Okonomiyaki-ya

On the 13th of July, we went with my mother-in-law to a little concert where she performed. She plays accordion and harmonica and often performs with a couple of other group members at various events and festivals. After one such event, we (including a couple of other group members) went to a little nearby café.

At the café, I decided to try a "matcha" or green tea ice smoothie. Green tea is a popular Japanese drink that can be enjoyed hot or cold (unsweetened). However, green tea flavor is often used for other drinks and foods, such as cakes, chocolates, ice-cream, and etc. My smoothie came topped with some vanilla ice-cream and sweet red beans. Considering that the day was very hot, this smoothie was quite welcome.

After parting with group members, we stopped by at some stores. At one of these stores I purchased a little stamp with my last name (in kanji, or Chinese characters). There were thousands such stamps located in tall spinning racks. Some stamps were even combined with the pens for extra usefulness. In Japan, it is very common to use such stamps with one's name where physical signature is required. For example, when a mailman delivers a package or when signing some document at work, a Japanese person would usually use a stamp with his/her name. The above-pictured stamps contain just generic most common last names. Often, a Japanese person might have a personalized stamp (either round or square) containing first and last names, but since it is hard to find kanji for my first name, a generic stamp is sufficient.

For lunch, we went Okonomiyaki-ya where we ate... okonomiyaki. Okonomiyaki is a very popular Osaka dish that is reminiscent of a pancake (not sweet) with various ingredients and topics. Most commonly, diced cabbage is added to a batter, but other choices are available. For instance, in Hiroshima, noodles provide the base. In this restaurant, our ordered choices were brought uncooked and placed on a giant hot plate in the middle of the table. This way each person can control how soft they want their okonomiyaki to be. Also, the hot plate helps to keep okonomiyaki hot. Our orders included okonomiyaki made from a bit different batters and with fillings that included shrimp, squid, and an egg.

In this video you can see example of a toping that is commonly put on top of okonomiyaki. This toping is called "katsuobushi" or flakes of incredibly thin tuna slices that have been dried. Due to the fact that the tuna flakes are very think and dry, variation in heat and moisture from okonomiyaki makes the flakes move as if they are alive. I never get tired of seeing people freak out when they see the flakes wiggling. Katsuobushi is not intended solely for okonomiyaki. It is a common addition to certain soups, rice, fried noodles, and a large number of other dishes.