Food at a Japanese Seaside Ryokan
Part of a Nutritious Breakfast, Ryokan Style -- Shima, Mie, Japan -- Copyright 2006 Jeffrey Eric Francis Friedl
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 40mm — 1/80 sec, f/4.5, ISO 800 — map & image datanearby photos
Part of a Nutritious Breakfast, Ryokan Style

As I mentioned in the previous post, we spent two nights at a traditional ryokan. Ryokan prices are generally quoted per person, not per room, because food is such a major part of the stay. In the two dinners and two breakfasts we had there, we feasted like kings.

In the picture below, the lady who ended up serving all our meals is describing something about our first evening's dinner to Fumie, as Anthony dances in his yukata. He was very tired and a bit punchy, but it was his first time to wear a robe or yukata, and he was enjoying it (and was “going commando” and was enjoying that as well).


Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 31mm — 1/60 sec, f/6.3, ISO 500 — map & image datanearby photos

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 17mm — 1/60 sec, f/6.3, ISO 500 — map & image datanearby photos
Ready to Eat!

Before eating, we asked the lady to take a picture for us. It was sort of comical to see this middle-aged lady trying to wield my Nikon D200 with its big Nikkor 17-55/2.8 (with hood, which I generally keep on), a large SB800 flash, and a Lumiquest Pocket Bouncer attached. But she got a nice shot.


Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 26mm — 1/40 sec, f/3.2, ISO 800 — full exif & map
Spiny Lobsters have Long Spiny Antennae

It was way, way too much food for three, much less the two it was meant for. In the picture above, Anthony is checking out a spiny lobster. I'm not a big seafood fan, so I had never heard of these. In Japanese, it's called ise ebi (伊勢海老), which translates to “Ise shrimp” (where “Ise” is the name of the area we were in). It's one of the local favorites, and you can even see in the pictures at the top of this post that the painting on the back wall is of these critters.

It tasted just like shrimp, and not at all like lobster. It may be, though, that it would have tasted like lobster if it had been cooked; I don't know.

There was seafood galore. On the oval skillet in front of the lobster thing were fried muscle of some sort. Behind it is a bowl filled with ice and topped with sashimi (slices of raw fish). Behind it, slightly to the left (and well out of focus) is a deep-fried whole fish. To the right of the sashimi is a plate with breaded & fried shrimp, veggies, and another type of whole fish.

Other things you can't see in these pictures include slices of exquisitely done roast beef, some raw octopus in a slimy seaweed-ish kind of soup, rice (of course), pickled veggies, cooked clams, a small salad, a pot filled with crab & tofu & veggies, and various other little things I can't remember and wouldn't even know what they were if I could.

We ate until it hurt, yet the leftovers could have fed a small developing nation. In the end, I felt bad at both the waste and my waist.

Breakfast


Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 22mm — 1/25 sec, f/2.8, ISO 100 — full exif & map
Breakfast for One

Our first breakfast consisted of another whole fish, eggs (in the covered pot at left), raw squid (below the fish), a small salad with ham, a packet of shiso-flavored seaweed, rice and miso soup, pickled vegetables, and a bit of fruit.


Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 40mm — 1/125 sec, f/5.6, ISO 800 — full exif & map

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 48mm — 1/125 sec, f/5.6, ISO 800 — map & image datanearby photos

Breakfast #2

I thought I took some pictures of our second dinner, but I can't find them

For our second breakfast, they brought extra for Anthony, so we ended up with six whole baked fish, three salads (with ham), poached eggs, rice, soup, pickled-veggies, and just way too much other stuff.


Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 17mm — 1/60 sec, f/4, ISO 400 — full exif & map

Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 55mm — 1/80 sec, f/4.5, ISO 400 — map & image datanearby photos

In front of Anthony in the picture above is a white/blue bowl, a closeup of which follows. They're little tiny fish sprinkled over a bed of grated daikon.

On our way home, we went to the Toba Aquarium. Having had sea creatures for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and now entertainment and learning, it was time to try something else, such as ice cream for lunch.


Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 @ 55mm — 1/30 sec, f/2.8, ISO 500 — full exif & map

Leave a comment...


All comments are invisible to others until Jeffrey approves them.

Please mention what part of the world you're writing from, if you don't mind. It's always interesting to see where people are visiting from.

IMPORTANT:I'm mostly retired, so I don't check comments often anymore, sorry.


You can use basic HTML; be sure to close tags properly.

Subscribe without commenting