Japanese Food Bites: Indulging in the Taste of Summer

I’m a little late in writing this, so alas, the last day has already come and gone. It’s been an… eventful month, to say the least.

I forgot to introduce myself the last time, so: my name is Mandy (Amandine) Alexander, I’m a rising second year Health Science major, and I wrote the inaugural blog post! I’ve had a lot of fun reading my other classmates’ work over the course of this Dialogue, so I feel like the pressure is on to write an end-cap that does everyone’s efforts justice.

Without further ado:

Having stayed up late to watch Suzume no Tojimari with Jo, Daniel, and Rachel, my morning started slow. By the time I woke up, Group B was already well into their class session with Andoh-san.

While Group B enjoyed their balanced washoku lunch made with love and care, I thought about what I should have for breakfast at 11 AM. Something light and refreshing, similar to Andoh-san’s chirashi… Something easy to eat which wouldn’t overwhelm my stomach before Zoom class with Andoh-san…

The answer to my search appeared before me in the form of a chain restaurant: Ootoya.

Unfortunately, the need to take a picture for this blog did not occur to me while I was busy devouring my hokke and chicken teishoku lunch. Thus, I have redrawn it to the best of my ability (within 5 minutes):

I think it’s an adequate depiction of the setup.

Anyway, it was delicious—the hokke was tender, flaky, and perfectly salted; the chicken fell apart in unctuous mouthfuls, which melted seamlessly into the glaze; the rice was soft and warm. According to Sora, Ootoya isn’t as good as it used to be (I would concur), but this meal proved that it’s still pretty damn good.

A few individuals, including Jo, Jayden, and Gillian, went on their own sidequests before the hybrid Zoom: Jo bought a knife at kappabashi (not pictured, because it had to be wrapped) and shirts at Uniqlo for Daniel’s relatives (not pictured, because they were promptly put away); Jayden and Gillian went to Harajuku to also do some last-minute shopping.

Following lunch, I Zoom’ed into the hybrid class at Andoh-san’s house, and I got to hear everyone’s thoughts on the washoku we’ve had throughout this trip. Andoh-san herself commented on everyone’s creativity in taking on the washoku challenge, which was a kind reward for our efforts. It was over quite quickly though, since we had another commitment soon afterward: the final goodbye at Ochanomizu University.

I, along with most of Group A, took the Marunouchi line to Myogadani station for the last time—but not before getting one last boba at the famous Pearl Lady Cha Bar.

We’ll miss her!

When we met at the Ochanomizu cafeteria, a grand setup of tables laid out with origami and platters of food awaited us.

Some of us got to the origami before anything even started (myself included).

The president and vice president of Ochanomizu University were kind enough to give us all a welcome speech upon our… gradual… arrival. As people trickled in from their various modes of transportation, the speeches concluded with a quick toast by the vice president to our futures, and we hurriedly arranged ourselves in the seats to pour our various beverages. Kanpai!

Following the toast, Kiyoko-sensei presented a slideshow of images from our trip. Watching our memories through the lenses of the Fukui and Shinshu University cameras gave me a strange sense of deja vu, despite knowing that these things had actually happened. Now that we were sitting in the middle of Tokyo again, it felt like eons ago that we had been halfway across Japan—walking among the rice paddies deep in the countryside, exploring tiny towns with so few people. A small reminder of how many experiences we’d managed to compress into a month; it was surreal, to say the least.

The origami began in full swing once everyone had settled and Rika/Minori-san had explained some of the types of folds. Meanwhile, Kerem and Valentina had prepared their own video (the NEU commercial, not the director’s cut), and were busy attempting to export it while we immersed ourselves in the activities.

I myself attempted to shoot the “kamideppou” (paper gun, named for the loud noise it makes when roughly shaken apart), which resulted in a rather underwhelming crush of paper rather than the crack! sound it usually makes. I pivoted to folding other, quieter things as Valentina played her video, showcasing some of the more comedic moments of the trip.

Speaking of comedic moments: the professors took the opportunity to create “graduation diplomas” for each of us, complete with individualized titles, and had them out during this ceremony! I was awarded “Best Artist and Unofficial Translator,” which I think is fitting given that I was the only one who drew anything for my final, and also the only one besides Sora who was able to translate—but I digress. The reason I mentioned this was because I wanted to spotlight my favorite—and what I think are the most fitting—titles!

So here are a couple of shout-outs to my favorites, paraphrased from memory:

• Gillian: “Leader of the Alien Mokeke Takeover”
• Valentina: “Most Enthusiastic Contributor to the Japanese Economy” (this is my favorite, hands-down)
• Frederick: “Most Fashionable and Fastest Stair-Climber”

They were all excellent, but for some reason these were the most memorable to me, and even recalling them several days later is making me laugh quietly to myself in the hotel lobby.

The celebrations came to an end around 5 PM, and we cleaned up quickly so we could make our way over to Team Labs all the way in Toyosu, which we’d projected would be around 45 minutes away by train.

And so after 30 minutes of public transit and 15 minutes of walking through a light drizzle, we were rewarded by the sight of the TeamLabs obelisk glowing threateningly at the entrance. Excellent first impression.

It’s hard to put the full-body sensory experience of TeamLabs into words, so I’m just going to use pictures:

I know I said earlier that trying to comprehend my own memories was a “surreal” feeling, but this is surreal in an entirely different, literal sense of the world. I have never attended such a (again, literally) immersive art experience. It was crazy! Insane! Wild! It’s difficult to describe in a way that would do it justice. You just had to be there. There’s no other way to fully understand it.

The best part of the whole experience was getting to walk through each mind-bending exhibit with my friends. My favorite part came when it was time to lie down in the “Field of Falling Flowers”—the planetarium-like final exhibit with a domed ceiling onto which a procedurally-generated video of falling flowers is projected. The overall effect is that an optical illusion is created in which you “fall” through the sea of flowers streaming into an endless void, watching petals and leaves circle above you as more are constantly generated to follow the dying of the rest.

We lay in a square formation so we could avoid touching our heads to the floor: me with my head on Daniel’s knees, Rachel on mine, Jo on Rachel’s, Daniel on Jo’s. It felt like a physical conclusion to our little group, neatly organized within the visual chaos that surrounded us. It was nice. We stayed like that for quite some time until Rachel accidentally kicked Prof. Ito, and then we took our cue to leave.

Good thing we did, because the place we were determined to go to for dinner was 40 minutes away. Kirimugiya Jinroku, part 2, this time with Rachel in attendance!

Without further ado, here is my third ever (and final) restaurant review:

Kirimugiya Jinroku: $10? ★★★★☆ (4.8 stars… but I can’t give it 5 because nothing is perfect. You know how it is)

Items ordered:

• Maitake (fan mushroom?) tempura (to share)
• Geso (squid legs) tempura (to share)
• “Neba-neba” Bukkake Udon, named for its variety of “neba-neba”—viscous ingredients

I felt like I’d been eating so much overwhelming food throughout this whole trip. Between gorging myself at various izakayas and consuming what amounted to a couple of sodium bombs in the form of giant ramen bowls, my digestive system practically had no time to recover from each excursion.

The solution: this “neba-neba” cold udon, which would hopefully detox my intestines of all the cholesterol, fat, and oil I’d probably consumed on this trip.

This shop has some of the best udon noodles I’ve ever had in my life, and I don’t say that lightly. It’s the perfect consistency: light and chewy, yet supple. You can taste how fresh it is. It’s also the perfect temperature: not too cold, but not so warm that it becomes off-putting.

The toppings on mine were very simple but made for a delicious combination: natto, sliced okra, a perfectly runny onsen egg, bonito flakes, nori, negi, and a strange yellow goop (as seen in the picture). I still cannot figure out what the goop was, but for once my ignorance does not trouble me too much, since it was delicious regardless.

This pairing of topping with the slippery noodles made for an extremely slimy textural experience—which I loved. I understand that this is not for everyone—Jo, I remember the face you made at my order—but it was exactly what I needed at that moment! The textural experience overall was elevated by the presence of the tempura, too, which broke up the monotony of chewy/slimy things with their crunchiness and light sprinkling of pure rock salt.

I think this photo of the aftermath (ripped from Jo’s Instagram) speaks to how delicious the meal was better than I ever could.

The next day, we all split and went our separate ways with this final experience under our belt. Some honorable mentions for travel plans I overheard include:

• Logan “doing the whole trip over” with her parents for the next two weeks
• Rachel exploring Tokyo with her cousin for another two weeks (and coincidentally having dinner with Dr. Young while also acting as the delivery person for my umbrella I’d forgotten in Fukui—thank you Rachel)
• Gilllian also having dinner with Dr. Young, though I did not hear any specifics about her travel plans
• Kerem scaling Mt. Fuji with strangers (??)
• And of course, my classmates who are returning home.

I myself am currently in Sapporo seeing my relatives! …Unfortunately, the second I typed this paragraph, a screw in my glasses decided to go rogue and is currently exploring the floor of the hotel lobby without me, so first thing tomorrow I will be searching for a glasses shop to fix them… such mundane activities are also an important component of travel.

And with that, my final blog post comes to an end. Thank you for following along with our adventures, and thank you for supporting us with your comments throughout this trip! I had a lot of fun reading my classmates’ blog posts, and I hope you’ve enjoyed them too.

Until next time, matane!