Japan Dreams

A few months ago, I got an e-mail which had an exciting opportunity in it.  Would I like to go to Japan for a week to taste northern Japanese winter food and talk about it on social media?  Obviously, I would.

Just before Christmas, I heard that I had a place on the trip.  It was an incredible early Christmas present.

In just a few weeks, I will heading over to Japan to join a group of other people who have been selected and we will be taken around Tohoku which is the northern part of Honshu, the main island of Japan and Hokkaido which is the northern island of Japan, known for its cold, snowy conditions.

I lived in Japan for two years from 2005-2007, working as an Assistant Language Teacher in elementary and middle schools in Niigata Prefecture in Japan.  I was part of a huge exchange programme called the JET Programme which employs people from English speaking countries around the world and brings them to Japan for year-long contracts which could be renewed for up to three years.  Whilst our job was to teach English, a main part of the Programme was for us to experience Japan and its culture and then talk about it and be influenced by it when we returned home, increasing Japan’s profile and understanding of their way of life.

This trip that I have been accepted onto is going to do that in a short, sharp blast of Japanese culture and food that we can then share with our social media followers and, in my case, all my customers through my (now revived) blog and newsletter.  If you come for a pottery lesson or a show, be prepared to discuss ramen!

I am waiting for the schedule for the trip but understand that we will be visiting places where we can try wagyu beef, seafood, whiskey and sake.  I think there will be some delicious ramen involved and fun communal shared food, with great steaming pots sitting in the middle of the table for us all to dig into.  I wonder if we will have the “creamy” fish intestines that were included in a memorable pottery club meal back when I lived there.

I am so excited to see how all the food is presented.  Japan is renowned for having beautiful pottery and I always enjoyed seeing how the bowls and tableware matched the food, not each other.  Japan always celebrates each season so beautifully and winter is no exception so I will be paying lots of attention to what winter food we are given and how it is presented.

I would love to know what food I can expect to try if you have been to these areas.  I went to the Sapporo Ice Festival once in Hokkaido but have no recollection of what food we had!  I remember it being very, very cold though so I’ll be packing my thermals and hoping to be able to go to the onsen, the hot springs, to get toasty warm.

For now, I am using Duolingo to remember my very rusty Japanese and dreaming of noodles.