Ekiben, Station Bento (Lunch box)

One item I'd like to recommend to try in Japan is "Ekiben" which means Station Bento (Lunch box).

I noticed that this is something unique and probably this is Japan special!

Well, it's just a lunch box, but there are many varieties and it's so colourful.
It's fun to look at it, and.. TASTY!

I didn't really like it when I was in Japan because it was cold and I didn't think it was tasty at that time.
But I think the quality improved a lot recently!

It's still cold for most of Ekiben, but it's nice!
I'm not sure if I feel it because I'm staying outside of Japan for a long time, but it's worth trying.


Here's Wiki explanation of "Ekiben".

Ekiben (駅弁) (railway boxed meals) are a specific type of bento boxed meals, sold on trains and train stations in Japan and Taiwan (鐵路便當). Today, many types of ekiben can still be purchased; at stands in the station, on the platform, or on the train itself. They come with disposable chopsticks (when necessary) or spoons. Ekiben containers can be made from plastic, wood, or ceramic. Many train stations have since become famous for their especially tasty ekiben, made from local food specialties. The "Golden Age" of ekiben, however, ended in the 1980s. At that time, air travel was quite expensive and trains were slower. Many tourists needed them during their train journeys.

Well, I actually didn't know there is Ekiben in Taiwan.  :p
Taiwan culture is pretty much similar to Japan because of past Japanese occupation for 50 years.
When I went to Taiwan for the first time from Singapore, I was surprised to see the town and it felt like I came back to hometown...
Well, except for the language, of course. :)

Anyway, back to Ekiben...

I had a lot of Ekiben during our Tohoku Trip...
It was the most I had Ekiben in my life in such a short period..

Here's what I had.

Hotate (Scallop) Bento

Seafood Bento

Makunouchi Bento

Tori (Chicken) Bento

Tohoku Marugoto Bento (all about Tohoku bento)

All are so nice!
Must try. :)

Sendai - Tanabata Matsuri Festival

We arrived at the famous Sendai Tanabata Matsuri Festival location.

Inside the arcade...?

Actually I've been to Hiratsuka Tanabata Matsuri when I was a student.

It was at open area (that means there was no roof) and I thought Sendai would be bigger version of Hiratsuka...

But still Tanabata decoration is so colourful and nice!

BTW, what's "Tanabata"?

Here's Wiki as usual. :)

Tanabata (meaning "Evening of the seventh") is a Japanese star festival, originating from the Chinese Qixi Festival. It celebrates the meeting of the deities Orihime and Hikoboshi (represented by the stars Vega and Altair respectively). According to legend, the Milky Way separates these lovers, and they are allowed to meet only once a year on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month of the lunisolar calendar. The date of Tanabata varies by region of the country, but the first festivities begin on July 7 of the Gregorian calendar. The celebration is held at various days between July and August.

Since young we believe our wish would come true when we write it on the paper strip called "Tanzaku". :)

 ...but this festival is just to see the decoration, so we just need to walk, walk and walk...
This arcade was quite big...!

While walking we found typical Japanese festival shops..!

Gold fish catching!

 This is the fish my son caught for the first time!

But of course we cannot bring them back cuz I don't think fish can survive in the plane back to Singapore. :p

This one is Yo-yo catcher!

He brought it back but...we totally forgot to bring back to Singapore.

Sendai - Gyutan lunch (Ox tongue)

First place we visited in Sendai was Hillside Shops and Outlets.

It seems there is no English site, so this website has some info in English.

Obviously it's an outlet shops but we didn't come to shop.
We came to eat "Gyutan lunch"!
In fact, no time to shop here...

Here's the restaurant we had "Gyutan"!

Again I found a new thing here during this trip..

It seems "Gyutan" (Ox tangue) was originally from Sendai!

I didn't know that... (x.x)

From Wiki:

Gyūtan was created when Sano Keishirō, the owner of a yakitori restaurant in Sendai, opened a new restaurant that served cow tongue dishes in 1948. 

This is "Gyutan" lunch! 

Japanese whole grain rice.

Gyutan usually comes with whole grain rice.

...usually with grated Japanese yam too.

But this hope didn't provide grated Japanese yam, so only plain whole grain rice.

This is "Gyutan" - Ox tongue! 

It was a little thicker than I thought..

Also the taste is a little different from what I used to eat.

Because it was thicker, it was chewy to eat...

I noticed this restaurant provides the original "Gyutan" taste because Sendai is the origin of Gyutan!

I still prefer the current taste of Gyutan, which is "Tanshio" (salted Ox tongue).

Tansho is thinner and easier to eat. :)

Sendai - Introduction

Our next destination was "Sendai" in Miyagi prefecture.

Here's Wiki about Sendai:

Sendai (Sendai-shi) is the capital city of Miyagi Prefecture, Japan, and the largest city in the Tōhoku region. In 2005, the city had a population of one million, and was one of Japan's 20 designated cities. The city was founded in 1600 by the daimyo Date Masamune, and is well known by its nickname, the City of Trees (Mori no Miyako); there are about 60 zelkova trees on Jōzenji Street (Jōzenji dōri) and Aoba Street (Aoba dōri).

In the summer, the Sendai Tanabata Festival, the largest Tanabata festival in Japan, is held. In winter, the trees are decorated with thousands of lights for the Pageant of Starlight, lasting through most of December.

On March 11, 2011, coastal areas of the city suffered catastrophic damage from a magnitude 9.0 offshore earthquake which triggered a destructive tsunami.

Here's direction from Tokyo to Sendai.

And as stated in Wiki, Miyagi prefecture was affected by Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, causing the most victims in this area..

I also didn't know until I just checked the Wiki.
I can only found this info in Japanese wiki.

(With my English notes..)

At that time...
I was in Singapore and my mother messaged me and told me she was safe.
I didn't get what she meant first..
She explained to me about what happened and I couldn't believe this kind of disaster just happened in Japan!
My relative was staying Iwate prefecture and my mother was so worried because her call didn't get through.
But somehow I was able to communicate with my cousin by SMS so I was able to let my mother know that they were safe.. :)
But they told me whole village was black out..

After this incident, this area (not only these 3 prefectures) is suffered a lot of economical damage..

Well, in this Tohoku trip, overall impression is that Tohoku people were showing that they were just doing fine!
And my Tohoku trip proved that!

This area is really nice to visit.
A true Japanese culture and soul is there! :)

Akita - Kanto Matsuri Festival

After going through Akita sightseeings, we finally headed for Kanto Matsuri location.

Brochure

It was still a little early so we decided to have dinner first.

We went to one area which had a lot of food stores.

It's a typical Japanese food stores you can see in a festival. :)

I had Ramen~.

Cheap and nice!

We went to the reserved seats and wait for the festival to begin!

They were just marching like this for a long time..

Here's the video I've taken.

"Hayashi", the festival music brought us to festival atmosphere.

BTW, what's "Kanto Matsuri Festival"..?

From Wiki:

The Akita Kantō is a Japanese festival celebrated from 3–7 August in Akita City, Akita Prefecture in hope for a good harvest. Around two hundred bamboo poles five to twelve metres long, bearing twenty-four or forty-six lanterns, topped with gohei, and weighing up to fifty kilograms, are carried through the streets by night on the palms, foreheads, shoulders, or lower backs of the celebrants.[1] The festival is first referred to in a[who?] travel diary of 1789 The Road Where the Snow Falls.It is one of the main festivals in Tōhoku, along with the Tanabata festival in Sendai, the Aomori Nebuta Matsuri festival, and the Hanagasa Matsuri festival in Yamagata. The Akita Kantō festival was designated an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property in 1980.

It's getting dark and festival seems to start soon..

Finally lanterns are up!

They carry such a big lantern on a hand, a side of the hips, or a side of the shoulders.

 Or even on a forehead!

A lot of lanterns were coming on and on..

Even small kids can carry the lantern!

So cute!

Some of the lanterns are so high up!

Because those lanterns are carried by humans and they need balance to keep it straight.

Sometimes they lost balance and the lantern was falling down towards visitors' seats!

Here's some videos I've taken.

It was an enthusiastic Japanese festival.

Great experience.. :)

Akita - Kakunodate (Samurai Village)

After Tarawa Lake, we were heading for Kakunodade, where you can see houses used by Samurai.

Samurai items are my son's favourite and he was so exited to see it!!

Here's the distance from Tarawa Lake to Kakunodate.

When we arrived, it was...
Cozy, quiet, greenery area...

Black wall were beginning to show up.

BTW, most of Japanese Samurai houses have this kind of black walls.

I thought it was some kind of Samurai symbol or something but it seems it was the colour of Japanese lacquer.

There was a Japanese rickshaw (Jinrikisha).

It's also nice to try this nostalgic rickshaw to feel Japanese old life style.

We found one Samurai manor - Aoyanagi family manor.

Inside the house.

 Warrior armour and helmet used in Samurai era.

We went to another house in this estate.. 

There were mainly old Japanese paintings here.

Old Japanese map.

There was no "Hokkaido"~!

Maybe it was not found yet...?!

We went to another house..

So many houses in this estate..!

 There were mainly about farmer's tools.

Here comes another house..

There were many old pictures here.

That's all about Aoyanagi family manor.

It was really a huge house...!

Here's Aoyanagi family manor website. :)

After that, we found the ice-cream selling granny our tour guide was talking about!

She is so old and cute.

She makes flower shaped ice-cream. :)

I also took a video of her making ice-cream.