Japanese Sweets

Well, they are weird. An acquired taste. One I kept trying to acquire.... they often look so beautiful- but taste so weird. 

Yep it was that weird. 

Japan - a Quiet Country

Even in Tokyo we found that the streets were exceptionally quiet. In the little villages, towns and major cities people were out and about but not vuluble. Even the cars were quiet. The only time we heard loud cars was during our second night in Tokyo when our apartment over looked three roads and an overpass. There was some drifting going on at around 3am. Loud mufflers, screaming gears. It’s why we left for the Onsen in Ito. 

Each train includes an announcement to ‘please silence your phones’ as the train leaves the station. People are generally very quiet on the train. There was a fun exception - the Saturday afternoon train from Tokyo station to Ito was a party train. Beer was drunk, people were giggling laughing and joking. Including us. That was a lot of fun. And a surprise not just to us, but also the hosts at the fantastic hostel we stayed at in Ito. 

Japan, Packaging, presentation and plastic

When we travel we try very hard to embrace the local culture, greetings and salutations as well as cultural norms like queuing. Something we’ve struggled with in Japan is the volume of plastic packaging. At home we are relentless in our attempts to reduce plastic, bemoaning the wrapping of cucumbers and eggplants in a plastic cozy. Here in Japan it is astonishing how much plastic trash we accumulated in one day. Granted, a large part of that is due to our purchases of convenience foods for the train. But even dining in at some places involved disposables. I should add that is only chopsticks. When we’ve eaten in the dining ware has often been astonishingly lovely - hand made pottery, lacquerware bowls and bento boxes and folded plates have all been used in the small restaurants we’ve eaten in. Something often imitated at Canadian Japanese restaurants with ugly plastic. 

Perhaps part of our noticing this plastic packaging phenomenon is that there are no trash cans, so you are forced to carry your garbage with you until you reach your accommodation for the night. If you are lucky, you’ll come across a 7eleven or other convenience store which has a mixed trash can. Vending machines only accept bottles and cans. Not plastic packaging or organics. 

From what I can tell, packaging has always been a big deal here. Traditional wooden bento boxes are still available for sale as are the lovely cotton squares historically used as gift wrappers, bags and carrying tools. I bought some, along with instructions on their use. Some of the higher end purchases we’ve made included beautiful paper packaging. Which in one case was then placed in a nice plastic bag. Appearances mean a lot here. I’ve definitely seen reused heavy weight paper bags on numerous occasions. Much as I kept and reused a Liberty’s of London bag for a while. 

Whether the multilayer packaging is plastic alone or in combo with other materials... there is no question it is done beautifully.

I’m hopeful that folks here will go back to those fabric wrappers along with the paper and wood lacquerware - but it requires planning and almost complete societal change.  Convenience traps us all in it’s plastic embrace!  For a society that seems to value the bounty of the ocean over all... there seems to be a complete lack of awareness or polite purposeful ignorance of the micro plastic results of all plastics in our lives... be they beautiful packaging or our clothing.

Ito Izakaya

Delicious food!

Tokyo to Ito

We escaped Tokyo in favour of Ito, an onsen town on the Izu peninsula. 

Shinkansen from Kyoto to Tokyo (Ikebukuro)

Train food! The stations have so much to offer it is hard to decide what to choose. 

It seems that everyone picks based on how it looks. I’ve seen many fellow travellers trawling through the display cases looking for just the right thing. 



I bought this box lunch because it was packed in a wood box and it was nice and heavy. 



And lo! It was good! 

This was the line for our transfer train to Ikebukuro. Yuck. 

This doesn’t give you a sense of just how packed that train was. 

ITO Japan Sunday Market!

Listening from the window of our tatami room... our attention was caught by much shouting and other interesting sounds from just downstream along the river.  Of course... we had to bestir ourselves and go see what was going on.  Thank goodness we did!  The noise and crowds were home to the ITO Sunday market!  OMG... somehow these wonderfully polite and quiet people knew a fantastic food vendors market would be just what the doctor ordered for thier visiting Canadians!

Fire roasted fish on a stick... is there much better in Sarah's world?!?

Squid ink noodles... amazing everywhere in the world you can get it!

Smoked duck heated and the fat crisped with a torch!

A hot dog bun carrier for 'desserty' nutty crunchy slightly sweet paste...