Visit to Japan 2005

[FoodZealot]

Hello, all. I'll also be coming to Japan at the end of October and the first few days of November - I know there are several travel threads bouncing around right now, and I've been learning from all of them. But if you would allow me to ask for a few suggestions, I'll be very grateful.

I am excited to finally change careers into kitchens and restaurants. As you can guess, this trip is all about food: to taste the best (not necessarily expensive) and most traditional cuisine as I can find, to absorb as much food culture as possible, and additionally in Japan, to buy some pro quality knives in person.

While I know it's far from adequate, I'm limiting my stay to 8 days and focusing only on the Tokyo area and Sakai/Seki and what's nearby for this trip. This is my first trip to Japan, but I hope to visit many times in the future. BTW, I have language tapes and phrasebooks, but I don't read Japanese at all.

Any comments or suggestions for my tentative itinerary/agenda would be appreciated! I've been reading on eG and elsewhere - I'll just list all the places that I've culled, and if you recommend one over another, please post. In terms of budget, I'd splurge on a $200-350 meal or two. But mostly, I'd like to spend about $60-70 per day on food. I like Kris' suggestion about hitting expensive places for lunch when possible.

I'll be on the lookout for seasonal items - sanma, buri, saba, persimmons, chestnuts, sansai - any others?

Tokyo area

Tsukiji Fish Market - Sushi Dai, Ryuzushi, Sushisay (sp?) or ...?

Kappabashi - Union Commerce, other cutlery showrooms, restaurant supply shops

wild unagi - Nodaiwa or Obana or...?

depachika

monjyayaki

izakaya

Okinawan

ramen

I'm planning on getting a JR railpass.

Kansai

Osaka - Doguya-suji How does this compare to Kappabashi? Is it worth a 1 day detour?

true Kobe or Matsuzaka or other super premium beef

Seki - Gifu Prefecture Cutlery Hall

kaiseki-ryori

Please PM me if you are available to meet at any point during my visit. Thank you for your guidance,

~Tad

[yimay]

i'm going to japan in october also! i'm also interested in getting some knives for my mom. do you know the address for the Cutlery Hall in Seki/Gifu area? i couldn't find any location information on this place.

if anyone can give any tips on what kind of knives to buy, i'd much appreciate it.

[easternsun]

Hello, all.  I'll also be coming to Japan at the end of October and the first few days of November - I know there are several travel threads bouncing around right now, and I've been learning from all of them.  But if you would allow me to ask for a few suggestions, I'll be very grateful.

I am excited to finally change careers into kitchens and restaurants.  As you can guess, this trip is all about food:  to taste the best (not necessarily expensive) and most traditional cuisine as I can find, to absorb as much food culture as possible, and additionally in Japan, to buy some pro quality knives in person.

While I know it's far from adequate, I'm limiting my stay to 8 days and focusing only on the Tokyo area and Sakai/Seki and what's nearby for this trip.  This is my first trip to Japan, but I hope to visit many times in the future.  BTW, I have language tapes and phrasebooks, but I don't read Japanese at all.

Any comments or suggestions for my tentative itinerary/agenda would be appreciated!  I've been reading on eG and elsewhere - I'll just list all the places that I've culled, and if you recommend one over another, please post.  In terms of budget, I'd splurge on a $200-350 meal or two.  But mostly, I'd like to spend about $60-70 per day on food.  I like Kris' suggestion about hitting expensive places for lunch when possible.

I'll be on the lookout for seasonal items - sanma, buri, saba, persimmons, chestnuts, sansai - any others?

Tokyo area

Tsukiji Fish Market - Sushi Dai, Ryuzushi, Sushisay (sp?) or ...?

Kappabashi - Union Commerce, other cutlery showrooms, restaurant supply shops

wild unagi - Nodaiwa or Obana or...?

depachika

monjyayaki

izakaya

Okinawan

ramen

I'm planning on getting a JR railpass.

Kansai

Osaka - Doguya-suji How does this compare to Kappabashi?  Is it worth a 1 day detour?

true Kobe or Matsuzaka or other super premium beef

Seki - Gifu Prefecture Cutlery Hall

kaiseki-ryori

Please PM me if you are available to meet at any point during my visit.  Thank you for your guidance,

~Tad

←

IMHO, It would not be worth a detour to visit Osaka just to hit Doguya-suji. You will find everything you need in Kappabashi.

Have a great trip!

[FoodZealot]

i'm going to japan in october also! i'm also interested in getting some knives for my mom. do you know the address for the Cutlery Hall in Seki/Gifu area? i couldn't find any location information on this place.

if anyone can give any tips on what kind of knives to buy, i'd much appreciate it.

←

I think this might be it, but I'm not sure because it was on a page about convention halls and meeting rooms, not cutlery per se. Maybe someone here can verify?

Cutlery Hall Cooperative Association Of Gifu-Prefecture

TEL.0575 - 22 - 4941 FAX.0575 - 22 - 4942

1444-6 Heiwa-dori and Seki-shi

●One-minute walk from Hamono-kaikan-mae Station on Nagaragawa railway

●Eight-minute walk from Shin-Seki Station on the Meitetsu Minomachi line

●Ten-minute ride from the Seki Interchange on the Tokai-Hokuriku Expressway

There are some threads about Japanese knives in the cooking forum, and Fred's Cutlery Forum at Foodie Forums and In the Kitchen at Knifeforums.com are also good sources of info. The external links have a ton of threads from newcomers asking for first knife advice, so it's a good idea to read around a bit before posting. I'll certainly help if you start a new thread on eG.

And thanks, easternsun, for your opinion.

~Tad

[rjwong]

Here's a link to a discusssion thread on Favorite Knives. In this particular post, Russ Parsons mentioned that he wrote an article on Japanese knives. You might want to find that article and/or PM him directly.

[torakris]

i'm going to japan in october also! i'm also interested in getting some knives for my mom. do you know the address for the Cutlery Hall in Seki/Gifu area? i couldn't find any location information on this place.

if anyone can give any tips on what kind of knives to buy, i'd much appreciate it.

←

Here is the homepage for the Seki cutlery hall

It is almost 3 1/2 hours away from Tokyo (one way), including a 50 minute bus ride.

I have never been there but considering the quantity and price of knives in Kappabashi, I am not sure it is worth the easily $200 and 7 hour round trip.

If you are actually planning on visiting Gifu it might be a good place to drop in.

[FoodZealot]

After watching the Dotchi Cooking Show this weekend, I think I have to try and eat maguro collar shioyaki. I'll pull the names of the supporter restaurants off the tape, but does anyone have a place they can recommend?

Thanks!

[torakris]

After watching the Dotchi Cooking Show this weekend, I think I have to try and eat maguro collar shioyaki.  I'll pull the names of the supporter restaurants off the tape, but does anyone have a place they can recommend?

Thanks!

←

maguro no kama-yaki (grilled collar) is a typical izakaya dish and you should be able to find it in many izakayas. It can come either salt grilled (shio) or with a sauce sort of like a teriyaki sauce (sousu), some places offer both others you may have to ask.

Here is one place in Tokyo (an izakaya focusing on maguro dishes) that has a nice picture of it...

[ScorchedPalate]

Piggybacking here on Tad's thread...

I've done a fair bit of reading on earlier threads and on other sites, and now I'm hoping that folks here can help me fill in some blanks.

Cameron and I will be stopping in Tokyo for 3 days/2 nights on our way to a three-week trip in Thailand. We'll be in Tokyo December 26-28, staying in Shiodome at the Park Hotel Tokyo.

We're taking a tour of Tsukiji market on the first morning morning with these gentlemen. We're planning on sushi after the tour, probably at Sushi Bun... but we're open to other suggestions. (Daiwazushi? Sushi Dai? Ryuzushi?)

Aside from sushi, I'm especially interested in recommendations for:

- Ramen: Kyouraku, Kagemaru? Jangara?

- Tempura: Ten-Ichi?

- Breakfast on day 2: We really don't want to eat at the hotel, but most of the places in guidebooks and food sites don't open until 10:30 or 11.

We're definitely planning to hit the department-store food halls. As for dinners, I don't think we're willing to completely blow it out (so the $500 wagyu is out) but one nice dinner (say in the $150-200 range) sounds like fun, preferably if it's Japanese and not European.

Neither of us speaks Japanese beyond the absolute basics, so we'll need places with english menus and/or tolerant staff. We've got a bilingual street atlas that shows block numbers, which should help with the "how the hell do these addresses work?" factor, and we're reasonably adept at transit.

We're also thinking of heading up to Asakusa to check out the kitchen-supply stores and the street market. Other sightseeing musts for a trip this brief?

Thanks much!

~A

[torakris]

Piggybacking here on Tad's thread...

I've done a fair bit of reading on earlier threads and on other sites, and now I'm hoping that folks here can help me fill in some blanks.

Cameron and I will be stopping in Tokyo for 3 days/2 nights on our way to a three-week trip in Thailand. We'll be in Tokyo December 26-28, staying in Shiodome at the Park Hotel Tokyo.

We're taking a tour of Tsukiji market on the first morning morning with these gentlemen. We're planning on sushi after the tour, probably at Sushi Bun... but we're open to other suggestions. (Daiwazushi? Sushi Dai? Ryuzushi?)

Aside from sushi, I'm especially interested in recommendations for:

- Ramen: Kyouraku, Kagemaru? Jangara?

- Tempura: Ten-Ichi?

- Breakfast on day 2: We really don't want to eat at the hotel, but most of the places in guidebooks and food sites don't open until 10:30 or 11.

We're definitely planning to hit the department-store food halls. As for dinners, I don't think we're willing to completely blow it out (so the $500 wagyu is out) but one nice dinner (say in the $150-200 range) sounds like fun, preferably if it's Japanese and not European.

Neither of us speaks Japanese beyond the absolute basics, so we'll need places with english menus and/or tolerant staff. We've got a bilingual street atlas that shows block numbers, which should help with the "how the hell do these addresses work?" factor, and we're reasonably adept at transit.

We're also thinking of heading up to Asakusa to check out the kitchen-supply stores and the street market. Other sightseeing musts for a trip this brief?

Thanks much!

~A

←

I must have missed this post originally.....

I don't know too much about either ramen or tempura as they are not foods I go out to eat much. What about a place like the ramen museum in Shin Yokohama? You can order the small sizes and get to sample a couple types.

What kind of breakfast are you looking for, Japanese? The Japanese don't really eat breakfast out much and even a couple of the 24 hour restaurants (think Denny's) that I have been too don't even have a breakfast menu... Most coffee shops and fast food places won't open until after 7:00am.

I am sure the Shiodome area has some good bakeries, the Japanese bakery or panya-san is a wonderful way to start your day. If you are interested I will see if I can find something close to your hotel.

Definitely head out to Kappabashi! You can't possibly leave Japan without picking up some plastic food samples.

Staying in Shiodome you are quite close to both Kappabashi and Tsukiji so it is quite convenient. As to other things to see, what kind of things are you interested in? architecture? museums? shopping?

By the way, for a great site on figuring out the trains check out Hyperdia at the top left of the screen it says English, click on that and then type in the names of the stations you departing from and want to arrive at and it gives you times, prices, etc and at least 5 options. I use it anytime I take the trains.

[FoodZealot]

SP,

regarding finding places, having just been there, I would make two suggestions:

1- Get narrative directions for every destination before leaving your hotel, based on metro stations, local landmarks, the number of blocks to walk, etc. This seems to be the norm. As far as I know, the address numbers aren't easy to correlate to location the way they normally would in the US, and little sidestreets and lanes may not have signs or names at all.

2- Take an inexpensive compass (like for a keychain) to help you orient yourself (pun intended). Maps in Japan aren't always printed or displayed with North-South on the vertical axis, rather they may be oriented to a river or other landmark which you probably won't know. The compass would allow you to use the compass pointing North in the legend of the map. It might save quite a few wrong turns and retraced steps.

Good luck!

~Tad