PANCIT HAPON

Japan is paradise for noodle guzzlers like me where noodles are as popular as the Filipino’s everyday kanin. There are 3 types of Japanese noodles: (1) udon which is made from wheat flour, light in color and thicker than soba; (2) soba which is thin, long, brownish and made from buckwheat flour; and (3) ramen which is actually Nipponized Chinese noodle. The first 2 are usually served in hot soup or dipped in cold shoyu soup, always garnished with minced onion, and spiced with preferred condiments (i.e. spices, pepper). I was introduced to them at JICA’s Osaka International Center where I stayed for 2 nights after arriving in Japan. My encounter with ramen came at the later part of my stay in Japan during my last visit to Nagoya’s Osu Kannon Temple. It is a close relative of the Filipino mami (the Chinese connection) with miso broth. The garnish is very diverse: bamboo shoots (read: labong), bean sprouts (read: toge), thin roasted pork (or beef and chicken) slices, etcetera. What I had at Osu Kannon Temple is actually hybrid ramen: yellow thin Chinese egg noodles in hot soup garnished with thin pork slices, fermented (read: buro) bamboo shoots, chopped onions, and raw egg. Whatever, Japanese noodles are really oishii.





In Nagoya, I was determined to hunt down its 2 most popular noodle dishes. I had the Miso Udon Stew in Osu Kannon Temple’s shopping arcade during one of its famous flea market days. The noodle was served piping hot in a large bowl that I thought was good for 3 persons. It was 2 o’clock in the afternoon and I was really very hungry so I wolfed it down to the last drop of soup and washed it with a cold bottle of Asahi dry beer. The fresh unsalted noodles blended well with the tanginess of the chopped spring onions, the earthy flavor of the chopped chicken, and the musky dark miso-based sauce. A week later, I had Kishimen where it is traditionally served at the Atsuta Shrine. The noodles are flat and smooth in texture, excellently complimented by abura-age (deep fried tofu), assorted green vegetables, dried bonito shavings, and seasoned with tsuyu (light soy sauce).

The local favorite in Japan’s southern tip at Oita is Dango-jiru. On our first day there, UNCRD’s Toga-san and Takai-san, and Ogino-san took me to a small but popular restaurant along the historic Renga Building when they heard of my noodle fetish. The main ingredient is dumpling noodles made by mixing flour with water and salt then cooked in a soup of miso, carrots, onions, and burdock. I really regretted having missed the equally popular Yaseuma snack which is wheat noodles sprinkled with sugar and dipped in soy flour and, 1 week back, Ise’s thicker-than-usual udon in a thicker-than-usual sauce. But as the saying goes, you can’t have it all.

My noodle dinner in Kyoto will be the Tsukimi-soba (soba with raw egg) perfectly served with a hot cup of Japanese green tea and a bottle of cold sake. It was actually a combination of a late lunch and an early dinner because I was too busy enjoying Kyoto that I forgot to eat. I have been to the old city’s world heritage sites, I had touched the happy stone, and my stomach is full of soba fermenting in sake and green tea. It is indeed a beautiful life.



I started my day in Japan with an initiation to its noodle cuisine (my first dish in Osaka is Udon to be exact). It is but fitting to end it with a nice noodle meal. And JICA and UNCRD which I have heckled throughout the training course for not serving Japanese food in JICA Chubu obliged me (and my co-trainees) during our testimonial lunch with an array of sushi (both the restaurant and homemade varieties), tempura, and a tray of wonderful soba noodles with cold shoyu soup served in small cute Japanese bowls. “You have to eat all of that,” Baku-san told me with a grin, pointing at the noodle tray. God knows how I did tried.

PHOTOS (top to bottom):
1) A noodle restaurant at an Osaka mall.
2-3) JICA Osaka Center’s version of the Udon and Soba.
4-5) Osu Kannon’s Ramen and Miso Edon.
6) Atsuta Shrine’s Kishimen.
7) My Dango-jiru in Oita.
8) My Tsukimi-soba lunch-dinner with green tea and sake at Kyoto’s Kiyomazudera Temple.
9) Soba in cold shoyu soup served during our testimonial lunch at the JICA Chubu Center.

THE KYOTO PROTOCOL

It’s been said that if you have been to Japan but have not been to Kyoto, then you have not seen Japan. I would agree with this. Kyoto is an old city rich with history and cultural treasures having been Japan’s capital and the emperor’s residence from 794 until 1868. Its value and importance is illustrated in its having been spared by the Americans from their air raids and fire bombing during the war. For me therefore, its Kyoto or nothing.

After some days of hesitation, I finally traveled to Kyoto one weekend with a Lao friend, Posy-san, who was on his way to visit Kobe. Ogino-san advised me to take the shinkansen with a travel time of only 45 minutes but I decided that it’s too expensive for me. We instead took the Limited Express train (i.e. ordinary train with limited stops) for a 2-hour trip with a changing of train midway at Maibara Station. Ogino-san recommended that I visit the Kinkakuji and Kiyomizudera Temples, and the Nijo Castle. I said I will and also included Ryoanji Temple because it’s is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site like the first three. This is my recommended Kyoto Protocol for 1 day tourists like me.

In Kyoto, I bought a 1-day bus pass for Y500 that will take me to any point within the city limits which is a bargain because the minimum 1-way fare is Y200. First stop is the Kinkakuji Temple/Rokuon-ji Temple or the Golden Pavilion that has existed since 1220 as the home of Kintsune Saionji. In 1397, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu started rebuilding the place as his residence 3 years after abdicating as the 3rd Shogun of Ashikaga. He was a Zen Buddhist --- the most popular sect among the samurai class during that time --- and seek enlightenment through meditation and discipline. Thus, he tried to make his compound as sedatingly serene as possible. When he died in 1408, Kinkakuji/Rokuon-ji was converted into a Zen temple as he willed. The pavilion was covered with gold leafs and houses sacred Buddha relics. It was burned down by a fanatic monk in 1950 and rebuilt five years later.

A 15-minute walk from the Golden Pavilion is another Zen shrine --- the Ryoanji Temple. It is famous for its rock garden, said to have been made by Soami at around 1500. Rock gardens are meditation mediums for Zen Buddhism. That of Ryoanji is made up of 15 rocks, white gravel, and enclosed in a wall made of clay that was boiled in oil. It belongs to the Karensansui Garden category of Japanese gardens that features a reproduction of natural landscapes in an abstract way. The other Japanese garden categories are the Tsukiyama Garden category which is basically the creation of artificial hills, and the Chaniwa Garden category that is specially laid-out for tea ceremonies. Outside the Kuri or main temple building is the aesthetically stunning Kyoyochi Pond that was built in the 12th century.





Next stop will be the Nijo Castle that was erected in 1603 by this blog’s most famous Japanese --- Tokugawa Ieyasu --- as his and his successors’ official residence. The castle actually has 2 palaces with Ninomaru Palace, declared as a Japanese National Treasure, as the most important. It was built of Hinoki or Japanese cypress wood and is renowned for its Momoyama architecture, sliding doors, and squeaking Uguisu-Bari or nightingale floors that warned of intruders. Within the inner moat and enclosed by the breathtaking Ninomaru and Seiryu-en Gardens is the Honmaru Palace that was built in 1626 from structures taken from the Fushimi Castle. It burned down in 1750 and was rebuilt in 1893 from components taken from the Kyoto Imperial Palace.

The highlight of the Kyoto Protocol is a late afternoon pilgrimage at the Kiyomazudera or Pure Water Temple. It was founded in 780 and is said to be one of Japan’s most celebrated temple. Aside from its huge wooden main hall, the temple also features the Sishu Shrine that is dedicated to the god of love, a spring below the main hall’s terrace that is said to have healing powers, and a very dark chamber where I groped my towards a stone relic that is said to make those who touched it very happy. I was tired and hungry after a long day walking but indeed a very happy person who slept my way back to Nagoya afterwards.

PHOTOS (top to bottom):
1) The Golden Pavilion’s elegance radiate from the still waters of the Kyoko-chi or Mirror Pond.
2-3) Dreams and wishes were asked from heaven in writing and through candles (my 2 candles for my family’s good health, long life, and prosperity) at the Golden Pavilion’s fudo-do or hall for the Fire God Fudo-do.
4) Ryoanji Temple’s famous rock garden.
5) The 900-year old Kyoyochi Pond outside Ryoanji Temple’s Kuri or main building.
6) The inscription on the Tsukubai or the tearoom’s stone washbasin read “I learn only to be contented”. It was said to be a gift to the Ryoanji Temple from Mitsukuni Tokugawa (1628-1700) who compiled the Dai Nippon-shi or “The Great History of Japan”.
7) Japanese tourists in their traditional Kimono dress take pictures outside Nijo Castle’s Ninomaru Palace.
8) A panoramic view of the Honmaru Castle.
9) Nijo Castle’s traditional teahouse.
10) The pagoda of the Kiyomazudera Temple.
11) Kiyomazudera Temple’s main hall. The healing spring is under the terrace while the “dark chamber” is under one of the temple’s minor halls.
12) Buddha stone images outside Kiyomazudera Temple’s main hall.

SACRED LEAVES, HOLY STONES

Somehow, I knew that I would someday visit Japan. I told this many years ago to a Japanese war veteran who used to make annual pilgrimages to Almaguer. He came every year, bringing with him different groups who have lost a family somewhere in Almaguer during the war. They would usually burn incense, spread offerings of sake and rice, and pray at the bridge that now divides Almaguer into North and South. Perhaps it was a battle site, like Lakay Sammy’s bangcag near the dacquel nga carayan where the Samahang Dilim was always hired to dig for remains of Japanese soldiers buried there. Lakay Sammy is father to Roy who --- with Abet, Junie, Ninoy, Tok, Piso, and Ukong --- ruled the dark nights of Almaguer. They were paid P150 per day that was big money at that time, and more so if they find gold teeth fillings and caps. The recovered remains were then cremated in a big bonfire and the ashes brought back to Japan for proper interment.

The Samahang Dilim dug even without the annual Japanese visitors --- for the gold teeth fillings and caps. On one such day, Abet tunneled a santol tree and found a fairly intact skeletal remain. But there was no gold. Instead, they found some rusty Japanese coins (Abet though they were uniform buttons), a fork, and what could have been film negatives. This and the others that they recovered were eventually turned over to the annual visitors. There was also that unexploded bomb near the latrine of Amang Lakay that Kuyang Uben finally disposed (before his soldiering days) by throwing it at the fish pond of Lakay Amplaying.

Part of our training course was a visit to nearby Asuke in Toyota City an hour from Nagoya. The place is famous for its Korankei Gorge that is said to be the second best place in Japan for the autumn maple leaves viewing. In 1634, the Buddhist priest Sanei from the Kojakuji Temple planted the first maple trees that have made Asuke famous centuries later. The maple leaves should have been bright red when we came but we were told that because of global warming, this had been delayed by 2 weeks since 2 years ago. Nestled on the Korankei Gorge is the Sanshu Asuke Yashiki museum where we were shown a traditional Japanese home and the production of local handicrafts.

A day later, we were on our way to the southern resort city of Oita. We covered the 700 kilometer distance from Nagoya in 3 hours through an exhilarating ride in Japan’s fabled shinkansen or bullet train. Oita has been the prefecture capital for 1,300 years since the era of the Bungo Kokufu. It is famous for its nearby hot spring spas and home to the Motomachi Stone Buddhas of the Heian Period (794-1192) that were carved on the side of the Uenogaoka Hill. I tried going there by bus but it’s quite complicated for a non-Japanese like me so I walked and got lost. A taxi finally took me to the shrine that had been declared as a national historic monument. Some 200 meters away is the prefectural historic monument of the Iwayaji Stone Buddhas. I touched those ancient holy stones and said my prayers. It was a strange ghostly feeling.

We stayed in Oita for 4 days and from there made guerilla visits to the famous Yufuin area and in Oyama where I had my best Japanese lunch ever, then Fukuoka where we took the plane back to Nagoya.

PHOTOS (top to bottom)
1) Asuke’s Korankei Gorge.
2) The famous momiji or maple leaves.
3) A Buddhist altar inside a traditional Japanese home at the Sanshu Asuke Yashiki Museum.
4) The main image of the Motomachi Stone Buddhas and 5) an image eroded by time.
6-7) The Iwayaji Stone Budhhas.
8) Yufuin’s Mt. Fukuman.
9) The Tenso Shrine is marked by a torii at Yufuin’s Lake Kinrinko.
10) An ancient plum tree in Oyama.