August 2024 – Tokyo: Trend and Tradition

Last year, my June 2023 blog, “Treasures of Tokyo,” offered a quick introduction to some of Tokyo’s most famous and beautiful destinations: The Imperial Palace East Garden, The Meiji Shrine and Ueno Park. As I pointed out a year ago, these places reflect “Japan’s reverence for the past and its continuing commitment to decorum, elegance and artistic excellence.” This year, in early summer, my husband Wayne and I had the opportunity to visit Japan once again and to delve even more deeply into Tokyo’s ancient past and vibrant present.

This time, we traveled alone, although a family friend, Misa Kokuba, (who stayed with Wayne’s sister Kathleen and her family when Misa came to California thirty years ago as an exchange student,) offered to host us on two fascinating “road trips” to nearby Narita and Kamakura. During our time in Tokyo, we tried to stay focused on our continuing theme—the intermingling of past and present in one the world’s largest and most energetic cities, which has been the cultural and economic center of Japan for more than four hundred years.

Tokyo is also a culinary magnet, as Japan is second only to France in the number of Michelin Stars that have been awarded to restaurants in each country—625 for France and 414 in Japan. Of those, there are 194 Michelin-Starred restaurants in Tokyo. We are always interested in good food when we travel, and we are on the lookout for creative food and tea customs to bring back home. I wrote the following haiku in the historic town of Suigo Sawara after admiring the nearby Naritasan Buddhist Temple with Misa:

We were also lucky enough to score a reservation in a Michelin-starred restaurant in Tokyo, Tempura Yaguchi. Ironically, Tempura, which is deep fried seafood or vegetables in a light batter, originated in Portugal and was brought to Nagasaki in the Sixteenth Century by Portuguese Jesuit priests who traveled to Japan as missionaries on trading ships. Today, Tempura is one of Japan’s favorite foods, and it can be served from a humble food cart or at a gourmet establishment like Tempura Yaguchi. This tiny restaurant has no windows and no waiting area, not even a bench out on the sidewalk by the door, (which has a small sign in Japanese Kanji, not a single word in English or even in Hiragana, the Japanese syllabic script that is easier to read than the Chinese style Kanji characters.) We arrived early and just stood around alone on the sidewalk.At precisely twelve noon, a woman opened the door. The chef was standing behind the eight-seat counter, ready to go. The hot oil had reached the perfect temperature, and his batter was mixed. The woman guided us to the seats right in front of the chef, and no other diners arrived during our one-and-a-half-hour lunch. In addition to the chef and the woman who assisted him in serving and removing the elegant dishes, only one other person was visible behind a curtain in the small kitchen, preparing the ultra-fresh ingredients, one course at a time. It was the best tempura we had ever eaten, and the chef turned out to be relaxed, friendly and even chatty, but not excessively so. It was a marvel to watch him at work. He was an artist, perfectly prepared at every step for every course, and meticulously clean.

We were not given a menu, but some of the highlights included scallops, prawns, shrimp, eel, various ocean fish and small green peppers, chunks of eggplant and even little rows of fresh corn kernels, still clinging together in the crisp batter. The meal concluded with small bowls of rice, red miso soup with clams, Japanese pickles, hot tea and four perfect red cherries each, as it was cherry season in Japan.Wayne made our lodging and food reservations before we traveled to Japan, and another exciting discovery was the news that there is a trend in Tokyo today to build new “traditional” country inns right in downtown Tokyo among the modern skyscrapers. The Japanese word for a country inn is ryokan, and a ryokan which is located at a natural hot spring is called an onsen. My June 2023 blog included a mention of our trip to Arima last year to stay at an authentic onsen resort that is more than 1,300 years old.

These traditional country hot spring inns are famous for spotless and comfortable rooms where guests sleep on the tatami mat floors with shoji screens for privacy and views of the quiet and elegant Zen-style garden surrounding the inn and the relaxing and healing mineral baths. Old-fashioned onsen are also known for excellent breakfasts and dinners served in the privacy of each guest room.Wayne was able to secure reservations in two of Tokyo’s modern onsen, complete with hot spring water, piped into the new “traditional” mineral baths from somewhere in the Japanese countryside. Both were outstanding in every way, but our favorite was Hoshinoya, right in the middle of downtown Tokyo, in the historic center of old Edo, the original name of Tokyo during the Tokugawa Period. The Tokugawa Samurai clan under the leadership of their founder, the Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu, ruled Japan from 1603 to 1868 during a golden age of peace, stability and flourishing of culture and the arts.

Hoshinoya’s hot spring mineral baths are located on the top floor of an unassuming and unadorned modern building just steps away from the historic Tokyo Station. This famous transportation hub was built in 1868 in the brick British style when Emperor Meiji regained control of Japan, the Tokugawa rule and its isolationist policy ended, and Japan opened its doors widely to the rest of the world. The Rikshaw parked outside Hoshinoya’s seventeen-floor structure should have given us a hint that this was not just a modern office building. As we entered, the lobby appeared to be a long, dimly lighted hallway with a small, raised platform at the end on which a young woman was seated, wearing an elegant kimono in the style of the Fifteenth Century. She was playing a koto, an ancient Japanese stringed instrument. We were greeted by a team of young women all dressed in modern gray business suits with kimono-like jackets and white tabi (split-toed socks) on their feet. All of them wore their hair pulled back into a bun at the nape of their necks.

We were asked to remove our shoes, which were placed in a cabinet hidden in the decorative wooden wall. Our shoes were returned to us each time we left the building.
Our room had sliding shoji screens on two sides, tatami mats on the floor, a large furo (Japanese-style deep soaking tub,) in the bathroom and a king-sized bed on a very low platform close to the floor. We were both given a cup of traditional Japanese tea upon arrival, along with a leaf-shaped piece of wagashi (artistically designed sweet Japanese pastry.) There were summer kimonos for us to wear while we were guests at Hoshinoya and a tearoom right down the hall where we were welcome to help ourselves to more tea, coffee or other various Japanese snacks.Our rickshaw ride the next morning, arranged by Hoshinoya, was one of the high points of this year’s trip to Tokyo. While one might think of rickshaw rides as a bit touristy and perhaps snooty and entitled, the rickshaw rides in contemporary Tokyo are a trendy mix of history and cutting-edge technology. We stepped into a modern metal rickshaw navigated by a strong young man who spoke good English and was an excellent communicator and guide. Our itinerary focused on the gems of old Edo, including a Shinto Shrine dedicated to the Shogun, Tokugawa Ieyasu, who is now one of the thousands of deities in the Shinto pantheon. This lovely little place, decorated with fresh hydrangeas, was full of everyday workers, washing their hands, ringing the bells, bowing, clapping their hands twice and offering their prayers to Ieyasu, hoping for love, good health, money and successful careers.

Running us and the rickshaw safely through heavy traffic, our guide took us over Nihonbashi Bridge, the center of Tokyo, pointing out the stone statue of Kirin on the bridge. Kirin is a dragon-like mythological creature for whom the world-famous beer is named. We also rolled through a neighborhood where many signs saying CREDO were evident, indicating the center of Edo. In this area, many new shops and restaurants have been developed using the historic architecture of old Edo and selling clothing, food and other items, both new and traditional. After viewing many other statues and historic buildings close up, our tour ended at the moat of the Imperial Palace, on the massive walkway that connects the Palace grounds to Tokyo Station, linking the ancient monarchy with modern Japan.Not surprisingly, the Japanese breakfasts and dinners at Hoshinoya were outstanding and perfectly balanced between old and new. Our breakfasts were served in our room from a hand-crafted wooden breakfast cart designed to keep the traditional Japanese breakfast items piping hot or at perfect room temperature. And cherries appeared at both our elegant breakfast and our gourmet kaiseki dinner. This memorable meal was based on regional Japanese seafood and produce presented with a slight French accent that included plenty of garlic, chives and even cheese. My favorite item from this eight-course dinner at Hoshinoya was one of the desserts, Shoga Buntan, a light, ginger flavored gelatin that contained small pieces of fresh grapefruit. I was so delighted by this refreshing summer dessert that I figured out how to make it at home and am sharing the recipe at the conclusion of this blog.

Our adventures with Misa Kokuba, who has returned to Tokyo after her time as an exchange student in California, were a delightful mixture of summer flowers, glorious historic architecture in local villages, temples and shrines and wonderful food. Our first excursion beyond Tokyo with Misa was a day-long bus tour to the Chiba Prefecture to visit the Suigo Sawara Ayame water garden and flower park, stroll through the charming Edo-era village of Suigo Sawara and admire the massive Naritasan Shinshoji Temple complex. All are worth a visit for various reasons, and I hope you will enjoy Wayne’s photographs of these visual wonderlands.

We were just in time to enjoy the more than one million irises (ayame) that bloom in the Suigo Sawara botanical water garden each year. There are more than four hundred types of irises in the garden, many of them dating back to the Edo period. We enjoyed boarding a small boat, reminding us of a gondola in Venice, and floating through a system of canals and under an arched bridge, providing up close views of the irises and the gorgeous hydrangeas and rose gardens also in full summer bloom.

Wandering through the Edo era village of Suigo Sawara was also a pleasure, as many wooden farmhouses and other buildings from the Tokugawa Period are still in good condition and in use as shops, restaurants and other businesses.

Narita is known world-wide for its International Airport, but the Naritasan Buddhist Temple is far more elegant and interesting. This impressive complex, founded in 940, long before the Edo era, is in excellent condition with well maintained buildings, a massive stone staircase, a huge incense burner sending out perpetual prayer smoke and a lovely pond full of turtles.

On our second and final day-long outing with Misa, she and her husband Keisuke drove us to the ancient city of Kamakura to admire the glorious hydrangeas at the Hase Buddhist Temple, visit the magnificent Great Buddha of Kamakura once again, savor a charming Japanese-French fusion four-course lunch and express our gratitude for this  precious time in Japan at the most famous Shinto Shrine in the world, the Hachiman Shrine.I will let my haiku and Wayne’s photographs speak for themselves.

We are grateful to Misa and her husband Keisuke for taking the time to share some of Japan’s most historic and beautiful places with us and for generously driving us to Haneda Airport on our last poignant summer day in the Tokyo area. On this trip we ate some of the best food of our lifetime and had the privilege of experiencing the beauty of summer in a place that genuinely appreciates and celebrates the seasonal changes in the natural world while cultivating one of the most high-tech cultures in the world. With joy I offer you the recipe for this lovely Japanese summer dessert: Shoga Buntan, Ginger Gelatin with Grapefruit.

This light and refreshing Japanese dessert was one of two desserts that we were served in the eight-course Kaiseki dinner we enjoyed at Hoshinoya in Tokyo, a contemporary “traditional” hot springs spa and hotel. The second dessert, also quite delicious, was called Ikinari Dango, and was a bit more complex than this simple ginger gelatin with grapefruit. Ikinari Dango contains sweet potato and mugwort, a bright green and highly nutritious herb that is very popular in Japanese cuisine. This dessert consists of a yeast roll  filled with a mochi-like substance that contains sweet potato with a small amount of gin poured over it just for moistening, then a scoop of vanilla ice cream on one side and a scoop of bright green mugwort ice cream on the other side, sort of a Japanese summer trifle. I mention Ikinari Dango only because the extreme simplicity of Shoga Buntan, nothing but flavored gelatin and fresh fruit, lends itself to a little enhancement. When I made the Ginger Gelatin with Grapefruit at home, I served it over scoops of vanilla ice cream for a nice summer refresher. I was told that Shoga Buntan is supposed to be made with pomelo rather than grapefruit, and that the Japanese word for pomelo is buntan. I think this dessert would be good in all four seasons and with any kind of fruit. I’m picturing it at a Christmas tea with pieces of Port-poached pear and a home-made ginger cookie on the side.

 

• 2 large grapefruits
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup ice water
• 1 envelope unflavored gelatin
• 2 tablespoons of peeled and freshly grated fresh ginger or
•                   2 packages 5 g (0.17 oz.) each, Gingen Real Ginger “tea” bags

 

Special Equipment: apple peeler, paring knife, medium sized bowl, medium sized saucepan, strainer, decorative bowl for serving or individual sherbet or other dessert bowls

Makes: 4-8 servings

1. Wash and peel two large grapefruits with an apple peeler, making sure to remove all of the white pith from the fruit. Reserve some of the brightly colored peel. Set aside.
2. In a medium sized bowl , combine the ginger and gelatin powder and add 1 cup ice water. Stir until the mixture is clear and there are no lumps.
3. In a small saucepan, combine 1 cup sugar, 1 cup water and some of the grapefruit peel. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium high heat. Then simmer for 8 minutes.
4. Pour the hot syrup through a strainer into the cold gelatin mixture and stir until completely combined. Set the cooked grapefruit peel aside at room temperature to cool and dry. Pour the hot gelatin mixture into a decorative serving bowl and refrigerate for 2 hours.
5. Meanwhile, using a paring knife, separate all the sections from both peeled grapefruits from the membranes connecting the segments. Remove as much of the white pith as possible. Be patient and meticulous, as this will take time. Cut the grapefruit segments into small pieces, including any of the juice that is released, and refrigerate.
6. Two hours after the gelatin mixture has been refrigerated and is partially set, add the grapefruit pieces along with any juice, stir gently to distribute evenly in the gelatin, and refrigerate for an additional 2 hours or overnight.
7. Chop the reserved candied grapefruit peel, removing any white pith still attached.

​To serve the Shoga Buntan, spoon the gelatin from the bowl into attractive individual bowls and scatter some of the candied peel over the top. You might want to serve this dessert in Japanese style bowls to highlight its origin as an Asian dessert or claim it for your own culture and serve it in glass sherbet bowls, ceramic or any other dishes that you deem appropriate for the season and the occasion. I recommend scooping the gelatin over vanilla, dulce de leche, rum raisin or any other flavor of ice cream, including chocolate!