Yakitori – Where to, Gumshoe?

Sapporo (Day 61): Snow in April

April 30, 2016

We woke up this morning, looked out the window, and it was snowing! Not the magical white fluffy snow, but more of the wet icy type of snow. Tim checked the forecast yesterday and saw it was going to snow a bit today, and he was excited. I think he thinks it’s really magical (and romantic) when it snows.

We bundled up even more today and headed out. For lunch, we planned on going to a yakitori (grilled skewers) place we saw on our first night that looked good. We didn’t eat there that night because the wait was too long so we passed. When we got to the restaurant, they had a lunch menu displayed and it was all tonkatsu lunch sets. We then realized that yakitori isn’t lunch food, and thought to come back for dinner (third time’s a charm, right?).

Since it was cold out we decided to check out “ramen alley” in Susukino. We had watched Anthony Bourdain’s Hokkaido episode on our first night here and wanted to check it out. Instead of walking outside today, we headed straight for the underground (like the rest of Sapporo). When we got to Susukino and found “ramen alley”, half of the restaurants were closed. It’s Golden Week in Japan right now, so a lot of people are on vacation. The restaurants that were opened were not very busy, some were even empty (it was 12:30pm). We did pass by the restaurant that Anthony Bourdain went to, it was also pretty empty. We didn’t see anything that seemed too interesting and since we had ramen yesterday we decided to find something else (Tim: I should note here that while some of Kaitlyn’s posts might give the impression that I love ramen, I actually don’t like it all that much. There’s a very small subset of ramen I really enjoy (Tonkatsu broth, thin noodles, no bamboo shoots), otherwise most bowls of ramen fall way down on the noodle-soup rankings for me).

We walked around the block from ramen alley and found a tonkatsu restaurant that looked interesting. It is part of the Matsunoya chain, which serves mostly donburis, but this restaurant just specialized in tonkatsu. The prices advertised were extremely reasonable so we decided to give it a try.

Everything at Matsunoya was very good. It’s quite easy to find good quality cheap food in Japan. That’s something that we’re going to really miss when we leave Asia for Australia. After that filling lunch, we headed back to the underground and did a bit of browsing and last minute shopping at Muji, Uniqlo and Don Quijote, as our time in Japan is winding down.

While walking through Pole Town, we noticed a line up outside a bakery that made cheese tarts (similar to the ones we had at Pablo) and they also served Hokkaido ice cream. Before coming to Sapporo, everyone told us we had to have Hokkaido ice cream, as Hokkaido produces high quality dairy products. We got in line at Kinotoya Bake and ordered one cheese tart and an ice cream cone to share.

The ice cream cone was huge! The soft serve is different than what we’re used to. It’s a lot creamier and not as sweet (if you’re comparing it to Dairy Queen). The cheese tart was like a warm cheesecake except a bit more gooey. It was good, but we both thought the cheese tart from Pablo was better.

We came up from the underground and saw it was sunny and there were blue skies. It was the first time we’ve seen blue skies in Sapporo. I guess being underground for most of the day, you don’t get to see what’s going on outside. We went to the Former Hokkaido Government Office and walked around inside. It’s free to visit and there are rooms filled with Sapporo memorabilia – like letters from world leaders who attended the G8 Summit in Sapporo in 2008. The building is a beautiful red brick building and looked very western inside.

We went back underground and went to Sapporo Station to browse around at the stores. The Uniqlo at Sapporo Station is one of the better ones I’ve been to this trip. Since it’s Golden Week, there are a lot of sales going on. After trying on a lot of items, I restricted myself after thinking about my bulging backpack.

From our shopping today, here are some snacks that were interesting but we didn’t/couldn’t buy. Too bad all the specialty Glico Pockys are always in such big boxes. I knew that Hokkaido was known for its dairy products but I didn’t know they also specialized in cantaloupe/melon flavoured treats.

It was time for dinner so we walked back towards the yakitori restaurant, Kushidori. There were two other groups ahead of us and had to wait about 15 minutes. We got seated at the counter and ordered 15 skewers, edamame, and two drinks (ginger ale and a beer) for 28,000 JPY = $33 CAD. Everything was really good, I think yakitori is one of my favourite types of Japanese food. Grilled meat is so simple but it tastes so good. My favourites from tonight were the bacon wrapped mochi and the classic chicken and leek skewer. Most of the skewers we ordered were 130-140 JPY = $1.50 – $$1.65 CAD.

The restaurant is a block away from our hotel, so it was a short walk back. My favourite meals in Japan have been izakayas or yakitori restaurants. I guess I like bars in Japan even though I don’t drink. The only downside to eating at these places is that smoking is allowed, which is not something we’re used to.

It’s our last day in Japan tomorrow. I’m a bit sad to be leaving. There’s so much more to see and eat!

Steps today: 16,000

Okinawa/Sapporo (Day 59): From Summer to Winter

April 28, 2016

Our last morning in Okinawa was just packing everything up before the check out time at 11am. The sun was shining and it was about 28°C. We checked the forecast for Sapporo and it was a high of 11°C and a low of 3°C. We basically picked the two most extremely opposite parts of Japan (climate wise) to visit back to back.

Before checking out we went downstairs to the Family Mart and grabbed a few things for lunch – an egg salad sandwich, a fried chicken drumstick, and inari. We checked out and made our way to Asahibashi Monorail Station to take the train to Naha Airport. The train ride to get to the airport was 260 JPY = $3 CAD each. We arrived at the airport dripping in sweat, it was not a pretty sight.

When we arrived, we checked in and noticed that Tim’s boarding pass said Star Alliance Gold. He didn’t think he still had status this year but apparently he still does? Or maybe this is because he had gold status when we booked these flights. Anyway, we went to the ANA lounge and they scanned his boarding pass and we were allowed in. The lounge was very business oriented and quite small. They had some fresh juice, fountain drinks, Suntory Whiskey, Orion Beer, and some Japanese cracker snacks. Their Orion Beer pouring machine was really cool. Tim took a good video of it.

While sitting in the lounge, there were a bunch of fighter jets taking off from the airport. Except this time, these fighter jets were part of the Japanese Self-Defense Force. (Tim: We saw two jets take off in tandem and banked left together immediately after taking off… which was pretty cool). We had some drinks in the lounge before heading to our gate.

Our flight was delayed by 10 minutes, but still ended up getting to Sapporo on time. The flight was about 2 hours and 45 minutes. ANA domestic flights don’t offer much in terms of food or drinks (they only have coffee, apple juice, green tea, or consomme), which is a bit disappointing for an Asian airline. The best airline we’ve flown has been Bangkok Airways. For a domestic flight in Thailand (that was only an hour long), they served us drinks and a meal.

When we arrived in Sapporo and stepped out of the plane, we could immediately feel the cold crisp air, a stark difference from the warm humid air we were in a few hours ago. After we got our bags we headed for the JR New Chitose Airport Station where we caught a train to Sapporo Station. The train ride was about 35 minutes and cost us 1,070 JPY = $12.45 CAD each.

Our hotel, Nest Hotel, is about a 6 minute walk straight up the street from Sapporo Station. On our walk there, my sweatshirt was not cutting it. It was so cold! I don’t think we’ve been this cold since some time in February when we left Vancouver. Tim’s going to say it wasn’t that cold, but it was (Tim: it wasn’t that cold). We got to the hotel and checked into our room. The room was similar to other typical Japanese hotel rooms – small, double bed, with minimal space to put your luggage. But as always, everything is very clean so there’s not much more you can ask for. We got a pretty good deal on this hotel room, we’re paying $245 CAD for 4 nights here. We booked on Expedia and had a promo code for $100 off from TD Rewards.

We settled in and layered up. I wore my Heattech shirt from Uniqlo, brought out my scarf and my toque (I basically brought my toque just for Sapporo). We did a bit of research on what restaurants were close by since our plan for tonight was just to grab dinner and plan our next few days here. Since it was so cold out, I was actually craving ramen (which rarely happens). Sapporo is known for having good ramen, Hokkaido ramen, which is more of a miso based broth (vs. tonkotsu broth from Fukuoka/Hakata). My favourite ramen in Vancouver is Santouka on Robson, which is originally from Hokkaido. There’s actually a ramen area in Sapporo but it was too far of a walk for tonight, so we continued looking. Tim found a yakitori place one street over that sounded really good so we headed there.

When we got to the yakitori place, it did look really good but the wait for dinner was 45 minutes so we passed. We’ll try to go back again another day. We walked down the street and found an izakaya whose menu looked good so we went there. The izakaya was filled with smoking businessmen and women. We were seated at the counter since all the tables were full. Unfortunately, everyone to my left was smoking and blowing it my direction (I used my scarf to cover my nose when it got bad). We ordered a salad, yakitori, chicken karaage, fried squid, pork belly fried rice and edamame (which we thought was free but I think it’s free if you order drinks). Our bill came out to be 4,049 JPY = $47 CAD. Everything was tasty (we have yet to have a bad meal in Japan. *knock on wood*), but towards the end we wanted to leave as soon as possible since even more smoke was blowing our way.

The Sapporo Clock Tower was close to the hotel so we decided to take a quick look. We took a picture and then walked back quickly. It was too cold!

Looking forward to exploring another part of Japan in the next few days. It’s our last Japanese city we’ll visit before heading back to Taipei on Tuesday. April went by so quickly, I can’t believe it’s almost May. We’ll be more prepared with layering up even more tomorrow.

Steps today: 7,000

Tokyo (Day 49): Akihabara & Ginza

April 18, 2016

Today was our first full day in Tokyo and I was ready to explore. We decided to go to Akihabara, the Imperial Palace, and Ginza. We took our time waking up and getting ready. It was a sunny and warm morning in Tokyo, so it was nice to just sit and have breakfast at the apartment before heading out.

For lunch we decided to go to a place around the corner from our apartment. We had passed by yesterday and it looked like Marukame Udon in Honolulu (one of my family’s favourite restaurants). There was no English signage but everything inside looked exactly the same (after googling, it turns out it is a Marugame Udon but in the US they call it Marukame). They make their udon fresh in house and also serve tempura, onigiris (no spam masubis here), and inari cafeteria style.

After we sat down, I looked down at my tray and looked around. I had way more tempura on my plate than any of the other Japanese men in the restaurant. Most people only had their bowl of udon and one piece of tempura. I loaded my plate North American style.

After lunch we made our way to Akihabara, which is an area most known for their many electronic stores. But more recently, it’s also become a place where die-hard anime, manga and gaming fans congregate.

The first large building you see from the train station is Yodobashi Camera, which basically sells everything and anything electronic. We spent around an hour there circling each floor to see what they had. If you’re looking for a tripod, they probably have every tripod ever made for you to choose from. Sometimes I think with so much selection in Japan, it makes shopping a lot more difficult (Tim: see “The Paradox of Choice“, by Barry Schwartz). How many choices of electric shavers do you need?

Along with being the electronic area in Tokyo, it’s also referred to as the “hobby” area. We found a store called Mandarake, which is a 7 floor building filled with anime, comics, and toys – both new and second hand. We started on the top floor and worked our way down. There was quite a collection of expensive vintage toys that were interesting to see.

After browsing around for a couple of hours, we made our way towards the Imperial Palace. The Imperial Palace Park is near Tokyo Station in the Chiyoda District and its total area is 3.41 square kilometres. The park is made up of large gravel walkways and green grass patches with perfectly manicured trees. Unfortunately, you aren’t allowed to go on the grass, which makes this park a “no fun park” in my opinion.

After walking through the park we made our way to Ginza, a shopping district. It is home to many high end brands, department stores, and more importantly, the world’s largest Uniqlo (its flagship store). The streets were busier with tourists, some very loud and obnoxious ones (I had to push and shove a bit). Once we found the Uniqlo, we realized that groups of tour buses drop off bus loads of people right in front of Uniqlo (great…).

After going through each floor, we ended up just buying small umbrellas. Most of the clothing we had seen in our many trips to Uniqlos in the last 48 days (Tim: who would have though different Uniqlo locations sell the same thing?) and their sales sections were severely over picked since there’s obviously more people who shop at this location.

When we left Uniqlo, it was raining so we made our way back to Shinjuku for dinner. While lining up for sushi last night, Tim noticed a yakitori (grilled skewer) place beside it with fairly decent prices. We decided to give it a try since we hadn’t had yakiori on this trip yet. The restaurant was on the 2nd floor of the building beside Numakuzo, and when we entered we were surprised to see that the restaurant was quite large inside and full of (mainly) Japanese people.

We ordered a variety of yakitoris: chicken & leek, pork belly, chicken skin, and quail eggs. Besides the skewers, two dishes that I thought were very well done were the “Yokohoma croquette”, which was a mixture of beef and potato (180 JPY each = $2.10 CAD) and their chicken karaage, which was very tender and the batter was very light (380 JPY = $4.45 CAD) . I didn’t take pictures of a lot of our food because the skewers just came as they were cooked and we were really hungry.

We ordered quite a bit of food and everything was delicious. I would go back again if we have a chance. For two drinks, chicken karaage, 2 croquettes, yaki soba and 16 skewers, the bill came to 4,122 JPY after tax ($48 CAD).

After dinner we walked back to the apartment using a different route than usual and ended up walking through where a bunch of clubs and host bars are in Shinjuku. If you’ve watched Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown Tokyo episode, you will probably recognize some of the sights. We passed by the Robot Show which is supposed to be really interesting and very random. But the price per ticket is 8,000 JPY = $93 CAD, which is higher than what we would value watching that show. I think I would watch it for $20 CAD. We also walked past a lot of male host bars with their pictures all over the front of the buildings. Male hosts in Tokyo basically just sit and talk/flatter you while you’re eating dinner or having a drink.

We saw a lot more signage like the ones above on our way home. Tim asked if I learned anything about Tokyo today. I said I didn’t learn anything new because these were all things that I had heard about before coming here. But of course it’s different seeing it first hand. From the octopus porn anime (and other questionable comic books) to countless male host bars, I don’t understand Tokyo’s culture. I feel like if you put a male host bar in Vancouver with similar signage, people would see it as a joke and not take it seriously, but here it’s normal. The first word that comes to mind when I see all these things is that it’s so “weird”, but Tim corrects me and says it’s not weird, it’s just different (Tim’s the culturally empathetic one in our relationship). But to me, different is having to take off your shoes when you try clothes on at a store. Weird/wrong is having multiple comic books entitled “Rape All Girls” in stores (there is no apparent translation error).

Japan’s culture is just different and I don’t think I’ll ever understand it. Specifically, the fact that they have a whole other underbelly of anime porn, lots of prostitution, and hundreds of host bars makes it seem a bit counterintuitive as they want to present you with a certain polite image.

I think most westerners visiting Japan will tell you that Japanese people are extremely polite, everything is orderly and clean. But I also feel like everything is very surface level. A blog Tim reads regularly, called Wait But Why, talks about his experience in Japan (he just stayed in Tokyo) and how as a foreigner (or basically anyone not of 100% Japanese ancestry), there’s an impenetrable wall you can’t get past. Tim showed his cousin, who lived in Tokyo for 7 years this article and he agreed with it. We’ve only been here for 2 weeks and although people are super “nice” and polite, it does feel a bit empty. We both feel that people in Thailand were genuinely nicer and it wasn’t just surface level like it is here. Sure, not everyone in Thailand is super nice but that feels a bit more real, doesn’t it? Not everyone is happy 24/7. They took interest in you as a foreigner and it felt genuine. I guess that’s why Thailand is called “the land of smiles”.

But don’t get me wrong, I’m really enjoying my time in Japan, I appreciate how pleasant everything is, which makes visiting nice. Japan is very nice and pleasant.

Steps today: 22, 500