Sorry for the gap. I took about a month off from blogging. No reason but laziness, I suppose. I’ve been doing more of the same, which is to say that I’ve been looking at GORGEOUS flowers, eating DELICIOUS food, studying Japanese and reading for book club.
Let’s do the flowers first because I simply CAN’T WAIT to show them to you.
If we go in chronological order, we will actually be starting with April flowers. About 3 weeks ago, I went to see cherry blossoms around Toyama City and Kansui Park. If you follow me on Instagram, you’ve seen some of these already.
Those are so lovely, aren’t they? It’s no wonder Japan is so famous for them.
This was the first year that I’ve been here that they allowed hanami, so I went to three. One was in Toyama at noon, one was in Kojo Park before work, and one was in Kojo Park at midnight. They call it yozakura when you view the sakura at night. I definitely prefer to see them by sunlight, but it’s nice to do both, since you don’t have to choose.
I stuck with water for the pre-work party, but there was a good bit of amazake and one or two chuuhai consumed at the others. I very much recommend it.
Next, I give you the Tonami Tulip Fair photo dump.
It’s called the tulip fair, but they snuck a few other kinds of flowers in there. I love love love the wisteria (Fuji…ah, that restaurant name + logo makes sense now)! Yes, the star and heart shapes are also made of flowers. I climbed a 76-stair tower to get that view.
I know I’ve been posting about 80% flowers recently…and that trend is likely to continue. The tulips have mostly started to wither away at this point, but we still have roses (bara) and hydrangeas (ajisai) to look forward to this summer. I should be able to get good pics of the hydrangeas by the tennis courts at Taikoyama Land at the end of the month, and I plan to visit the best rose garden in the prefecture for my birthday in early June.
Outside of flower-viewing, I’ve been going to restaurants and bars again recently. It feels good to re-enter the nightlife scene, albeit a bit later than some of my American friends and family.
That’s a Coke float at the American Oldies themed bar, Lollipop Lips. It’s close to my apartment, which is convenient, but it’s far from downtown. Usually, we hop around two or three locations on a Saturday night, but if we make the trek out here, it’s a commitment to just the one place. Best cause scenario would be going to some place downtown and hitting Lollipop Lips on the way home, but unfortunately it closes earlier than the other shops.
Next, these are food pics from the Okinawan restaurant near the station.
Left to right, that’s taco rice (as good as it sounds), Spam musubi (better than it sounds), and some kind of veggie tempura. I ordered it from the chef’s recommendation menu, so it’s probably seasonal.
Speaking of seasonal:
Firefly squid, or hotaru ika, is a regional specialty that can be eaten in late spring. Pictured here is a popular serving style, boiled with sumiso, which is a sauce made from miso, vinegar, and sugar. It tastes like honey mustard to me. I’ve also had this squid raw, but I prefer boiled to sashimi.
I don’t know what the fish is, but it was from the seasonal menu. Red snapper or yellowtail, perhaps? This serving style of salty, crispy whole grilled fish (yakizakana) has become my favorite way to eat fish since coming here. I still enjoy fresh sushi, but there’s something incredibly satisfying about picking bones clean.
Last are the two most recent regional Frappuccino flavors at Starbucks in Japan. The one with yellow toppings (which, by the way, tasted like candy-coated cheerios) is banana na banana, and the one with multi-colored toppings (basically M&Ms) is chocobanana na banana. The names are quite a mouthful in a bad way, but the drinks themselves deserve more than a mouthful. The plain banana one was sweet but tempered by sour baby banana puree. The chocolate version was indulgent and delicious.
Unfortunately, I think they’ve already moved onto a new flavor (strawberry?), so I might have to try to recreate the banana frap in my blender. How hard can it be?
I think that’s all for now.
This weekend, I’m getting my COVID-19 booster, so I should have time to do another post while I’m in bed with the fever. I’m hoping to cover the Mikurumayama Festival, omiyage culture, and leftover food pics.
Then, sometime in the near future, I want to talk about all the English in advertising here (why?). And finally, in honor of Japan maybe opening its borders to tourists next month, I want to layout a detailed itinerary of what I would force my friends/family to do if they ever came to Toyama prefecture.
Look forward to it 🙂
Alisa & a Visa 