Japan

A taste of Japanese craft beer

/ Greg / Leave a comment

On my first Sunday in Japan, I felt a bit adrift. Fall Sundays for me are usually spent in my basement, a collection of delicious snacks and excellent craft beer near at hand to sustain me for a day’s worth of watching football. I didn’t really have any desire to spend my precious time in Tokyo seeking out a bar to watch NFL football in, but I had a plan for visiting some excellent craft beer bars and thought that would be a nice way to enjoy an afternoon.

After filling up my belly with a healthy amount of sushi at a fun conveyor-belt place in the neighbourhood, I made my way to the taproom at the Baird Brewing Company. While there was no football on, the World Cup of Rugby was underway so I had a prime seat with a group of ex-pat New Zealanders watching their country take on Namibia.

Baird Brewing Company

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Tranquility in Kamakura

/ Greg / 1 Comment

With any trip I take, the urge to do a day trip within the trip is strong.  In many ways, I find it can be an indulgent mini-vacation from my vacation. When I visited Tokyo, planning a day trip also came with the idea of escaping the crowds of the city to seek out a bit of tranquility. In reality, I didn’t ever find Tokyo too crowded or busy, but I did enjoy a slower pace and quieter day when I visited Kamakura.

A little over an hour after leaving Tokyo in the morning aboard a crammed train, I arrived in sunny Kamakura. About a ten minute walk from the train station, I made my way to Tsuruoka Hachimangu, the most important Shinto shrine in the city. With my early start, I beat most of the tourists here.

Tsuruoka Hachimangu

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My Tokyo omakase experience

/ Greg / 2 Comments

While I was in the process of planning my trip to Japan, the most common question I received was along the lines of “Are you planning any big sushi meals?” My answer to that was always a resounding yes, and while I was in Japan, I did indeed enjoy quite a bit of sushi over my two weeks there. One thing I spent an inordinate amount of time researching for my trip was where to have one blowout omakase experience. I wanted something very high quality, but not super formal or regimented. I wanted something where I would feel welcomed as a foreigner, but where I’d be dining with mostly locals.

I hit the jackpot. Sushi Saisho in the Ginza neighbourhood of Tokyo ticked all those boxes. And it did, mostly because of the sushi master himself, Saisho.

Sushi Saisho

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Playoff baseball, Japan style

/ Greg / 2 Comments

While I have been to lots and lots of baseball games in my life, before this past October, I had never had a chance to see a playoff game in person. My livelong hope was to see my first playoff baseball game in Montreal to see my Expos chase a World Series title, but I was only 7 years old in 1981, and in 1994…. well, we all know how that ended. When I booked my plane tickets to Japan, I knew that I’d land in Tokyo about the same time as their baseball playoffs would be getting underway. I started watching their league standings on a weekly basis to track the likelihood I could catch a game while I was in the country. With a whole lot of good fortune, the Yomiuri (Tokyo) Giants finished first and that meant my stay in Tokyo would coincide with playoff games.

How to sum up my first playoff baseball game? Same sport, same rules, but an experience unlike anything I’ve seen before.

I was giddy walking up to the Tokyo Dome, difficult ticket to secure in hand.

Tokyo Dome

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Sake and squid snacks

/ Greg / 1 Comment

Before heading to Japan, I had only tried sake a few times. After being in Japan, I have realized that I have not ever tried any credible or quality sake in my life prior. Much of my sake awakening came in the form of an afternoon and early evening tasting in Tokyo. Part formal, part informal, it ended up being one of the most fun things I did while visiting Japan back in the fall.

Prior to leaving Canada, I had arranged a “sake experience” via AirBnB that had been highly reviewed. The experience started out with some learning about the history and brewing of sake, as well as its classifications, all aimed toward helping make me a more informed customer. To make the learning go down nice and easy, there was some initial sampling involved. Nice touch!

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So many memories

/ Greg

I really had nothing to worry about. While I hesitated booking this trip and then felt intimidated trying to plan for it, once I touched down in Japan, everything just clicked. This is a country that I wanted to visit for some time, but doing so as an extended solo trip gave me pause for thought. Would I get homesick? Would I be lonely? Would the language and cultural barriers be too much for me on my own? Would any of that make this trip difficult in a way that would limit my own enjoyment of a much needed vacation? As I write this a few hours before catching my flight home, none of that ever materialized. And that’s all due to how wonderful Japan and its people are.

This was a trip full of memories. Hiking through the mountains outside Kyoto and listening to the previous day’s typhoon rains streaming down the hills, visiting temples and shrines, eating exquisite sushi, attending a playoff baseball game, exploring Tokyo, eating my way through Osaka, hanging out on a beach in Kamakura and thinking about my family and friends… Every day gave me something to remember.

This won’t be a trip where there’s one primary thing I take away. It has been a trip that is already forming a collage in my mind of conversations, tastes, sights, and most importantly, feelings. I have felt it all here. Awe in the presence of the physical and natural beauty. Sheer happiness visiting a crazy izakaya. Bewilderment while figuring out cultural norms and then pride in a sense of growing confidence as I figured things out. And a whole lot of pure, unadulterated joy at being so far from home and enjoying my time here to the fullest.

I am prone to easily falling in love with some of the places I visit, but even given that, I can honestly say that I have fallen in love with Japan and it has left a beautiful mark on my heart. Its people have been unfailingly warm, kind and generous to me; they have made me smile and laugh, and made me want to be better to others I meet, the way they have been to me over the past two weeks.

Two weeks hasn’t been enough time as there is so much more I want to see, experience and taste (especially, taste!). But it was also perfect. The soles of my shoes have been worn down, I’m starting to long for home and the people (and dog) I miss, and my heart is overflowing from what I have felt here in Japan. This trip could not have been more perfect.

Thank you Japan.