Travel Highlights – Shizuoka (Ishihara Marine Station & Gyokuro-no-sato Tea Ceremony)
We started our first morning visit to a toyshop in a suburb of Shizuoka. Hitomi & Claire bought a pack of soft toys at a very low price – a real value for okane (money). A bundle of 6-7 toys were selling for a give away price of Y100 (RM3) ! Veryyasui (cheap) !
At around 10.00, we arrived at the Ishihara marine station / seafood store. Local tourists like to patronize this store, which stocked a comprehensive range of fresh, frozen and dried fish / seafood products. On the wall, I saw a number of mock up models of blue fin tuna, which were framed in wooden showcases and neatly hung up at the store. To entice shoppers, customers were invited to taste the products prior to purchase. I took the opportunity to try some 15-20 varieties of products on display – a free breakfast treat for me! The processed seafood products were mainly sold in attractive gift packs. We took a group picture at the front of this seafood store prior to entering.
We started our first morning visit to a toyshop in a suburb of Shizuoka. Hitomi & Claire bought a pack of soft toys at a very low price – a real value for okane (money). A bundle of 6-7 toys were selling for a give away price of Y100 (RM3) ! Veryyasui (cheap) !
At around 10.00, we arrived at the Ishihara marine station / seafood store. Local tourists like to patronize this store, which stocked a comprehensive range of fresh, frozen and dried fish / seafood products. On the wall, I saw a number of mock up models of blue fin tuna, which were framed in wooden showcases and neatly hung up at the store. To entice shoppers, customers were invited to taste the products prior to purchase. I took the opportunity to try some 15-20 varieties of products on display – a free breakfast treat for me! The processed seafood products were mainly sold in attractive gift packs. We took a group picture at the front of this seafood store prior to entering.
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As Van and Claire had to buy some stamps to send some post cards home, Mochan stopped at a yu-bin kyoko (post office) in Shimizu for them to do the necessary. We had a late lunch (14.45) at a Japanese style noodle house in a suburban town. This restaurant had a cozy and nice ambience and the price of the food there was reasonably cheap. I ordered a plate of Chinese dumpling for Y189 (RM6) and a bowl of basic ramen topped with pork slices with soup for Y304 (RM9.70).
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After the lunch, Mochan took us to visit Gyokuro-no-sato teahouse, Shizouka. As Japan is famous in producing green tea, we paid Y500 (RM16) to attend a traditional Japanese tea ceremony session in order to appreciate the traditional tea drinking culture during the ruling Samurai period. The ma-e (front) entrance of their showroom had a charming display of handcrafted tea sets made from charcoal!!! On the way to the teahouse, we were given a few packets of fishmeals in pellet forms to feed the Japanese carps reared in a nearby pond. The carps were certainly well fed and bigger than the normal size.
Before entering the teahouse, we had to wash our hands with water flowing from a hollow bamboo pole to a large stone made urn. We had to bend our head to enter the room via a small semi wooden door. The tea ceremony room was well decorated with hanging art objects and calligraphy painting. A lady tea master, dressed in traditional Kimono, conducted the tea ceremony. A heated porcelain pot was used to prepare the green tea and a long handle small bamboo tub was used to pour the tea into our porcelain bowls. Prior to drinking the green tea, we were served with a piece of Japanese savory cake to sweeten our mouth first. The whole tea ceremony session took about 30 minutes. Indeed it was a very good lesson for us and we went away with a greater understanding and appreciation of the traditional tea drinking culture in Japan! Before leaving, we had a quick tour of the main hall of the teahouse, which was well partitioned into a number of small rooms to cater for a bigger group of customers. Our group took some pictures of various tea utensils, tools and calligraphy displayed at the main hall.
Before entering the teahouse, we had to wash our hands with water flowing from a hollow bamboo pole to a large stone made urn. We had to bend our head to enter the room via a small semi wooden door. The tea ceremony room was well decorated with hanging art objects and calligraphy painting. A lady tea master, dressed in traditional Kimono, conducted the tea ceremony. A heated porcelain pot was used to prepare the green tea and a long handle small bamboo tub was used to pour the tea into our porcelain bowls. Prior to drinking the green tea, we were served with a piece of Japanese savory cake to sweeten our mouth first. The whole tea ceremony session took about 30 minutes. Indeed it was a very good lesson for us and we went away with a greater understanding and appreciation of the traditional tea drinking culture in Japan! Before leaving, we had a quick tour of the main hall of the teahouse, which was well partitioned into a number of small rooms to cater for a bigger group of customers. Our group took some pictures of various tea utensils, tools and calligraphy displayed at the main hall.
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Van & Claire were keen to visit a Japanese pearl jewelry shop so Mochan took us to Kosaka Pearl, a well-known pearl jewelry manufacturer in Shizuoka but to our disappointment, the shop was closed today.
We were back in Mochan’s house at around 19.30. I did some shopping at the 100 Yen shop and bought a bath towel, lunch box and under garments for Y400 (RM13). As for tonight’s dinner and breakfast for tomorrow, I bought superfine bread, blue berry jam, leafy vegetables and chicken meat from a nearby supa marketto (supermarket) and I paid Y1, 057 (RM33) for the groceries. Hitomi & Artem too had bought some groceries and sushi at the supa marketto (supermarket). Hitomi was our “executive sou-chef” tonight and she really displayed her culinary skills. We had stir-fried octopus with gravy and chicken cooked with mixed vegetable, prepared in typical Malaysian style to the delight of our host, Mochan and CS members from France! In addition, we had some sushi, bought by Van & Claire to complement our evening meals.
Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. I had learned to appreciate the art of a traditional tea ceremony in Japan! We see and learn more things as we travel !
We were back in Mochan’s house at around 19.30. I did some shopping at the 100 Yen shop and bought a bath towel, lunch box and under garments for Y400 (RM13). As for tonight’s dinner and breakfast for tomorrow, I bought superfine bread, blue berry jam, leafy vegetables and chicken meat from a nearby supa marketto (supermarket) and I paid Y1, 057 (RM33) for the groceries. Hitomi & Artem too had bought some groceries and sushi at the supa marketto (supermarket). Hitomi was our “executive sou-chef” tonight and she really displayed her culinary skills. We had stir-fried octopus with gravy and chicken cooked with mixed vegetable, prepared in typical Malaysian style to the delight of our host, Mochan and CS members from France! In addition, we had some sushi, bought by Van & Claire to complement our evening meals.
Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. I had learned to appreciate the art of a traditional tea ceremony in Japan! We see and learn more things as we travel !
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