This is the main part of campus. It looked very different with the white and dark contrasts.

If you entered school from the west side gate, this is the view you might have seen yesterday morning. It almost looks like a black and white shot, but I can assure you it’s a color photo (look carefully and you can see some red).

This is about the same area, but from a different angle.

Not much to comment on, except I like the shot and the contrasts. This one is pretty close to the center of campus. I hope we get another shot of snow this winter. It was a fun morning yesterday…

To their credit, the forecasters are having to deal with the latest rainy season I can remember.

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Anyway here goes. The bigger the pan, the more you can cook at the same time. I have a great iron skillet I bought more than 30 years ago at a Sears (10 bucks!), so I usually make two at a time. I always turn the heat up to high first while I get the other things out of the fridge. By the time anything hits the pan, it is getting warmed up.

I get my flour tortillas from one of two places: A-Price near the Jietai (Self-Defense Force) base or Premier Cru. A-Price is kind of a restaurant supply shop that has some bulk items and a variety of things for the kitchen that you might not be able to find other places. Premier Cru is an imported food and spirits shop that is small, but it packs a lot of stuff in there. I peel off two of the tortillas and put the inside side down. Don’t laugh. Each side of these tortillas looks different; I save the more attractive side (it usually has some nice brown spots on it) for the outside.

As the pan heats up, I turn down the heat. This takes a bit of practice. There’s a balance between scorching your quesadillas and waiting forever for the cheese to melt and the tortilla to heat up. I don’t leave it on this one side long, just enough to get the tortilla softened and warmed a bit. Flip it/them over and cover 1/2 with your favorite grated cheese (I get the 1 kg. bags at A-Price).

Then I add some hot sauce. I’ve become a major fan of the Marie Sharp’s Fiery Hot sauce. Great stuff!

My preference is to go full steam ahead with the cheese quesadilla. The other Viajeros like a slice or two of something meaty (I can be persuaded to join in when there’s some leftover taco meat… ) If you want something else in there, by all means add it in. I will say, though, that the more you add in, the more you need to flip the ‘dilla and reduce the heat. When I have a pile of leftovers from, say, chicken tacos the night before, I’ll add some chicken, homemade salsa, sour cream, tomatoes, and a bit of lettuce for some crunch. I’ll use the burrito-sized tortillas from Costo (in Fukuoka) and make a real meal out of it.

I have to say that it’s best to work quickly at this quesadilla-filling stage, so the tortillas don’t burn. The trick is to get it all in there, so the heat is working on that cheese and the other ingredients. As long as the quesadilla is still open, it’s at risk. You have been warned.

Once it’s all together, I turn the heat most or all of the way down. Then it’s all a matter of flipping every 30-60 seconds. Hotter pan, more frequent flipping. Cooler pan, have a sip of coffee while you watch the moisture evaporate from your tortillas. I don’t use a spatula for any of this. It’s finger food, so I use my (clean) hands. It’s okay to peek inside if you want to check. It’s done when it’s the color and consistency you want AND the cheese is melted. If the cheese still has the same look as when it went in, it’s not ready yet. Hint: this one is NOT ready yet:

I’ll add some shots of the stuff I can get here in Kyushu to make this all work.

It was a tasty meal and served its job well: filling the Viajeros to the bursting point. Let’s walk back through the preparation. The hardest part is related to living in Japan: whole chickens are just not common here. I suppose the reason is that Japanese kitchens are small with small ovens (ours is not that big), and food is mostly prepared to be eaten with chopsticks (no need for knives and forks). However, you cannot coax the same flavor out of cut up chicken as you can from a whole bird.

Our local supermarket, Yume Mart, is a relatively new kid in town, having bought out the former Nikko Nikko Do. Nikko Nikko Do was a local outfit and very accomodating. Yume Mart is an arm of Yume Town and is a bigger company with corporate offices outside Kumamoto. They don’t play as well. I went in to get some tomato sauce, you know, to make some meat sauce for pasta. No tomato sauce at Yume Mart! The manager steered me to the ketchup! Is there anything more basic than tomato sauce? But I digress a bit…

Anyway, Yume Mart, like most Japanese supermarkets, does not sell whole chickens. When Mrs. Viajero went to order a whole chicken, she was told they do not sell whole chickens. After some grilling by the Mrs., they relented and promised to have one for us.

I had a bit of sticker shock when I went to pick it up. ¥2111 is about $23! It was a good-sized bird at 2155 grams (just over 2 kilograms; sorry, I don’t do pounds, ounces, or any other Imperial-ness anymore), but come on! Okay, bird is home. Let’s get it ready. I usually prep all the vegetables, etc. first and do the poultry last to cut down on the chances for contamination. I wash all the veggies and drain them. Any peeling and cutting is next. My mashed potatoes are a hit, so I get a bag or two of russets (they are really small here). And you got to have lots of onions.

The other important veggies are celery and carrots, and I add some broccoli just for variety.

If you’ve noticed that there are more vegetables above than there are below, score yourself 10 points! I fill up about 1/2 of a large pot with onions, celery, and carrots for the chicken stock (I wrote a bit about this before) I start boiling while dinner is going on.

I rinse the chicken well and dry it off. I cut off the bits that the supermarket leaves on, like the neck and feet parts. Those go in the stock pot. I usually leave a stick of butter out in the morning, so it will be soft enough later when I need it. I take a big chunk of that and put it in a small bowl. To that I add the herbs and salt and pepper. I kind of blend it together as best I can with my fingers and squeeze off bits. Then I peel back the areas of the chicken skin that are big enough for a hand or even a few fingers to get in. I slide those herbed butter bits into as many places as I can; those yellow spots below are butter. Trussing is courtesy of The Joy of Cooking; that book is always handy on my holiday cooking table. Oh, yeah, I layer the veggies around the chicken.

I will cook the bird for about 15-20 minutes before adding the veggies next time. I don’t like them as soft as they came out this time. As you can see from the color and the sheen, the chicken juices and butter did not go to waste…

After the chicken comes out, I let it rest a bit.

While we’re waiting for the bird to cool down a bit, the potatoes I’ve been boiling (with some garlic, onion, and some kind of herbs) are usually about ready to mash. I use a hand masher and add some heavy milk and melted butter. They were especially tasty this time.

That’s about it. Note to self: grab another Viajero to take some shots at other times during the cooking process. Then I’ll have more to write about in future viajerations…

Kumamoto is noted for its high-quality agriculture. There are a variety of fruits and vegetables that are shipped from this area and promoted (at high prices) in the big cities like Tokyo. I saw a Kumamoto tomato fair about 5 years ago in Kobe, and my eyes popped out at the prices!

We are lucky here. Some places have certain times when you can pay a fee and go in and pick and eat and take home some yummy food.

In the summer, you can head up into the mountains and pick blueberries. My timing was a bit tardy in late July, as the fruit had lost a bit of its sweetness. I’ll have to try again this year. I understand June is the better month.

World, meet Mr. Ota. His San Diego restaurant, Sushi Ota, is just about the best sushi shop I’ve been to (I’ll save my other favorite, Daiki, in Ise, for another post). Besides being a great guy, Mr. Ota runs a smooth-running ship with fantastic food. We were trying to figure out when we first started going; it must have been not too long after he opened in the late 1980′s. That was back when there were exactly two people behind the counter: Mr. Ota and a nice guy nicknamed Joe. Now there are seven or eight people perfectly choreographed. It’s a big coincidence that Mr. Ota’s hometown is a couple of hours south of Kumamoto (in Hondo). He’s in my hometown, and I’m near his. Mr. Ota knows what my family likes, and he takes great pride watching our expressions after putting his original California- and Kyushu-fused creations in front of us. He has never missed with us. This meal took place about four months ago, so I’m working from the photos and my feeble memory. If the details are lacking, just enjoy the photos, and use your imagination…

Our meal started off with the above creation, although I broke it up before I remembered to take a picture of it. It was crab meat and tomato in a savory gelatin, and it just melted in my mouth.

I need to take some notes when I go back next time because I cannot remember what was in this original masterpiece. I do remember that the avocado matched perfectly with the grated daikon, tare (sauce?), and the fish inside.

This was one of those one-bite experiences that last only as long as you can chew it. There was crab involved and squid and a white fish, and that sauce!

Yes, your honor, guilty as charged. I forgot what kind of fish this was, but it was grilled to perfection and it was tender and extremely tasty.

I understand the giant bluefin tuna is dwindling rapidly. A few orders of various parts of maguro is usual for me. This time we had one order of toro and left it at that. I hope the tuna population returns to normal soon. We should all think carefully before catching/ordering/eating any more giant bluefin tuna.

Uni (sea urchin) is a delicacy in Japan. It just so happens that the waters of the east side of the North Pacific Ocean are filled with sea urchins. Sushi Ota serves them up from both California and Japan.

My wife likes the awabi (abalone); I can do without it. It’s a bit too chewy for me. She said it was wonderful!

Memory lapse again. As you already know, the one on the right is sake (salmon), but the one on the left eludes me right now. Perhaps another trip is in store, so I can ask…

Our final order was tamago. I think it was the first time to order it at Sushi Ota. Check out the cool brand.

Thanks for (another) excellent meal, Mr. Ota. I can’t wait to go back!

There has been a push at work to connect better with the local community. The idea is to share ideas for research with those already doing similar work. I joined in on a trip this week to Amakusa, an island area south of Kumamoto connected by bridges and a system of ferries. The photo above is of the first bridge that connects the island of Kyushu to the first large island of Amakusa. The photo below is a view from that bridge.

We first stopped at a junior high school where there is a group of four or so people who develop and produce foods made from octopus. We learned that they get a supply of 30-40 kgs. a day of octopus, from which they make octopus ‘steak,’ giant ‘takoyaki’ (a kind of savory ball made from dough, vegetables, and seasonings), and other dishes. These products are then sold at the local souvenir shops. We sampled some of the octopus they use, and it was very tasty.

We next went to one of the local offices where the archives of Amakusa are kept. There was a long hallway where photos from various local events of the 20th and 21st centuries were hung on the wall. We then toured some of the rooms where the archives are stored. We did not really get to see any of the materials since they were all in boxes. Another missed opportunity was that the PR materials that were given to us were mainly photos of boxes. I think in the future some examples of the kinds of materials stored there would be enlightening; otherwise, it was a waste of copy paper.

From there we moved to Amakusa Airport where we learned about Amakusa Airlines’ business. Amakusa Airlines has one plane traveling: Amakusa to/from Kumamoto, Amakusa to/from Fukuoka, and Kumamoto to/from Matsuyama. We learned that their business has grown steadily over the years and that most of the passengers are business people.

We then went to Tomioka Castle which was fought over during the Shimabara Rebellion, but was destroyed in 1670 during the Shogunate period. The current site was rebuilt in modern times. The dark rocks below are the original rocks used to build the castle; the lighter ones were shaped for the reconstruction.

Here is a shot of what they found when they dug out the site. You can see that the castle was rebuilt with new walls.

I am a big fan of the coast in Amakusa. I would have to guess that I did about 50 dives at Myoken ga Ura (along the west coast of Amakusa) in the period from the summer of 1994 to the summer of 1998. I did not get many chances for a good shot, but this one is typical of the west coast:

We continued south and went to Oe where many Christians lived (and still live) before, during, and after Japan was closed to the West. Nagasaki’s Shimabara and Amakusa are so close that they share a lot of history. Here’s a shot of Oe Catholic Church:

and one of Sakitsu Catholic Church:

Both were destroyed during the Shogunate period and were rebuilt in the 20th century.

The day finished up at a nice Japanese Inn where the University members were joined by some of the workers of Amakusa City and Kumamoto Prefecture. I got to meet Mayor Yasuda of Amakusa City, a very friendly person. Amakusa City turns out to be a sister-city with Encinitas in San Diego. What a coincidence! Moonlight beach may just be the beach I have visited the most.

If you are planning a trip to the Kumamoto area, make sure you plan some time for an Amakusa trip. You will be glad that you did.

There’s a festival held here each year for the shrine next to Kumamoto Castle. We went up to the shrine at first. We were more than an hour early, and it was blazing hot, so we headed back down the hill. The group above show some children playing taiko (Japanese drums). I’ll let the videos do the talking, but I have to say I had a major case of operator-error that day! My favorite one had a series of four taiko groups, including one with women and another with young children. They all sounded great! For some reason, when I got home, the two videos I has taken of the groups were not to be found on my camera… Boo hoo!

These men are dressed as Shito priests:

Some of the mikoshi (I guess ‘float’ works here) were carried:

Others were on wheels:

Some groups were small, and some had many members. This one seemed to be a blend of two:

This group was working all the way down the shopping arcade:

Check out the festival next time you’re in town during the end of July…

There are a lot of places to escape to from just about anywhere in Kumamoto. One that is up the hill past the airport is called something like Milk Farmland. It costs ¥300 to get in, and there are various animals to watch and pet as your heart desires. There are a couple of small petting zoos and friendly people to answer your questions. There are at least three pigs, formerly known as mini-pigs and pot-bellied pigs (someone forgot to tell them that because they’re huge!), roaming around.

There is also a fully working dairy, and you can often see the machines in action, sucking the white stuff out of the cows patiently waiting their turn. Part of this dairy, obviously, is for raising the little ones. The video above shows one of them frolicking around a bit too much. She was in shock after her fall and didn’t move much at all after that.

The dairy goods are on sale in the form of tasty soft-serve and a whole bunch of products such as cream, milk, butter and cheese. Part of that complex also has a good all-you-can-eat restaurant serving locally grown food (when we were there, it was ¥1,500 for adults and ¥840 for kids). There were all kinds of food to choose from, including drinks and desserts.

Well, after enduring several days of cold weather, we finally got a payoff. This is a case where a picture is worth a thousand words…