An evening of great sake and good food at Hiroshima's Koishi Sake Bar

Great sake and good food are to be had at the

Koishi Sake Bar in Hiroshima

 

I knew I was in good hands when this sake

was offered up to me! :b

 

Probably my favorite sake of the night :)

 

More than five years ago now, I had a revelatory evening at a sake bar in Tokyo called Sasagin.  Until that night, I had never known that the drink the Japanese call nihonshu and the rest of the world refers to as sake (which, actually, is the Japanese word for (all) alcohol(s)!) could taste so good and pure, with certain varieties tasting like alcoholic mountain water to my mind!

 

Since then, I must have drank thousands of liters of sake as well as come to have a favorite sake bar in the city where I live, Hong Kong.  And before my most recent Japan trip, I decided to solicit recommendations from a sake industry insider for good places to drink sake in the city that I'd be spending the most evenings: Hiroshima; and consequently ended up spending a few very pleasurable hours at the Koishi Sake Bar located in the heart of the city's entertainment district.

The sister establishment of Ishimatsu Sandaime, an izakaya specializing in seafood from the Seto Inland Sea, the Koishi Sake Bar is located right next door but quite a different beast in terms of atmosphere and set up.  Very elegant looking and really quiet when I got there, I actually was the sole customer there for the first hour or so; something I took full advantage in terms of my having the undivided attention of its single, knowledgeable and friendly bartender who initially appeared to have been rather intimidated at the prospect of having to speak English but calmed down considerably and opened up after I told her that I'm no stranger to sake bars and usually start with a carafe of Dassai!

 

Since the Koishi Sake Bar had a selection of over 100 sakes, I opted to drink by the glass on the evening concerned but did, partly out of habit, and partly to see how it would taste in its native land, opt for a Dassai -- the 23 (as in made with rice whose grains have been polished down to 23 percent of the original), to be exact.  To go with it, I had the otoshi that came with the seating charge and, this time around, consisted of herring roe (yum!), ankimo/monkfish liver (more yum!) and kuromame/sweet black soybeans (actually also pretty yum!).  

After I asked the bartender for recommendations and she brought out a bottle of the flagship sake of the brand known in Japanese as Kuheiji but also has Eau du Desir written on its bottles, I knew I was in safe hands -- as I had tried sake from this brewery on a visit to Sasagin and loved it!  And while the third sake I tried that evening was not as incredible, the fourth -- a Juyondai junmai daiginjo -- proved to be very tasty indeed and may well have been my favorite drink of the night!

 

To go with all that sake I drank that evening, I had a plate of assorted sashimi that was not super exciting but perfectly respectable, a delicious abalone dish that made use of its liver as well as meat, and a bowl of vegetable chips that really was the kind of bar snack that I wish all bars would have.  And while all that food may not have seemed to be on the substantial side, I honestly can attest to it appearing to have been sufficient to help me to avoid having a hangover the next morning.  Oh, and I do think it helped that a large bottle of mineral water -- which I did completely drain -- was part of the bar's otoshi! 

 

And yes, I know that some people consider it rather sad to drink alone.  But I must say that I often enjoy being out in Japanese bars on my own.  In izakaya, I tend to end up fixating on -- and very much enjoying -- the food and drink.  And in sake bars, I really do get much pleasure from tasting some really excellent nihonshu and love that once they realize that you're a sake lover, the people behind the bar invariably get super into introducing (and talking about) good sake to you! ;b     

Not your usual critter spottings at Aberdeen Country Park!

Herons in flight -- at Aberdeen Country Park!

 

An egret and a tortoise at Aberdeen Lower Reservoir

 

Wild boar at home at the edge of Aberdeen Country Park

 

A welcome lull in the recent cold spell here in Hong Kong (which saw frost kill crops in the New Territories!) had me heading to the hills for a hike this afternoon.  And so warm was the temperature today that I saw a lot more critters out and about today than I expected. 

First up was a grasshopper that was so well camouflaged that my camera refused to focus on it.  I must admit to wondering for a time whether I had missed my chance to document my best critter spotting of the day.  But as the hike went on, I got to realizing that the small insect was by no means the only (non-human) critter that was out enjoying the +20 degrees Celsius weather!  

 

Among other things: The variety as well as number of birds I spotted on Hong Kong Island today rivalled that which I observed on a visit to Hong Kong Wetland Park earlier in the week!  And for the record: today really was the first time ever that I spotted heron and egrets in Aberdeen Country Park!!

 

With regards to the former: what really amazed me was the quantity that were present in the area; something I was alerted to after a bunch of them that looked to have decided to roost at the edge of Aberdeen Upper Reservoir suddenly took flight as a result of a kite flying close to them.  With regards to the latter: they do seem to be much more solitary creatures; which made me all the more amazed and amused to spot one in the vicinity of another animal -- and a tortoise to boot rather than another bird!

 

A good measure of how surprising I found these critter spottings is that I actually wasn't as excited to come across as a couple of wild boar at the edge of Aberdeen Country Park late in the hike.  Although that normally would cause quite a stir, the fact of the matter is that I've seen wild boar in that area before.  Indeed, a country park official I got to talking to confirmed that the wild boar have made that section of the country park their home -- as well as assured me that they're quite safe to be around since they're actually become used to the presence of humans near them! :O

Thoughts on the past, present and future on the way to and at Hiroshima Castle

The atom bomb hypocenter in Hiroshima

 

Puppet Ponyo poses with the rebuilt Hiroshima Castle

 

View from the top floor of Hiroshima Castle

showing how rejuvenated the city is

 

After my enjoyable oyster lunch at Kanawa, I decided to head over to Hiroshima Castle; this despite my tending to be an original castle purist who consequently eschewed the chances to visit the reconstructed castles in Kokura, Kanazawa, Okayama and Takamatsu when I spent time in those cities.  One of my reasons for doing so is because, well, there's really not that much in Hiroshima that survived the atom bombing of the city on August 6th, 1945 to check out.  Another is that, as it so happened, I happened to have had lunch very close to the Peace Memorial Park and after doing so, I felt like going to visit an edifice whose rebuilding in 1958 can be linked with the city's revival. 

 

On the walk over to Hiroshima Castle, I passed by the atom bomb hypocenter whose site is marked with a stone information plaque that one could easily pass by without much of a glance as it's so modest in size and overall appearance.  It's one of those great ironies that the atom bomb was dropped right above a hospital -- which was completely destroyed by the blast but has since been rebuilt and is operating again.  And here's what one learns over and over again in Hiroshima: that terrible devastation occured there but life actually has gone on, and the city has actually risen like the metaphorical phoenix from the ashes.     

 

In the grounds of Hiroshima Castle, I came across the ruins of the Imperial General Headquarters and obeyed an urge to give it a kick.  Much to its credit, Hiroshima does not hide the fact that one reason why it was chosen to be the atom bomb target was that it was a militarily important site; with the Imperial Japanese Military's headquarters being situated in the city in addition to the country's largest naval base and arsenal being located nearby at Kure.  For my part, when looking at the site where so much violence and deaths were planned, and which came to bring about such terrible retribution (including on so many civilians resident in the city), I must confess that my emotions got the better of me.

 

Also within the Hiroshima Castle grounds are the ruins of a war office communications bunker where student aides had been stationed along with military men.  Standing by there, one is more inclined to mourn the dead there as victims -- and not just because there's a shrine to their memory there.  Rather, it's that a good number of the people there were civilians and so very young.  Indeed, it was a girl who was just 14 years of age at the time who was the first to emerge from the semi-underground bunker after the atom bomb was dropped, be witness to the destruction all around her and sent out the first radio report of the devastation to the outside world.

 

After all this, a visit to Hiroshima Castle's main keep can feel rather anti-climactic; and this all the more so when one sees how ordinary looking its concrete interior is.  To be sure, there are some interesting displays and videos about the samurai era of the castle's and the city's history within.  But, in all honesty, they're not all that awesome and can't really make up for the building's lack of historical atmosphere, never mind the kind of aesthetic beauty that the likes of Himeji-jo and Matsumoto-jo have in spades.    

For all this though, I'm glad that I did go to Hiroshima Castle, into its main keep and all the way up to its top floor -- because the views from up there really show how rejuvenated the city is.  This development gladdens my heart for many reasons, including it giving me hope that humans really can overcome great adversity and also learn from past mistakes in a way that can benefit future generations.      

Delicious oysters and friendly conversation at Hiroshima's Kanawa

An enticing plate of raw Hiroshima oysters on the half shell! :)

Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki complete with oyster topping!

 

There's no two ways about it: the food in Japan plays a very big part in my decisions to visit the country; with my sometimes basing my choices of where to go in the Land of the Rising Sun on what local delicacies are to be had in this place and that, and my actually being motivated to return to Hiroshima so soon after my previous visit to the city as a result of my discovering that oysters tend to be eaten raw in the area only in winter!  

So it was rather ironic that I discovered that the oyster restaurant where I finally got to feast on raw oysters on the half shell in Hiroshima apparently serves up those raw oysters all year round -- unlike many other restaurants in the area -- thanks to their having their own dedicated stock of the succulent bivalves!  Put another way: Unless I misheard what the friendly server told me, I apparently could have enjoyed those delicacies in October (even when it was warmer than usual), not just this winter!

Rather than get upset about that though, I decided to just enjoy my meal and the overall experience at Kanawa, a restaurant that's actually located in a barge anchored on the eastern bank of the Motoyasu-gawa (translation note: gawa means "river" in Japanese).  Owned by a family whose ancestors include a man who started farming oysters in 1867 and founders of oyster shops in Tokyo and Osaka in 1946, this venerable dining establishment is one of those whose class is evident from when you approach its entrance all the way through to your exiting the place.

At Kanawa, the attention to detail can be pretty incredible.  For example, I was informed that the complimentary water served is actually the kind of water that's used in sake brewing (i.e., super pure).  Also, while the English menu lists different ways in which the oysters are served, I was verbally informed by my server after telling her that I wanted to have my oysters raw that they serve two different types of oysters in this manner -- distinguished not by geographical origin (all of Kanawa's oysters are farmed around Nomijima, "where the water is saltier and clean for safety") but by age (with the "regular" oysters served being six months old but 12-month-old oysters also being available for a slightly higher price).

After some thought, I went ahead and ordered a "regular" platter of five six-month-old oysters augmented by two that were twice their age.  When they arrived at my table (along with a couple of slices of lemon and a container of whiskey-flavored oil, which I eschewed since whiskey is one of those alcohols whose taste I'm actually not partial to!), it was actually really noticeable how much larger the older oysters were than the younger ones.  And when I tasted them, I was surprised by the increased delicacy of the flavor that the 12-month-old oysters had in contrast to the noticeably saltier younger bivalves!

In any case, I think it must have been pretty obvious that I was enjoying my meal (which also included a carafe of delicious junmai ginjo sake -- and yes, I think nihonshu goes really well with oysters as well as sushi and sashimi!).  At the very least, my good mood looked to have been evident enough for an elderly Japanese woman seated at a nearby table to decide to get to chatting with me!

Among other things, she confessed that she and her husband find it hard to eat more than four oysters at a single seating since the oysters that she's used to -- those from the Hiroshima area, seeing as the two of them are Hiroshima area residents -- tend to be on the large side.  In turn, I told her that I tend to be one of those people for whom six oysters doesn't seem enough but one dozen (which is what many Americans can easily devour) seems too much; so I tend to think that seven to ten tend to be the ideal for me!

Also revealed over the course of our conversation was that her husband would be celebrating his 75th birthday the next day.  A quick calculation got me realizing that the birthday boy was born in 1943, and it felt so very amazing that the three of us were chatting amiably and were alive in 2018 since, some two and a half years after his birth, a deadly atom bomb was dropped over his city (and, as a matter of fact, its hypocenter was just a few minutes' walk away from the restaurant).  But rather than allude to that, I just wished him a hearty happy birthday in advance, causing a big smile to break out on his face.

Something else that got the couple smiling was my telling them how much I also loved Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki, and my having had one topped with oysters over at one of the stalls jammed onto three floors over at Okonomi-mura the previous day.  I'm sure they'd have been doubly amused to learn that the last meal I had before I left Hiroshima a couple of days later consisted of Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki once more; this even though I left the city before noon and thus can honestly say that I've had Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki for breakfast, lunch and dinner (though not all in one day -- I'm not that insane, okay?)! :D 

From Hiroshima to Osaka (and back) for a 60cm Funassyi plush!

The sight that greeted me at the main entrance of

the Osaka Funassyiland on my recent Japan trip :)

 

Pear, Pear, everywhere! ;b

50cm Funassyi, 60cm Funassyi and 120cm Funassyi

have pride of place at the Osaka Funassyiland!!!

 

How much do I love Funassyi?  One way to discern how much is by way of tabulating the amount and very increase in the number of Funassyi-related items I've come to own in the few years that I've become a fan of the Pear (Fairy) from Funabashi.  Another gauge of the depths of my adoration of this lovable gotouchi chara is that my having already visited three out of the four permanent Funassyilands that exist in meatspace: that is, those in Harajuku, the Pear's hometown, and Osaka (with only the Nagoya one left unvisited thus far).

 

Then there's it being so that on my most recent visit to Japan, I went all the way from Hiroshima to Osaka (and back) to acquire a 60cm Funassyi plush that I got to wanting ever so much after hearing of its existence and how very soft and huggable it is; this despite my already owning such as a very cuddly 50cm Funassyi plushie and super cute 45cm Sleeping Bag Funassyi.

 

In the days leading to my Japan trip, I got to worrying that 60cm Funassyi would be out of stock before I stepped foot once more in the Land of the Rising Sun.  After all, the initial batch of 120cm Funassyis sold out in minutes and now need to be pre-ordered; with the next batch only being due out again in March!  

 

So it was with no small amount of relief that as I approached the main entrance of the Osaka Funassyiland, I saw a staffer standing around outside cradling a 60cm Funassyi in her arms -- and more 60cm Funassyis seated on the display section out in the front of the store!  And it wasn't too long before I had picked up one of them to call my very own!  

For those who are wondering: 60cm Funassyi is actually a bit fatter looking than I expected -- and, in fact, I reckon that 50cm Funassyi actually looks more like the real/head Pear than the larger plushie.  In 60cm Funassyi's favor though is it truly being softer and arguably more huggable than the 10cm smaller variant.  Something else that's really good about it -- which I found out over the course of the next few days -- is that it will spring back to shape after being flattened for a bit after being packed (stuffed?) in a pretty full suitcase with other items!    

 

When will the Funassyi mania end?  Touch wood but I don't think it will for the foreseeable future.  After all, 2017 saw the Pear chalk up new achievements such as successfully form a gotouchi chara band (called CHARAMEL) which embarked on tours, released a CD and a couple of tour DVDs, and themed Funassyi trains and buses running in various sections of Funassyi's home prefecture of Chiba!  Oh, and I also love that the Pear's Twitter account has 1.49 million followers (at the time of this blog post) and that Funassyi personally updates it pretty much daily -- and in so doing, lets its fans know what its up to and pretty much almost never fails to keep us amused! :)))

Western art on permanent exhibition and works by Hiroshige on temporary special display at the Hiroshima Museum of Art

Within this building can be found artworks by masters

such as Renoir, Van Gogh, Picasso and Rodin

 

And yet the Hiroshima Museum of Art doesn't seem to

attract all that many visitors! :O

 

The special exhibition that was the number one reason why 

I went and visited this particular museological establishment!

 

On my first ever visit to Hiroshima last October, I made the obligatory visit to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and Peace Memorial Park.  I also stuffed myself with Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki and other delicious foods, and visited the restored (post Atom bomb devastation) Shukkeien.  But it wasn't until my second visit to this rejuvenated Japanese city that I went and checked out one of its three (major) art museums.

 

When deciding between which of them I'd (first) visit, the Hiroshima Museum of Art easily won out over the Hiroshima Prefectural Art Museum and Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art once I discovered that there was a special exhibition on there of well-known works by Hiroshige, perhaps the most famous ukiyo-e artist ever other than Hokusai; and this despite the admission fee to this private museological institution having been increased by 300 Yen because of the special exhibition taking place to 1,300 Yen (making it more than thrice as expensive than that for the Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art and around two and half times more expensive than that for the Hiroshima Prefectural Art Museum).

 

In view of my ending up spending three and a half enjoyable hours checking out the offerings at the Hiroshima Museum of Art, I actually consider that to be money well spent.  Make no mistake: Hiroshige's Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido series of woodcut prints are really something to behold, as is the master's Four Seasons in Edo.  The detail in them is amazing, and many of the works really are things of beauty.  And the icing on the cake with regards to this particular exhibition is that it details and offers up examples of the variations between the first and later, altered print editions of same-titled works in the series!

 

On a personal note: it was fun to see 18th century views of parts of Japan that I've visited in this century, notably Hakone and Kyoto.  I also thought it rather cool to discover via the Hiroshige art exhibition that a Japanese friend's hometown -- which she reckons so few people outside of her native country know about that it's easier to just say that she's from (relatively) nearby Yokohama instead -- actually is one of the historic 53 stations of the Tokaido!

 

Also on temporary exhibition at the museum were netsuke from the collection of Prince and Princess Takamado.  I first learnt about these miniature sculptures first created in 17th century Japan that functioned as pockets for wearers of kimono and other pocket-less traditional Japanese garments while at college in Wisconsin because its art museum had a sizable netsuke collection.  And it was interesting to find out at this art museum in Hiroshima that the artistic values of netsuke are more greatly appreciated outside of Japan than within it.

 

Something else that I found interesting at the Hiroshima Museum of Art is that the jewels -- and bulk -- of its permanent collection appears to be Western rather than Japanese artworks.  And while a good many of these pieces could be said to be minor works of the featured artists, the individuals concerned are none other than the likes of major names such as Claude Monet, Edouard Manet, Auguste Renoir, Auguste Rodin, Vincent Van Gogh, Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso, to name just a few!  

 

When visiting the likes of this museum and the Ohara Museum in Kurashiki as well as the National Museum of Western Art in Ueno, Tokyo, it seems to me that there really is a major appreciation for Western as well as local art in Japan.  To be sure, on my visit to the Hiroshima Museum of Art, the rooms where Western art were pretty deserted while those highlighting traditional Japanese art had more people in them.  But I think it may actually be more a reflection of the Western art being on permanent display (and have been seen before by many a Hiroshima-based art lover) while the works of Hiroshige and the netsuke are/were available to be viewed at this venue for only a finite amount of time! ;b   

The special boxed meals that are ekiben

My first meal after arriving in Japan on my 

most recent trip to the Land of the Rising Sun

 

Another ekiben I had on this recent Japan visit

 

This recent Japan trip began in Fukuoka, a city on the island of Kyushu that actually was the very first place in Japan that I ever visited -- way back in the fall of 1982!  Many years later, I returned to Fukuoka on a trip that I'll forever associate with my having discovered the triple wonders that are Yokoyama Taikan's art, Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki, and mentaiko (a spicy pollock roe delicacy particularly associated with Fukuoka's Hakata ward).

So I found it symbolic and appropriate that on the shinkansen ride from Hakata Station to Hiroshima, I would dine on an ekiben that had mentaiko among its ingredients along with grilled ox tongue, pickled vegetables and rice.  And while that combination -- especially of fish roe and ox tongue -- may sound rather strange (and I will say that it's the first time that I ever had it together in a dish, boxed or not), I must say that I found it absolutely delicious! 

 

So heavenly did I think that boxed meal tasted, in fact, that I inadvertently let go of my wheeled suitcase -- with the result being that it glided away from me and across the aisle into the row of seats over on the other side before I could react!  Fortunately, the startled solitary passenger in that row had enough sense to halt the movement of that suitcase, and without any damage to herself.  And it's a further measure of how much of a good mood that meal put me in that my embarassment over the incident soon faded away and I was able to quickly focus (fixate?) once more on my tasty ekiben!

 

Several days later, I had another boxed meal on the shinkansen.  This time around, the bento consisted of grilled marinated strips of beef, shirataki noodles (made from konnyaku), sweet corn and a few other vegetables, and rice.  But while the ingredients were pretty different, this ekiben also tasted pretty good -- and made me feel that it really makes for a nice experience to eat ekiben on board a shinkansen and understand why this is something that many local folks consider to be an integral experience when travelling by train in Japan.

 

For those who're wondering: there are meat-less ekiben.   There even are rice-less ekiben.  There actually even are ekiben that are self-heating!  And when you consider that one Michelin starred-Ueno of Miyajimaguchi's anagomeshi was originally created to be an ekiben, you know that these often aren't ordinary boxed meals -- and, indeed, really can be a gourmet's delight! ;b