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First TR: Local food in Kyushu & a bit of sightseeing

First TR: Local food in Kyushu & a bit of sightseeing

Old Feb 16, 2013, 3:30 am
  #1  
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First TR: Local food in Kyushu & a bit of sightseeing

Hello forum.
As I have been enjoying reading a lot of TRs, I thought I should contribute some as an appreciation. But what can I do?
I fly to Kyushu for twice a year to see my family. This time a friend of mine wanted to join, so I decided to visit Naha (Okinawa), my birth place, and Kagoshima as well.
So why not give it a go to introduce mainly some local food and a bit of sight seeing spots. Any feedback is highly welcome. You may need to spare with my poor English, though.

As we flew to Okinawa first, let’s star with Naha.

The first night at Naha, I really wanted to go to a certain restaurant, but, alas, the owner has got a horrible flue… So we went to a one of Izakaya (tavern), instead. The food was quite ordinary, except for two dishes which I liked a lot.


Left; Tofu with lightly salted fish topping. Right: Shallot tempura.
Tofu was quite dense with good flavour and fish was salty enough, so I did not need anything to add.

The first night was a bit disappointing, but well see…

The next day, went to Ryukyu palace. The time I lived in Naha, the place was almost some ruin which I loved. But now they have started rebuilding the palace, which only made me feel it has lost something.
So no photos of the palace, sorry… Instead, near the palace there is a stone pavement called Kinjo-cho ishidatami (金城町石畳). It is about 1.5 km long and very steep.


Makes me wondered how awful when it rains…

Sorry, I cannot add the pics. Please disregards this thread.

Last edited by sushiinSYD; Feb 20, 2013 at 3:01 am Reason: Unable to add images
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Old Feb 16, 2013, 6:35 am
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SushiinSYD, please keep up the good work you have started - it looks very interesting so far!

If you want to add photos so that everyone can see them go to your flickr page and click the share tab that sits above the photo you want to display. You can then copy and paste the image link directly from there so everyone can see them. Hope this helps.
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Old Feb 16, 2013, 10:41 pm
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Originally Posted by Flyersj18
SushiinSYD, please keep up the good work you have started - it looks very interesting so far!

If you want to add photos so that everyone can see them go to your flickr page and click the share tab that sits above the photo you want to display. You can then copy and paste the image link directly from there so everyone can see them. Hope this helps.
Thank you, Flyersj18.
That's what I thought I have done. I must be doing something wrong...
As I have prepared a draft for Naha (Okinawa) part, I will post it anyway and see how people think...
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Old Feb 16, 2013, 10:53 pm
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Naha (Okinawa) - Fuzhou garden

As I still have not figured it out how to link flickr page to this thread successfully , I will give it a try with a different approach and see how it works.
I paste the link to each part, so please click it only if you do not mind. => Finally, I have managed to found how to do properly, so I altered.
I have added comments on several photos as well (JFYI).

Ryukyu kingdom (Okinawa) has enjoyed a quite strong and close relationship with China before Japan’s invasion. In 1992, this Chinese garden was created with the courtesy of Fuzhou city in China, which had contributed materials and design to celebrate the relationship between them.
The garden itself is not so big, but beautifully constructed.









Last edited by sushiinSYD; Feb 20, 2013 at 5:16 am
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Old Feb 20, 2013, 4:43 am
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Naha (Okinawa) - 2

After Fuzhou garden, we went to market area. Again, the market has become too touristy, I only took some photos there. But as many countries love pork, Okinawa is much the same. Just would like to show how they display in Naha




Hello piggy...


Hello piggy... ready to be eaten!!
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Old Feb 20, 2013, 4:53 am
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Naha (Okinawa) - 3 Food

So food. As my first attempt was not successful, I was really looking forward this restaurant; Kisaku.
Their significant dish is sushi Daito suhi. Originated Minami-Daito isaland. What is significant? Originally, they marinade a piece of Spanish mackerel sashimi (Sawara) into soy sauce based sauce before making sushi, and served with hot mustard, not wasabi. That means you do not need soy sauce to dip this dish.
To introduce local food to my friend, I opted to 3,500 yen (p/p) set menu. That was more than enough!!




From left: Peanut Jelly (Gee-mamee tofu), marinaded pork's earlobes (Mimi Gah) & lightly boiled shallots.



Their signature dish: Daito suhi & Matsuri sushi


Taro pancakes


Nemacystis decipiens tempra


Stir fried bitter melon, tofu & pork strips (Goya-champrue). One of the dishes you must try while you are in Okinawa.
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Old Feb 20, 2013, 5:02 am
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Naha (Okinawa) - Food Pt2

Another restaurant I enjoyed was tavern called Ryoji. The food was good and staff were very friendly.


Sea weed (wakame) & chopped yam salad.


Thinly sliced spring onion with Katsuo-bushi (dried shaved bonito)


Pan fired pork fillets. The meat was very tender & juicy


Deep fried fish (called Gurukun in Okinawan dialect)


Sorry for the mess as I was only half way through. They will not clear the plate until you finish the bones as well. Since it was deeply fried, the bones turned out be nicely crunchy and tasty, like rice crackers.

Now heading to Kagoshima...
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Old Feb 20, 2013, 5:13 am
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Kagoshima - Sakurajima

It may be a good idea to rent a car in Sakurajima as it is almost impossible to get to the other side.
This time I decided to take a walk along the promenade only. It was about three hours walk, but I enjoyed seeing how the vegetation grows throughout the lava.













Tanuki-iwa (can see a racoon?)


Community centre's play ground. For me, probably this is the last play ground I would ever want to be engaged with any activities...
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Old Feb 20, 2013, 9:22 am
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Thanks for the trip report. Very interesting.
Some of the shallot / spring onion dishes look very good indeed.
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Old Feb 20, 2013, 9:35 am
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Thanks for the pics! I especially like the ones with food in it...
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Old Feb 20, 2013, 4:40 pm
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Originally Posted by goodeats21
Thanks for the trip report. Very interesting.
Some of the shallot / spring onion dishes look very good indeed.
Originally Posted by HangukStyle
Thanks for the pics! I especially like the ones with food in it...
Thank you for the comments. Glad you liked it.
More food pics to come (particularly from Kumamoto)
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Old Feb 21, 2013, 2:34 am
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Kagoshima - Sengan-en (garden)

Literary I was not well prepared for this garden, and I really regretted for that.
The garden was originally created by Hisamitsu Shimazu, the lord Satsuma (Kagoshima). It was enormous (5 ha) and very beautiful. I had only four hours for this visit, but it definitely needs a full day to appreciate fully. Well, lesson learned.


Beautirul ume (plum) blossoms








What's over there?


Speechless...




Now I am hungry...
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Old Feb 21, 2013, 3:06 am
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Food!! - Kagoshima

For food wise I do not know what to say. The most frustrating thing was address itself. There was no street number shown, and even not many local people knew street address!!
Anyhow, after 40 minutes struggling, we managed to get there.
The food was good, but not so special. The highlight of this is the chefs mother, who served us. She was shy to begin, but I ended up with a very interesting and long conversation with her leaving my friend alone (sorry my friend).
As she found that now I live in Australia, she wrapped two pairs of Shochu glass in a piece of newspapers and gave each to both of us saying It was a great pleasure to serve you tonight. I hope you remember me when you use theses glasses in Australia. And if you ever happen to visit Kagoshima again, please come around and say hello to me. It was so kind and sweet of her. You made my day, thank you oka-san (mother)!!

Now, please allow me to share photos with you what I had on that night.



Tori no Tataki (Seared chiken) As my friend was totally against to eat chicken sashimi, it had to be seared.


Lightly grilled milt. Very fresh and tasty.


Grilled eel. I prefer this to Kabayaki.
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Old Feb 21, 2013, 3:13 am
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Kyushu-Shinkansen

Time to move on. We hopped on a Kyushu-Shinkansen. It only took 43 minutes to get to Kumamoto. What a breeze!!



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Old Feb 21, 2013, 4:01 am
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Huis Ten Bosch - Nagasaki

Huis Ten Bosch is originally a theme park recreated the image of Netherland, but it is literary a kind of amusement park. It is a very good place to visit with children.
As my mother wanted to visit there to watch two things: lighting up & 3D projection mapping, so we agreed.

For lighting up (Japanese call it as illumination)







For 3D projection mapping,

This chapel turns into

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wCgg_LY7tU

I think it is very well done. Dont you think? (Form the courtesy of youtube. Thank you!!)

Thank you for reading my TR so far. I am heading into the final destination, Kumamoto. It would be a more food photos.
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