Traditional homemade dishes in vegan box lunch

Two days ago, Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe requested nationwide school-closure from March 2 to protect children from being infected by the coronavirus. In Hamamatsu, all the municipal elementary schools, junior high schools and senior high school will be closed from March 3 to March 15. The students will basically stay at home.

Last weekend, I participated in a walking event held by JR Central. But after that they cancelled all their walking events planned to be held on weekends until March 15. Even local events in Hamamatsu such as concerts, sport competitions, and lectures are cancelled. Maybe I will mostly stay at home until the middle of March. Though I have still some masks, it is very difficult to find them at stores now. I think I’ll make one with a handkerchief if necessary. When you search with “handkerchief mask” in youtube, you can see several videos showing how to make a mask without cutting and sewing cloth.

Today, I bought a vegan box lunch at Entetsu Department Store. As its contents change from day to day except for the brown rice accompanying with the vegetables, they were different from those I introduced in January. Today’s box contained two traditional homemade dishes. One was simmered daikon radish with sweet miso sauce. This sauce was dark brown and had a strong taste, which is typical of this dish. The other was canola flowers dressed with mustard, vinegar and miso. It was a bit bitter and had the flavor of a citrus fruit. At first, I thought it was yuzu, which is often used for it. According to the label, it was orange vinegar that I had never heard of before.

The box also contained potato fried with spice, chickpeas and carrot fried with cumin, and shiitake mushroom grilled with basil (and bread crumbs). These were their original dishes and not traditional ones. I found the combination of shiitake mushroom and basil very interesting. I had thought a shiitake mushroom was a typical ingredient for Japanese and Chinese dishes. But it can be also combined with a western herb. The thick pieces of mushroom were filling and might be satisfactory even for those who aren’t vegetarians/vegans.

Sawayaka Walking in Shimada (2) - Delicious sweets in downtown

Near Shimada City Museum, there is an area that was a base of river-crossing during the Edo period and crowded with travelers and local people. The streetscape at that time is rebuilt and looks like an outdoor museum. Last Sunday, they had an event “Japanese Sweet Bar” where local confectionary stores were selling their sweets in old-style houses. When I got there, some houses were full of people, and popular sweets seemed to have been already sold out.

I was disappointed but continued to walk toward the downtown. On my way there, I visited Oi Shrine with a big stone lantern in front of the gate. It was donated by express messengers working between Edo - Kyoto - Osaka in 1856 to pray for safety during their travel and crossing of Oi River.

The premises were spacious and comfortable.

In the downtown, they had an open-air market with local vegetables,

and some snacks. In a stall, they were grilling dumplings.

Customers could choose their favorite sauce. The person in front of me chose sweet soy sauce.

I chose sesame sauce. Warm soft dumplings with thick savory sauce may be one of the most delicious vegan sweets in Japan.

It was a fine but windy day. Windmills sold on another stand were rotating nearly all the time.

In Shimada, you can find Japanese-style confectionary stores relatively easily. In the course of the walking, there were two big stores. One of them was Ryugetsudo where I bought ko-manju, which literally means a small manju or bun.

In the 18th century, Fumaiko, the feudal lord of Matsue (Shimane Prefecture), who was known as a person with refined taste, stayed in Shimada during his travel on the Tokaido Highway and ate a bun of a confectionary store Shimizuya. Then he advised that they should make their buns bite-sized. After that ko-manju or small bun won popularity and became a specialty of Shimada.

As they looked just ordinary buns, I bought only one to taste. They kindly brought me a newly steamed bun that was still warm. Though it was only 40 yen, it was very delicious with flavor of sake. Then I realized why it has been loved by so long time. It is not just a small bun with adzuki bean paste inside.

On the same street, there was another big confectionary store Nakamura Kashiho.

There I found instant adzuki bean soup.

It was a box filled with powder. The ingredients are adzuki beans, sugar, wasanbon-to sugar, starch, glutinous rice, and salt. I had thought the box was made from wheat flour, but it wasn’t included in the ingredients.

When I poured hot water into the bowl, the soup looked like this.

The box was softened and melted in my mouth. The soup wasn’t too sweet and warmed me up. After eating it up, even my fingertips got a little warmer. It may become a nice gift or souvenir when it is cold.

In front of Shimada Station, there is a statue of Eisai (1141-1215). He was a Buddhist monk who studied in China and was inspired by the tea culture there. After returning to Japan, he promoted cultivation of tea. With the Meiji Restoration in 1868, the vassals of the last shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu lost their job and started cultivation of Makinohara Plateau (a part of Shimada, Makinohara, and Kikugawa) to have tea plantation. People who were engaged in carrying travelers across Oi River also joined in it after the river-crossing system was abolished in 1870. Now, Makinohara is the largest tea production area in Japan. I think this is one of the reasons why Shimada has very nice Japanese-style confectionary stores in the downtown even today, because green tea goes well with traditional sweets.

Sawayaka Walking in Shimada (1) - Travel during Edo period

Last Sunday, I went to Kanaya (about 40 minutes from Hamamatsu by train) to participate in Sawayaka Walking held by JR Central. Because of the coronavirus, many people prefer staying at home on weekends recently. But I just wanted to walk as I usually sit in front of the computer all day. When I arrived at Kanaya Station, I found all the staff giving out maps to the participants of the event wore masks.

In Japan, we often wear masks in winter or early spring to prevent diseases (cold, influenza, hay fever, etc.) or not to transmit diseases to others when going out. Now, masks are sold out in some convenient stores and drugstores and difficult to find. Seeing a great many people in the train and streets who wore masks, I realized again how serious the current situation is. I remembered healthcare professionals who were working devotedly, especially nurses in Wuhan who cut their hair to prevent infection. I was deeply impressed by their professionalism. I hope the coronavirus will be settled soon.

As for the course of walking, I got a map like this. Between Kanaya and Shimada (destination), there is a big river with a width of more than 1 km. It is called Oigawa or Oi River.

During the Edo period (1603-1869), this river was the hardest point on Tokaido Highway to pass because there was no bridge over it. It was technically impossible to build one at that time as the river was wide and fast-moving. So, travelers used to cross the river with help of local people who were occupationally engaged in carrying travelers to the other side.

Fortunately, they have bridges now. This is a bridge for both cars and pedestrians, and we walked there in strong wind. It may be the longest bridge I’ve ever crossed on foot. In Shimada, there is also the longest wooden bridge in the world (897.4m), which is only for pedestrians and bicycles.

Soon after arriving at the other side of river, we visited Shimada City Museum.

Now, they have an exhibition of “Sweets of Tokaido.” Tokaido was a highway between Edo (Tokyo) and Kyoto with 53 post towns including Shimada, Kanaya, and Hamamatsu along it. Many towns had their local sweets, and travelers in old days enjoyed them as they traveled from town to town.

I think every sightseeing spot in Japan has a comic foreground.

Shimada City Museum is worth visiting if you are interested in travelers in the Edo period. At the counter, they are selling a set of post cards of 53 post towns, which I had never seen before, and separate post cards of some towns in Shizuoka Prefecture including Shimada and Kanaya, and other areas.

This is the entrance of the exhibition on the first floor.

On Tokaido Highway, there were a variety of people coming and going; merchants, samurai, monks, express messengers, pilgrims, etc. During the Edo Period, both men and women had their hair done up. One of the most popular hair styles for women was “Shimada-mage.” It was originated from Shimada and had several variations. The leftmost one is still typical for the bride in a traditional Japanese-style wedding.

I liked this one. This style was for a daughter of a rich merchant.

This is a typical traveler with a hat in his hand. In Japanese historical dramas, you can see this kind of costume sometimes.

And these are his belongings; a lunch box, wallet, folding pillow, Odawara lantern (folding lantern), etc.

These are guidebooks for travelers containing the names of the post towns, distance to the next post town, etc. Travelers had also a pass with them that served as ID at some check points.

To cross the river, travelers sat on a palanquin or litter, or on someone’s shoulder. The fee varied depending on the measure to cross the river and the depth of water. When feudal lords crossed the river by using a palanquin, it cost about 87,360 - 157,900 yen, while it was about 9,360 - 16,920 yen/person or 12,480 - 22,560 yen/2 persons in the case of ordinary people. I thought the fee was quite expensive, but for those who were engaged in it, it must have been very hard work especially in winter.

I went upstairs to see the exhibition of “Sweets of Tokaido.” I could see many traditional vegan sweets such as rice cakes, manju or buns stuffed with adzuki bean paste, and dumplings that are available as local specialties even today. Each local sweet has its history or legend, which I thought very interesting. Since it was prohibited to take pictures on the second floor, I took a picture of sweets from confectionary stores in Shimada instead when I returned to the first floor. Near the museum, they had an event “Japanese Sweet Bar”. It was another highlight of this walking event, and I left the museum with a great expectation.

Oniman - Popular sweet potato bun in Tokai region

The other day, I introduced our local sweet “misoman.” It is an abbreviation of miso-manju that is literally means “miso (fermented soybeans) bun.” Manju is a traditional Japanese bun often stuffed with adzuki bean paste. But there are also other kinds of manju that contain some other stuffing or unique ingredients mixed in the dough.

Oni-manju or oniman is one of such manju without adzuki bean paste. According to Wikipedia, it is mainly seen in Aichi Prefecture and other prefectures (Gifu, Mie, Shizuoka) in Tokai region. Even in Hamamatsu, it is often sold in supermarkets. Basically, oniman is made of wheat flour or finer rice powder, sugar, and sweet potato. Diced sweet potato is mixed in the dough and steamed. Compared with oniman sold in supermarkets, I prefer those from confectionary stores, because they can be bigger and contain more dices of sweet potato. Today, I found a temporary confectionary stand selling nice-looking oniman and other traditionary sweets in the shopping mall Zaza City. I bought one home.

Oniman is a simple sweet loved by ordinary people, and I like its rough shape and natural sweetness of sweet potato. This one is a typical oniman and tasted as it should. Oni means a devil, and I heard it is called oniman because the sweet potato dices sticking out of the bun remined people of the horns of devils. In old days, oniman was often made at home. I think it may be suitable to eat as a snack during the break in farm work because it is dense in texture and good to eat when you are hungry.

Though the original type of oniman is very simple, there are some variations these days. I have seen one stuffed with adzuki bean paste in a supermarket. In Nagoya, oniman is much more common than in Hamamatsu and sold in almost every Japanese-style confectionary store though its sales period varies depending on stores. Maybe autumn is the best season to look for most delicious oniman in Nagoya. But I still think the simplest oniman may be the best.

Hiroshima & Western Honshu Vegetarian Guide

The other day, when I visited the website of Japan Vegetarian Society, I noticed a link to Hiroshima & Western Honshu Vegetarian Guide (http://wwwtb.mlit.go.jp/chugoku/content/000044336.pdf) that covers five prefectures: Hiroshima, Okayama, Tottori, Shimane, and Yamaguchi. In Japanese, this region is called “Chugoku (中国)” region. But it means also China and is puzzling, so the name “Western Honshu” has become more common in general brochures in English. I found this guide very informative with restaurant names, maps, and introduction of some sightseeing spots. In addition, it also presents Japanese words for food with Chinese characters and how to read them (for example, “PORK 豚肉 buta-niku”) so that vegetarian/vegan travelers can avoid what they cannot eat.

Personally, I’m not very familiar with this region. When I was in high school, I went to Hagi, Tsuwano, and Hiroshima on a school trip. Hagi is a town in Yamaguchi Prefecture and famous for its pottery. I remember we drew pictures on pottery to make our own tea cups. Tsuwano is a cozy castle town in Shimane Prefecture, where we cycled along a waterway with beautiful carps swimming in it. It was the nicest place in the trip. Hiroshima is a big city where an atomic bomb fell on August 6, 1945. During the school trip, I couldn’t see exhibits in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum very well because we didn’t have much time and the museum was very crowded. After grown up, I read a series of comic books “Barefoot Gen” by Keiji Nakazawa who survived the bomb as a child. He depicted his experiences so vividly that I was absorbed in the books though I felt numb sometimes to learn the reality during the war and the bombing.

Among the five prefectures in Western Honshu, I have never been to Tottori Prefecture, but I’d like to visit Mizuki Shigeru Road in Sakaiminato someday. Mizuki Shigeru is a cartoonist known for his masterpiece Gegege-no-Kitaro (鬼太郎) with many yokai or monsters. It has been animated for several times since I was little. Along this road, there are 177 bronze statues of monsters, and I think it may be exciting to stroll there during a summer night or while it is getting dark.
   
Though Western Honshu is far from here, you can still have their traditional sweets easily. In the basement of Entetsu Department Store, there is a corner selling sweets from all over Japan. Today, I went there to see if there were kibidango from Okayama Prefecture. I think most Japanese people have heard about it before as it was told in one of the most famous Japanese folk tales Momotaro (Peach Boy). Momotaro is a boy born from a peach, who went to Demon’s Island and fought with the demon. On his way there, he gave kibidango to a dog, monkey, and pheasant. They followed Momotaro to Demon’s Island, and with their help, Momotaro beat the demon and took the demon’s treasures home.

Kibidango literally means a millet dumpling. On the shelf of sweets from Chugoku or Western Honshu, there were four kinds of kibidango. They were all from Koeido, an old confectionary store founded in 1856.

I chose the original type made from sugar, starch syrup, glutinous rice flour, maltose, wheat flour, rice flour, proso millet flour, and trehalose. On the package, there were pictures of characters in Momotaro painted by Gomi Taro, a famous illustrator for children’s books.

In the box, there was a leaflet describing kibidango and Momotaro.

There were ten kibidango separately wrapped with paper. I could find all the characters in the story, except the monkey.

This is kibidango. It was pale yellow and soft. Despite the wild image of the story of Momotaro, this kibidango had a refined taste. I slightly recognized the flavor of millet, but it was too sweet for me.

I turned the box upside down to check the ingredients again. Then I found something that I had never seen before on a Japanese food package. A HALAL mark!

In Western Honshu, they have also prepared a guide for Muslim people in addition to the vegetarian guide. As for foods for travelers from abroad, they seem to make much more efforts than people in Shizuoka Prefecture. I imagined how convenient it would be if vegetarian/vegan marks would be prepared soon and come in use.

Treasures in Silk Road Museum

Yesterday, after visiting Toyooka Baien, we continued to walk to Silk Road Museum, another highlight of the walking event. It is a unique museum established by the founder of a logistics company Hamanakonpou Co., Ltd. Though it is rather unknown to the public, I had been looking forward to visiting there. In 1980’s, NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) broadcasted a TV documentary series “The Silk Road” with fascinating synthesizer music composed by Kitaro (喜多郎). Especially, the melody of “Theme of Silk Road” was so imaginative and impressive that many people, including me, still remember it today.

The Silk Road was an ancient network of trade routes between Chang’an (present Xi'an) in China and Rome where caravans traveled. This is the gate of the museum, with an image of a camel in front of it. The building itself is also very rare and worth seeing. It was the house of a wealthy farmer and originally built in the Edo Period without using any nail.

The items from the Silk Road were displayed on the second floor. The first exhibit was a statue of Maitreya from Ghandara, Pakistan, A.D. 3C. It was just in front of the end of the stairs. As soon as I saw it, I automatically put my hands together and bowed though I’m not very religious. The statue was so vivid.

There was also a head of Buddha from Ghandara, Pakistan, A.D. 3 - 4 C. His expression was the mildest I’ve ever seen.

This is a part of a Persian carpet from Iran, A.D. 8 – 10C (Sassanian Empire), and there are only several pieces of similar old cloth in the world today. It was amazing that colors of the wool were preserved very well. According to the museum staff, this piece is bigger than the one in Shosoin (treasure repository in the ancient capital Nara) and is exhibited only in winter when the air is dry.

It was also interesting to hear about the history about precious things. This is a part of a corridor floor of a palace found near Istanbul, Turkey (A.D. 4 – 5C). It is mosaic made of small pieces of stones of various colors. I found some exotic animals on it. The museum staff explained that rich people boasted their wide knowledge by using animals in foreign countries as motifs.

As he talked, he touched the mosaic and let me do it, too. To my surprise, you can touch exhibits (not in the cases) freely in this museum! I came back to my favorite statue of Maitreya and touched his left hand.

The exhibition continues to the other rooms.

As this museum was once a wealthy farmhouse, you can see a beautiful garden and a big storehouse from the corridor.

These are roman glass from the eastern Mediterranean Sea, around the beginning of the first century.

From A.D. 7 to 9C, many Japanese envoys were sent to Chang’an, which was the capital of Tang Dynasty and the starting point of the Silk Road, to learn the advanced governmental system and culture of China. The museum has Tang Sancai pottery,

as well as painted terracotta made during this dynasty.

On the second floor, there were many other interesting things, and the exhibits are basically changed semi-annually. As for the first floor, the main exhibits are Japanese pottery. Now, they have two special exhibits. One is bridal costume of a granddaughter of Prime Minister Masayoshi Matsukata (1835 - 1924), which consisted of two kimono. This one is embroidered all over by skillful craftsmen with silk threads of the highest quality that are no longer available these days.

The other is a set of hina-dolls for the Doll Festival in March, which a sumo star Chiyonofuji prepared for his daughter. The dolls are all Hakata dolls made from clay.

And beyond these, there was still one remarkable object: a porcelain plate from Jindezhen, China made 100 - 200 years ago. This may be the biggest plate I’ve ever seen. If you look at the picture of kimono again, you can see how big it is. In addition to the size, I was fascinated by the beautiful blue color and design.

Though Silk Road Museum is a small museum in a small town, they have some treasures that are as precious as those in big museums. When I was about to leave, the museum staff said I could take a one bag of golden oranges home. What a generous museum! They were cultivated by Hamanakonpou, the founder's company.

They look like yuzu and are as yellow as lemon, but they are not only sour but also sweet.

Hamanakonpou Silk Road Museum
Address: 888 Kaminobe, Iwata-shi, Shizuoka Prefecture
Tel. 0539-63-5050
Open hours: 9:30 - 17:00
Closed: Mondays, year-end and New Year holidays
Access: 15-minute walk from Kaminobe Station
Admission fees: 900 yen for adults
                          500 yen for junior and senior high school students
                          400 yen for elementary school students
                          Discont for groups with 10 people or more: 700 yen for adults