Shane’s Japan Trip Report Day 7
Japan Trip Report Day 7: Hidden Gems in Small Town Japan
I was thinking of heading to Tokyo a day early, but decided to wait until tomorrow and go with my wife instead. Now I wish I had gone, because the weather is just awful. Gusty winds, pouring rains, nowhere to go and nothing to do. My wife is determined to eat ramen today, and since I don’t eat meat, and thus ramen, I told her to go ahead. This day’s probably going to consist of a lot of sleep, TV, and iJewels, an addictive Itouch game that I suck at. Maybe we can go one last time to Sakura no Yu. Tomorrow for sure we will head to Tokyo, where I’m sure there will be much more to report.
Sophisticated French Food in Small Town Japan
Well, it turned into a pretty interesting day after all. As planned, my wife went with Otoo-san to eat ramen, and I ended up going with Okaa-san to a quaint little French restaurant called Bistro Naomi. Now, understand that the town of Yoshida is one of the many towns in Japan with a rapidly aging and decreasing population. As I’ve written about before, the once vibrant downtown feels more like a ghost town, with most of the shops shuttered and virtually no pedestrian traffic.
And yet, in Japan, even within such a small town, it really isn’t surprising that one is still likely to find a sophisticated French bistro like Bistro Naomi. In case you happen to be there(!), the restaurant is located across the street from Yoshida Station, on the 2nd floor. A new restaurant, having opened two years earlier, the tiny bistro had a smart, stylish decor with polished wood floors and modernish black tables and white walls. Our waitress also happened to be exquisitely beautiful.
Once seated, we placed our order. Okaa-san opted for a rich beef stew. I ordered a basil-flavored fish and seafood dish that was complex and fantastic, consisting of salmon, flounder, and scallops with impeccibly prepared baby vegatables.
The flavors in this little restaurant could easily compete with anything found in NY City or LA, or Tokyo. Dessert was equally delicious. I ordered a Mont Blanc eclair with a very rich, almost coffee-like caramel ice cream (caramel is a hot flavor in Japan right now). All in all, it was very impressive to find such a restaurant in the middle of this tiny, dying town.
Delicious Italian Gelato in Japan’s Countryside: Regalo Gelaterria
After we returned home, Otoo-san drove us for yet another treat: Japanese-style Italian gelato. Only in Japan can you find a gelato shop in the middle of nowhere that not only serves amazing gelato, but is so popular that people drive far out of their way for, so much so that we had to wait in line for several minutes before placing our order.
How remote is this gelato shop? Well, we had to drive about 20 minutes from Yoshida, already pretty remote in its own right, even further out into the sticks to little village called Iwamuro. This shop is so remote that it is surrounded for acres all sides by fields and rice paddies. And yet, the gelato they serve here is nothing short of incredible. The gelato here is a perfect example of the lengths Japanese will go in pursuit of perfect flavor. This shop actually goes so far as to breed and raise its own milking cows!
As for the gelato itself, we bypassed the traditional chocolate, strawberry and vanilla flavors, very tasty in their own right, and opted for the more adventurous chestnut, pumpkin, rich matcha green tea, and even edamame flavors. All were amazing, though I think chestnut was my favorite this time around.
It’s no accident that this trip report so far is so food-centric. It isn’t that I’m much of a foodie; I’m not. It’s that Japan is such a food-focused culture. I already knew this, but this fact really hit me as we sat around the living room later watching TV. The overwhelming majority of programs on at any given time seen to consist of various TV personalities traveling around the country sampling regional foods. How is it that these food-obsessed people can be so thin?
Anyway, I digress. We rounded out our day with one last trip to Sakura no Yu onsen, and one last homemade dinner of gindara grilled white fish, high-quality locally made steamed tofu:
Stewed winter veggies:
Sashimi:
and newly harvested white rice. I’m afraid to get anywhere near a scale, but I always mentally prepare myself to gain between 5 and 10 pounds during my extended visits to Japan. I think I’m well on that pace.
Tomorrow we head to Tokyo, where we’ll stay for the remainder of our trip, and where I’ll have much more to report on!
Proceed to Shane’s Japan Trip Report Day 8–>
