Was back in Japan over the Christmas holiday and New Year with the beloved Mrs. KG. Her entire family is there so we try to go at least once a year, and sometimes twice if we can pull it off. Japan never fails to amaze and always leaves me wanting more, despite my having lived there as a kid for 3 years as well as having more than a dozen trips under my belt since getting hitched to the Japanese lass.

Very few downsides of ever going, save for missing our pups, but one for sure is the trip itself there and back. It invariably sucks, with 24 hours door to door each way being about standard from here. Spent the first couple of days right off the bat in a mountainous area NW of Tokyo at an 'onsen', which are hot springs, many with traditional accommodations. As always, riding the Shinkansen/Bullet train is a pleasure and thrill. This little side trip for us was really just to have some quiet time together with the wife as well as to try to kick the jet lag (East Coast and Japan is a toughie, at 13 hours time differential). Spent more time than usual with the family, but that is fine and they are wonderful people. Mrs. KG's grandma at 88 still walks faster than I do, and I walk pretty fast, believe it or not.

PB is acting wonky so don't really have the option to choose photos easily, so am just going to more or less randomly select images and post up. When possible I'll try and add some descriptions but as you al know after some time passes editing isn't an option for posts. Anyway, hopefully some here will enjoy some of them. Cheers.

Where else but in Tokyo can you waltz up to a bank of vending machines and be able take currency from pocket change to a 100 dollar bill (equivalent, of course) to purchase sodas, milk products, teas hot and cold, coffees hot and cold, juices, corn chowder, clam broth, miso and other soups, whiskey and other hard liquor, beers, mixed alcoholic drinks, rice wine, hot and cold snacks, hot noodles. I chose the corn chowder for the wait on the platform. Good stuff it was!

Check the eyes on the Dutch kid we were having a few pops with. Mrs. KG drank him under the table then pretty much saved him from drowning in the damned hot springs tub lol.

Family is precious. It is very good of you to spend so much time and effort to maintain your wife's happiness in that regars.

And the food looks tremendous.

What are you supposed to do with the fish head in the Fish/floral arrangement?



I dont know about prices.....but I bet that beef was pricey.

Kick ass beef can be had in Japan, as most know. Top was spicy beef tongue dish. I'm a big fan.

Nephew and wife's cousin estranged for 30 years until last week. She's served for 25 years in the Self Defense Force in a Corps of Engineers type role in some place outside Sapporo, in Hokkaido up north. She's an advanced instructor for heavy equipment, of all things. She's also nationally ranked in 'kendo'/Japanese wooden sword fighting sport.

I can handlr chop sticks like those in the top pic.

Is this pic of Tuna? Some manner of ocean mammal? Land mammal?

Thanks....brought back memories from 71-73......

As usual,looks like a fantastic trip.
Your pics of the cusine always impreses me,very interesting to say the least.
I can imagine the trip is a PITA

How hot is that water, KG?

Thanks for posting those Leighton....

I'm the only one in my family that has never been to Japan....

really enjoyed seeing your pictures.. probably about as close as I'll ever get to visiting Japan....

best regards / seafire

Small homeless camp. Even the bums there are much bettered mannered and better at housekeeping.

Dog treats. Seriously.

pics or it didn't happen.......

lol. As to your question about the fish head, I was going to go on about how Japanese suck out the brain, eyeballs, spinal fluid, then tuck the head in a purse or pocket to take home and play with some more and whatnot, but the answer is: it's nothing but a decoration and 'proof' the the fish is super fresh. A fish's eyes and the smell--or more accurately lack thereof-- of the actual rack tells a lot about freshness. Everything, actually. Sorry for the crush but again I can't see which pics are which from PB and I don't have the time to go through and cherry pick now, so, take 'em as you will. Or not.

I think I would stand a very good chance of eating myself to death there in a week. The Wagyu looks fantastic.

Thanks for the answer.




This one looks a little too squirmy. What is it?

Ugh. Yeah, to you and me both. Note that it was NOT removed from the conveyor belt to be eaten by yours truly. It's cod sperm, and said to be quite delicious, but for me, not in this bloody lifetime, no sir. I draw a firm line at fish reproductive stuff to eat, and have always called it good at roe/eggs.

Second guess was a good one. That's the other, other, other red meat: whale. Minke flavor.

As always - fascinating! Thanks for sharing. My best to both of you, John

DAAAMMMMMNNN girl - $10 beer night. Whats a Blue Smoothie go for? The far east tourism board must be trying to repel all Wisconsin born visitors.

In all seriousness great photos as always and I'm jealous (minus booze prices).

What's with the frost bitten toes?

Definitely a bit more crowded there than Delta Jct.

Yep, I was drinking Jim Beam that night. Cheapest thing on the menu. I won't pay 65 bucks a six pack for *anything* in the beer universe. Those two pages were from a beer menu with about 200 varieties. Nice to have choices, but as you correctly noted, they charge a king's ransom for some imported things and I'm not that guy. I can have most of the beers them offered back him for about 75% less than what they charged there. Gotta' give the place credit though for being pretty good as a British pub. They made and offered haggis there, among other traditional Brit pub grub. Fish and chips, OK, that's cool, but homemade, authentic haggis? I was impressed!

Cigarette pack health warning. The caption mentioned something about smoking potentially causing gangrene. I stayed away from that brand.

They've always been wonderful to me and I try to do the same. Thanks, T.

Thanks for all of this, Leighton. Your photo efforts always are impressive. Food images cause drooling, and the various scenes very interesting I most enjoy the photos of the folks - and especially those of your wife in various settings - lovely smile there.

i haven't kept up with the yen-greenback translation, but i'll bet that meat was expensive. last time i was in tokyo, i got 2 little ribs, a little mound of rice and a coke and it was something like 25 bucks.

Awesome pics. Thank you for sharing KG!

Thanks, KG, always enjoy your posts. Happy new year.

There were 5 separate 'baths' at that place, and all had different temps. I can stand heat as far as water about as well as I can stand cold. That is to say, I can withstand both better than most. Likely my ample, ahem, insulation. 3 of the 5 'baths'--some are maybe 1500 square feet were hot enough that the wife and others we shared tubs with had to work their way in, starting with feet, and after finally managing to get submerged, could last only maybe 15 minutes before squallerin' about being cooked alive and climbing out. One pool was very mild in temps so there were those who spent most of their time there. One was hot, and I mean HOT. Like turn your skin beet red inside a couple minutes hot. Like felt as if you could make yourself a cup of instant coffee with it hot. That was my favorite, and you do get used to it. At the source it felt as if it was scalding hot, but after maybe 30-45 minutes in it and creeping closer to where the water flows into the pool, I was able to actually let the water cascade out of the rock and directly on me as I sat underneath. But then that was whisky night...

That Dutch dude with the crossed eyes in that one pic with wifey laughing? He staggered into another pool right after that, and proceeded to yak IN the pool. Fuggin' gaijins! Can't take 'em anywhere. The other two literally dragged him down the wooden halls about 100 yards to his room, banged on the door and pushed him inside. A big thump was followed by a light getting turned on, a loud groan and then, an "OH MY GOD YOU, YOU, YOU DRUNK AS MONKEY!" My old lady beat feet down the hall with the other kid as the wife from Hong Kong awoke and began reading the guy the Chinese riot act. Luckily for him, when we saw him the next night he admitted he'd zero recollection of much of anything after around 2am. Good times.

I can handlr chop sticks like those in the top pic. [/quote]

Hmm. I'd not bet against you if sober but I'm not entirely convinced. You might just put yer damn eye out. Those bastards are sharp...

Drunks rule!

Octopus balls. Fantastic bar food. And no, not 'nads. Flour batter and octopus chunks cooked in spherical molds.

Treated myself to a little hardware before coming home. The camera I used on this trip is now relegated to beater status, but that's not a bad thing. I'm about due to lose a camera in a hunting, fishing, storm related, urban or drinking accident...

And that's all, folks. Thanks for looking and the kind comments. If anyone has the inkling to visit Japan, I'd strongly encourage it. I cannot imagine anyone being disappointed, going hungry and certainly not being bored.

Cheers.

Great stuff Leighton! I always enjoy your photos.

Very nice thread!

Thanks for putting pics up. Looks like a marvelous trip. I work weekly (from the US) with the Japanese and find them to be terrific colleagues and hope work sends me to Tokyo at some point.

KG,

Some of these pics are at the bait shop, right?

RIGHT???

I will make this trip with you someday before i die, i dream of a geisha girl.

Uber interestinero.

Nothin better than yellowtail collar.

Cept collar with a great dipping sauce.

Great armchair tour...thanks for your time and effort, Leighton.

Good call, and that's exactly right. My wife spent some of her early years in Green Bay and has fond memories from that time, but never could figure out even in her tender years why almost all the people she met during those formative years believed that the whole universe ended at the county line. She once asked me why some folks' vision seemed to literally end within a few miles of where they were born. I told her that I wasn't sure, but that my best guess was that there're some folks who will never be capable of believing that there's anything beyond where they might venture to in their lifetime within a tank of gas and a limited understanding of the fact that across the globe there are other countries, cultures, people and experiences that will forever be beyond their understanding and wildest dreams.

Good eye, but slight correction: the pic you refer to is not broiled hamachi-kama, AKA yellowtail collar. It is in fact maguro-kama, or broiled bluefin tuna collar.

Nice pics, glad to hear of a nice family visit, if I followed you around for a week, I'd gain 80 lbs!

Leighton;
Happy New Year to you and your ever smiling wife sir.

Thanks again for sharing your trips with us, I very much appreciate the composition as well as the education.

As you know, a few years back now our eldest spent a couple months traveling Japan - we both got a laugh at her "mystery ocean protein" description of some of the street food vendors - and your photos brought back memories of that trip she took and the photos she took.

The extreme care taken with the cooking never ceases to amaze me, however I am not sure I could deal with the human density one finds there, so the photos are likely as close as I'll get to enjoying a fascinating culture.

Thanks again sir and all the best to you folks in 2020.

Dwayne

Thanks for that correction, I'll have to find and try it.

But for some reason, I don't think I'd like it as well as yelllowtail, although I love seared maguro.

Maybe not my man. Over the course of 7 days just bopping around the city we logged 47 miles and change (been on a diet and have one of those gadgets that records physical activity stats and biometrics). I did put on 4 lbs, but I'm calling that muscle mass...

some of the best bait you will ever eat.

I'm with you. Hamachi collar broiled is one of the finest dishes out there. That tuna collar was outstanding but not nearly as divine as yellowtail. If we're comparing the finest fatty belly cuts served as sashimi, however, it's a whole other ball game.

I guess I've come a ways from the childhood days when my boundaries were the Spring and Eleven Point Rivers.

Eastern cuisine still intimidates me... Love the pics....

Great stuff!!!

This big city born and raised boy was pretty intimidated when after ~80 hours of humping over all manner of seriously rugged country in NH's White Mountains in extreme Wx I finally ran into something completely foreign and intimidating to me: a bull moose. Rather than running away shrieking or quietly backing off and making fun of his long-nosed swamp donkeyness, I faced him and drove a 175 grain TBBC through him from stem to stern with my 7mm mag. Sometimes, taking a chance and embracing the unknown yields rewards, friend.

When my brother and I were very young our old man told us, 'I'll never force you to eat anything but I insist you consider trying everything once. If you don't like it you'll never have me make you do it again, but if you don't at least TRY IT you'll never know, and that's a sad thing...' There be wisdom in that sentiment.

I fell in love with one of these girls around the time this pic was taken. These same gals are pictured several times in this thread, Recognize them? This shot was taken ~37 years ago...Fell hard for her back then and the feeling has only grown since....

LOL, damn, a man would need to pack a pair of running shoes ; ]

Yup, You married the one on the right.