Mochi, a no gluten, no cholesterol, all carb gelatinous rice ball. Plain, it tastes like you’d suspect rice flour would taste. With filling, like red bean paste or chocolate cream or matcha, it’s a one-squishy-sticky-bite with just enough sweet to call it a dessert. Sticky as in peanut-butter-sticks-to-the-roof-of-your-mouth sticky. The texture and stickiness varies according to…
Author: Ella
More photos from Sengan-en
Post by Ella The day was beautiful. Temps in the high 60’s, blue skies The pair of Satsuma-ware vases (photo below)are an exact replica of the set presented to Nicholas II, the last Emperor of Russia, by the 29th head of the Shimadzu family, Tadayoshi in 1896. The originals were made by the 12th generation…
Cat lovers rejoice
Post by Ella The Cat Shrine at Sengan-en (mentioned by Grubb in his “Span of the clan” post) “enshrines the two cats that safely returned from the battlefield out of seven that were taken”. Were they warrior cats? I searched for an answer. It seems cats were taken to do battle with rodents. Hungry combatants…
Photos Sakurajima island
Post by Ella
Calculator conversion
Post by The Nerdy one Did you know…iPhone users…your built-in calculator has a currency converter. I’m not sure how often the calculator has its conversion rates updated, but most sources say once a day.
Small bowls delicious
Post by Ella Kagoshima is a small town of 600,000 people. Compare that to Osaka city with nearly 3 million and Tokyo city with 14 million. Our hotel in Kagoshima is not in an area with many restaurants so we relied on google maps to locate a few choices. We walked into a tiny place…
…Yaki
Okonomiyaki is a savory Japanese pancake, usually made with a batter of flour, eggs, and dashi (Japanese broth or water), and then filled with shredded cabbage. Usually meat or seafood is folded in. Very thick. More than an inch I’d say. The topping is a Japanese mayo. Bonito flakes are available if you’d like to…
Takkyubin
Post by Ella What a deal. Luggage forwarding service (known as Takkyubin) is common all over Japan. I’ve used it three times now. From Osaka, we forwarded one suitcase to Fujiya Mae, our ryokan on our 4th night of our hike. We exchanged dirty underwear and socks for clean and stuffed little trinkets we’d picked…
Fron city to volcano by Shinkhansen
Post by Ella Osaka to Kagoshima, home of Mt. Sakurajima. 4 hrs 15 min. Not non stop but stops were brief. Be ready to get off (or on) the second the train stopped. One thing about going so fast (up to 200mph), it’s hard to appreciate the scenery. Quite a bit of the time we…
Riding the trains
Post by Ella Japan Railways (JR) is a mega corporation that runs the majority of train lines in Japan. There are branches: JR East, JR West, JR Hokkaido to name a few. Each has its own website and there is no unifying theme for the look and feel of the interface. There are also many smaller…
When the earth moves
Post by Ella Weather and geologic stuff happen all the time here. There is an app for that. Safety Tips gives you the latest info about earthquakes, tsunamis, cyclones and volcanic eruptions. Earthquakes especially are common here and all new buildings (1990s I think and later) are superbly engineered for earthquake resilience. If you allow…
47. Good Fortune
Post by Ella Yesterday, a day trip to Nara, home to a famous deer park and several temples, shrines and gardens. At Kohfukuji, a temple that originated in 630, I paid my 200 Yen and received Good Fortune #47. Nothing goes the way you would like at first, but if you work hard perseveringly, you will…
Full on Osaka
Post by Ella Time to join the city crowds. See some sights. Yesterday we headed towards the highly touted Dotonbori area. Might have a resemblance to Times Square. Dotonbori Shopping. Long rows of covered arcades filled with vendors. What are you looking for? All flavors of Kit Kats? capsule toys? shoes?UniQlo clothing? Ferris wheels, animatronic…
Bahaha juice
Post by Ella Yesterday we had a few hours to kill in Kii-Katsuura waiting for our train to Osaka. A very small town but an important tuna fishing port. We wandered, were stopped by friendly locals to see if we needed help (we may have looked a bit bedraggled). One pulled up beside us and…
By the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea
Post by Ella A big day. It’s April 1 here. Grubb’s 75th birthday and our anniversary (16 years married, together 20). Can we give the old arthritic man a congratulations for accomplishing the Kumano Kodo? Hotel Urashima, the most famous resort in western Japan. Situated on the Pacific with the waves crashing practically at the…