Sunday, June 22, 2014

Kaji!

Tokyo Fire Dept.'s mascot (119 is Japan's emergency number)

Every once and a while you hear a group of people banging sticks and chanting rhythmically as they walk through the neighborhood at night. For the longest time, I had no idea what they were doing. I found out recently that this group is the shōbōdan, or volunteer fire corps on their yomawari (night rounds).

A fire extinguisher box in our neighborhood

The shōbōdan have been patrolling cities around Japan for hundreds of years. They warn people to beware of fire, especially during the dry winter. Usually (I've heard) they chant things like "Watch out for fire!" or "A single match can start a fire!). In a neighborhood like ours, where most of the houses are older and made of wood, everything would burn quickly. There are even fire extinguishers in boxes about every block or so.

Here's a video of yomawari in Kyoto (skip to 0:51 to see them in action:



Tokyo has a long history of devastation by fire. One of the worst fires occurred after the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. Because the quake struck around lunchtime, many people were cooking lunch  and the fire spread quickly. Over 45% of Tokyo burned to the ground.

In Yokosuka they have a disaster prevention center where you can try firefighting gear like we did below (it's really heavy!) or experience using a virtual fire extinguisher while yelling "kaji!" (fire)



Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Deep Fried Japan

Kushiage/kushikatsu is the deep fried friend of yakitori. We first tried it in Osaka. If you like deep fried food (who doesn't?), you will be in heaven.

Osaka Shinsekai

Must eat lots of cabbage in between



Then a chain called Kushiya Monogatari opened up in our local mall in Yokosuka. They offer fry-it-yourself all you can eat (for 90 min.) kushiage for 1999 yen (that's about $20). Oh, did I mention they also have a salad bar and chocolate fondue dessert bar? Oh yeah. I was too busy eating to take good pictures of that but here are some on another blog. Igor and I managed to eat a respectable 50 sticks but the high school girls next to us put away about 50 sticks EACH.

From the Kushiya Monogatari website
Fried pumpkin, sweet potato, bacon,  cheese, shrimp, salmon, and taiyaki oh my! My favorite were the cheese rolls and Igor liked the salmon.


This would never be allowed in the U.S. Lawsuit!

First you dip it in the batter, then in the crumbs, then fry, then in the sauce!

GET IN MY BELLY - YUM