Before I begin:
Hey what’s good everyone? Hope y’all are doing well and keeping proactive + safe from the recent news about COVID-19 (aka Coronavirus) – excuse me for not being as diligent with this travel blog as of late. I was originally going to write this up about a week after the last post, but unfortunately life got in the way (both work and personal) and I just wasn’t able to sit down, make time, and actually have the proper effort to write up the next post. Not to worry though – I’m alive and well. Ain’t a thing in the world stopping me from doing the things I wanna do for the people I want to share this blog with. CHYEAH you know what i’m sayin’ super saiyan? π The daily grind is always on my mind.
Okay! Back to the post – here we go.
Taking the Shinkansen from Shinagawa Station (via Minato, Tokyo, Japan) to Shizuoka Station was quite a pleasant experience even though I wish I could’ve gotten a window seat so I could look at the scenic route and the endless number of buildings zooming past by the second…but unfortunately, since the specific car (or part of) the Shinkansen is non-reserved, there were no available window seats (first come first served type of deal when it comes to these things, next time I’ll be quicker than the Flash for this!).
All good though! I ended up getting an aisle seat, and I thoroughly enjoyed the fact that there was SOOOOO much leg space between rows of seats to where I could literally fit my green luggage, my blue backpack, and my own two legs (with a comfortable amount of space!) This is how trains should be! (and airplanes in general). If there were an award for “most capacious experience as a passenger via public transportation”, this particular non-reserved car of this Shinkansen would win by default forreal. No competition man…like how is this even a thing? This is one of the reasons why I love Japanese trains! (c’mon states, where you at with this? -_-lll Step your game up, homie).
53 minutes flew by so quickly as I spent the time chillin’, catching up on some sports / video game news + our gaming discord community, and chargin’ my phone via my super duper trusty travel charger. CHYEAH, gotta always have juice in my electronics ready for the day.
As I stepped out of the Shinkansen and outside of the station, I was thinking of one thing – I AM SOUL HUNGRY, IT’S LUNCH TIME DAWG. CHYEAH. You’re probably thinking – “yo kev, you gonna get some of that Sakura Ebi though (like in that picture above)? That’s gotta be it right?” HELL YEAH, BUT NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA… (which is pretty much no.) I would end up having that for lunch, but not today π (tune in for Day 4 on that one hahah, no pitchforks outside my door please.)
~ The playerβs strategy #5: Since my Shizuoka Airbnb check-in time is at local time 3:00pm, the plan is to have lunch, get some green tea (which Shizuoka is widely known as the green tea capital of Japan), and improvise along the way with maybe some snacking + shopping for a bit before I get to my Airbnb at 3:00pm. ~
Besides Sakura Ebi (or Sakura Shrimp) and green tea, Shizuoka is known for quite a lot of things, including what I was about to have for lunch – Unagi (γγͺγ aka eel)! Prior to this trip, I had to do some more extensive research on where to have, and this site showed up (https://wow-j.com/en/Allguides/shizuoka/food/01439_en/) – The fifth on that list out of five is the place I ended up going for delicious unagi called Tenbun Honten (ε€©ε©¦ηΎ γ»γγͺγε°ιεΊ ε€©ζζ¬εΊ), which is a well-established restaurant that opened its doors in 1879. Just reading that fact alone got me intrigued about how legendary this restaurant seemed to be (especially since it has that longevity…it must be good and definitely worth going!)
It was a decent 14-15 minute walk from Shizuoka station to Tenbun Honten – originally, I couldn’t find the place since there were other places that had a similar entrance layout like this, so I ended up wandering for a few minutes around the area until I found it!
When I entered through the slide doors, I was a bit surprised that there were no customers, and I thought to myself “Holy shit…am I in the wrong restaurant? Why is this place so deserted?” I was so befuddled like what is going on? This is the “legendary” Tenbun Honten… I mean even though it’s about 1:30pm in the afternoon on a Tuesday, but still… there’s gotta be at least one other customer – nope.
At this point, I was greeted by one of the employees. Right when I sat, that same person was speaking to me in Japanese, but honestly, I couldn’t understand a word he was saying (which I felt pretty bad about since if I’m going to be dining in a Japanese Restaurant, I should be more cognizant of key words or things that people working there would say…) and just nodded quietly as I took a seat and sat at the counter bar.
~ Side Note #22: there’s a future player’s strategy that will be at play here later on today that I’ll get more into detail as a result of the initial awkward conversation I had with that restaurant employee I just mentioned not too long ago. That strategy would serve to help me communicate more effectively despite my limited/super basic Japanese language skills. ~
After what that particular restaurant employee mentioned, I think it was pretty conspicuous to him that I was a foreigner who (well I guess given the fact that I brought in both my green luggage and my blue backpack with me is a definite visual indicator) barely knew Japanese.
Subsequently, I just had a thought in my mind where I think that restaurant employee was most likely asking me if I wanted something to drink, and if so, what would I like? It was the most educated guess I could have thought of at that moment because nothing else seemed to pop up in my head.
With that being said, I did a quick search on how to say “tea” in Japanese, which is “ocha.” Shortly after, I got that same restaurant employee’s attention and said “sumimasen. ocha, onegaishimasu. (γγΏγΎγγγγθΆγγι‘γγγΎγγ)” with a bow on my end, which translated to “Excuse me, tea please.” The restaurant employee then said “hai! (γ―γοΌ)” (or “yes!”) with a bow on his end. Success! I was able to order Japanese tea and bow the proper way about it too π HELL YEAH DUDE YA BOY IS GETTIN’ THIS JAPANESE CULTURE COURTESY STUFF DAY BY DAY YOU KNOW HOW I DO. π haaaahaaaa!
I then proceeded to look at the menu (which was all in Japanese, but no worries… I mean I already had a plan on what to get anyway). From that link I referenced to in regards to Tenbun Honten, I wanted to get the Unaju (γγͺι), which is an Unagi box that contains “grilled eel fillets served with cooked rice in a rectangular, lacquered box” (reference: https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2344.html). There were a few options in terms of how much unagi I wanted to get (ranging from Β₯2,500 – Β₯4,000). I ended up getting the middle tier option that I believe was Β₯3,200 (which translates to about $30 USD).
~ Side Note #23: You might be thinking, “dayeum son, that’s pretty expensive for lunch dawg, despite the fact that you’re travelling and even though you’re being a bit more lenient on how you spend for food….you forreal?” and I would respond back with this: Honestly, the pricing is not bad for something like this – I’ve read and heard that having unagi in such this format is usually more expensive from the standard range of Β₯3,000 β Β₯5,800 to the upper ranges of Β₯5,000 – Β₯7,500…and it’s not like I’m going to have this for every meal.
For what I’m getting overall (along with a couple side dishes that you’ll see in pictures soon), I think it’s worth the try fsho. I really just thought this was the appropriate time to have this because I wanted to taste the specialities of each of the cities/areas that I haven’t explored yet in Japan, and in this case, I HAD to try the unaju. food for thought. ~
Anyway, it didn’t take too long (probably 5-10 minutes tops) until I got the following:
Look at this beautiful design on this rectangular lacquered box! I love the waves / ocean designs along with the fish! Man I’m in for a treat, and if you don’t know already, waves are synonymous with who I am and how I live my life. CHYEAH, if you don’t know, now you know.
I lifted up the covers on both the clear soup AND the unaju…. HAVE MERCY. D-D-D-D-D-DAYEUM SON. I mean… I don’t know what to say, it just looks scrumptious.
A closer shot right here. Hell yeah. HELLLLLLLLLLL YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.
~ Side Note #24: While I was taking pictures before I started eating this lovely meal, there was a couple and a single person who started coming into the restaurant….so I’m not the only customer here! π This isn’t a deserted ghost town of a place to eat at! People know about this place forreal, and I think I just got here for lunch at an odd hour. Occam’s razor. ~
I had to get one more angle on this one…look at this! LOOK AT THIS. I have to say, it tasted better than it looks forreal. My god… this is the best unagi I’ve ever had – it’s not too sweet, it’s soft, tender, moist… the rice laid perfectly as I used my chopsticks ever so carefully to get that perfect unagi to rice ratio per bite. I mean, what is not to like? The way this restaurant presented and grilled this eel was just right (I mean this is coming from a place that has served and presented grilled eel in this manner since 1879, that’s amazing). I love it.
I thoroughly enjoyed this meal – it was such a nice, refreshing take on unagi for me and a good first meal in my first time here in Shizuoka. Very appropriate for this situation.
After I paid for my meal, and courtesy bowed 23098095682309 times (jokes, only three times after I finished my meal and asked for the check, got some change, and said goodbye – the restaurant employees bowed back too for each of those moments as well – as I’ve mentioned before, this sort of courtesy is extremely common practice here in the land of the rising sun.), I left to hit up my next destination on my list – MARUZEN Tea Roastery! (which is a green tea roastery that is described as a very modern tea house in the heart of downtown Shizuoka)
~ Side Note #25: The weather here in downtown Shizuoka for today was around 21Β°C, or approximately 70Β°F. Coming from a much usually cooler climate like Portland, it was definitely a bit too hot for my liking; haha yeah I’m not used to the California weather anymore lol… I’ve gotten more adjusted to how the weather is in my adopted home in Portland – so I had to take off my Jacket and just hand carry it while I was walking in this city. Good thing I was just wearing a t-shirt since I already prepared earlier in the morning on what the weather / temperature would be in Shizuoka.~
Just from walking in this city (including my short 5 minute walk from Tenbun Honten to MARUZEN Tea Roastery), I already began to notice that walking here in Shizuoka already felt so different than walking in Tokyo – it’s not as crowded, the streets are a lot smaller and narrower, and it kind of has what I would describe it as a Portland / Taipei hybrid feel – smaller, narrower streets like how we have it in parts of downtown Portland + has that Taipei street essence with the way the roads are painted along with the presence of two wheelers – bicycles and scooters!
When I got to MARUZEN Tea Roastery, I noticed right away that it was closed! OH NO… and then I checked on google to see what could be up…and sure enough, they’re closed on Tuesdays! DANG IT π¦ tough shit for me… but all good (I would visit this Tea Roastery the next day – stay tuned for that particular day 4 part [INSERT NUMBER] travel post)
I ended up walking for 3 more minutes to a nearby Doutor (a coffee shop which has become my favorite chain here in Japan). This Doutor in particular is called Doutor Coffee Shizuoka GofukuchΕ Shop (γγγΌγ«γ³γΌγγΌγ·γ§γγ ι岑εζηΊεΊ). There was a decent queue with a good number of people inside, and I ended up getting what I got yesterday at Doutor’s in Asakusa via Tokyo, a large iced coffee π
It was just the refreshment I needed after a nice lunch, and then my stomach told me “yo kev, what’s good man? your rubber stomach here – so uhh…yeah it’s cool that you had that fancy schmancy unagi meal and this coffee with that gum syrup that you’re starting to get obsessed over… BUT UHHHH….I think you should have some sort of afternoon snack soon, you and I both know that THIS ISN’T ENOUGH to hold me over for the afternoon. c’mon dawg. FEED ME NOW. MORE FOOD. MORE STUFF. LETS GO.”
On the way to my Shizuoka Airbnb, I found this little gem called Melon de melon (the full name of this small chain bakery is γ‘γγ³γγ³ε°ιεΊ Melon de melonοΌγ‘γγ³γγ₯γ‘γγ³οΌιε²‘ι§ εεΊ). HELLLLLLL YEAHHHHHH time to indulge in a nice afternoon snack in the form of a pastry!
I went up to the lady working at this bakery, and (using my limited / basic Japanese) said “Konnichiwa! eto… ichi melon pan (as I pointed to the plain melon pan in the display cabinet) onegaishimasu.” I basically said “Hello, um…one melon bun please.” I’m sure there was a more proper way of saying that, but it was good enough for the lady to understand me without having to use any English! SUCCESS – HELL YEAH! PLUS ONE POINT FOR ME. π CHYEAH. y’all know how I do scooby doo?
The lady did me a solid and heated my melon pan up so that it came out warm! I took a bite, and I was like nice!!! this is good – it instantly took me back to the days (either in college or shortly after I graduated) where I would binge watch this one bread-making bakery anime from start to finish called Yakitate!! Japan (ηΌγγγ¦!! γΈγ£γ±γ,“Freshly Baked!! Ja-pan” – reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakitate!!_Japan), which I HIGHLY recommend y’all watch it sometime.
I’ve always been so intrigued about melon pan and how it tasted, especially after watching that particular anime. This was the first time I’ve ever had melon pan ever, and I gotta say – this is a pretty decent way of popping my melon pan cherry.
From Melon de melon to my AirBnb, it was a nice 13 minute walk – I soon realized that I was walking away from the downtown area and into the quieter local part of the city.
Even though there were only a handful number of cars that passed by while I was walking, it was really nice because it felt like a refreshing change from the hustle and bustle of the energy that I’ve experienced while I was in Tokyo earlier this trip.
Honestly, I love it – I love how Shizuoka has these pockets where you can live right outside of the downtown area and still be within earshot of the shopping centers (which I will get into in the next blog post) and restaurants.
Shit… it’s just past 2am PST here in the early Sunday morning where I am in Portland as I’m finishing this up – unfortunately, I’ll have to put a stop right here and do a Day 3 (Part 3) in my next travel blog post. Not to worry though! I’m going to have that written up a lot sooner than how I wrote up this Day 3 (Part 2) piece π .
In the next post, I’ll cover the airbnb that I’m staying at, a couple, notable, interesting stories that happened over both dinner and while I was shopping at night, and something that I didn’t expect that I would get into moving forward with how I like that particular drink – stay tuned.
In the meantime, please take care and stay proactive with the COVID-19 news. I will do my due diligence on my end as well.
Have a great rest of the weekend, and I’ll see y’all in the next post!
Cheers / Wave
Listen to what you see. 