Autumn Poetry by Georg Trakl

Whispered Into Afternoon

Sun of autumn, thin and shy
And fruit drops off the trees,
Blue silence fills the peace
Of a tardy afternoon's sky.
Death knells forged of metal,
And a white beast hits the mire.
Brown lasses uncouth choir
Dies in leaves' drifting prattle.
Brow of God dreams of hues,
Senses madness' gentle wings.
Round the hill wield in rings
Black decay and shaded views.
Rest and wine in sunset's gleam,
Sad guitars drizzle into night,
And to the mellow lamp inside
You turn in as in a dream.

Choushi Fisheries and Auction!

When Japanese think of the big names in fishery products they think of places like Tsukijii, Kushiro, and Hachinohe.  Very little, however, is ever mentioned about Choushi fisheries, which is located at the northern tip of Chiba, on the Pacific Ocean side.
The day I decided to go there it was on a comfortable Monday morning at 9a.m.   This time I  didn’t have to worry about waking up at the crack of down, like when I went to Tsukijii back  in Tokyo.  I took my time after checking-out of the hotel  and headed down to watch these sage fishermen auction off their  fresh morning catches.


These are tuna and the white labels are the identification markers.

Fish inspectors

They cut the tails in order to measure the meat and fat content.



These three fish are called Bonito or Katsuo.





Here’s a look at the lineup for the auction


There is just nothing like standing in a fish market like this where literally hundreds of thousands of pounds of fish lay on wet pavement.  Even now I am craving more sashimi.  The taste of freshly sliced bonito and tuna that’s no more than a few hours old is the best.
As a general rule of thumb, I like to order an ice cold beer first in order to clear the throat hole.  Then I back that up by ordering some good quality nihonshu, if possible a junmai ginjo.
The auction is usually open Mon. thru Fri. from 6am to 9am.  Getting here on foot will take about 25 minutes – the walk is good exercise.   There are also plenty of buses that head to the general vicinity of the fishing ports. 
Having access to great fish markets, great sake and fantastic onsen along with delicious Jukujo is heaven for me, and yes, I even included a temple on this trip.

Inubosaki Keisei Hotel

Entrance

Rear

After that extravagant lunch at Akemi's restaurant I headed back to Choushi Station to catch the Dentetsu, a small one car local private train, which has been popularized in various travel magazines with its beautiful decor and old country feel. It was a lovely experience riding on a train this small and being able to enjoy a full 360 degree view from all the windows of beautiful country fields as the train snaked around rails covered in flowers and mangled brier patches.

This commute was very different from the sweaty heat boxes like on the Keihin Tohoku line during rush hour. Riding the Dentetsu is based on an honor system which means you don't have to actually purchase a ticket, as most stations along its line have neither a ticket wicket nor a machine to purchase it from. You simply head for the platform, board and tell the conductor where you want to go and pay him directly. ( if you don’t say anything he won’t ask)

I got off at Inubo Station - nice name and catchy, too. I was immediately greeted by throngs of lovely country Jukujo who were fawning all over me. There were three by the door who greeted me without hesitation and welcomed me with bright eyes and full smiles. They were beautiful, all of them, with heads full of thick, smooth, black and shiny hair - full bounce. They had flawless make-up and sturdy bodies just the way I like them- hulking bovine beauties. For a moment there I thought I had stepped into another world, or transcended another realm of sorts, don't know....But, for sure, I was in heaven that day.

Inubo Station

During the whole trip I wore seta( zori ) sandals, or flip flops. ( geta are hard sandals and seta are soft) It felt good not wearing any socks this whole trip, just walking in these seta's made my feet feel so wonderful and cool. I had to walk about 1km to the Keisei Hotel which is famous for having an excellent seaside view from the bath, plus it was available for day-use .

At about this time I had wondered whether or not they would have any accommodation left from a possible cancellation, since my original intent was only to bathe there, not stay, and then head back to the not so popular hotel in Choushi which sadly had no real onsen at all.

Before leaving Yokohama I always book a hotel in advance just in case the unexpected happens. Since I had originally booked the not so popular hotel around Choushi Station, I had made up my mind to stay with them for the night, but because of the bad reviews I kept hearing from the locals in the area I had to at least try and see if the Keisei Hotel had any availability for the night - Sunday Night! Same day booking for rooms is rare, especially on weekends.

From the front entrance the hotel was nice. The lobby was impeccable and clean and the staff was welcoming. As I approached the front desk the female front desk staff was ushered into the back office by another gentleman, and then shortly after ,a sixty year old Japanese man emerged from the back office to help me. Sixty year old Japanese men never smile, they just grin and nod their heads. At any rate, he greets me. I return the greet and ask if I could use the day-use onsen. No problem, he said. I handed him the coupon that Akemi gave me which was 20% off the regular day-use rate. As soon as he accepted this coupon I asked if there were any rooms available, and that if so, I would like to know how much (this whole conversation was in Japanese). He said yes and that he could offer me a room with two meals for 13000 yen( I was traveling alone which is extremely rare even for Japanese, unless of course they are on business. Most hotels do not offer accommodations to single travelers, and the ones that do charge almost double the price even for single occupancy).

Since I had arrived at noon he couldn't check me in until 3pm, so he gave me a voucher to take down to the bath to give to the attendant who in return gave me a hand and face towel. I was to bathe hear and relax until check-in time - who was I to complain, this was just a fantastic experience. The onsen was so hot and good I could've died right there in the water - perfect temperature and since it was by the beach the salt and calcium content in the water was high, plus it was 100% onsen with no chlorine or chemicals added. Sitting there in the onsen, overlooking the huge expanse of sea and tide, I had to deal with the guilt of canceling on the other hotel in Choushi.

It's very rude to cancel on the same day, and it's even ruder to not call to inform the hotel of your cancellation either. I had to seriously consider these feelings while relaxing in this onsen, but after checking into my room and downing a few more beers I quickly forgot the name of the hotel in Choushi.

I finished up at around a quarter til and went out and sat in the lobby waiting to see if they could check me in early. They did and they escorted me to my room, and all the while I was wondering what kind of room they were going to stick me in; a closet maybe? Or some run down room?

( shaky video)

When we reached the room the door flung open and angels began singing " Haaaallelujah, Hallelujah, hallelujah, HHhaaaallujah!" I was captivated by this huge room with a full view of the ocean. Flat screen T.V., fully stocked fridge, two beds with remote operated inclines. I could elevate my head or body, even my legs. I elevated my my upper body so that it would be easier for me to drink nihonshu. I also elevated my legs in ordered to keep the sake centralized in middle part of my body.

The room was fantastic and far better than what I could have ever expected with no previous booking. Even the yukata fit perfectly. I jumped into the bed to test out the reclining mechanism, flicked on the T.V. via the remote, then dozed off for a few hours, woke up and then it was dinner time. When I got down to the dining hall there was a nice little table by the window for me overlooking the waterfront against a dimly sunlit evening sky, and boy, what a spread they had for me, too. Bonito cocktail salad marinated in ponzu, baked Foie gras over broiled salmon, a clam and vegetable soup, one tokkuri of sake, and the menu went on and on. That was a miraculous dinner! Just the meal alone could've easily cost 13000 yen by itself.

Sashimi plate

clam soup covered in seasonal vegetables

Salmon and foie gras

seasonal vegetable soup( very good)

Baked chicken in miso paste with chestnuts

I honestly forgot the name of this dessert.

The meal was very satisfying and very good.

After finishing up there I headed back to my room and cracked open a bottle of local jizake from the mini- fridge. Sat back and enjoyed the rest of the sunset then crashed again, woke up and headed down to the bath for another hour, went back to the room drank down another bottle of sake, checked-some email, walked around the hotel, crashed again, got up and did another onsen round, crashed again, got up one last time at 2a.m. did an onsen photo shoot, bathed and reflected on the whole trip, returned to my room and crashed. Woke up at 7a.m. had a fantastic power breakfast and then checked-out at around 9a.m., and the reason being is because I had to head over to the fish auction down in Choushi! By the way, the onsen was open 24hrs!

Night Shot!

And I can’t forget breakfast

How to Properly Enjoy Seafood in Chiba!

Before saying goodbye to Mr. Hidenori, he introduced me to his favorite restaurant called "Hitachi," which is ran by a lovely jukujo ' momma class' woman who was born and homegrown right in Chiba.  She's married and a mother of one fully grown son, and together all three of them run the restaurant.  

 

One of the great charms upon being greeted by her was her lovely smile and tender eyes.  Her lips were full  and covered in expensive deep red lipstick; you know, the kind that doesn't  come off easily when kissing and eating.   She's also semi-fluent in English, which was great because she was able to explain everything she served to me in English.  I was treated like royalty, literally!  I haven't felt this kind of hospitality since my Hanamaki days up in Tohoku. 

 
The restaurant itself was old and traditional looking.  Everything inside was clean and the whole atmosphere was homely and warm, and most of all,  I didn't feel like I was out of place as a lone traveling foreigner at all.   Of course coming here, it's a good idea to brush up on your kanji since the menu is full of old and difficult to understand characters.  I knew exactly what I wanted though, so I had no problem ordering things.  The first thing I ordered was the Bonito sashimi ( かつお）, since this is the season when they are the fattest and tastiest. 

 

The second thing was the pacific saury sashimi (sanma), which is also in season this time of year, too.  And then, how could I forget.  I ordered sake.  The sake of choice is called Choushi-no- Homare, a locally brewed sake that almost nobody has ever heard of.  It tasted very local to me, but I enjoyed it nevertheless.   When I mean ‘local taste’ I mean  there was no noticeable flavor characteristics, just light rice flavored sake brew.  It was the sashimi that was awesome, and this is what made up for the sake.  Chiba prefecture is also known for having its own soy sauce brands:  Yamasa on the left and Kikkomon on the right.

  

Pacific Saury

A good thing to pay attention to when visiting these old restaurants is that food is made and prepared to order; in other words, there is no ready made food served unless it's pickled vegetables.  In the Western world we would call this method slow food, which literally means that the restaurant grows and harvests its own food products then cooks them when ordered.   For example, when I ordered the pacific saury, they run to the back and snatch a live one from the tank and cut it open while it's still a live,  that way when they bring it to the table it's still moving on the plate.   That's slow food at it's finest.  Of course this notion of ‘slow food’ has been around in Asia for centuries, long before the Italians first pioneered the term itself.

 

In the Western world, there are certain taboos against this kind of killing and eating straight away.  There are places in Australia, for example, that have ordinances that make it illegal to kill and eat fish  the Japanese way.  Often times the chef's have to allow fresh catches to completely die first before cutting them open.  Another thing, when eating sashimi in Japan the fish is at almost room temperature whereas in , say, places like Los Angeles they tend to over chill the sashimi which can make it dry and in turn make it difficult to enjoy the protein flavor that you get when eating something freshly cut open, and this is especially true in tuna also.

 

In these small rural mom & pop restaurants one can get a since of how sashimi is supposed to taste, along with the convivial atmosphere that comes along with it.  They really made me feel like I was at home and welcome, which is something I rarely pay attention to.   I ate and ate to my hearts content.  I ordered another tokuri( carafe ) of sake and my final bill came out to 2800 yen!($30). 

 

I remember during the course of the meal  Akemiさん would bring a free dish or two to my table.  Unfortunately, she brought me two of my least favorite dishes, squid guts or innards called (shiokara) in Japanese.  One was salted and fermented, and the other was marinated in shoyu( soy sauce), they are repulsive.  As a courtesy I did try one small tiny little innard then quickly washed it down with some nihonshu. 

As I was packing up my stuff and getting ready to leave the restaurant Akemi asked me where I was going?   I said Inubo!   Her face lit up and she ran back behind the counter and brought me back a coupon for a day use onsen at a very nice hotel in Inubo of which I will post about next.