Temprura Sarashina Soba, Daimaru, Nagano

Sept 9, 2008
Fresh buckwheat soba in Nagano. This store had someone making soba in the store window out front, so that was pretty cool to watch too. I never really got into the cold soba noodles before coming to Japan, but it was solid, and definitely something I'll consider more at restaurants back home. The dry seaweed on top was a nice touch.

Butter Corn Ramen, Ezokko Ramen, Sapporo

Sept 8, 2008

Late at night, before I boarded an overnight train back to Tokyo, thus ending the northern Japan portion of my trip, I managed to get to eat Sapporo specialty butter corn ramen. Not much to say, other than the soup already looks kinda greasy, and that's before the butter is melted in. Heart-stopping goodness.

Oh yeah.. Jonny would like this a LOT.

Soup Curry, L☆Voice, Asahikawa

Sept 8, 2008
Was supposed to have some ramen, since Asahikawa is known for its ramen. Also stopped by a Ghengis Khan bbq place, but ultimately decided to take the plunge at this place, even though soup curry is better known in other parts of Hokkaido. The curry was a strong taste, pretty decent, but tastebud-killing kind of spice. Ended up being the only person in the restaurant the whole time, served by a young-ish women. Kind of akward. When I left, though, she saw me to the door and held a deep bowed position while I went down the stairs and left (I turned around at the bottom and saw her still bowing). Maybe this wasn't the best place to try soup curry, but at the end of it all, I was glad I ate there. Hardcore experience.

Asahikawa, btw, was the first to earn "Dang, I wish I lived here/I wanna live here some day" status. It's also supposed to be the coldest city in Japan =P

Squid Ramen, Shesheke, Hakodate

Sept 8, 2008
Hakodate, known for its squid, and more importantly its squid ramen made with squid stock. Had to walk around for a bit looking for a specific restaurant, but couldn't find it, so had to stop in at the first place that offered it. Was ok, I guess, not a big fan of squid though, and the soup didn't taste anything special. Then when I was walking back to the station, I found the restaurant I was originally looking for. It was a small thing on the other side of the street, so I didn't bother looking. Grr.

Hakodate, btw, a southern port city in Hokkaido. Spent a total of less than 24 hours in Hokkaido, but I still managed to get to 3 cities, as far up as the middle of the island.

Apple, Itayanagi

Sept 8, 2008
An apple. Had this on the train after I ran for 10 minutes (with a crappy back) to make it, with no water either, right after I woke up. Grabbed it from the church I was staying at the night before, and apples are supposed to be Itayanagi's speciality. I suppose it's a good time to mention that this city is the start of 24 more cities (other than Tokyo) in which I try to eat the specialty of said city. The apple was good and juicy... but it was still an apple =P

Pork Cutlet Sandwich, Tokyo Station, Tokyo

Sept 7, 2008
Yep, Pork Cutlet Sandwich. I just wanna say how much more awesome Japanese takeout food is than what we can get here. Also, I had Onigiri with it, which I didn't take a picture of for some reason. But that is also the awesome.

Gyoza, Gyoza stadium!!!, Ikebukuro, Tokyo

Sept 6, 2008
This is why I love Japan. They have what's known as food theme parks. This one that I managed to find in a mall in Ikebukuro has Gyoza Stadium, Ice Cream City, and a couple other things. For the Japanese speaker, there were rides and other stuff for kids to do, including solving a mystery.

Back to the important stuff, the dumplings. They brought in 8-10 well known gyoza makers, and had them all set up shop. Their photo/portrait hung at the top of their stall, iron-chef style, as they all compete to bring in customers. Some were busy, some were sadly empty, but I managed to try stuff from 4 different places. There were two kinds of standard pork, one with shrimp, and one with cheese. I suppose it would have been better with more people, cause then you can try more kinds of dumplings =P. Fairly pricey, around 500 yen for each serving, plus 300 yen to get into the theme park itself.