I've been dying to eat Fugu (blowfish)

 So what's all the fuss about?

 For centuries people all over Japan people have been eating Fugu to die for.

I'd eaten a little Fugu sashimi before but never had the full deal. With Tomono and the host parents we went to a special little sushi shop in Fujisawa and had made a prior arrangement with the owner who is fully trained, so he said.

The shop is marvellous, quite old, quiet, clean, beautiful, not fussy and used exclusively by the locals. I was the first foreigner to have dined there.

Relative to Australia Japan is now quite cheap, and our splendid meal, including a completely immoderate amount of sake and beer, cost $100 per head.

 Good to see the bloke in charge was happy and smiling. You don't want a depressed Fugu chef. You know, the sort of person who has decided to move on and is only too happy to a few other people with him.


 So here we go:

 An appetiser of stuffed baby squid.











Savoury egg custard with octopus and ginko nuts and zest of Uzu (Japanese lime)










The main sashimi dish.

There is clear and opaque flesh. The texture is very firm and the flavour is very mild. In fact I think this raw Fugu is fairly neutral, it is more of a textural experience than a flavour one. But...very interestingly in the middle you can see four different sorts of the Fugu skin, which is also eaten. Fugu have an inner and and an outer skin. The top is black and the underside white. they blanch part of the skin and serve the other parts raw, thus you get four different sorts. Black, grey opaque, white and white opaque. Here the flavours were more intense but its still really all about the differing textures.

Demonstrating the skin types.







 
Fried Fugu, a bit like flaky flathead.

Then a hot pot of Fugu, mushrooms, arrowroot noodles and greens. this was one of the best bits of the meal. The cooked Fugu has a terrific flavour. It is like the difference between raw and cooked lobster. Suddenly much deeper richer flavours appear. The flesh and taste reminded me of frog, or monkfish and indeed lobster.It was rich, complex and sweet.
 One suddenly saw why all the fuss.

Then to finish the remaining hot pot soup is taken away. The pottery bowl is heated to red hot and rice and beaten egg is added. the resulting soupy dish is served with lovely crispy pickled vegetables. The taste was sublime.

So a truly astounding meal which well explained why all the carry on about Fugu.

Incredibly there is a move afoot in Japan to deregulate Fugu. Restaurants would be able to have Fugu delivered from an approved factory. Next they are working on plans to deregulate brain surgeons, airline pilots and dentists.....

A Hot Spring Inn in Izu

The Izu Peninsula located Sth West of Tokyo is a wild and beautiful place. The climate is milder than further North and being surrounded by ocean it stays quite a bit warmer all year round. You see palm trees and citrus growing there.









One of the new friends I made there.

With the host family Naomi, Tomono and I went and stayed in a fantastically built inn deep in the mountains. There are seven waterfalls there and the autumn colours were in full flight. The inn is very luxurious with fantistc hot pools right down by the river and food of unsurpassed quality. There is a picture of each of the dinner dishes below, breakfast was almost as good.

The Children's Day Celebration

It was our cousin's 5 year old son's shichigosan celebration. This is where the 5 th birthday of boys and the 3rd and 7 th of girls is celebrated in grand style. Everyone does it in November regardless of the birthday date.





The women of the family often dress in beautiful kimonos and the child in question is done up in much traditional gear.

Tomono and Naomi spent most of the morning getting dressed and coiffed at the cousin's hairdresser. Then it was off to the temple for the benediction of the rug rats.

A perfect example of old and new Japan.

Then of course an enormous meal in an excellent restaurant. A lovely day all round and mildly exhausting.

The Mechanical Instrument Museum

The Orugoru no Chiisana Hakubutsukan is a wonderful, magical place. In a specially designed museum building it houses an enormous private collection of mechanical musical instruments, music boxes and automata.

Mr Yoshihito Namura's collection would have to rate as one of the finest in the world. It runs to hundreds of rare and ancient things. All the pieces have been lovingly restored and there is a special concert performance where they demonstrate the working and music of about 20 choice pieces.

Not only that, but to quote the brochure there is:

The Bench of Bodily Sensation

You will have a rare experience that your body will feel the vibration of the sound of the music box directly.

 How could you resist an offer like that?

This is a music box,about 2M tall that has three voices,thus complex harmony etc .

A remarkable early Jukebox using wax cylinders, 3 M tall.

Sadly the museum will close in May next year as the owner is getting very elderly. One would hope that instead of wasting money on the next Olympic bid the Tokyo government could find the funds to keep it open.