Tag: #japan

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Japan – food and drink

these are from my last trip in Japan.

It’s not creepy, it’s just creap, short for creamy powder, the equivalent of coffeemate
Elegant salmon with scallops and ……
This is my breakfast in the Wakayama business hotel . Not really exciting
This is a little more exciting, breakfast in one of the Toyoko Inn Hotels
Some really excellent beef
Miso ramen down the famous Sapporo Raman alley which is the host of the famous Sapporo Ichiban
Way too many people lined up for the most famous Ramen so I went down the alley a little bit and had some excellent Ramen which you see above
And one of the underground stations you can buy sandwiches in the machine
And the hotel you have machine delivering soft drinks and coffee and tea for breakfast buffet
In the subway station you can buy all sorts of things including baseball caps in a machine
You can buy ice cream also from this famous prefecture well known for dairy products, Hokkaido
In Asahikawa this Tonkatsu restaurant was featured in a television presentation and the food was excellent
This is the tonkatsu (deep fried breaded pork cutlet) with a little bit more sauce than most people use. Excellent food
Sapporo was the place this country loved learning and producing German style beer. This large and very long park has months long beer festivals.
Each company has their own large area
Even Craft beers are present
Even this very famous Munich beer company is present
Meanwhile, back in my old neighborhood sushi restaurant …
You could see the name of the restaurant with the phone number. Everybody here is a lot of fun
But after the sushi restaurant we went to a Thai nightclub serving some of my favorites
Another breakfast, not fantastic but good enough to fill me up to start the day
In Okachimachi, Tokyo you can find this famous Chinese Gyoza restaurant
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Japan- food

One of my favorites made in my favorite sushi Drinkery
Nice and fresh oysters
With my former neighbors and one of my best college friend’s son (studying in Japan)
This is one of the better breakfasts I had, curry rice Japanese style
The old wartime navy food never dies. Spam mixed with tuna and mayonnaise wrapped in seaweed
Cornell graduates, and a friend’s son, gathering for a meal in Tokyo
Nice little snacks for dinner
One of my favorite breakfast meals
A not so good free hotel breakfast
A standard lunch
Wild duck
A few veggies more than half eaten
A very tasty but simple lunch
Special beef at a very popular Wakayama Korean barbecue
Very special rice as well
A very simple meal which I find incredibly nice, grilled beef of different marbling with KimChi and rice
With a seaweed soup
This is the Korean barbecue in Wakayama I really recommend
you know by now this is one of my favorites
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Japan 2024

Full bloom near my old house Temple
Very clean train
This was Being promoted
There was some shaking but nothing significant
A clear view of Mount Fuji from the hotel
Beautiful evening view from the room
One of my favorites
The only Cuban cigars we could find that week. Cubans are in short supply
My friend’s car.
Very boxxy
An Irish pub in downtown Wakayama
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japan – wakayama and…

Wakayama is kind of a quiet town with a decreasing population like many non-major cities in Japan but I have a close college friend who lives there and so I visit from time to time to enjoy the good food and the company. This time I just flew in from Bangkok for four days and then one day in Tokyo before flying back.

We smoke Cubans in his car on the way to dinner
My first quality Ramen in five years
These dolls are placed as a seasonal celebration, a shrine near Wakayama
The front of the shrine
The gate (Torii)
The business hotel where I stayed has a very uninteresting breakfast but it’s included
On Christmas day we had a nice tiramisu at a French style restaurant
In general the food was not too much and very tasty, Japanese – French style
Cute car. Only 600 cc. It’s a shame this company lied and cheated and had to shut down until they made certain acceptable corrections
A very nice lunch
A friend’s house, very traditional
Coming into Narita you can see some solar farms for the local residents
Friends at a countryside karaoke bar (snack) before a yakuza boss walked in
Representing Thailand, Japan and Borsalino land
It was a very clear day. Yes you can see Mount Fuji
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Akita area – nice people

Start of the “white trip” (not White Album)

Due to the salt air and sea waves washing up on the roads cars last only about 5 years. 

At most of the stations yesterday, due to the severe weather, almost none of the station masters checked tickets. 

Only 2 people were on the train from Fukaura to NishiNoshiro. 

No fishing in the winter so expect frozen fish everywhere. Due to the warming seas the formerly plentiful fish near the surface have gone deeper so fishing is tougher and more expensive. Overfishing near shore means longer trips for fishermen. 

There are many natural hot springs along this oceanside. 

Young people leave to work in the cities, reducing the population and make it tougher to economically sustain these rural areas and provide services to the aging population. 

Rice fields by the sea in winter. Is the rice salty?
Aomori to the west coast, along the coast to Akita and then down to Niigata
Almost whited out
And if wind and snow cancel the trains JR takes you by bus and taxi. White out so from Kawabe the train can’t run. We boarded a bus and are going by road. It was very efficient. Good thing we switched to bus. We can see the snowy scenery. The train windows were so fogged up it was showing signs of disappointment. 
My Akita hot springs room
Evening snack with Sapporo beer
Morning Coffee
Everyone loves old steam locomotives
An immigration mistake

Arrived at Ajigasswa but no transport from there on due to high seaside winds so JR hired a taxi for two customers to go as far as Fukaura. There I went to Sailing to eat before the train to NishiNoshiro. Everyone is so happy to see everyone. Lots of happy energy here.