Sobameshi & Bokkake!

 This issue covers two more local delicacies, Sobameshi and Bokkake, from Nagata Ward, Kobe City.

 Sobameshi is said to have been started by female factory workers. They mixed cold rice in their lunch box with Chinese-style wheat noodles and locally-produced Worcester sauce on a hot iron plate (Teppan) at Okonomiyaki restaurants.

 You can enjoy the light taste and texture of the noodles, rice and the sauce only in Nagata where people are most enthusiastic about Konamon. Flour-based food, such as Takoyaki, Okonomiyaki, Udon noodles and Soba noodles, are collectively known as Konamon in the Kansai area.

 “Bokkake” is a dish using small cuts of hashed beef gristle and chopped konnyaku with sweet 'n'spicy sauce. Bokkake is used as a savory ingredient with a crunchy texture for curry, rice, Okonomiyaki and Udon noodles.

 You will see a large number of signs saying “Soba-meshi is served here!” or “Bokkake is served here!” around JR Shin Nagata Station.

Banner for "Sobameshi"

Sign reading Bokkake, Udon

Himeji Oden

For this latest issue, let me introduce Himeji-Oden, a taste of Himeji City which embraces Himeji Castle. Oden is one of Japan’s most popular winter dishes. It is a kind of stew which contains delicately cooked eggs, vegetables and meat boiled a soy sauce-based broth. Oden is so popular that you can easily buy it near the cashier of any convenience store in Japan. Soy sauce and grated ginger is set out with the dish. Oden gained a lot of popularity at the annual big gourmet competition, “B-1 Grand Prix,” in Japan!

I took the JR train from Sannomiya to Himeji for 40 minutes to enjoy the local Himeji flavour!

Near the station there are bustling shops and restaurants where Himeji Oden is available as it is the very taste of Himeji. I made a special choice of restaurant: “Nada-Giku” which has served Oden for 52 years.

The restaurant is located on the corner of a shopping arcade with many shops…

Nada-Giku

Nada-Giku looks like a typical Japanese-style pub, or Izakaya; shelves on the wall are lined with sake bottles and Japanese folk songs (Enka) are playing in the background. The pub has counter seats, so it is pretty convenient for solo diners. 

Inside the pub

One of the unique sales points of this pub is that real Japanese drums are used for the customers’ seats. Awesome, aren’t they?

Drum stools

Here the Himeji Oden comes! The fibrous meat, an egg, deep-fried tofu, konnyaku and Gobo-Ten (burdock packed in minced fish cake and fried) are skewered with a long stick. Steaming rice, miso soup and pickles also delight the palate.

Himeji Oden special

The harmony of grated raw ginger and the subtle flavor of soy sauce left me feeling refreshed. Add Japanese mustard as you like.

Fibrous meat, egg and deep-fried tofu

Nada-Giku offers two versions: “Black”(as above) and “White.” The “White” version uses a broth of sake lees as soup stock. Sounds mouth-watering!

Don’t miss the Himeji Oden on the way from the great Himeji Castle.

Shark (Hyogo Tourism Association)

【Local Gourmet Food】The B-1 Grand Prix in Himeji: A Local Gourmet Competition

 A local gourmet competition, “The 6^th B-1 Grand Prix” was held between the 12^th and 13^th of November in Himeji, Hyogo! This big food competition is held annually and groups from almost every prefecture in Japan bring their most prized B-class gourmet food to win the heart and stomach of the visitors, who vote for their favorite B-1 food of the event. This year, a record-breaking 515,000 visitors came to the event during the period and that shows just how much passion Japanese people have for trying delicious food, as well as how serious the 63 participants are about the #1 spot.

・     Official website for B-1 Grand Prix in Himeji : 　http://www.b1-himeji.jp/（Japanese）

*This event has already ended.

 The official guide book and coupon

【Local Gourmet Food】 Kakogawa Katsumeshi

Recently, local gourmet dishes are becoming very popular in Japan. These dishes are usually inexpensive, and use popular local ingredients. These local gourmet dishes are also usually easy to make, for example, noodles (like ramen and fried noodles), hamburgers, curry, bowl dishes and fried food. Many of the cities promote their local gourmet food to attract visitors from other parts of Japan.

Some of the Local Gourmet Food

For the next several blogs, we’re going to introduce some of the famous local gourmet dishes from Hyogo. So today, we’ll start with “katsumeshi.”

Have you ever heard of katsudon? Katsudon is tonkatsu, or pork cutlet, cooked in a soy sauce - based broth with egg placed on top of bowl of rice. Katsudon is popular throughout Japan, but katsumeshi is basically a western-style katsudon.

Katsumeshi (Link) 

（English）http://www.hyogo-tourism.jp/english/spot/87_katsumeshi.html

Katsumeshi

  What’s unique about Katsumeshi is that it uses a beef instead of pork. Instead of using broth and eggs, it uses demi-glace sauce, and also, you use chopsticks to eat katsumeshi instead of a spoon or fork.

  It’s a popular dish found in many magazines and pamphlets, but I’ve never had it before, so I finally got a chance to give it a try! 

Katsumeshi Sign

The restaurant I went to had two options; regular wagyu (Japanese beef) or supreme kuroge-wagyu (black-haired Japanese beef). So I decided to go with the supreme.The katsumeshi was covered with demi-glace sauce, and looked VERY delicious.

Katsumeshi at Lucky Shokudo

The katsumeshi here came with miso-soup, salad and fruit. During lunch time, it also comes with a free drink. It was \1350 (regular was \1100) so it may be a bit extravagant for lunch, but I was extremely satisfied.

  Depending on the restaurant, they also offer pork cutlet and deep-fried prawns.

  Kakogawa is located between Kobe and Himeji, so if you’re planning on visiting Himeji Castle, get off at Kakogawa and have Katsumeshi for lunch!

  Katsumeshi can be found at restaurants and cafes near Kakogawa train station.

Katsumeshi Map http://www.kako-navi.jp/katsu-meshi/map.html （Japanese）

  Our next blog is going to be on the B-1 Grand Prix, a very popular event that was held in Himeji between November 12 to 13^th. See you next time!

Hana（Hyogo Tourism Association) 

Hyogo Promotion Booth at Busan International Film Festival

From October 6 to October 14, we were in Busan, Korea, for the biggest film festival of the year, the “Busan International Film Festival.” Along with the film festival, there was also the Busan International Film Commission & Industry Showcase (BIFCOM) between October 10 and October 13. This is where we had our PR booth set up, and I was there as an interpreter! Let me tell you a little bit about the film festival.

▼ＢＩＦＣＯＭ２０１１　http://www.afpforum.org/sub06/sub01.htm　（English）

BEXCO, the official site for BIFCOM

Japanese Candle Making

  This week, I went to Kitano-kobo-no-machi, or Kitano Meister Garden, in Kobe to experience Japanese candle making. Kitano Meister Garden, housed in a former elementary school building includes many Kobe brand-name stores, from sweets to traditional craft work. One of these stores is Matsumoto Shoten, a store specializing in Japanese candles. The main store is in Nishinomiya city, but you can experience creating your very own Japanese candle at Kitano Meister Garden.

Matsumoto Shoten at Kitano Meister Garden

 The candles we usually see are made from paraffin, but Japanese candles are all carefully handmade from a substance called Mokuro. Mokuro is a type of wax created from the seeds of what is commonly known as the wax tree, or Hazenoki in Japanese. With a history dating back to the early Edo era, Matsumoto Shoten is the only Japanese candle store in the entire prefecture, so creating a Japanese candle there was a very special experience.  

Wax tree Seeds and Mokuro

Tombodama Making

I went to the Kobe Tombodama Museum, also known as the Kobe Lampwork Glass Museum, to make “tombodama”, or lampwork glass beads.

Tombodama

Kobe Tombodama Museum

Tombodama, or Dragonfly balls, were named because they resemble the eyes of dragonflies.

Long ago, the fire from a lamp was used to make these beads, so they are called lampwork beads in English.