Ern in Tokyo: Furusato Festival Tokyo 2016 / ふるさと祭東京２０１６

I decided to work backwards on my posts starting with my most recent adventure. It was that time of year again. The annual Furusato Festival at the Tokyo Dome. From January 8 through January 17, you can check out the cuisines of all 47 prefectures under one roof. But this festival isn't only about the food. It also features some major festival exhibitions, the rice bowl competition, sweets street, character mascots, craft beers, and so much more. My wife and I along with our friends Yukio and Reiko went to festival last Sunday.

今から、最新の情報を先書き込んでみます。今年もあの祭が戻ってきました。１月８日から１月１７日まで東京ドームで開催された「ふるさと祭東京２０１６」。この期間、日本４７の都道府県のご土地グルメが一つ屋根の下で楽しめるイベント。料理だけではございません。有名な祭の会場で再現、全国ご土地どんぶり選手権、スイーツストリート、ご土地ゆるキャラ大集合、ご土地の地ビール、等等。私たちは友達と４人で最終日の１７日に行きました。

After last year's experience of standing in a long line and waiting almost an hour to get in, we decided to head out early. The event opens at 10am. We decided to meet our friends at the Tokyo Dome at 9:30am. And even though we made it to the Dome before 9:30am, there was already a long line formed in front of the entrance.

去年の体験から学び、今年は朝早く会場に行くことにして、朝９時半会場合流にした。私たちは９時半まえに着きましたが、この時間にもうこんな行列が出来てた。

A view of some of the floats and props to be used for different Festival exhibitions.

会場の入ったら、祭で使用する神輿やフロートも展示されてる。

You can see the food booths off to the right of the float.

食べ物ブースま右側に見える。

As we were rushing to get exchange our rice bowl tickets for the rice bowl competition (one of the most popular events of the festival), I grabbed a free sample of iburi gakko from the Tohoku region. Iburi gakko is a smoked takuan (type of pickle).

会場に入ったら最初にすることは全国ご土地どんぶり選手権のチケット交換。そこに行く前に試食用のいぶりがっこを食べた。

I was standing in line to get our rice bowl tickets while my friend went to another booth and bought us the first round of some craft beers.

僕がどんぶりのチケットの列に並びながら、友達の幸男が本日最初の地ビールを購入。

We started off with some craft beers brewed by Sankt Gallen from Kanagawa Prefecture. We started off with an amber ale and a Yokohama XPA (American IPA).

最初に飲んだ地ビールは神奈川県のサンクト・ガレンビール。幸男が選んだのはアンバーエールとヨコハマXPA（アメリカン IPA）の２種類。

Enjoying a beer while standing in line to get my roast beef bowl.

ローストビーフハヤシ丼の列に並びながら地ビールを飲んでます。

As there were four of us, we chose 4 different types of rice bowls. I will introduce them individually below.

私たちは４人なので、４種類のどんぶりを購入しました。下記で一つ一つのどんぶりを紹介します。

I chose the A5 rank Enshu Yumesaki Roast Beef Hayashi bowl.

僕が選んだのはA5ランク使用の遠州夢咲牛ローストビーフハヤシ丼。

My wife chose last year's 3rd place winner, Hachinohe seasoned silver tabby bowl.

妻は去年の３位を取った八戸銀サバトロづけ丼。

Reiko chose the Echizen! Crab bowl, topped with crab miso!

玲子が選んだのは越前！蟹どんぶり。トッピングに蟹味噌が！

Yukio chose the sea urchin bowl!

幸男が選んだのはうにめし丼！

All four were delicious but we agreed that last year's 3rd place winner was the best tasting this year - the Hachinohe Silver Tabby Rice Bowl.

４種類全部惜しかったが、やっぱり去年の３位を取った八戸さばとろづけ丼も今年の一番美味しかったと私たち４人の意見が一緒。

While feasting on our rice bowls, Yukio had also bought a beef tongue set which included beef tongue skewer, beef tongue sausage, and beef tongue soup.

どんぶりを食べながら、共に食べたのは牛タンのセット。牛タン串、牛タンソーセージと牛タンスープ。

I also bought a taster of Sankt Gallen craft beers from Kanagawa prefecture. From left to right are an apple cinnamon ale (strange taste but I liked it), pale ale, brown porter (must have at least one dark beer), and a golden ale.

僕も神奈川県地ビールのサンクト・ガレンの飲み比べセットを購入。左から右はアップルシナモンエール（不思議な味だけど僕は好き）、ペールエール、ボラウンポーター（黒ビールがないと気がすまない）、とゴルデンエール。

My wife also bought the Ebi (shrimp) soba.

妻が気になった食べ物、海老そばを購入。

One of the other ramen we tried was the Hinai chicken ramen from Akita Prefecture.

他に食べたラーメンは秋田地場産加工所の比内地鶏ラーメン。

And these 4 pieces of Oma maguro sushi which cost 1,000yen which means, 1 sushi piece is 250yen. I wonder if it is inexpensive here at this event.

大間マグロ寿司４貫が千円！一貫が２５０円ってことだ。会場で安いほうかな？

And another craft beer that Reiko bought but I forgot which one it was.

玲子もまた違う地ビールを買ってが、どこの地ビールなのか覚えてない。

This was delicious too. Stir fried miso steak with Awaji onions (which are very sweet).

これも凄い美味しかった。味噌炒めステーキ＆淡路玉葱（淡路玉葱の特徴は甘さ）。

We took a quick look at the Akita Kanto Festival exhibition.

ちょっと秋田竿燈祭りエキシビションを覗いた。

As we were headed to the Hakodate area, I snacked on a umeboshi.

函館ブース向かう途中、試食用の梅干を食べた。

I bought and shared some grilled scallops from the Hakodate booth.

函館ブースで焼き帆立を買って、みんなでシェア。

I couldn't resist buying this Hakodate Beer craft beer because the naming of it was so amusing. It's called the "Shacho no Yoku Nomu Beer" which translates to "Beer the Company President usually Drinks".

函館ビールのネーミングが面白すぎてつい買っちゃいました。だって、”社長のよく飲むビール”だよ！買うしかないでしょう。

I was amused by the label as well.

ラベルも面白いでしょう。

My wife found a favorite snack of hers - shoga miso oden.

妻が自分の好物を発見ー東北の生姜味噌おでん。

At 12:30, it was going to be the start of the Aomori Prefecture Nebuta Festival exhibition. As my wife and friend are from Aomori, we bought some snacks and then found a seat in the stands to watch the festival. I tried uploading some of the video pieces I took, but it would upload to this blog site.

１２時半から青森のねぶた祭りが始まるので、おつまみを買ってスタンドの席に移動した。妻と幸男は青森出身なので、やっぱりこの祭りを見ないっと。動画もアップしようと思ったが、なぜかこのサイトにアップ出来ず、残念。

Nebuta float / ねぶた

And munching on some snacks while watching the Nebuta exhibition. These are deep fried chicken skins.

ねぶた祭りを鑑賞しながら、おつまみの鶏皮揚げ。

When I bought the Hakodate beer, the guy at the booth also gave me cup of dried squid snacks for free. Lucky!

函館ビールを買ったら、ブースのお兄さんがさきいかをサービスしてくれた。

If you ever get a chance to visit Japan in the summer, I suggest checking out or even participating in Aomori's Nebuta Festival which last for a week and stars on the 2nd day of August.

日本で観光に来れたら、特に夏、青森のねぶた祭りは超おすすめ。見るのも楽しいが、参加するのもあり。

No, we are not done eating. After checking out the Nebuta Festival, it was back to the food booths. I wanted to eat the Himokawa udon which I didn't get a chance to do when my friends and I went to the Udon Festival a few months ago.

食べ終わってませんよ。ねぶた祭り鑑賞のあとはまた食べ物エリアに戻り、僕がどうしても食べたいものがあった。それは鬼ひも川うどん。ちょっと前に開催されたうどんフェスに食べられなかったのが悔しい。今日こそは食べます！

What makes the oni himokawa udon different are the udon noodles. Just look how thick they are.

鬼ひも川うどんの特徴と言えば、もちろんうどんの太さ。見ればわかる。

Very thick udon!!

とっても太いうどん！

Dessert time - ice cream with mango.

デザートの時間ーマンゴアイス。

And the dessert I bought? Cheese covered bacon and corn on the cob. The mango ice cream was featured in the previous picture.

僕が思うデザート？チーズ乗せベーコンステーキとともろこし。マンゴアイスは先の写真で紹介した。

Oh yes, we had bought strawberry daifuku but forgot about them until we returned home.

あっ、そうだ、苺大福も買ったが、忘れて帰ったら食べた。

Too cold to go to the beer garden and we were full anyway but I thought the use of this Airstream was cool!

アメリカで有名のエアストリームトレーラーカッコいい。ビアガーデンで使用されてる。現在ｈあ寒いし、満腹だし、行かない。

It was still early afternoon when we left the Tokyo Dome, so we decided to walk off some the calories we partook in and went to Tokyo Daijingu.

東京ドームを去っと時はまだ昼２時くらいだったので散歩して東京大神宮に行きました。

Gate to Tokyo Daijingu.

東京大神宮の門。

Very crowded here today too. Something about receiving a fuda.

今日の東京大神宮も凄い混雑してます。なんか運の良い札が貰えるとか。

Next, we walked to Yasukuni Shrine, took a short break there and tried to decide what to do next. Go are separate ways or find a place to have dinner (seeing how it was getting to be around 5pm).

そのあとは靖国神社まで歩いてそこでちょっと一休み。これからどうする会議。解散するか、どっかの店で一緒に夕食するか（もう夕方５時になったもんで）。

We decided to have dinner together and went to a yakitori place.

一緒に夕飯食べることにした。近くのやきとり屋に決定。