Nagano Day 1

origamiunicorn ♦ July 28, 2018 ♦ Leave a comment

I got an early start today and took the JR Tokaido line to Tokyo on a very crowded car. From Tokyo, I took the Hakutaka Shinkansen to Nagano. My friend Mariko met me at the station. It was our first time meeting in person though we have been Skyping every work for almost a year now.

Kaiten Sushi

She was very nervous about meeting me and at first it was a little awkward. Once we got to her home and sat on the couch and started talking, things felt a little more comfortable. We picked up her daughter, Mihiro, and went out for Kaiten Sushi (conveyer belt sushi). We were welcomed to the restaurant by a Pepper robot. Our number was called and we found our table. The conveyer belt brings different kinds of sushi. Some is ordered and some is available to take. You can order special kinds on a computer screen at the table.

The first one I tried was salmon with pickled onions and a sauce. Mihiro’s favorite is Ikura (salmon eggs). She ordered one for herself and one for me to try. I tried Natto sushi. It didn’t taste that bad, but the texture was unpleasant to me. I tried raw ebi (shrimp), which is one of Mariko’s favorites. It was so delicate and delicious. After that, Maguro (tuna), Tai (sea bream) – one slightly smoky with Yuzu and salt on top and one raw and more salmon.

Also at the table were cups, matcha powder, and faucet dispensing hot water. 5 different kinds of Shoyu (soy sauce) were available and a giant container of picked ginger. Bowls with wasabi also came around on the conveyer belt. When your order was almost at your table, the computer screen would play a sound and let you know. Vigilance is important because you don’t want to miss your order!

Karaoke

After sushi, grocery shopping and ice cream, we walked to a Karaoke place. It was my first time ever doing karaoke. Mihiro picked a K-pop song that was translated into Japanese. She was fantastic. I sang Class A Team (Ed Sheeran) and I felt pretty good. Mariko did a song called Story (which I was supposed to learn before the trip, but just didn’t have the time). Mihiro did more K-pop, some very fast paced with some English lyrics. I tried Shake it Off and it was terrible. I tried Royals by Lorde and I had to stop because I was so bad. Ended with Bad Blood, but I didn’t know the lyrics well enough. All was well thought because it super fun regardless.

Takoyaki

Mariko and I cooked dinner together. She showed me how to make Takoyaki (octopus balls). We made a batter with flour, egg, Dashi and Nagaimo (very starchy root vegetable). I chopped leeks and the tako. We also used some of the nagaimo to make a salad. Mihiro made miso soup for next morning’s breakfast and also a cucumber salad with sesame dressing. When Mariko’s husband came home, he cooked the takoyaki while I made margaritas for everyone (non alcoholic for Mihiro).

There is a special cooker for takoyaki – it has about 30 little egg shaped cups to put the batter in. Then the batter is topped with a piece of Tako, leeks, picked ginger and Tenkasu (scraps of deep fried batter from tempura). When the bottom is cooked, a long toothpick is used to turn the balls over. They are topped with drizzles of takoyaki sauce and Japanese mayonnaise, a pinch of bonito flakes, and Aonori (powdered seaweed). Oishikatta!

After we finished our margaritas, Mariko’s husband poured me a glass of sake. I don’t usually care for it when I’ve tried it in the US, but this was delicious. I probably drank a little too much. But… shikatagani (it can’t be helped).

Conversation

I spent most of the day speaking exclusively Japanese. The evening conversation felt very comfortable. Mariko’s husband was sometimes hard to understand, but Mariko translated his Japanese into simpler slower Japanese. We talked about living in Japan – Mariko kept saying she hopes I will marry a Japanese man and move here. We talked about spicy food, sake, politics, driving on the left side of the street (the story is that it came about because samurai on horseback had their katanas on their left side), surfing and family.

There is nothing like pure immersion to learn a language. I will have to make an extra effort to keep practicing when I return to the US so I don’t lose all of my gains.

I was exhausted when I finally went to bed, but my insomnia woke me up as usual a few hours later. I saw a beautiful full moon and a bright mars visible right next to it. I was hoping to catch a glimpse of the lunar eclipse but when I woke a few hours after that there was too much cloud cover. Thankful nonetheless.