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Another Year in Tokyo

And sometimes elsewhere.

japan

Okinawa my dream stays

November 1, 2020

The remainder of 2020 is only getting gloomy than ever, especially now in my new city Dusseldorf, Germany. With the daylight getting shorter, weather turned colder, and more dauntingly that the 2nd wave of COVID-19 and the new lockdown measures from next Monday… one can only daze in a boring, dark Sunday afternoon, and can’t help but start to recall the summer days in July in Okinawa, Japan.

Ikei island, Naha-shi, Okinawa

I have been to the Okinawa islands only twice. The first time was in August, 2017, when I spent three days with my mom in Naha city and then in Ishigaki island. It was an exhausting trip, partially because of the extreme weather and partially because I was not able to drive, which is a necessary skill to truly enjoy the islands. This time, me and my boyfriend rented a car from Naha airport and then another one in our next stop Miyako island – best decision made.

With the freedom of moving, we went up and down in the Okinawa main island where Naha is for two days, and were able to have fun in passing some spectacular bridges that connect islands, and to experience the changes in weather, plantation, and even the beaches from north to south then onto the far islands.

The weather in Okinawa is not uniformly tropical. In the northern part of the main island, it is actually subtropical that the beaches are a bit different – calmer and quieter, suitable for elegant bikini shot I would say.

While in the south end, especially when you go as far as the small islands such as Ishigaki island or Miyako island, it gets really tropical and exotic.

I enjoyed both. I am not really proud of my “beach body”, but I do like to take some good pictures and enjoy a cool dip at the same time. I bought new bikinis from fella swim, and those babies have to see the sunshine before we went into lockdown again – that was my thought (and prediction) back in July.

As this was our last trip together before I moved to Germany, I did not take too much time taking pictures. Instead, I have prepared a DJI Osmo to record our time together. It was fun and opened up my interest in creativity. Maybe I will do more.

The most enchanting sunset at the beach I have ever seen in my life so far:

And a little surprising couple time:

Well, see you another time, Okinawa my dream.

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Filed Under: Destinations, Favourite, Japan, Okinawa Tagged With: beach, biniki, japan, okinawa, sunset, sunshine, travel, tropical

Trip report – Kanazawa, the golden city in silver

February 3, 2017

In January I went on my first trip this year, to a part of Japan that was completely new to me, and possibly to many of the foreign travelers as well – Kanazawa (金沢市), the capital city of Ishikawa prefecture (石川県) of the Hokuriku (北陸) area.

For most travelers, when speaking of Japan, many think of Kyoto (京都) immediately, and then perhaps the other famous ancient city nearby – Nara (奈良), and young people especially may think of Tokyo (東京) first instead. Even for Japanese, the Hokuriku area is not a typical place that they consider for vacation or something (to my best understanding). One thing is, it used not to be very convenient to be there for Tokyo dwellers to begin with. But it all changed with the opening of Hokuriku Shinkansen the first year I came to Japan, and then the promotion of this area to remind people of its beauty and charms.

During my visit, it was just in time for a series of heavy snows. People may think: Oh what a bad luck! But actually, quite the opposite. The golden city by name was so lovely in white with the snows, and the sea urchins and Japanese sake just got even more delicious under the snowy atmosphere, not to mention soaking in the outdoor onsen while appreciating the falling snow flakes… I felt very lucky. And I felt wise to have carried my camera all the way during the trip. Therefore, although there are some must-go places which should be introduced in a typical trip report, after struggling for 2 days, I decided to tell the story mainly using pictures; so, here it comes, my not-so-useful-but-fully-pictured trip report –

A corner in Kenrokuen (兼六園); one of the must-go places in Kanazawa. I just liked the small teahouses by the ponds.

Have some hot matcha tea with fried rice balls. There are even gold foil flakes in the tea.

While P was checking how to get to our hotel, I wandered around the gift shops to see what to bring back this time. It was no wonder why the city is called Kanazawa (金沢, golden swamp by the name); there were so many products made of gold foil – gold foil mask, gold foil coffee, gold foil icecream, just to list a few. I am sure you will find your favorite gold foil product here.

Gold foil soft cream.

Let me do my due diligence to give some introduction after all. Kenrokuen garden (兼六園) is one of the Three Great Gardens in Japan (三大名園). It is a large garden with beautiful ponds here and there, and different bridges and trees arranged with good sense – if you are very into the Japanese gardens, Kenrokuen is like a collection of such beauties. Not to mention all the tea rooms (茶室) there are overlooking the ponds, that could bring you into a picture. I liked the hot amazake (甘酒, sweet Japanese sake) a lot, and I actually sit outside by the pond and had a cup of it.

Next to Kenrokuen is the Kanazawa Castle (金沢城). It was a cool Castle, and perhaps the most stunning moment we had over there was when we dared to try out the gold foil ice cream in a coffee shop close to the Castle. Spoiler alert! Gold foil actually tastes like, nothing – not really a flavor anyway, but it does do a good job in shining up your lip!

 

When we arrived the East Teahouse Street (東茶屋街) it was still of dim light. Two Japanese girls checking their pictures just taken.

The main street of East Teahouse Street in the dark.

When visiting the northern part of Japan, be it Hokuriku, Tohoku, or Hokkaido, it is recommended to pay a tribute to the local Japanese sakes while having the crabs and fishes harvested from the nearby sea of Japan for dinner in any restaurant or izakaya (居酒屋). A very recommended place is Omi-cho Market (近江町市場). There are fresh vegetables and seafood on sale, delicious food stand, and small izakayai open until late in the night.

I was all for the sea urchins. Unlike in Tokyo, sea urchins here are more common and even come with such a small plate of assorted Sashimi.

 

unluckily, the more famous crab ran out of stock that day. But this one was also delicious! Usually Japanese don’t eat female crabs, unless for this kind of crab.

 

Oyster is also one of the famous food here. It says “raw eating OK”. We were in time for the oyster festival (牡蠣祭り) and had some free oysters on the first day.

It says “loach”, well, to me it tastes close to Unagi (鰻), sea eel.

 

This is my favorite! Sea urchins. You can actually eat rawly right here, they provide sauce – but I don’t really need it.

 

Yummy!!

 

Kanazawa Oden (おでん) is kind of famous, too. It goes well with Japanese sake.

Besides the beautiful garden and castle, Kanazawa is also an elegant city to wander around. We had too compact a day on our first day there, therefore on the second day, we decided to simply get lost in this silver world – at least this was what I thought. We didn’t use the public transportation but walked aimlessly, and when the snow got heavy we just hid and waited, had some tea or just got ourselves.

Near the Nomura Samurai House (野村家 武家敷跡) area.

 

Lovely chinaware in a lovely Japanese styled house. Kaburaki-shop (鏑木商舗).

Take a random rest with rice cake and a cup of tea.

 

The tea room on the top level of Nomura Samurai House. I was sitting there having a moment of myself, while taken picture by a Japanese gentleman passing by.

After two full days touring around Kanazawa, I spent my second night at a onsen hotel in Kaga (加賀). Kaga is on the west of Kanazawa, with a 40 minutes rail riding, close to Fukui prefecture (福井県). As usual, I had a restful night with the fancy kaiseki ryori (懐石料理) and some good Japanese sake.

Outside the window of our room is the view of a creek in a narrow valley.

The Japanese sake we had for dinner. It is said to be served in Nobel award reception before.

 

In the morning. It was still snowing in the mountains with thin flog.

Walking around the small onsen town. The town in the far background looks like in a fairy world.

 

Before leaving for home, let’s have a bowl of hot kani shiru (蟹汁, crab meat miso soup), and get warmed up.

And, until the next time, we will be back to home, in Tokyo. 🙂

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Filed Under: Destinations, Favourite, Hokuriku, Japan, Travel Tagged With: foodtrip, goldfoil, japan, kanazawa, onsen, winter

2017 Wishlist: Travel part

January 14, 2017

The farther most of 2016 in Japan: Hanamaki, Iwate prefecture (花巻 岩手県) in July.

Let’s ignore the fact that it has been two weeks into 2017 already, that I just started to think about 2017. You see, after a lazy new year holiday break, followed by two crazy weeks of emails, urgencies, and work procrastinated from the last year, it is actually not easy for one with full time work to sit down quietly and meditate. However I had to, because it is my birthday month, therefore no matter what I would not want to delay the pleasure of thinking about travel plans this year as a “to-do” item into my new year.

For the past two years, I have been to most of the popular places around Tokyo, and getting quite familiar with some of those. This year I want to extend my coverage, from day trip focused travel style to two or three days compact travels, and go further into other prefectures than Kanagawa, Saitama, and Chiba. I have been to some, but I was too tourist alike and from this year I want to tour more like a local.

  • Hokuriku (北陸)

With the new Hokuriku Shinkansen (北陸新幹線) started it has become easier to travel there with a two or three days plan. I liked Nagano prefecture (長野県) when I went there last summer, and will definitely go again well planned this year. But Nagano is not the terminal of Hokuriku Shinkansen. This year, I will go to the Hokuriku prefectures for sure. Start with a three-day trip to Kanazawa in Ishikawa prefecture (金沢 石川県) for my birthday.

  • Kyushu (九州)

Nagasaki (長崎) seems to be a popular destination for tourists, but I was never a big fan of it. Similar places but not in Kyushu include Kobe, and Osaka. I would be interested in Kumamoto prefecture (熊本県), but with the earthquake last year, it may not be a wise idea now. It may be a good idea to go to Oita prefecture (大分県) for its famour Onsen in autumn or winter, and go to Miyazaki prefecture (宮崎県) for the only mango production in Japan, but where I have always been hoping to go is Kagoshima prefecture (鹿児島県), to see the volcanic island Sakura-jima (桜島) and adventure in Yakushima (屋久島) where it is said to be the origin of the famous movie Mononoke Hime (もののけ姫) of Miyazaki Hayao (宮崎駿).

  • Maybe…. Kyoto (京都)?

I really don’t know. Kyoto, is too popular with tourists these days – no season difference, full packs of tourists from Japan and overseas all year long. And no need to mention the high price of hotels and Ryokans as a result, and sometimes the deviations in the service. I would still, try to visit there during the Kouyou (紅葉) season, perhaps. It would be a big project as I may also go to the mountain areas nearby.

  • Xi’an, China

Home visit in February would be so much more fun with a visit to my birth place, Xi’an! I would probably not travel, as I am too familiar with this ancient city and all it could offer for a tourist, but will definitely share some advice on food hunting. Or anything else.

  • Cuba

This is definitely one of the biggest projects this year. It is kind of pity that I can only go to Cuba with Fidel Castro gone already, but I would hate it if I can not go while Cuba is still what it is now, before being changed by the outside world. Not sure if this is politically correct, though.

  • Peru

When my friend Nancy and I went to Spain for vacation last year, we originally wanted to go to Peru. But we couldn’t, because the ticket to Machu Picchu on our available days sold out by the time we decided our schedule. But this year we are going to make it! Hopefully.

So far, this is the plan. I will most likely change it along the year, adding more and removing some, but so far it looks good.

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Filed Under: "Junyi says..." Tagged With: blog, japan, travelplan, wishlist

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Current resident in Tokyo bringing you with good food, trips, and lifestyle ideas from the east! Read More…

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