Tripping Far Side

Today after work, we went to a Beer Garden atop Hotel Keihan in the Avanti Building just south of Kyoto Station. Take the elevator to the top of the building, and you can't miss it. The price per person is 3300 yen which amounts to about $27 US with the current exchange rate. It's a flat fee that you pay before you enter at the ticket booth.

Let me explain the concept of a "Beer Garden" in Japan, since it's different from the States.

First and foremost, the beer. It's nomihoudai, which means all-you-can-drink. !!! It's draft beer, poured diligently for you by the attending staff.

And of course, I heart Japanese draft beer--it's the smoothest lager that I've had. I've tried Japanese beer in the States, but it's just not the same. To me, "clean" is the word. Makes you wanna say "Ahhhhh" from the very first gulp. Every tip of the glass is refreshing, and importantly, there's no aftertaste. Well, there's a tinge of sweetness to me (probably because I love it). Doesn't weigh you down either. I've been drinking a lot of beer lately, and I haven't gotten any hangovers when I don't mix. This beer garden served Asahi Super Dry (yes!)

I've found that here, most Japanese seem to prefer the top fifth to be a creamy, white head of foam. Draft beer is served like this at every place I've been to. So, I like to say "awa nashi de", which means "without the foam". Just gets in the way when I'm getting my drink on.

Down the way, was a machine to automatically dispense the beer just right. Put the mug there, press the button. Then watch as it tilts the glass, pours the beer, untilts, and then dispenses the foam. You guessed it--I like to pull the mug out just before the foam starts. Now this is the kind of kegerator I like.

Of course, they also serve all-you-can-drink chuhai, in all kinds of various flavors. Chuhai is shochu (which I think is made from potatoes, like vodka) mixed with a fruit-flavored soda, like lemon, lime, orange, grape, or even Calpis (yogurty flavor?). Pretty popular in Japan, but I'll stick with the "biiru".

The other part to a Japanese Beer Garden is the all-you-can-eat food. !!! All kinds of servings of foods that go good with, well, beer. Lots of fried foods in Japanese-style, as well as yakisoba, dumplings, or such. The poster for this one had pieces of steak, but actually it was slivers of beer. Still tasty.

And all for $27 US. There's just no downside to it.

I've been to various beer gardens in Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe, and Himeji. The formula is all the same: top of a building, outdoors, and flat fee all-you-can-drink-and-eat. Generally at the top of hotels or big department stores--look for posters on the bottom floor entrance (can't miss them). You should familiarize yourself with the katakana for beer: ビール. And, they're only open during the Spring and Summertime, so I say, plan your trip to Japan wisely.

We went for another round at Miho, for Okinawan "Aomori" liquor. Stiff stuff! I really like going out with the Japanese coworkers! We went out on a Thursday night, since Friday is a company holiday. TGIT!

(My pics aren't very good, since blogging wasn't on my mind then).

Today is a special day. We were treated to a really special restaurant in Kyoto's Gion district, near Hanami-koji (street) with the famous geisha teahouses.

The restaurant's name is only one Japanese hiragana character う, which is a vowel that sounds like "oo" as in "too". Not coincidentally, the specialty of this restaurant is unagi (うなぎ), or eel. You can see from the first picture's chopsticks that the character う is artfully shaped like an eel.

A bit hard to find, as it's nestled among the old but well-kept Gion alleys and stone streets. In fact, the restaurant is in a machiya (町屋) that Wikipedia describes as a "traditional wooden townhouse" (which are historically old). And it feels like stepping back into time as we slip off our shoes immediately inside--just like a Japanese home. The tables reserved for us are upstairs.

As you walk up them, you know you're in for an experience.

The townhome-now-restaurant is architecturally built for the Japanese summer seasons, when the weather can be deathly torrid. The room is simple and open, and easily ventilated by sliding the paper fusuma doors. Tatami mats and the vaulted ceiling offer more breathability so the heat can be less of a bother.

And to top it off, eel is the kind of meal served in the summer, so everything just blended so well together in the theme. All that was missing was the sound of crickets! (and thankfully, the hot and humid weather!)

They only serve eel here, but there's a variety beyond just the meat. The food is prepared in the style of Tokyo, which uses steam in the cooking process to tenderize an already soft meat. Can't remember all the dishes, but they're all presented beautifully with some part of the eel.

In the first picture on the left, I think, is eel liver. Then served purely without the sauce, then wrapped in egg, then in raw form, and finally the main dish in a special wooden cooking/serving bucket with unagi-soaked rice. I'm not describing it with justice, so the pictures will have to do. And it's better to leave it to your imagination.

I'll just say that it was really satisfying dinner! Gochisosama deshita!

Oh, and one more thing. The experience was made a bit more special when the waitress was asked how often foreigners visited. She said pretty much never. [grin]

A dish described like that sounds like a cruel dare. Except in Japan. Here's a picture of maguro yukke (pronounced you-kay, not yucky). I had it yesterday at Kaitenzushi Iwamura, which is on the northeast end of Kyoto Station.

That speckled stuff is a raw quail egg. Having lived in Japan for awhile, raw eggs are a safe, common topping. I've grown accustomed to it, although I won't go out of my way to order it.

That white stuff is yamakake, aka tororo, which is grated mountain yam/potato. The texture looks like grits, but it's real slippery and gooey at the same time. Not too bad, but definitely handles weird with chopsticks. I had a green version of it again in my miso soup today.

That red stuff is raw tuna mixed in a sweet soy sauce.

And together, I have to say that it was amazing. I dig it. I've had yukke with raw beef before as well, and that was really tasty too. Certainly an adventurous dish by American standards, but rewarding to brave palates.

I saw some other interesting sushi dishes on the conveyor belts though. White chicken meat, Arkshell, Bream, Yuba (Kyoto's Specialty Tofu Skin), and other stuff that wasn't translated to English. Eh. Right now, I'm infatuated with yukke so much that it's my dish of choice. It's really that tasty to me....

I'm posting again, which means that I'm back in the Far Far West. I only say that because right now, Japan feels decidedly Western to me, yet far far from it. I admire how Japan can take a foreign concept, and vastly improve on it to make it their own. To go where no Western man has gone before.

Now, people in America are no strangers to toilet humor. But as much as some of us chuckle to scatological funnies, we leave it at that. We don't analyze it. We don't engineer it. We just shit. No fancy pants. No messing around. Yes, shit's funny, until we all get into the science of it see?

We went from outhouses to a basic functional toilet, and shit, evolution ceased--for decades! Where's America's uber-toilets? I'm using the same toilet today that I did when I was a kid (yes, boo freaking hoo). The only innovation in my brand new home's toilet is that it's supposed to be more efficient. Like I'm going to get all uppity about flushing with the least amount of water. I demand more as the spoiled generation!

Now I know lots of my friends love toilet humor, but they'd never be so far-out clever to come up with this. The proof is in the pudding, eh? You gotta try it to believe it. It brings new meaning to sitting and shitting, on the same scale when people realized that squatting wasn't the only way of life.

Electricity has done a lot for the world, and so with the toilet. There's a seat warmer. There's a fan to clear the odor (brilliant!). There's a water jet to clean the derriere. Superior to toilet paper (and leaves!). It even sprays warm water, while you can dial the nozzle pressure--shocking! Or it can automatically oscillate. For you OCD'ers, the nozzle is cleaned automatically. I mean what more can you ask? I ask, what more can you ask...

So I have two more weeks to philosophize in my new second office. Well, it's not that exciting really. Just a moment of anticipation when you return to Japan, and realize what you've been missing. There is more to life, even in the mundane. But isn't that where we derive our simple pleasures?

...cue music... So here's to you, Mr. fancy-toilet-clever-innovator-man (Mr. fancy-toilet-clever-innovaaaator-maaaan!)