Matchmaking soba making?

It was nearly a month ago when I attended a soba (buckwheat vermicelli) making class held in an establishment in Ome City.


Among the participants of this class were Hachi san, Tarosaku san, and Hide san, with whom I often have a good time with drinking sake. K san, who I often saw at Sawanoien and other sake-related events or establishments, also attended the class. These friends of mine seemed to have gathered not for making soba but for drinking sake.

Actually, these members are hard drinkers. And to boot, the president of a certain sake brewery was among the participants. Naturally, we could expect that he had brought us some good sake.

Anyway, this was a soba making class, and not a sake drinking party.


Among the participants of the class, there are single women who had been invited by Tarosaku san, and single men who had been invited a man called E san.

This E san, who was a very obliging person, or busybody, was plotting to make this gathering a kind of matchmaking party! (Later, I understood the reason why he was asking us a lot of questions including, "how old are you," "are you married," etc. at the beginning of the class). However, most participants seemed to be indifferent to the matchmaking, but quite interested in the soba making. Of course, they were so because the soba making was actually very interesting.



The president and an employee of his brewery had brought bottles of nice sake including daiginjo from their company. We sipped the sake while making soba. Sake is also called sobamae (meaning a drink before eating soba). Since we were later to eat soba made by the soba-making master who was teaching us how to make soba, the sake was literally sobamae.

While being taught by the soba-making master, each of us made our own soba, which we could later bring it home. After the class, we all were treated to soba made and cooked by the master. The soba was served with tempura of wild vegetables and shiitake mushrooms. Very nice! We could hear bush warbler chirps at the venue located on the Tama River which began to be flanked by tender verdurous leaves of trees.


After most of the participants left for home, those still staying were Hachi san, Tarosaku san, the president, soba master, a potter, and I. Until this time, we had been drinking quite much, but still we continued drinking Sawanoi Hanami Shinshu.

This Hanami Shinshu is a honjozo namachozo sake, to which post-bottling pasteurization has been applied. It smells like wood, but is it a smell of namazake? Anyway, this is dry and easy to drink.

The photo below is a picture of the soba I made and ate on the same day for supper. Later, I heard from other participant that their soba was broken into pieces when it was being boiled. However, my soba was all right, and tasted good with a nice al-dente texture. I thought maybe I have a talent for making soba. :)

Tsukinowa, sake from Iwate

Among the breweries in the Tohoku area (Northeastern areas except Hokkaido) of Japan, there are many of those that have been stricken by the Great East Japan Earthquake. Around the end of March, people in Japan were in a mood of voluntary restraint about enjoying themselves with various amusements including hanami (cherry blossom viewing). Since people usually drink alcohol beverages during hanami, it was thought that reluctance of people in having parties under cherry blossoms would negatively affect the consumption of sake, and eventually it would affect the Japan's economy.

At that time, some breweries in Iwate Prefecture made several movies and placed them at the YouTube site. These movies were to encourage us to drink sake without cancelling our hanami party plans.



Those who had their families or relatives in disaster-stricken areas must have been very anxious about them and it must have been very difficult to have hanami parties merrily. So, although I understood the voluntary restraint mood would adversely affect Japan's economy, I also understood their feelings. Maybe, each of us should have thought about whether to refrain from having a hanami party or to what degree to make a fuss at such a party and determine our own stances.

Recently, I dropped in a nearby liquor shop and found they were running a campaign for supporting breweries in the Tohoku area and sufferers of the disaster, carrying several sake brands from the area. The brands included Uragasumi, Tsukinowa, and Daishichi. So, I bought Tsukinowa, which I had not known about until recently.



Soon after the first sip of this junmai sake, I had an image of expansive rice paddy fields in my mind, and I could see golden rice ears waving in the breeze there. This sake had the rich and full-flavored sweetness of rice with acidity characteristic of junmai sake that makes you secrete much saliva.

I can't taste sake in olden days and I don't know what it tasted like, but I guess, without any good foundation, this junmai sake tastes like sake in earlier times.

Cherry blossoms at the Hamura Diversion Weir

Thursday, the weather was too tempting to lock myself in the house and work all day. It was a warm and comfortable day, or a perfect day for viewing cherry blossoms.

So, I went out with a bottle of sake Ginjo Shiroyama-zakura (brewed at Nozaki Syuzou), which I was keeping in the refrigerator, for afternoon cherry blossom viewing at the Hamura Diversion Weir.

After the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake Disaster that hit the Tohoku and north Kanto areas in Japan, a voluntary restraint mood was spread across the country and people are hesitating in making a fuss in a buoyant mood due to an unprecedentedly heavy toll of human lives from the disaster. In a usual year, you can see people spreading ground sheets under cherry trees and sitting there to drink beer, sake, and other beverages and eat fried chicken, yakitori, sushi, and whatever they like. However, you cannot find such scenes this year at all. There is an opinion insisting that excessive voluntary restraint on amusements and other recreational activities deprives vitality of Japan's economy and hinders Japan's revival. While I certainly agree to this opinion, it is also true that I felt somewhat pleased this year since I could view cherry blossoms in a quiet environment.

Maybe this is a good opportunity for us to reconsider how people enjoy cherry blossoms viewing, reconsider the way we make a big fuss under cherry trees and then leave behind piles of garbage.

Well, finally, I will mention the sake Ginjo Shiroyama-zakura, which I enjoyed. This sake is brewed in a small brewery called Nozaki Syuzou Brewery in Akiruno City. Sakes from this brewery are sold only in the city and peripheral towns and cities and difficult to purchase in other places. They are not well-known nation-widely, but I think the sakes taste generally quite good. This Shiroyama-zakura gave me the impression that alcohol and taste were still not harmonized, but I am sure this is sake that becomes better as the aging goes on.

Drinking even in this tragic Japan

The series of earthquakes and tsunami waves that hit an extensive area along the Pacific coast of the northern Japan on March 11 threw the area into an awfully wretched situation, and this situation still continues. In addition, the incident at a nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture has not settled yet, and the situation seems to even be getting worse according to news reports.

In many sake breweries in the Tohoku area, their brewing facilities were damaged or totally lost and many people were killed in this disaster. I wonder how much sake the brewers in the Tohoku area will be able to produce in the next brewery year. I am very concerned abut it.

Thinking of people in trials and tribulations in the afflicted area, it is difficult to drink sake in a carefree mood. However, if sake drinkers refrain from drinking sake, it is not good for the sake brewing industry and food service industry. Furthermore, such a voluntary restraint mood will adversely affect the economy of Japan, hindering the recovery in the afflicted area.

The voluntary restraint mood is spreading among organizers of festivals, shoes, and other amusing events, and many planned events are cancelled or postponed. Many sake tasting events and other sake events are also being cancelled or postponed. Some people support or tolerate such movement while others insist such events should not be cancelled without careful consideration so that the economic activities will not sag further.

Recently, one of my acquaintances held a drinking party, titled "Drinking party in the hard time" at an izakaya, and I attended it. Friends and I had a good time, happily drinking and making a fuss at that time, but later I felt kind of guilty for having too much fun when thinking about this fuss in retrospect.

When people drink sake, liquor shops and sake brewers make money and some money in turn goes to the Japan's government as liquor tax or consumption tax. Thus, we can somewhat contribute to the finance of the country, and eventually money will be spent for the restoration of the afflicted area. However, this is merely a logical way of thinking and humans sometimes do not act according to logic since they sometimes feel guilty even for their logical activities. Anyway, probably, I won't decrease the amount of sake I will drink, but maybe I cannot but drink more quietly and secretly for some period of time from now.

What stance do you think you should take on drinking sake when many compatriots are devastated and suffering?


(This video was taken February 26.)

Tokyo Sake Site update

I run the website called Tokyo Sake Site.

There are around 10 sake breweries in Tokyo. Local sake and breweries making such sake have been closely connected with their local communities, and I consider sake breweries have been contributing to forming the local culture and custom. Thinking of such a thing, I as a citizen of Tokyo want to do some favor for local sake breweries in Tokyo. So, I have established Tokyo Sake Site, which expresses my intention to cheer up them and back up their sake.

However, I cannot achieve so great a job by myself, but only add some stuff to the contents of the site occasionally.

The following are the recent update:

Gadget for enjoying sake -- kandouko sake warmer

酒蔵見学解説英語 (kura study tour explanation in English, Japanese site only)

Especially, the web page of 酒蔵見学解説英語 (kura study tour explanation in English) presents English expressions that are likely to occur when someone gives English-speakers explanation on sake brewery facilities, sake making process, sake making tools and machines, and other stuff during a study tour at a specific sake brewery. This page contains Japanese sentences with corresponding English sentences. Originally, I intended to prepare this for myself in anticipation of a case where I need to take some English-speaking friends or acquaintances to some sake brewery, but I thought this might be useful for those who need to take their English-speaking friends to sake breweries or for sake brewers who need to accept English-speaking visitors.

Therefore, I decided put this on a page at my website. Anyone can access this information. Please feel free to use it. If necessary, I will revise or expand the contents upon readers' request or opinions. So, your feedback is always welcome.

By the way, my friend and I visited a sake brewery on March 19. This was the first-time leisurely outing since that earthquake and tsunami disaster on March 11. We got there around at noon and had some beer (this sake brewery also brews local beer) and kamekuchi nama sake fresh from the brewery. Toast in hope of the early recovery of the disaster-stricken areas and Japan!

Three-point pulse check method

In the yesterday's evening, the cancellation of Niigata Sake no Jin 2011 (Niigata Sake Festival 2011) and postponement of the Niigata Sake Expert Test were announced on the Internet. Also, the organizer of the test called me this morning to tell the postponement of the test. Needless to say, the cancellation and postponement were as the results of the series of enormous earthquakes that hit Japan in the afternoon yesterday.

It is regrettable that the Niigata Sake Expert Test was postponed since I had been preparing for the test by training my tongue and nose for long. However, I feel such decision is inevitable in consideration of the circumstances. In addition, the service of the Joetsu Shinkansen is still suspended as of the noon today, and I'm not sure I can travel to Niigata by tomorrow for the test even if the test will be held.

I would like to express deep sympathy for those in the quake and tsunami hit areas. I watched the TV to see how the tsunami destroyed coastal towns. Cars, boats, houses, and other things are like garbage pushed toward the inland by enormous power of the sea. The tsunami easily caught up a running car, engulfed it without the slightest hesitation, and absorbed it as a part of its wide-spread body. As I saw these horrible spectacles, I was thinking that similar disasters had occurred, were occurring, or would soon occur at several other places along the pacific coast of Japan, and I could not help but really recognize how small human power was against the rage of great nature.

It is the wisest that you stay away from such rage of nature. If you can predict such grave danger and avoid it, you need not to lose your life for nothing, but how can you predict such danger?

Fortunately, there is a practical method called the three-point pulse check method (三脈の法: sammyaku no hou), which has been handed down from ancient times. It is said that the human subconscious can detect grave danger or peril that will occur within the period of a few hours to a day and that will have something to do with one's life. With this three-point pulse check method, you can take out subconscious information as conscious information.

This method varies a little bit depending on whether you are male of female. If you are male, while taking your pulse on your left wrist, take your pulse on both carotid arteries with your left thumb and index finger. If you are female, while taking your pulse on your right wrist, take your pulse on both carotid arteries. If the beats felt at the three points of both carotids and the wrist are synchronized, you are safe and no imminent peril is expected. However, if these beats are not in sync, it means that a grave peril is expected within about 24 hours.



If beats that are out of sync are observed, you should change your activity planned in the immediate future (for example, use a car instead of train, cancel your flight, etc.). Then observe your pulse again to check whether the beats become normal. Continue to change your planned activity until the beats become in sync.

Actually, I was taught this method by the trainer of waterfall training when I was practicing such training. Waterfall training is a dangerous activity because of a heavy load on your heart and risk of hypothermia due to cold water. You may stumble on a slippery rock or riverbed. What if a stone or driftwood flows down from the top of the waterfall and hits your head directly? Having been told so, I was quite scared. So, I would very seriously practice the three-point pulse check method before standing under the waterfall.

I am not sure how effective this method is. However, I can say one thing. Since this method costs not a penny, you will lose nothing even if this method does not work. However, if this method works, you will save your life!

Preparing for sake tasting exam

As I wrote in the previous post, Niigata Sake no Jin will be held for two days starting tomorrow.

On Sunday, I will be going to take the exam for "Kin no Tatsujin" (Gold Expert), in which the examinees will taste 10 sakes and how many they can identify will be checked. So, in the final preparation for the exam, I trained my tongue and nose today.

Actually, I took the same exam last year, and failed. Since there were as many as 10 sakes to taste, I was confused in the exam. In the training I had today, I tasted 5 sakes, which is far less than the real exam, but I managed to tell all the sakes. So, I feel relieved a bit.



For the Sunday's exam, I am going to use the following tactics based on the self-examination about the exam last year:

1. Stay calm during the exam.
2. First, roughly determine the type of each sake, and then find difference between similar sakes.
3. Do not try very hard to find characteristics of sake, but focus only on distinct characteristics.