Image above: Absolutely amazing oden with pork, konnyaku, tofu, and daikon which had been simmering in soy sauce, mirin, and dashi for two days. [Sunday 24 January] | [View all photos]
After a good night’s sleep, Day 2 of the trip spent with hordes of kids at the Studio Ghibli Museum and then spending the afternoon at Hiromi and Takashi’s home for lunch.
One of my all-time favourite films is Hayao Mizayaki’s animation, Spirited Away, and so visiting his museum was definitively on the must-do and I wasn’t disappointed. Especially coming face-to-face with the robot from Castle In The Sky which brought back distant memories of watching a Cantonese-dubbed and English subtitled version when I was very young.
Afterwards, Raina and I met up with Hiromi and Takashi who we had met the previous day in Sushizanmai and who had invited us to their home, since it was nearby, for lunch. So we had a enjoyable walk through the beautifully serene Inokashira Park with Raina chatting away in Japanese and myself photography the scenery around us which reminded me of the park near my parents.
Entering their home, there was this odd fragrance of sweet miso mixed together with fuel smell which quickly revealed itself as the kerosene heater for the family room. And the heater later revealed an absolutely delightful oden dish that had been simmering away on top of it for the past two days. Yep, two days! The pork simply melted away in your mouth and my only regret was that there wasn’t more of it.
We also had udon, mochi, and tamagoyaki - just to name a few of the myriad of small dishes they took turns making. Everything was well presented, delicious, and outclassed my attempts at home cooking both in flavour and sheer simplicity.
Both Raina and I were very taken by their warm hospitality and between the food, we chatted away (with Raina translating) and looked through their travel photos. Takashi also showed us his father’s match paper album and it was a great piece of personal history being able to see and touch these drawings from decades ago.
All in all a truly memorable travel experience being there and our thanks to them for inviting us in.
Before taking the train back, we queued up for an hour at Satou for their well-known menchi katsu (fried wagyu beef and onion balls) which we basically devoured in under 5 min! Then a quick stop in the tremendously busy Shibuya, where we also got to see how the Japanese really celebrate accomplishments, before leaving Tokyo for Raina’s town of Kasukabe.
Coming up next … a relaxing day exploring the alleyways of Ildabashi before having dinner with Mayumi and Kunihiro, whom I met in the Cook Islands a few months earlier, at this authenic ryokan (inn).
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