiji has its own very unique kind of shopping atmosphere.. a part of it is "showy" and touristy.. and a part of it is just regular life.

 The "outer market" - long queues at sushi restaurant, retail stores, 

coffee houses and oh.. the first Yoshinoya in Japan is also located at Tsukiji

Chirashi-don for breakfast

A tamagoyaki shop that has free lessons 

you can sign up for 

Our snack along the way - a very interesting tai-yaki.. 

only that the shape of the fish is not tai (sea bream) but maguro (tuna)

A cup of good Japanese coffee 

after all that shopping..

3 places to see sakura in Tokyo

I like the 3 places we went to see sakura this time in Tokyo. Each park has a rather different atmosphere.. and somehow even though the flowers are almost the same.. the experience is different.

The first place (I've mentioned this place before in my previous post) is Ueno Park, near Ueno (上野) station. Ueno is a good place to see sakura and hanami (as well as yozakura). There is this stretch in the park where there are relatively low sakura trees along the entire stretch. There will be lots of people under the trees enjoying hanami.. but the pavement is still wide enough to stroll along.

The bustling and crowded Ueno Park

The second place is this park near the Kichijioji (吉祥寺) station. Kichijioji is a more residential area so you'd see a lot of people walking their dogs, exercising or taking a stroll in the park. There is a rather large pool of water (but not really big enough to be called a lake...?) in the park and you will see families or couples boating there.

The sakura trees in this park are all rather tall.. and those by the lake have their branches spread all the water out to the water.. so it is really a lovely place to go and have a nice long walk.. There is a somewhat melancholy feel about the lake and the park in the morning.. (when it is not as crowded)..

The more "residential-feel" park at Kichijioji

I like the sakura trees by the lake..

Somehow, these trees make the lake look and feel more melancholy...

The third place to see sakura is Shinjuku park. It used to the the royal family's private garden.. but it is now a park open to the public (for a minimal fee of 200yen).

Shinjuku park is more like a large botanical garden.. there are plenty of sakura trees all around.. and a lot of other plants and flowers as well. There is a beautiful and well-kept Japanese garden within the park.

Perhaps it is due to the entrance fee.. but I find that the crowd at Shinjuku park is a lot more focused on flower viewing and photo taking.. you'd find a lot less people gathered there for partying.

The beautiful and elegant Shinjuku Park

The well-kept Japanese garden..

The blooming tree at the Japanese garden..

A view of the city from the park..

There are lots of other plants and flowers besides sakura.. 

there is also a rose garden within the park which was unfortunately,

closed when we were there.