Sunday October 18, 2009 - Lake Towada

PHOTOS: JAPANESE CUISINE
PHOTOS: PEOPLE OF JAPAN
PHOTOS: NATURAL BEAUTY OF JAPAN


This morning was our last day in Tokyo. We toured some Japanese retailers and supermarkets and then took our last domestic plane ride up to Aomori at the north end of the Main Island near Hokkaido where the scallop farms are. Today was our easiest day which we thankfully welcomed and needed. Six days here, seven different domestic airports, five different hotels, and what we've seen and learned has been very enlightening and awe inspiring. The stores we visited today were large format supermarkets, not up to Wegmans' standards so I'm posting some of the nuggets I've learned while traveling here that don't really apply to retail but are more travel and cuisine related that I found interesting. I hope you do too.
GEOGRAPHY: Japan is made up of 4 large islands, surrounded by over 4000 smaller islands. The terrain is very mountainous with thousands of dormant volcanoes which makes less than 20% of the land suitable for habitation. There are over 1500 earthquakes a year here! (we didn't experience one). We even flew over an active volcano a few days ago, Mt. Aso on our way to Tokyo from Kagoshima. The landscape is striking outside of the cities and very beautiful. Japanese are very proud of their country and embrace all things in nature with a passion that's unmatched anywhere I've been.
CUISINE: Food is an important part of the culture here. We've eaten many dinners Kaiseki style where you sit traditionally on a tatami mat and are served many different courses. Portion control is a religion with many courses only 1 bite but they are meticulously prepared and presented, and served beautifully with formal precision. The dishware themselves and the food displayed on them are truly separate works of art. Typically we would have 30 - 34 different items each meal.
Sushi - Most of the sushi is sashimi which is fresh raw fish thinly sliced. When you eat sahimi, you never put your wasabi (ground horseradish) into your soy sauce (I've been doing this wrong for years). You spread it out individually on each slice of fish first, and then dip that into your soy sauce. The reason is that the wasabi melts and you lose some of the pungency.

PEOPLE: Japanese are some of the friendliest and most humble people I've ever met. Families are very close knit and parents are extremely attentive to their children who are very polite and respectful themselves. There is little traditional religion in Japan as we practice in the western hemisphere. Buddhism and Shinto on the most prominent one practiced, but there aren't churches or temples, mostly nature shrines where people go to pray and meditate. Many couples hold Christian weddings, but this is just so the brides can wear a traditional wedding gown and have a large party afterwards. Most of the weddings are held in large hotels that have wedding rooms right in them so that you can have your wedding and reception right there. One stop shopping! Our last night in Tokyo featured 5 weddings in our hotel.



I've attached a couple of photo links above to illustrate some of this. Hope you enjoy. Most likly this will be my last post until back in the states.