J-Festa: Valentine's Day in Japan

Although I already wrote a little about my valentine's day in Japan, I figured I would also write a little entry for this month's J-Festa post! Not only that, but I wanted to add another post onto my "I gotta tell someone Top Five Ranking" series that has sat stagnant since I wrote about the dumbest non-alcoholic beverages this country has produced thus far. :P So, without further ado, I give you...

Top Five Cutest Valentine's Day Sale Items

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5. Valentine's Day beer/alcohol: This isn't really that cute, but I think it's funny how Japan tries to even doll beer and sake up with bows, ribbons, hearts, and "couple's packaging" in order to sell booze on this big day of love. The above image is obviously one of the more simpler packaging ideas. This year, I saw tiny airplane-size booze bottles wrapped up in heart shaped baskets with pink plastic grass and enough pink and chocolate beer to drown Tokyo.

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4. Valentine's Day Kit-Kats: If you've ever been to Japan, you know that the beloved chocolate kit-kat has been transformed into a monster with about a zillion flavors and themes over here. To name a few: Milk Chocolate, Dark Chocolate, White Chocolate, Strawberry, Macha, Sakura, Lemon Soda, Coca Cola, Yuzu, Orange, Custard, Pudding, Cookies and Cream, Melon, Lemon Lime, Fruit Parfait, Banana, Mango, Kurumi.... The list goes on. I've seen pictures of "Shoyu Kit-Kats" as well (nasty sounding if you ask me....). With that in mind, of COURSE kit-kats are going to be holiday themed! It's only a matter of time before they make a difference one for every day of the year so each person can have a "birthday kit-kat" or something....

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3. Valentine's Day Packaging: I love and hate how much effort goes into packaging things in Japan. Most of the time, food items come triple-quadruple wrapped in plastic and paper. Then, once you've finally managed to get your item of desire out of it's many shells of wrapping, you have to properly dispose of said wrapping into the correct trash receptacles. So wasteful... However, at the same time, Japan does DIY gift-wrapping in the most adorable way. There are soo many cute boxes, plastic bags, wrapping papers and stickers to choose from. Valentine's day especially. You can choose boxes that will specially fit any type of sweet you made and make it look like a store-bought beauty.

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2. Valentine's Day Chocolate Kits: It's the thought that counts, right? And if your S.O can't make you delicious candies and cupcakes from scratch, then at least they tried their hardest with a kit. But honestly, I think that (while very domesticating for females) it's a really cute idea to make special Valentine's day chocolate and pastry kits so that even the people who aren't skilled at wielding a whisk or double boiler can make something that is "手作り" or "made-by-hand" and has some of their heart put into it.

As is written above, in exchange for some strawberry brownies, Yukiko made me her Special Cake~

Hand-made chocolate from students~

Hand-made chocolate from teachers~

1. Valentine's Day Sweets: In the month or so before Valentine's Day, most sweet-making materials (like chocolate, powdered sugar, cocoa powder and cinnamon) go on sale so that ambitious people can make their own sweets from scratch. By far, I think this is the best way to "do Valentine's Day" right. Relying on a kit is one thing, and buying a box of chocolates from the store could be seen as a little lazy at times... but actually taking some time out of your day to make crooked cupcakes and lumpy chocolates for the people you care about is the cutest and only valuable thing about Valentine's Day in my opinion. :)

J-Festa: Winter In Japan

Winter in Japan... while the phrase immediately brings to mind images of warm kotatsus, heated blankets, mikan, illuminations, and hot-pot (nabe) galore, it also brings to mind something a little different: 酒 (sake). No, I'm not talking about the numerous winter-themed drinks that have come out around this time, like apple-cider chu-hai and sparkling umeshu. No, I'm not talking about fighting the cold winter air with a cup of atsukan (hot sake), hotto wine (hot wine), or amazake (usually hot, sweet sake). I'm talking about 忘年会／新年会 season (bonenkai/shinnenkai).

Standard nomikai food. Sushi, fried food, sashimi...

 With this being my second consecutive winter in Japan, up until now, I have had my fair share of enkai (drinking parties). I've been to 送別会 (soubetsukai: farewell parties), 歓迎会 (kangeikai: welcome parties), 終業式／始業式飲み会 (shuugyoushiki/shigyoushiki nomikai: end of school/beginning of school drinking parties), ゴッコン (gokkon: group dates), and regular nomikai/enkai type of festivities. While drinking with your co-wokers/classmates/friends is all fun and good, I think that all of them pale in comparison to most bonenkais. For me, I went to two types of bonenkai this year. The first was more or less a normal nomikai with the added bonus of gifts! Teacher included, my Japanese class gathered at Kochi's busiest restaurant bazaar (Hirome Ichiba), donated 2000 yen each to the group tab, and brought a general present that we thought anyone would like. The night went pretty typically; lots of beer, fried food, polaroid pictures, present opening, and good conversation (as well as getting to hear our Japanese teacher speak English for the first time!!!). All-in-all, a good way to end a year of studying and the completion of the JLPT N2 (our class is called N2 class because we were all studying for that goal or the N1).

Some of our N-2 Class and three teachers in Hirome Ichiba.

Small Izakaya in Aki we went to.

The other bonenkai I attended went a little more typically of bonenkais here in Japan (and on the tame side, if you ask me!). All the teachers from one of my junior high schools got together at a local izakaya, donated 5000 yen to the group tab and gift buyer, and settled in for a night of drinking and Christmas-themed games/gifts. We all had to choose a seat number from a hat when we entered our assigned room, which also decided the teams we were a part of when the game portion started. After a kanpai and some chatter, we used our fuzzy minds and were put to the task of solving a variety of paper puzzles. The teams that finished fastest were given preference for choosing from the gift pile, so after a few puzzles we averaged out the wins/losses and let the first team go and choose gifts. I'm not going to lie, I was a little disappointed there was no teachers dressed-up in drag or song and dance like one of my other friends got to experience... (where her male teachers dressed in school girl outfits and did a play) but we all went out for Karaoke afterward and got our singing in elsewhere.

And there you have it. My experience with the collectively drunkest period of time Japan will ever be during the year: winter. Anyone else have fun bonenkai/shinnenkai stories to share? ;)

A Night Out at Hirome Ichiba

This month's J-Festa Blogging theme is "Dining in Japan," so I thought I would share a little bit about the "hottest spot" in all of Kochi Prefecture: Hirome Ichiba. Lonely Planet even ranked the restaurant as the 5th most interesting thing you should waste time doing if you ever drunkenly stumble into this prefecture (since we are #1 in that department). But in all seriousness, Hirome Ichiba is the hangout of Kochi City. You will only find the place empty during the afternoon, and even then you can find people scattered about drinking beer and eating katsuo tataki. The establishment takes up the first floor of a two story warehouse-esque building made of solid grey concrete and filled to the brim with gift shops, bars, and small food "stalls" (parking on the 2nd floor). The rest of the space is filled with picnic tables and benches that you need to circle like a hawk in order to nab on a busy Friday/Saturday night.

People pack like sardines onto those benches on most Friday/Saturday nights.

The back of the building where the best bar tender ever resides as well as some amazing ice cream.

Since there are so many different shops and stalls lining the interior of the building, it's hard not to find something everyone wants to eat. A number of places offer standard, cheap, izakaya food like korokke, yaki-tori, assortments of fried finger food and beer. Other places are more specialized, and offer a specially made gyoza, ramen, takoyaki, karage, or donburi as the main draw to their particular shop. There are even a few non-Japanese food shops that offer Chinese, Korean, Indian and a shop called "Kei's Cafe" that offers a slightly more western-style menu including Jerk Chicken and Taco Rice. Of course, out of all of these things, the almighty Katsuo Tataki reins supreme and has one especially large shop near the front of Hirome.

This shop sits front and center in the Hirome Ichiba complex and serves only Katsuo Tataki (along with the standard white rice, miso soup and tempura-fried kimpira) in about three main flavors. They even have the kitchen area set up with a huge pane of glass so you can watch as they freshly sear the Katsuo you'll be eating over a roaring straw fire. Flavoring options include salt, tare, and yuzu, and each order of Katsuo Tataki is garnished with slices of garlic and a sprinkling of green onion and grated daikon.

Raw in the middle and perfectly seared on the outside. Yum.

Katsuo Tataki (#5) would rank in my top 5 Hirome Ichiba food choices. Along with it, I think I would have to add:

• bacon wrapped onigiri (#4)
• Hirome korokke (#3)
• cheese nan (#2)
• macha soft-serve in a waffle cone (#1)

I apologize that I don't have pictures of each thing..... if you tasted them I think you'd understand why I can never wait to take a picture. :P

Best bar-tender in the world, A-chan.

Last but not least, booze! If anything, Hirome Ichiba is the place that everyone in Kochi goes to relax, unwind, and down a few beers before the week ends/weekend starts. Every store in the place sells one of the following: cheap beer, chu-hai, nihonshu, or wine. The exception would be A-chan's middle bar, which remains as one of the few places that sells liquor and has such an adorable tender to go along with it (there's another bar that sits on the outside of the back of the building, run by an American). No fail, every time me and Matto go to visit him he will have shots of free whiskey and vodka waiting for us (and will subsequently take a shot himself). He's a dangerous man. Everything he sells is 500 yen and he's the one bar tender that fully understands that Americans don't like foam on their beer (and god bless him for it).


That about wraps it up for my post on Hirome Ichiba. If you ever find yourself lost and in Kochi Prefecture (because unless you're doing the 88 temple pilgrimage... why would you ever visit Shikoku?), come on over to Hirome Ichiba, located at the end of Kochi's shopping arcade "Obiyamachi," and find a tired salary man or drunken college student to share a beer with. :)