102. Sisi’s Favorite ✨

Last month I went to Prague, Salzburg, and Vienna in a week, as“a bullet tour”or “a dangan tour”, meaning very short term travel in Japanese😳

《We enjoyed short cruise at Hallstatter See, on the way from Salzburg to Vienna.》

The bullet tour has been quite common among the Japanese.

Besides, as Yen has become weak and oil price been surging, such a kind of travel attracts more attention.

We stayed Prague, Salzburg, and Vienna, each for a day and toured around each cities.

The breakfast started at 6:30 every morning. It was unusual for me, but thanks to the time difference, it was not at all hard to get up and have a breakfast at such an early hour.

《Thanks to the jet lag, I could eat plenty of breakfast.》

The tour consisted time-efficiently and we had some free times at each city.

In Salzburg I found an apothecary and took some pictures.

《At an apothecary in Salzburg.》

In Vienna, we visited the Schönbrunn Palace and the Belvedere, accompanied by a certified Japanese guide, then allowed some free time in the afternoon.

I had planned to go to Volksgarten and Burggarten where a movie Otoko-wa tsuraiyo （男はつらいよ　寅次郎心の旅路） had been filmed in 1989 (while, I saw it recently), as well as a botanic garden if possible.

However, the temperature exceeded 30 degrees Celsius and the sun was blazing☀️

The European countries had been hit by the heat wave at that time. It would become a health hazard to walk around under the sun.

So, I changed my plan to browse the city center and go into a museum with my fellow travelers.

About the museum, I will describe later in this blog.

At the city center we drop in on DEMEL, where we found candied violet and candied rose petals.

We have DEMEL shops in Japan where the famous sachertorte is available, however candied violet and rose petals are not.

At the Vienna shop I bought a small box of candied violet.

《The smallest box of candied violet.》

When I opened the box, they glittered like amethyst gemstones (though I haven’t yet seen the real gemstones 😜).

When I tried one, a faint scent of violet filled my mouth. It seemed that the sugar itself had violet scent. It was very elegant sensation and I felt like becoming a queen😉

According to the DEMEL’s website, the candied violet was the favorite of Empress Elisabeth, or Sisi.

By the way, in Japan the violet as a whole plant has been a herbal medicine, called shikajichou （紫花地丁）. It has been used for festered or swelled skin, insect bite and the like.

Empress Elisabeth had no idea about that, of course.

The sugar was much more luxurious than today and various fruits and nuts were enclosed in the crystallized sugar, or coated with sugar, which had become noble people’s favorites.

Glancing the web, I found quite a few people around the world have been fascinated by candied flowers or fruits and tried to create them by themselves.

The bullet tour has received many criticisms. Some says it is not a realtravel.

Still, I think it has many advantages and is suited for the Japanese.

Even if it was busy during the travel, I could enjoy it afterwards looking back with the help of the photos and learning histories by various web sites.

101. Edible Chrysanthemum Flowers

A pack of sashimi, raw fishes, sold at supermarkets or department stores in Japan contains a yellow chrysanthemum flower. It is not only an ornament, but to eat with sashimi. I have heard they counteract microorganisms, such as parasites and germs.

The Japanese have eaten the chrysanthemum petals since the Edo era (17-19 centuries) depending on a Web site.

Even now they are cooked as tempura or ohitashi in Japanese restaurants.

They are not at all expensive and we may cook them at home.

However, I haven’t bought them, so I tried them.

《I got it at a supermarket.》

It was not bad, or not so good. It had no peculiar aroma like peppermint or lemongrass.

And, using these flowers I made herbal tea.

I come to feel eye strain recently.

To alleviate it, I have heard that the tea of chrysanthemum flowers and goji berries is effective.

Actually, some kampo formulation contains them for bleary eyes. Scientifically, the chrysanthemum flowers contain lutein and goji berries zeaxanthin, both of which are essential for keeping healthy eyes.

So, I obtained dried chrysanthemums and goji berries to make a tea. But it was not so tasty and I didn’t want to take it every day.

When I found the fresh chrysanthemums at a supermarket, I tried one.

I don’t know whether it really has efficacy. The eye conditions change day by day depending on various factors. In my case, I feel strained when the weather conditions fracture rapidly like early summer and spring.

I think my general health conditions affect eye condition and thus, the herb remedy will be effective.

The chrysanthemum flower is the national flower in Japan along with the cherry blossom.

The chrysanthemum has been said to ward off evil spirits and we often offer them to Buddha and deceased people.

Thus, the chrysanthemums are very important plant for the Japanese physically as well as spiritually.

100. Kokyo, the Imperial Palace

Last week I visited the East Gardens of The Imperial Palace.

I have had no idea such a beautiful garden has been existed in the exact center of Tokyo.

The garden was well kept, clean, and not crowded. Besides, the entrance fee was free!

The East Gardens are a part of Kokyo, the Imperial Palace where the Imperial family resides.

The ordinary people are not allowed to enter the residential area.

However, the gardens, which cover 210,000 square meters, have been open to the public since 1968.

《Ote-mon (The Main Gate)》

In this site, the Edo Castle, the family of Tokugawa shogun and their vassals had lived before the Meiji Restoration in 1868. The castle was surrendered to the Meiji Government peacefully and became the Imperial resident. Then the Kokyo was built but some old buildings and traces are existing.

《Hyakunin-Bansho (Guardhouse)》

《Ishi-Muro (Stone Cellar)》

I feel sorry we cannot see the great castle now but while walking the gardens I found old buildings or signboards saying that there used to be the Matsu-no-roka corridor and so on and inspired my imagination.

《Stone walls remains.》

Other than those signboards each plant has its nameplate indicating the name of the plant and other information.

《 Magnolia Grandiflora, Taisanboku in Japanese.》

In my previous blog I wrote that I am looking for Japanese version of Kew Gardens and I have not find out such gardens yet.

However, I discovered Tokyo has a lot of botanic gardens which are not named botanic.

99. Flowers in the rainy season

Tsuyu（梅雨）, the rainy season, is coming to Japan again this year.

It begins in June and continues about a month.

Other than Japan, many regions of the world have rainy season, however, as far as I know, the raining pattern differs region to region.

Many of Asian countries have occasional showers. It rains heavily only for short hours.

However in Japan, we have consistent rain day after day.

At first it drizzles, then it becomes heavier and finally we have heavy rain sometimes accompanied by thunder and lightning to tell the end of the tsuyu.

During the season everybody feels uncomfortable. Because of low pressure system some people feel sick, such as headache, dizziness, and joint pains. Mold grows anywhere and we miss sunlight.

On the other hand, we can see various flowers specific to the rainy season, such as hydrangeas, irises, white skunk cabbage, lotus flowers and so on. Most of them require a lot of water to grow up and are beautiful in the rainy season.

《At the entrance of a department store hydrangeas welcome us.》

《Hydrangeas in Japan have various colors.》

The hydrangea grow and bloom outside Japan as well.

But in Japan, it is easy to grow and very popular, therefore can be seen anywhere even if you don’t go to the famous sites.

Other than hydrangeas, some place attracts people with colorful Japanese iris flowers.

《Japanese irises are beautiful in the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace.》

The weather is gloomy but it is essential for our lives because a lot of water is required to grow rice. If it weren’t enough rain, we would be suffered from food shortages.

So, the Japanese people never hate the rainy season, if we don’t love it.

《Oze, an area of mountains and marshland is famous for Mizu-basho, or white skunk cabbage.》

However, the rainfall patterns have been changing recently.

In some year we have little rain, in some year we have heavy rains from the beginning of the season. Sometimes the rain is so heavy that it causes us tremendous damage.

This year Japan was hit by a typhoon last week and this weekend a tropical cyclone is crossing Japan.

Unusually we have heavy rains from the beginning of the rainy season this year.

I am concerned that the vegetation might change all over the world in the future.

98. Grandpa and tuna

I have written about my mother’s father and his achievements in my previous blog.

This time I write about the other grandfather, that is, my father’s father.

I had lived with him for twelve years so I’d like to call him Grandpa here.

《My Grandpa 🧡》

He was not a pilot, nor a sailer, but a wholesaler of fishes at the Central Wholesale Market in Tsukiji🐟

Today Tsukiji Market attracts many tourists, where they can get fantastic souvenirs and eat seemingly gorgeous sushi.

However, the Tsukiji Market had not been established for a sightseeing spot but as a market for fish wholesale in 1935, and had long been called the kitchen for Tokyo residents.

The market consisted of roughly two areas, that is jo-nai, the inside market area, and jo-gai, the outside market area.

The  jo-nai contained retailers arcade and auction square where ordinary people were not allowed to enter. Wholesalers bought fishes at the auction square, then cut and sometimes processed them to sell to fishmongers, restaurant owners and so on.

《From an old magazine. Tuna auction.》

On the other hand jo-gai harbored a great many of small restaurants and shops to sell processed food, kitchen utensils, packages and the like. It was for the customers who came to buy fishes in jo-nai, or people who worked in jo-nai, or other people like tourists.

《The jo-gai market harbors a variety of shops.》

Because the fish auction used to be taken place at very early hour, the retail owners and shoppers got hungry. To fill their stomach, the restaurants offered nice and reasonable foods from early hours. There used to be many eating places for ramen and reasonable sushi. People came to Tsukiji were so particular to good and fresh foodstuffs that cheap but really delicious foods were offered.

According to the policy of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, the jo-nai market and many shops in jo-gai moved to Toyosu in 2018.

Many of the existing shops in jo-gai of Tsukiji were newly opened after 2018.

The atmosphere has changed a lot. There are no wholesalers, restaurant owners nor fishmongers. Far from it, more than 99 percent of the people are foreign tourists.

My Grandpa owned a tuna wholesaling store in the jo-nai market.

I remember visiting his shop about sixty years ago. The jo-nai was very congested and dangerous for ordinary people. Although, my grandma walked very quickly holding my hand. She was a daughter of a fish wholesaler, too.

His shop was very small and there were very long knives like Japanese swords to cut tunas.

Later I heard that he had dealt small fishes captured in the coastal waters before the end of the World War II.

Till that time refrigeration technology had not yet developed and tuna had not been favored  because its meat had easily gone bad.

Now, the tuna fish is stored under -40℃ and eaten fresh anytime🍣

Thanks to the refrigerating technology, people not only in Japan but all over the world can enjoy delicious tuna sashimi and sushi as well.

97. Nabeyaki udon & Natto soba

Other than ramen, which I mentioned previously, we have many traditional noodles in Japan, such as udon, soba, somen, and kishimen.

Here, I explain udon and soba.

The udon is made of wheat flour, white colored and soft, while soba is made of buckwheat flour, blackish colored or sometimes white and firm. The soba connoisseurs love quite firm ones.

Japanese noodle restaurants in Tokyo have udon and soba of various ingredients.

For example, curry udon, tanuki soba, kitsune (literally means fox) udon, tempura soba, okame udon etc.

I will explain their taste and origin in detail afterwords.

Here, I write my favorite nabeyaki udon and natto soba here.

Nabeyaki udon means udon cooked in a clay pot. It contains various ingredients on top such as shrimp tempura, boiled (sometimes half-boiled) egg, rice cake, simmered shiitake mushroom, green vegetables, and kamaboko, pieces of steamed fish paste.

As it is typically served while boiling, it makes you warm and nourishing especially in cold season.

My father loved the nabeyaki udon, too, and we asked the local restaurant to deliver it frequently, even in the summer.

The nabeyaki udon are served in the most Japanese noodle restaurant in Tokyo, however, the natto soba at only a limited restaurant.

《My favorite nabeyaki udon.》

The natto soba is served in cold so, is suitable for muggy days. It is topped with natto, sea weed, dried bonito flakes, white radish sprouts, and raw egg. It contains smaller amount of soups than other soba, so you should mix them all together using chopsticks.

《The natto soba is desirable choice for the summer.》

Because soba contains vitamin B1 and B2, dietary fiber and rutin,  which lowers the blood pressure, it is good to keep us health. Furthermore, the natto soba also contains various health promoting ingredients, such as natto, sea weed and so on.

I have once heard a British who came to Japan for business got hooked on soba. He ate soba every day and got slim when he returned to his country. However, he regained the weight soon after he went back his country.

We can see soba and udon restaurant anywhere.

However, to eat the authentic soba, we have to spend money and time to go to the restaurant. Still, it is definitely worth going.

《Tanuki-udon in ice, which never contains tanuki meat.》

《My homemade kitsune udon.》

96. Fascinated by botanical gardens

About thirty years have passed since I was enchanted by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

I visited there several times.

Whenever I went, it was full of flowers even in the early spring when there were few flowers outside the Kew. I remember the ground was covered with crocus flowers of yellow, mauve, purple, and white.

In late spring a variety of rhododendrons were blooming like flames.

I had never seen such a lot of colorful rhododendrons blooming like that.

Sometimes lilac flowers welcomed me, sometimes I was shouted oohs and ahhs in the quiet rock garden.

While, what overwhelmed me was not only the flowers.

The Marianne North gallery in the Kew displays more than 800 of botanical paintings by Marianne North, an English woman who had traveled around the world and drawn so many oil paintings. They include ones drawn in Japan.

The most important thing about the Kew is that it is not only a sightseeing spot for commercial purposes but it has significance for academic purposes. That is why it harbors many botanical specimens and conserves the seeds or even the genes of endangered species.

After the pandemic, I have looked for the Japanese version of the Kew, or the equivalent of the Kew in Japan.

However, sorry to say, I haven’t found as perfect garden as the Kew in Japan.

If I have to choose one, The Kyoto Botanical Garden or Shinjuku-gyoen in Tokyo, which I have mentioned in my blog, may be similar to the Kew.

《Roses in the Kyoto Botanical Garden.》

《Cherry blossom in Shinjuku-gyoen.》

Or, in terms of the academic purpose, we have Koishikawa Botanical Garden in Tokyo.

It is a facility affiliated with the University of Tokyo for the purpose of botanical research and education. The website says it is one of the oldest botanical garden in the world.

It is not crowded as I have known and only the real garden lovers visit there.

The regrettable point is the garden, especially the medical garden, is not well kept 💧

《Koishikawa Botanical Garden is like a forest rather than a garden.》

《Old Tokyo Medical School Building.》

Other than these, Japan has  numerous lovely gardens, where everyone enjoy the beauty of flowers. Publicly run botanical gardens and parks are cheap and sometimes admission free.

《Baby blue eyes, nemophila, has now become a typical spring seasonal tradition in Japan.》

《Now, opium poppies are blooming in the Tokyo Metropolitan Medical Botanical Garden.》

Based on my experience, in order to enjoy the botanical gardens to your heart’s content, you should visit there at least three times.

When the garden is large, I wander about with a guide map in my hand in the first visit, or enjoy only its highlight spot like cherry blossoms or roses. In the second time I visit there again in another season to find another appealing point.

And after the third time, I become able to walk around freely without the map to find out another attractiveness of the garden. I know where is the best place to take a rest.

Anyway, to spend some time in botanical gardens is a bliss for me.

Even now I am looking for another Kew gardens in Japan and around the world.