GariGarikun - Popular soda popsicle in convenience stores

In convenience stores such as Seven-Eleven and FamilyMart, you can find a popsicle in a blue bag with a funny picture of a boy. It is a vegan popsicle GariGarikun (ガリガリ君) with a flavor of soda. “Garigari” is a Japanese onomatopoeic word that represents the sound that occurs when you crush hard things such as an ice cube with your teeth (and “-kun” is a word used to address a boy or a man who is younger or the same age as the speaker). As a popsicle, it has a nice name. It gives me images of hard cold ice, ice shaver, and shaved ice – something I want to have on a hot summer day.

Like other soda popsicles, GariGarikun was pale blue though the color of this picture is not good.

As I expected, it was refreshing to eat it. It was crunchy and had a slight flavor of lime juice. I enjoyed the crunchiness of the ice and thought it had a refined taste compared with soda popsicles I used to eat when I was little. Soda popsicles have been loved by children in many years, and they seem to have evolved.

I ate the popsicle in a little haste because I wanted to check the stick in the popsicle. If “当たり (Atari (win))” is printed on your stick, you can get another GariGarikun at the store you bought it. This time I didn’t win, as there was nothing printed on the stick.

In addition to this soda-flavored one, GariGarikun seems to have a variety of flavors such as cola, Kyushu mandarin orange, pear, grapefruits, and sports drink. I don’t think I have seen them before, but these five products seem to be vegan. According to the information on the website of the manufacturer, an ice cream company Akagi Nyugyo, they contain only apple as an allergen. GariGarikun is the company’s most popular product series and one of the bestselling popsicles in Japan. The soda popsicle is a regular product and available all the time.

*Next day, I found the pear-flavored GariGarikun at Seven-Eleven. I liked its sweet smell, but it tasted much sweeter than the soda popsicle. It contained 2% of pear juice, but I couldn't feel the flavor of a pear. I prefer the pale blue GariGarikun.

Late Autumn in Mori-machi (2) - Daitoin Temple

From Okuni Jinja, I walked further toward the next destination Daitoin. It was about 4.7 km from Oukni Jinja, and the road sometimes became steep. It was really a lonely mountain road. If it had not been for a walking event, I couldn’t have walked there alone. At least, I could always see a few people walking behind or in front of me on my way to Daitoin.

Daitoin is a temple famous for the grave of a gangster Mori-no-Ishimatsu who lived in the 19th century. It is believed that you can have a gambling luck if you cut the gravestone and keep the fragment of it. But in front of the gravestone, there was a notice saying that the temple sells amulets containing a fragment of the gravestone and it is forbidden to cut it by yourself to take the fragment home.

As in Okuni Jinja, I could enjoy the glowing color of autumn leaves.

The old building for zen meditation had a quainter atmosphere than in other seasons.

Mori-no-Ishimatsu and his boss Shimizu Jirocho welcome you all year round.

This is a sculpture of a dragon on the wall of the main building.

I went down the stairs. The trees looked better from beneath.

I didn’t know what this stone and the plant beside it were, but the red color was beautiful.

It was a luck that the walking event in Mori-machi was held just on that weekend as we could enjoy autumn leaves both in Okuni Jinja and Daitoin. We still had to walk 4.4 km, however, I was very satisfied and continued to walk to the residential area of the town. On our way to the goal, Enshu-Mori Station, there was a shop selling gelato. According to the map, they make their original gelato according to the seasons.

At first, I didn’t feel like eating gelato at this time of year. However, I got curious as many people went inside the shop and ordered various kinds of gelato. They had a popular set of five kinds of gelato that you could choose from many options. I chose strawberry, Mikkabi mandarin orange, chestnut, green tea, and persimmon gelato. The major ingredients were from towns in Enshu or western Shizuoka Prefecture. Mikkabi mandarin oranges were from the north of Lake Hamana. Chestnuts were from Kakegawa, and green tea and persimmons were from Mori-machi. I started eating from the persimmon gelato with a spoon. I had never eaten one before but found it very delicious. Each of gelato had its original strong taste of the ingredient, and I thought they were the best gelato I had ever eaten. The last one was green tea gelato. It was good to finish with the rich bitter taste of tea from Mori-machi.

The name of the shop is Aria, and it was about 1.5 km from Enshu Mori Station. Even after the walking event, I keep the map so that I can visit there again on some other occasions.

Drive to Cape Irago (3) - Kingdom of melons

In “Drive to Cape Irago (1)”, I introduced one of Michi-no-Eki or rest areas along major roads in Japan. Cape Irago has also have one named Irako Crystal Porto. Like other Michi-no-Eki, it has a shop of local products and a restaurant, but it also serves as a terminal for ferries to Toba in Mie Prefecture. I had taken such ferries twice to go to Ise Jingu, the most prominent shrine in Japan. It takes about one hour to get to Toba. Then you can take a bus to Ise Jingu (about 40 to 50 minutes).

Irako Crystal Porto had many products of melons such as agar jelly candies,

and big melon bread. It has orange cream on top with the flavor of melon. It looked 2-3 times as big as ordinary melon bread sold in supermarkets and bakeries. Though ordinary melon bread also tastes like melon, it doesn’t have cream on top. Maybe this one is richer in taste.

For vegans, there is dried sea lettuce to add in miso soup, ramen, tempura, etc.

From the building, we could see the port.

They had also a corner of products from Okinawa Prefecture. My mother bought one cup of strong liquor called Awamori for my father.

I was more interested in peanuts caramelized with granulated sugar, black sugar, and coarse sugar. They tasted good with slight bitterness of black sugar when I ate them at home.

We found another Okinawan specialty containing black sugar. It was sata andagi, a kind of doughnut which was, according to the package, originally served in a Chinese court. Okinawa seems to have many traditions influenced by China. Before we went to the next destination, we ate sata andagi in the car.

After leaving Irako Crystal Porto, my mother took National Route 259. Soon we came to a place with a big melon in front of the parking lot. It’s New Atsumi Kanko selling melons, juice, etc. I was surprised again at the reasonable prices of the melons. They offered melon picking and all-you-can-eat course as well.

We had fresh 100% melon juice. It was smooth and delicious! My mother said it was better than melon eaten as it was. I agreed with her.

Finally, we went to the last Michi-no-Eki of the day, Tahara Mekkun House.

As this is the last spot, I bought some vegetables. They were sold at surprisingly reasonable prices (also melons). My mother bought packs of eggplants and pears and gave me some of them.

In the corner of processed food, I found very interesting information. It was about Kikujiro Suzuki (1868-1935) who invented agar jelly candy wrapped with wafer paper. He was from this town Tahara.

Tahara Mekkun House was selling soft-serve ice cream made from melon that was appealing. Maybe next time…

Sawayaka Walking in Mori-machi (5) - Koshoji Temple with cute little statues

Finally, I came to Koshoji Temple. As in Gokurakuji Temple, the participants of Sawayaka Walking had a discount for the admission fee to enter the Chinese bellflower garden. This year, it is opened from June 8 to July 25. I paid 450 yen (normally, 500 yen) and got this envelope with a luck-bringing coin in it. I was told not to open it for a year. According to the description on the envelope, the language of a Chinese bellflower is abiding love.

In the garden, there was a small stage beyond these flower beds where two people were playing popular songs from 1980’ with flutes. They played my favorite melodies such as Subaru by Shinji Tanimura beautifully, and I was very glad to hear them. I was more surprised to find that they were playing the vertical and transverse bamboo flutes, old Japanese musical instruments. The vertical flute is called shakuhachi and was often played by wandering monks in former days. Somehow, I wondered if they had played (or would play) Amazing Grace though we were in a Buddhist temple, not in a church.

In Hamamatsu, I haven’t seen Chinese bellflowers so often except at flower shops. I had liked their star-like shape and violet color but hadn’t known the existence of white flowers.

The garden spreads on a hill. Before I climbed to the top, I rang this divine bell,

and made a prayer in front of the statue of Kannon or Guan Yin or the Goddess of Mercy. As a bellflower is a symbol of abiding love, this Kannon is said to help you succeed in love.

On the hillside, you can have a view over the town,

and a tea plantation.

After climbing down the hill, I looked for little statues of Jizo (a bodhisattva originally known as Ksitigarbha) placed here and there in the garden. Each of them had a priest's monolog board with a funny (useful?) message, for example, “Don’t eat too much”,

“Work, earn, and then spend”,

and “Let others make a fool of you.”

I thought the last one was one of the funniest of tens of messages. It seemed to be the most popular, because this little Jizo had got many coins from visitors.

I wanted to take time to stroll in the garden because the concert by the duo was continued. I could hear Amazing Grace as I expected, and Silk Road by Kitaro. Their selection of music was very good, enhancing the relaxing mood in the garden. In addition to Chinese bellflowers, this temple had some lotus flowers in bloom, creating a dreamy atmosphere.

After enjoying the garden to my heart’s content, I had one of the two frozen desserts that are specialties of the temple. At this time of year, they have black currant milk ice cream and red currant sorbet. Both contain Chinese bellflower root that is said to be good for your throat according to Chinese medicine.

I chose the vegan red currant sorbet. It also contained sugar and wine. I didn’t know how red currant and Chinese bellflower root taste when eaten as they were, but the sorbet was delicious. It was rich, sweet, and a little bit sour.

The stand was also selling corn on the cob and shiso (Japanese basil) juice. In Sawayaka Walking, you can sometimes have a chance to taste rare kinds of food and drink that are not seen supermarkets. Maybe I’ll try shiso juice next time.

When you visit a temple, you mustn’t miss seeing the main building. I found a cute little monk in front of it, with a broom in his hands and a towel around his head. Cleaning is one of the most important exercises in a Buddhism temple to keep the mind clean.

I had a very good time in Koshoji Temple. The path to the gate had pots with lotus on both sides, which was unusual to see in other temples.

In front of the gate, there was another statue, which was holding his hands together. Good-bye, little monk! I’ll come back next year.

Veggie hot dog newly launched in IKEA

Last Saturday, after visiting the exhibition in Matsuzakaya Museum, I went to IKEA in Nagakute, a town adjacent to Nagoya. On May 16, IKEA introduced a veggie hot dog and a plant-based banana soft-serve ice cream in the bistros in their stores. I was excited to hear that as I had never been in their bistro due to the lack of vegetarian/vegan options.

At IKEA, I was surprised to see how many people were standing in the line in front of the ticket vending machines. But the line moved faster then I expected, and I could get both veggie hot dog and soft-serve ice cream smoothly. I tried the ice cream first before it would melt. I heard this is 100% plant-based and made from only banana juice. It had a light taste and quenched my thirst.

The veggie hot dog cost only 100 yen, but it was satisfactory to eat. It was made from chickpeas, green peas, kale, carrot, etc. and reminded me of the vegan sandwich I had in SUBWAY in Rovaniemi, Finland last year. It had also red cabbage on top, and I added ketchup and mustard. I thought it was a good value for the price.

According to IKEA, the CO2 emission of the veggie hot dog is 10% of that of the conventional pork hot dog. Though the bun still contains egg and dairy products, it will be vegan in the future. I also learned that 30% of their customers in Japan come to IKEA to eat. I hope more and more people get interested in sustainable and healthy food provided there. From June, they will have a plant-based food fair with two new kinds of veggie hot dogs.

In addition to visit to the bistro, I had another important thing to do at IKEA. These are wholegrain crisp rolls, multigrain crispbread, rye crispbread, and sugar-free oat biscuits I bought in the food market. All of them seem to be vegan.

In addition to them, I bought also thin bread, my favorite, which I have already eaten up.

Saizeriya - Casual Italian restaurant popular among young people

Saizeriya is a popular Italian restaurant chain. It has more than 1,000 restaurants all over Japan, including 6 restaurants in Hamamatsu. One of them is located downtown and easily seen from the street, but I had never been there before until today. This may be because it is on the second floor in a building, and I couldn’t imagine how it looked inside.

Recently, I had been busy with work and wanted to have a substantial dinner for a change. From some websites, I had heard that Saizeriya is convenient for vegetarians and vegans to eat outside the home. On their website, they provide information on ingredients of each dish, and I found there are five menu items that are vegan-friendly.

Today I went there around six o’clock in the evening. It was not very crowded, and I could choose where to sit. On the wall, there was a big picture of an angel. It felt comfortable to see it.

After ordering all the five vegan-friendly menu items, I went to fetch some water. The restaurant has a beverage station, but I had just water this time. As I looked around, I noticed that many of the customers were young people including high school students, both boys and girls. After a while, two dishes came to me. They were Salad with “Carottes râpée” & Ravigote Sauce and Pickled Celery.

The salad was colorful with vegetables such as carrot, tomato, diced paprika and zucchini (?), and green leaves. It was flavored with vinegar and olive oil and was sour and sweet. I should have mixed the ingredients well before I tasted it, but I didn’t notice that instruction on the menu. Maybe I’ll do that next time. Pickled Celery was also flavored with vinegar and olive oil but was not so sweet as the salad. The portion was much more than I expected, which surprised me a bit.

Then, I had Grilled Potato with a pack of tomato sauce and Spaghetti “ALIO OLIO.”

Grilled Potato was a little harder than French fries of other restaurants I know but was sufficiently grilled. The spaghetti flavored simply with garlic and olive oil was also al dente and good. When I finished them, I was quite full but had a dessert Lemon Sorbet finally.

Though it was vegan, it was thick and creamy. It was sour and refreshing. I wondered if it was ok to come to Saizeriya just to eat this sorbet, not for lunch or dinner. When I left the restaurant, I understood why it seemed to be popular among young people. They provide substantial meals at reasonable prices, even for vegetarians and vegans! My dinner costed only 1195 yen in total, so it was great value for money.

Saizeriya
Address: fun Building 2F, 70-1 Chitose-cho, Naka-ku, Hamamatsu-shi, Shizuoka
Tel: 053-450-8311
Open hours: 11:00 - 0:00
Access: 8-minute walk from JR Hamamatsu Station