Tokyo Blog

Oh boy, what an awesome name! This beer has come out, possibly to coincide with the Tokyo Oktoberfest in Hibiya Park, which I’ve already been to twice since it opened a week ago. On the TV commercial they sing the classic German beer drinking song, and then toast using the german ‘Prost!’. Of course, I was straight down the shop as soon as I saw the commercial, to try out this all malt pilsner from Asahi Breweries. I have to admit, it’s very, very good, but it still lacks the sweetness of the german beer, in fact it’s very dry. This seems to be a pattern that’s emerging, and relates to the Japanese aversion to sweet things in general. The strapline is not very interesting this time, also, unfortunately:

“A full-flavored 100% malt draft beer based on traditional German brewing techniques.”

The Japanese beer series continues with a new Sapporo breweries offering that I picked up from the local 7/11. It had been a busy day working on a hot, humid day, so I wanted something refreshing and beer-based to take the edge off the wired feeling that comes from excessive hours in front of a computer display. Once the raster burn had faded from my retinas I checked the catch copy on the front of the can, and what a beauty!

“The superb aroma of Sapporo Baisen is created by a unique malt roasting process. This roasted malt is blended with pale malt for a flavor experience so thrilling it even smells delicious.”

Genius strap-lines aside, the flavour is pretty much what you’d expect from any Japanese beer. It’s strong, at 5%, and crisp, much like usual lager beer. I couldn’t taste any distinctive differences to usual Sapporo beer, except it was possibly more bitter than usual, and lacked the usual sweetness I’m accustomed to when drinking lager. I couldn’t decide the whole time whether this was a good thing or not.

If you don’t want to die from ramen abuse, I suggest switching to soba. This place in Ginza is one of my regular haunts. It’s cheap, fast and actually tastes pretty good. The buckwheat noodles are served in a soy-based soup with spring onions and Japanese pickles. In winter the soup is hot, and I add lots tougarashi shichimi (7 flavour chilli seasoning), eat the noodles then drink the soup. Now that the weather has become hot and humid, I usually get them cold, with less soup, and add lots of wasabi. It’s a healthy lunch, and you can get a dinner set for around ¥500.

About time for another food post, and another ramen post at that - and not just any ramen. We had to wait in line for over an hour to get a seat at this place in Ouji in the northern part of Tokyo. It was worth it though. Insane portions and ridiculous slabs of pork in a broth that was beyond belief. No wonder it’s so famous. The place is called Fujimaru a.k.a. ‘Jiro’. I couldn’t finish mine and I felt like death for the entire evening, but that’s all part of the ramen experience!

Last night I went to a sushi and sashimi restaurant under the guidance of my fish expert friend Take-san. Whilst there I further expanded my experience of strange and unusual raw things: raw fugu (blowfish - which if you prepare incorrectly causes asphyxiation then death), raw whale meat, raw horse (again), and a fish caught from a huge fish tank that I was sitting right next to, sliced and served so quickly that it was still moving when it reached our table. Now that’s what you call fresh!

Van Man’s Song from Stephen Smith on Vimeo.

This is a recording of the song the driver of this small van sings as he slowly crawls around my neighbourhood. I think he’s selling hot Japanese potatoes, but I’m not sure. I can’t understand the lyrics.

OK, another beer review now. This time I’m drinking a can of Kirin Strong Seven, a newly released beer from one of Japan’s biggest brewers. It gets its name from the fact that the alcohol percentage by volume for this beer is, predictably, 7%. The taste is quite unusual. I was expecting it to be sweet, like strong beer usually is, but it wasn’t. It tasted a bit artificial to be honest so I didn’t particularly rate this beer very highly compared to the other great beer available in Japan. The advertising for this beer features Hideaki Ito, a fairly rugged and macho individual frowning a lot and looking pissed off, which will no doubt appeal to the overworked salaryman and the twenty-something down-and-outers alike. The beautifully worded catch copy on the front of the can reads, ‘This hard and clear taste brings you the great feeling’. Actually, I have the feeling that this isn’t real beer at all but rather, beer’s evil Japanese impersonator ‘happoshu’. More about that stuff later…

Imagine this: An enormous bowl filled with a garlicky butter miso soup, into which is dumped a huge serving of ramen noodles, some flambéd beansprouts, thick dark bamboo shoots, and sea weed. On top of that they pile up stir-fried pork, crack a raw egg into the soup on one side, sea weed on the other, then place a large knob of butter onto the hot pork (which subsequently melts). What you end up with is a Butter Miso Special from one of my favourite Ramen joints which is located in Okachimachi (opposite Matsuzakaya and just down from KFC). It will set you back ¥1180 and you’ll pay for it dearly in later life, but here in the now, you’ll taste a very indulgent twist on a classic Hokkaido style ramen recipe. You can then use the complimentary garlic cloves and clove crush to taste. Pictured Top: The front of the restaurant.

Returning to the topic of beer, here’s some breaking news: The Sapporo brewery of Japan will soon be releasing another limited special variety for 2009 - chocolate beer! The results from a collaboration between Sapporo and Royce, a Japanese chocolatier also operating out of Sapporo in the north of Japan. It looks like it’s going to be a stout much like the Yebisu Black Beer I sampled the other night. Can’t wait to try it. Review coming soon.

I like trying the different beers on offer in Japan, and I’ve decided to start reviewing them, which gives me a good excuse to buy beer. This one is the Yebisu breweries answer to stout, and is actually pretty good (as are most Japanese beers). The taste is bitter, like Guiness, but without the smoothness. It retains the sharpness of normal lager beer, but has the same rich flavour you normally get with a stout. The spiel on the can reads, “This premium black beer is brewed using dark roasted malt and caramel malt in good balance, and fine malt and select hops for a rich aroma and hearty roasted flavour”. I grabbed it from the chiller in my local 7-Eleven on the way home from work, and accompanied by grilled cuttlefish with mayo, a nikuman (pork bun), and a pack of calbee cheese snacks, it definitely hit the spot (I bought two cans to be sure).

I was in the popular convenience store AMPM today, when I saw the coolest soft drink idea ever. Final Fantasy potions! I didn’t have my camera so I couldn’t take a picture, but a quick search unearthed this advert now airing on TV. Power up!

Tommy Lee Jones has been appearing in adverts for Suntory’s Boss canned coffee for a while now, and his face is all over the city. Further more, he’s created ads for TV which are now available for viewing on YouTube! Please have a look:

Jones working at a host club
Jones at a gyudon restaurant
Jones working at a warehouse
Jones working at a supermarket
Jones working at a delivery company
Jones working at a delivery company II
Jones working at a karaoke club

Oh and by the way, Jones plays the part of an alien visiting Earth, which would explain a lot of the unusual abilities he has (teleportation, the ability to close his ears, etc.).

It’s Suntory time.

UPDATE: I found some more that I forgot to add:

Jones hands out stuff on the streets of Tokyo
Jones as airport security
Jones leaves Earth then comes back
Jones works at a hot spring
Jones hangs out in Akihabara
Jones works on a rice farm
Jones appears in a samurai flick
Jones helps construct a house
Jones joins a tunneling squad

It wasn’t so long ago now that I went against my own morals in the pursuit of expanding my horizons. I ate horse. Raw.

I feel bad about it, because I thought humans and horses had come to some sort of an arrangement, “I’ll let you ride me, and I’ll pull stuff around for you, providing you don’t eat me”. In Japan, they call a dish consisting of raw horsemeat, ‘Basashii’. Actually, I’d already eaten canned horse when I was in Kusatsu in Gunma prefecture, but eating it raw turned my stomach a bit. The flavour was OK, a little bit gamey with a taste of iron, but I couldn’t stop thinking about what it was I was eating. The thing that made me eat it was the prospect of being able to say I’d eaten raw horse to my friends and family back home. I don’t think it’s widely known that the Japanese eat horses. Next time someone offers it to me, I’m going to have to say “nay”.

A food post was long overdue, I thought, and on that topic I have something to talk about. Having been in Tokyo for 7 months now, I was definitely beginning to tire of eating ramen, tenpura, donburi, etc. People abroad sometimes share the notion that everything you can eat in Japan is good for you. This is true to an extent, but most of the cheap, fast food, while better than a Mickey-D’s or a KFC, is still going to shorten your life if you eat it too often. Really good, healthy traditional Japanese dishes, you can make at home, or treat yourself to at one of Tokyo’s more expensive, formal eateries.

Unless of course you go to my new favourite restaurant chain, Ootoya. The food is excellent and cheap. What’s more it’s healthy! I usually go in of a weekend, normally on a Sunday to unwind. The interiors are laid back and tasteful (at least they are at the Okachimachi retaurant where I tend to go), and they play some cool jazz music. Water is free, like most places, and you get a complementary cup of tea for after your meal.

I tend to go for the yaki saba (grilled mackerel) and it’s as good as you could get anywhere. In fact, it’s the best cooked mackerel I’ve ever had, full stop. I also had another yaki sakana dish in the past, although I’m not sure what variety it was, but again, it was really good. I normally get the teishoku format (set meal), which you get on a tray accompanied by a bowl of rice, tsukemono (japanese pickles), and a bowl of miso soup. It has to be said, the miso is one of the best I’ve had in Japan, and I love miso soup, so that keeps me going back.

Izakaya are a highlight of living in Japan. We went to one the other day and the food was nice, and not really that expensive. We had a boat-load of Sashimi to start with and beers, followed by Tempura. Then a woman came into the private room you get for your group, and showed us the freshest fish they had in stock. They were laid out on a tray made from woven straw and each fish had a small wooden sign with the name written on it. We couldn’t read the names so we just chose a good looking one and asked to have it poached in some sort of soup. You can ask to have it prepared in a few ways, like stir-fry or grilled. When it came it was the nicest fish I’d ever had but wasn’t big enough for everyone to share really. In Japan it’s customary to eat the soft part of the fish’s eye (avoiding eating the eyeball), so I did and it was horrible, but it’s supposed to be good for the brain so I washed it down with beer. We chased this with posh Sake which you drink from a glass placed in a small open top box (like a square cup), and the Sake is made to overflow the glass and run into the cup around it. This means that when you start to drink you have to leave the glass on the table and drink the first bit out from there. Then, after, you use the contents of the square box to top the glass up.

We also ordered Udon and squid ink risotto and maybe something else, I can’t remember. Came to about £70 for three people.