Ramen ラーメン

うまいラーメンを食べた。

I love Ramen, its simply the most delicious fast food I have ever encountered. Ramen is a kind of noodle, served in a broth with an assortment of vegetables and other ingredients. There are many different kinds, and it varies depending on the region of Japan you are in. Much better than a crappy hamburger, ramen has become something I eat at least once a week when I’m doing gaishoku, or ‘eating out’ as we might say in English.

So today I went to my favourite ramen-ya, Shofuku, and at a big steaming bowl of delicious umai ramen. If only all my afternoons were this productive! As an aside, Shofuku was voted the best ramen restaurant in Shizuoka prefecture a couple of years ago. Now the question remains, can I handle another bowl this evening?

Motsu Curry もつカレ

先月もつカレを食べた。

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ve been lazy. I ate this over three weeks ago but I haven’t gotten around to mentioning it on here. Motsu curry is a Shimizu delicacy. Japanese curry is very good, though completely different from Indian style curry. Generally it is made with more mundane meats than this, such as chicken, pork, prawn etc. This one is made from the small intestines of either a pig or a cow, I’m not sure which, but it was very tasty!

Numazu 沼津市

沼津市に住んでいる。

Here is a bit about Numazu, the city in which I have lived for the past 3 years. It is a coastal city located in Shizuoka Prefecture, at the top of the Izu peninsula. It is also very close to Mount Fuji, the views of which can be quite spectacular when the weather is good.

Located on the Tokaido train line, it was one of the way-stations on the old Tokaido road which linked Kyoto and Edo. Its most famous product is Aji Himono (dried horse mackerel), which is very tasty and frequently turns up in school meals. There is also an Imperial Villa, built as a holiday home for the Taishō emperor in 1893, which is now open to the public. Oh and there is some pretty awesome seafood too! If you like sashimi, you may regard Numazu as a kind of paradise. Sushi heaven…

Here are some more pictures I’ve taken recently. They are actually making me nostalgic for some nice weather, as it has been raining for a couple of days!

Genji Monogatari 源氏物語

今源氏物語をよんでいる。

Today I’m starting to read Genji Monogatari, or ‘The Tale of Genji’ to give it its English title. Reputed to be the worlds oldest novel, it was written in the 11th century by Murasaki Shikibu ( Lady Murasaki ). The story revolves around the main character, Genji, and life at court during the Heian period of Japanese history. Its a very long novel. The version I have is in two volumes, each around 500 pages long. It sounds like a challenging read, but I don’t know a lot about this period of Japanese history so I’m looking forward to it.

The version I have is the Edward G. Seidensticker translation from 1976, published by Tuttle. This one is supposed to be unabridged, which seems like the only way to go.

I’ll write some more about this when I finish volume 1. Whenever that may be!

More about the Tale of Genji

Yuki 雪

今朝雪が降っていた。びっくりした。

When I woke up this morning and threw open my curtains, I nearly fell off my balcony in surprise. It was snowing. I was really surprised by this for a couple of reasons. First I had been told that snow is very rare in Numazu, and second, I had been walking around at the weekend wearing a T-shirt and sweating like a kebab.

So much for the alleged ‘arrival of spring’ I had been celebrating at the weekend!