Cool foods in Kinosaki

I spent the weekend in northen Hyogo prefecture with my wife. We were all over the place. our main destination was Kinosaki which is an onsen (Japanese hot spring) resort town. it was an amazing place to go. The small town has 7 major onsens and people walk from onsen to onsen normally wearing traditional Japanese yuaktas and gaita (wooden sandals). It was like walking around in a Japanese stereotype. Well, at least the stereotype that many of us foreigners have of Japan.


Check this one out. My wife had never seen this either It's canned whale meat. We saw this in a small mom and pop supermarket in Kinosaki, Japan.



Curried mackrel. Apparetnly my wife saw this on television. It's supposed to be quite good. We bought can of this.



This is a "fugu" or Japanese blowfish. This one, obviously long since passed away is used as a protective symbol. The points on it are supposed to scare away eveil spirits. People in this part of Hyogo Prefecture sometimes hang them in their windows...apparently!



I'm going to post a lot more pictures from Kinosaki within the next few days.

Curry in Kobe

Who says that filling mailboxes with advertisements and leaflets doesn't work? last night we found one in our mailbox for an Indian restaurant in Sannomiya called Aarti. Man....it looked good. So we made the team decision (team...as in my wife and I) to go there this afternoon for lunch. So off we went earlier today to Sannomiya and just behind JR Sannomiya Station, we found Aarti. A great feast was then had!


Here is Aarti Indian Restaurant, located just behind JR Sannomiya Station. Look for Nishimura Coffee and there's a little road between it and a pachinko place. It's about a block up the road, just after the AM/PM convenience store.



Some great lunch specials. I had the 1000Yen one!



Here's my plate. 3 types of curry and rice. There was nan bread to follow as well.



My wonderful wife had spinach curry. I've never seen or tried spinach curry before, but it was really good.



The nan bread was HUGE and tasted so great. They had an oven at the entrance of the restaurant and a guy was stationed there making fresh bread.



When all was said and done, this is what my plate looked like. It was a true feast.

My wife's only complaint was that she would have preferred the curry to be a little spicier. Myself, I am a true wuss when it comes to spicy food (even though I lived in South Korea for 5 years),so I was content with a milder curry.



Oh yeah...another H1N1 case!
Another student confirmed to be infected with new flu; 4th case in Japan
TOKYO —

Another male student who arrived at Narita airport from the United States on Friday was confirmed to be infected with the new flu strain, the health ministry said Sunday, bringing the number of cases of new flu in Japan to four.

The student was on board the same flight as a teacher and two other students who were confirmed Saturday to be Japan’s first cases of the new strain of the H1N1 influenza A virus.

A further 48 passengers and crew who were on the Northwest Airlines flight are being monitored at an accommodation facility near the airport for 10 days and the health ministry is conducting follow-up checks on all the other passengers.Read more...(Japan Today)