“Day 4 (Part 2): Scenic, Seaside, Sakura Shrimp. (11/13/19)”

As I was trying to make conversation with the bus driver in telling him that I needed to reach Shizuoka Station (as part of my journey to reach Kurasawaya (the lunch spot that I was talking about in the previous blog post), I was struggling to figure out how to say just that (granted, I could’ve used google translate prior to getting onto the bus to talk to the bus driver, but I just didn’t do that at the time).

I immediately took out my phone to show him the route that I was taking (with him seeing that I needed to hit up Shizuoka Station as my first stop), and he immediately reassured me that Shizuoka Station would be one of the stops he will make along his route (phew).

I believe I paid anywhere from ¥100 – ¥200 for the trip, and it was a nice 10ish minutes ride. There were other people on the bus as well, and it wasn’t packed at all. It definitely felt very akin to the buses that I would take here in Portland for some reason.

Just like how it was on the bus itself, the Shizuoka Station wasn’t that packed at all – there were a decent number of people coming in and out, but it was nowhere near the numbers that I was seeing at Tokyo Stations a couple days prior. Also, it wasn’t too hard to find the appropriate JR Tokaido Line (via Platform 1) to get ready for the next part of my lunch journey of the day.

This was probably the only time that I wished that the bullet train ride were longer than 21 minutes given the fact that I spent quite a bit of time walking earlier in the morning (I know that I sound like an old man lol...). Don’t get me wrong – I definitely appreciate the exercise that comes with the walking, but I mean… can’t a guy ask for 10-20 minutes more to sit down in one place 😅? I’m not a young guy anymore lol. (I know…first-world complaining.)

Also, I just like looking out the window during train rides in general to see the scenic views, especially if there’s a lot of sea to see 😀

21 minutes train riding went by pretty quickly, and after 5 stops, I arrived at Yui Station! CHYEAH. Another station that isn’t super packed at this time, and I have to say…it has quite a charm as it’s located right by the sea via Suruga Bay (駿河湾, Suruga-wan).

~ Side Note #38: You probably have already (if not yet, you will now) noticed that I tend to take quite a number of train station photos at different angles / perspectives – The reason behind this is that I am a huge fan of linear perspective as defined via Britannica:

“a system of creating an illusion of depth on a flat surface. All parallel lines (orthogonals) in a painting or drawing using this system converge in a single vanishing point on the composition’s horizon line.“

As a person who was extremely enthralled by the subject of art back in both my elementary and middle school days (in which it was to the point where I participated in multiple art competitions at that time), the idea of how we see things in our line of view (especially if they’re parallel to our line of vision) got me thinking more about how our eyes have been constructed to work the way they do.

I’ve always been fascinated by how artists were able to capture this train of thought on canvas – it drove home to me that because all scattered points in a person’s eye view leads to a singular point, the underlying theme denotes the gateway into our souls – the spirits and essence of our inner thoughts and feelings when we see things not just at face value, but beneath the surface where we get exposed to both the beauty and the understanding of the world (whether you’re in a crowded area in a section of Tokyo where you’re navigating through like a maze, or whether you see a train track leading into a tunnel under a mountain without a train on it at the time while you admire the structural integrity of both the train tracks, and the train station area itself).

For the majority of us in the world, we rely on our sight quite a lot – there is a sense of safety and self-preservation that comes with what we see, and how we perceive things with our sight. With such this sense comes a responsibility of having empathy for both people and things around us – the ability to see is a treasured gift that a lot of us are privileged to have, and this is something that I truly appreciate and treasure as much as I can everyday. ~

I’m really glad that the weather is still partly cloudy (with a bit of sun!) – definitely not too cold and not too hot to walk in this small town; honestly, it’s the perfect walking weather in my opinion.

Originally, the walk from Yui Station to Kurasawaya was projected to be 17 minutes (via 1.3 km, or 0.807783 miles), but it turned out to be about 30 minutes for the following reasons:

• I stopped by to take some pictures along the way and just took in the scenery (especially looking beyond to view the Suruga Bay)

• When I was trying to find the restaurant, I thought it was across the freeway (which that in itself took at least a few minutes since the cross walk took quite a while to give me the proper walking sign to light up since it’s not that often that people would cross the freeway in such this manner); so, I had to backtrack just a little bit to find the restaurant finally! Ironically, the timing was just right since I had about 15 minutes left to spare before the restaurant opened at 11am. and I was the first customer to line up 😀

As a big fan of sunbreaks (which is very common in Portland), I love them because they are these auras of light that start to shine from the sky to break away from the clouds in order to give give second wind to the day to boost both morale and positivity (even though I’m already in high morale and on good positive levels for the day anyway, it never hurts to have more of that)

There were other areas of interest that came along the way (including the Yasaka Shrine as shown above), but besides taking a picture here and there, I didn’t stop to take a look at any of these since I wanted to make sure that I got to the restaurant with a bit of time left to spare.

Right after I arrived her as the first customer (before this place opened for the day), a middle-to-old aged couple shortly arrived a couple minutes after. They were talking amongst themselves about something (maybe it had to do with this restaurant) in Japanese, but I paid no mind and just patiently waited until the restaurant opened.

Kurasawaya opened, and they welcomed + allowed me to sit anywhere I want in the restaurant – I decided to sit next to a window where I got both a nice smell and a decent view of the seaside.

I wasn’t quite sure what to order until I saw the sakura ebi combo that they offered (pictured above for ¥3,100 = about $29.00 USD) – this included the following Sakura Ebi dishes:

• Kamameshi (釜飯) – which translates to “kettle rice” – it’s a traditional Japanese rice dish that is served in a kama (which is an iron pot)
• Kakiage – a type of uncountable, thin tempura.
• Sashimi – a type of Japanese Delicacy that consists of raw fish / meat (in this case, raw shrimp)

By the look of the bowl on the bottom right corner of the picture with the other items, I’m guessing that was going to be some sort of soup (in this case, it was miso soup). I also decided on this combo since this was exactly what I saw from seeing this website (while doing research earlier today on what to eat for lunch) – having a resource of the “7 Must-Eat Delicacies in Shizuoka Prefecture” definitely helps a lot!

One of the employees who worked at the restaurant came over to take my order, and I just silently pointed (and nodded my head) at that Sakura Ebi combo aforementioned.

The lady graciously took my order, and I didn’t have to wait long for the first course to arrive. I have to say – oh my god, what a good first course to start off too…holy shit.

This was the first time I’ve honestly had shrimp like this – it definitely has this naturally, slightly sweet taste by itself. Even without the wasabi + soy sauce, it was still good on its own – that’s when you know that they did a fantastic job on the food and it strikes as very good first impression so far. With that being said, I thoroughly enjoyed the sakura ebi sashimi with both wasabi + soy sauce in this manner.

Unfortunately, I’m not a big fan of radish in general, but I did give it a shot with a few of the sakura ebi just to see what that was like – this combo definitely gave off a spicier, peppier, and zestier tone to the sakura ebi that i can appreciate (even if it wasn’t too much to my linking in general). In my opinion, using the radish garnish with the sakura ebi is definitely an acquired taste.

The second course (Sakura Ebi Kakiage) came a few minutes after the sashimi arrived – and this is another first – I’ve never had kakiage (uncountable, thin tempura) before, so I’m in for a treat! It looked really good, and I gotta say with the taste – IT. DID. NOT. DISAPPOINT…JUST…wow.

I don’t know what to say to describe how good this than this – I was caught off guard, and astonished on how delicious, light and refreshing (AND IT’S DEEP FRIED, ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! How is this possible?) this dish was. Of all the kinds of tempura I’ve ever had in my life, this shot up all the way to the #1 spot forreal – I don’t even have to doubt or question that. I was so tempted to order another one of these, but if I were to do that, I would probably order a few more, and then several more… and I would go on a roll of these – I wouldn’t be able to stop hahah.

Several minutes after they brought out the kakiage, they brought out this set of dishes as the main, final course to this Sakura Ebi Set.

When I opened up the cover of the iron pot, a nice, light stream of smoke came out and showed this nice presentation of steamed Sakura Ebi with the kettle rice.

Does it taste just as good as it looks? No… it tastes even better than it looks. I’m not even exaggerating on this y’all.

This is another first in my books where I’ve never had Kamameshi before, and I was very impressed with how this tasted overall. Using the wooden spoon that they’ve provided me to use to scoop up both the Sakura Shrimp + Kettle Rice in the perfect ratios as best as I can, I was again tempted to order another one of these (but if I were to do so, I mean… yeah let’s not go there lol, I would eat way too much and would be completely full of eating anything else for the rest of the day haha).

There were some more customers trickling in after I ordered + while I was eating so happily (and honestly, really giddy inside). This is honestly one of the best meals I’ve ever had in my life.

Even though the overall dining experience of eating in the restaurant wasn’t as interactive (in terms of talking to the proprietors in making conversation) as it was like the previous night at that local mom-and-pop shop with Kiyoshi and Hinoko, the service was excellent, and I felt extremely comfortable eating here.

After I paid for my meal, one of my employees went out of her way to give me a free “SHOP LOCAL” tote bag as a thank you – I was surprised, and I thanked her the same way (through bowing as the traditional Japanese courtesy as you know).

I left the restaurant with a nice, satisfied stomach, and a happy heart filled with more energy and joy – if y’all were to ever visit Japan, and happen to be in the Shimizu / Shizuoka area, I highly recommend y’all make a trip to visit Kurasawaya (or any other restaurant that serves Sakura Ebi in the area).

You will not be disappointed. Period.

Shortly after I left the restaurant, it started sprinkling and the clouds got a bit darker. Dang it…I wish I had an umbrella lol (as it turns out, I didn’t need an umbrella since the sprinkling would be on and off on the way back to the Yui Train Station).

While I was walking back to the Yui Station, I had Yuko’s (my Shizuoka AirBnb host!) recommendation of hitting up Kashinoichi Shimizu Fish Market (the famous fish market where more than 1 million people visit every year); however, as I did a bit more research (especially look at the google map location reviews, and the main posting about this particular fish market from there), I found out that this Fish Market is closed on Wednesdays 😦

Bummer…it would’ve been dope to visit (since I’m already in the area anyway), but all good! I was still very happy with how my day has been going so far, so it’s not a big deal, honestly.

Looking at the journey I made to get to this restaurant (from downtown Shizuoka + Toro Ruins), it was totally worth the trip – I love how scenic and beautiful the Yui area is – it is truly a seaside town that evokes this tranquil feeling of both adventure and mystery that just gets me going.

Even walking from Yui Station to Kurasawaya was very pleasant (and walking from the restaurant back to the Train Station).

I never got tired of turning my head over to see Suruga Bay to the East – there’s something about the sight and smell of the sea that makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. I feel like there are just times in my life where I wish I could live in a seaside town like this.

Even though I didn’t make time to stop by different parts of Yui, there were quite a number of shops along the way back where they would sell local, fresh mochi and other delicacies (although, some of those shops weren’t open – it was just nice to see the shops from the outside and see the mochi and other things on display).

You might be wondering, “Yo Kev, why do you have to get back to the Yui Train Station so soon? Shouldn’t you wonder around for a while, explore a bit, and see what this area has to offer?”

I would answer by saying that’s a good, valid point; however, I have other awesome places and things I’ve already planned to do later today that I want to have time for in and around downtown Shizuoka, especially MARUZEN Tea Roastery (マルゼンティーロースタリー) since they closed yesterday (and I don’t want to miss this opportunity to visit!).

I’m excited to talk about that and other places/things that I hit up later during the day y’all, but unfortunately, it’ll have to wait until the next travel blog post via Day 4: Part 3.

As I’ve mentioned before in previous blog posts, take care y’all, stay proactive and stay safe during these tough, challenging times during this whole COVID-19 outbreak.

Have an amazing week, and I’ll see y’all in the next post!

Cheers / wave