Another quality YouTuber that produces content about Japan, in Japan, and with Japanese subtitles.
If you’re wondering what life is like in Japan, or if you’re already in Japan and are looking for things to do, you’re sure to find something on Miki’s channel. I certainly didn’t know about that meat sandwich place in Shimokitazawa. Going to have to check it out!
Looking for more Japanese YouTubers? Check out our other post, “Japanese YouTubers to boost your Listening Comprehension.”
Well this is unique, and immensely popular.
Ever wanted to learn a ton of fishing vocabulary, see some amazing seafood, or maybe learn something about Shoudoshima? Check out this Japanese YouTuber’s channel – he is a fisherman named Hamayuu and his videos regularly get more than 500,000 views.
Learn about random sea creatures and eat them!
Okonomiyaki is a staple food in Osaka. You can buy it any of the countless okonomiyaki shops, and most families have tried and true home recipes that they have used for years.
The whole point of okonomiyaki is that you can put pretty much whatever you want inside. The Japanese word “okonomi” お好み means “as you like,” and that’s where the name comes from. I’ve seen okonomiyaki stores that allow you to insert mochi (rice cake), cheese, egg, as well as the usual stuff. Different regions of Japan are known for doing different things, like Hiroshima is famous for stuffing noodles inside of their okonomiyaki.
This was a homemade creation at my Kansai family’s home.
What’s the most surprising thing you have seen in an Okonomiyaki?
Try making it at home! Might be fun!
Not just any rice. Koshi Hikari!
Koshi Hikari itself is known as one of the highest quality rice brands in Japan. Despite the unmistakable quality and brand recognition of the rice, I wouldn’t have guessed this beer was made with rice if it wasn’t on the label. It had a light smooth taste and was refreshing and easy to drink, as they say in Japanese. I didn’t find it particularly amazing, but it wasn’t bad. It is certainly unique. I would recommend giving it a shot if you’re looking for something uniquely Japanese to try. For what it’s worth, the bottle is also wrapped in paper, as if it were a bag of rice.
I later tried Swan Lake Beer’s Porter, which, in my opinion, was a much more interesting beer.
Links:
Swan Lake Beer: https://www.swanlake.co.jp/main/beer/en/
Review on Beer Tengoku (these guys know their beer): https://beertengoku.com/2015/09/03/swan-lake-koshihikari-lager/
Yoshinoyama (吉野山 or Mount Yoshino) in Nara prefecture is mainly famous for it’s beautiful cherry tree blossoms in the spring. However, I was in the area in the summer as part of another trip, and Google Maps led us to a wonderful soba shop, Yamatoan.
The staff are very friendly. Maybe it’s because we went on off-season and they weren’t very busy, but they took some extra time to tell us the difference in “inaka soba” (country-style old-fashioned soba) and regular soba. They also serve “soba yu” at the end of your meal, which the left over warm water that is left over from when the soba noodles were prepared. You’re meant to pour this warm broth into your soba dipping sauce (tsuyu) and drink it like tea.
The shop also had a big jambe drum from Mali… The staff told us that he used to play in a drum circle. I’m saying staff, but, he actually might be the owner, or manager, not sure. The shop also sells high-end hemp backpacks from Nepal. It’s that kind of natural place with a hipster vibe.
We cheated and came to Yamatoan by car. If you decide to walk up the mountain to get here, you’ll be sure to work up an appetite and you’ll enjoy passing by the other rustic shops along the way.
Good times! Good food! If you’re in the area be sure to check it out, might be fun.
Links:
Nara Sightseeing – Yamatoan
Address: 2296, Yoshinoyama, Yoshino-cho, Yoshino-gun, Nara Pref.
I’m no shochu connoisseur, but I’ve had a lot of shochu. My relatives drink a ton of the potato-based Kirishima, so I am using Kirishima as the basis of comparison for every shochu I have had recently.
I recently picked up a carton of potato-based Chihonokura from the Shirakawa Suigen area in Kyushu.
Compared to Kirishima this shochu has a much stronger potato flavor. Many people describe the potato flavor of potato-based shochu as stinky, and I think it’s not unfair to use that to describe this shochu. It’s not the stinkiest or most difficult to drink, but when you try Chihonokura there will be no doubt that you’re drinking a potato shochu!
I normally drink shochu with lots of ice. I couldn’t imagine drinking this one any other way, I’m sure I would have personally found it to be too strong.
Personally I won’t be seeking this one out again, but if you’re into the more powerful potato shochu’s it’s worth a try. I was able to easily find this at a regular grocery store in Japan.
Need a fancy loaf of bread? Sure you do! Try Noagmi Bread.
This double sized loaf on display costs 864 yen, or about $8.50 USD. A smaller loaf is 432 yen. I have had this bread on several occasions, and it’s delicious for sure, but it’s not something I would plan on eating every day.
Apparently Nogami is the first Japanese company to start selling high-end white bread in Japan. Now there are many similar specialty bakeries. Nogami has branches all over Japan. See if there is one in your location so you can find out what the hype is all about!
Links:
Yet another Takoyaki party! But is it TENKASU or AGEDAMA?
Many Japanese people from the Kansai area in western Japan have a Takoyaki kit as part of their kitchenware items. If there’s a home gathering of Japanese expats takoyaki will probably make an appearance before long.
The rice crispies looking thing you see above is called Tenkasu in Kansai-dialect. Until recently, I thought tenkasu was the regular name.
天かす てんかす “Tenkasu” Used in Kansai. The name comes from the left over stuff when you make Tenpura. The “ten” from “tenpura” and “kasu” basically means trash or residue.
揚げ玉 あげだま “Agedama” Used in the rest of Japan, it seems. Age means to “fry up,” and “dama” is a ball.
If you’ve never heard of Takoyaki, google it up. There are countless explanations!
If you’re looking for a quality local craft beer from Osaka you must try Minoh Beer.
Minoh beer is probably the easiest Osaka-based craft beer to find. You might be able to find it in a restaurant or craft beer bar. You can certainly buy it online from their shop, and you can occasionally find it in a random grocery shop. You may also have luck finding it in large cities outside of Osaka as well.
Minoh is a town in Osaka famous for its waterfall and beautiful foliage in the fall. The first time I went to Minoh I didn’t know about Minoh Beer and was mainly going for a nature-filled getaway from the hustle and bustle of Osaka. Some links about Minoh follow this post.
Minoh beer has been around since 1997. It is unique in that it is owned by three sisters. They have a relatively large line of beers and have won many awards. There is a Minoh Beer Warehouse in Minoh where you can tour and buy souvenirs. I haven’t been there… yet.
Here is an image of the Minoh Beer pamphlet (as of Feb 2020). You’ll see a pilsner, a weizen, a pale ale, a stout, a double IPA for their main line. They also have several seasonal offerings, including a Yuzu White for the winter season that I have never tried! Good to see that their product line continues to grow. More images of the pamphlet are at the bottom of this post.
This time I tried this Billikin Beer from Minoh Beer that I had never had before. It’s a light fruity beer that I think would be delicious on a hot summer day. It’s also the first canned beer from Minoh that I have tried.
What else is going on in Minoh?
I was digging through the archives of my old blog and found these words that I wrote about Minoh when I visited in 2005.
One of the local foods available in Minoh is called Momiji Tempura.
As you probably know Tempura is a way of deep frying lightly breaded foods so that when they are done they have a light brown crust of tasty goodness around them. You can tempura anything from shrimp to ice cream.
In Minoh they push tempura to the limits and throw their famous maple leaves into the mix. Maybe they have too many and are trying to control the population? Beats raking them I guess. Crunch.
Momiji Tempura just tastes like an extra crunchy tempura snack. You can’t really taste the leaves… The Tempura coating is more crunchy than usual tempura. You can pop ’em like potato chips. Fun for the novelty I guess.
Hey. Japanese time. Did you know that the kanji for TEMPURA is really tough? Tough like “soy sauce” and “rose” are tough. Japanese usually write the PURA in Hiragana. 天麩羅！！！ Learn to write this, and dazzle your friends next time you go out for tempura.
On another note of randomness… Apparently momiji trees are normally red, and then when fall comes they turn green. Opposite of most trees. This explains why I could have red momiji leave tempura in April… Fact or fiction?
Back to beer and Minoh related links:
Do you want to really geek out on Japanese Shochu? Check out these two videos featuring Stephen Lyman, America’s leading expert on Japan’s national distilled spirit: shochu.
Shochu is a nice, distinctly Japanese drink. Like whisky, different shochu labels have memorably different tastes and qualities. You can drink shochu on the rocks, split with warm water, with seltzer water, you can even do hot water and put an umeboshi into the glass.
As you’ll learn in Stephen Lyman’s videos, shochu is almost exclusively produced and consumed in Japan. Most shochu is made in Kyushu, and much of it is from relatively small distileries. Exploring the world of shochu might be fun! Give it a shot.
Drinking in general is not good for your health. However, among all the possible alcoholic beverages you can consume, Shochu isn’t the worst. In fact, Stephen documented his weight lost results when switching to a “shochu diet.” Apparently shochu has far fewer calories than other drinks. Another plus of shochu is that it is normally cheaper than whiskey or sake. A nice bottle of shochu, in Japan, will rarely exceed 4000 or 5000 yen. Very good bottles can be had for about 3000 yen. Very reasonable.
Still curious? Need more shochu info?
Interview with Stephen Lyman on Nomunication.jp: https://www.nomunication.jp/2019/06/18/kampai-samurai-stephen-lyman-shochu/
Wondering which Shochu were introduced in Stephen’s (@shochu_danji) interview with @jjwalsh? Here they are!
