It's Lunch Time
Japan Hour
Sub Navigation
- Remarkable Living 3
- Contact Tracers
- Plastic Wars
- Game Nation
- The Great Escapade
- Can We Cool The Planet?
- Ahead Of Their Time
- When Titans Clash
- From Crisis To Catalyst
- The Year Ahead 2021
- Tsunamis: Facing A Global Threat
- The Interpol Case
- Becoming Human Again
- The Pandemic: One Year On
- A Deadly Ascent
- Strangers In My Head
- Into The Vault 2
- Business Unusual
- Beyond the Viral Video
- Wild City: River World
- Disease Hunters
- Wizards Of Tech
- Feeding A City
- Undercover Asia S3
- 23
- Belly Of A Nation 2
- For Food's Sake! 3
- Forgotten Heroes
- Kampong Konkrit
- Rising To The Challenge
- Grounded
- The Longest Day
- Survival: Developing Countries On The Frontline
- Artists Unstaged
- Corridor of Hope
- Deciphering Japan
- The Family Affair S5
- Singapore Votes 2020: The Political Debate
- In Conversation Special
- Coronavirus Pandemic
- GRIT
- National Broadcast
- Why It Matters 4
- Faith Over Fear
- Outbreak Onboard
- Slumfood Millionaire
- #COVID19: The Social Media Pandemic
- CNA Correspondent
- One Of Us
- The Mark Of Empire
- Courage
- Race Against Pandemic
- A Frame In Time
- Carbon Conundrum
- Secret Wars
- Chasing Scarcity
- Undercover Asia S7
- Stronger: The Battle Against COVID-19
- Gadg(AID)
- Food In Our Time
- Singapore Budget 2020
- Tycoons China
- Inside The Child Protective Service
- Politics Of Climate Change
- The Singapore Perspectives Conference
- Borderlands
- In Our Time
- The Next Wave
- One Day That Changed Asia
- The Year Ahead 2020
- Migrants' Diary
- Ships That Shaped Us
- We Are Gen Z
- Crime Science
- Majulah: Symbols For Singapore
- A Billion Chinese Dreams
- CyberPunk'D
- Remarkable Living S2
- China's Growing Appetite
- In Search Of The Frog Boys
- Venturepreneurs
- The Skin We Wear
- The Millennial Investor
- Show Me The City
- Jewel: After Hours
- The Islands That Made Us
- Rishi & Sharul Try…
- Why It Matters 3
- Regardless Of Generation
- The Singapore Bicentennial Conference
- The Negotiators
- Secret Delicious
- Fighting Foreign Interference
- Hawkers In Our Centre
- HT MintAsia Leadership Summit 2019
- Coded World
- For Food's Sake! 2
- The Big Boss: A 21st Century Criminal
- Belly Of A Nation
- #DontForgetMe
- #HuntingHistory
- #Wanderlust
- Aarushi – Beyond Reasonable Doubt
- Across ASEAN
- Aerial Asia
- A Big Little Murder
- Against The Elements
- Age Of Innovation
- Algorithms
- An Astronomical Journey
- Astropreneurs: To The Stars & Beyond
- ASEAN’s Next Generation Leaders (ANGeLs)
- ASEAN Spotlight
- Asia First
- Asia First Encore
- Asian Century
- Asia in the Great War
- Back to School
- Becoming Human
- Becoming Singapore
- Bridging Giants
- Blueprint For Survival
- Bronze: A Forgotten Treasure
- Butterfly Children
- Challenge Tomorrow
- Champions For Change
- Check In
- City DNA
- City of Opportunities
- China on Film
- CNA Leadership Summit: Navigating a Post-Pandemic World
- Coming Clean About Green
- Conversation With S14
- Cool Living in an Eco-city
- Correspondents' Diary
- Cram Course Asia
- Days in Pyongyang
- Days Of Rage
- Days Of Disaster
- Deciphering Indonesia
- Deciphering The Philippines
- Destiny of a Maritime Nation
- Don't Make Us Invisible
- Electric Dream
- Edible Wild 2
- Edge of Space
- Enemy Within
- Every Woman
- Facing Dementia
- Facing Depression
- Fake News
- Finding Singapore
- Fighting Fake News
- Fighting Falsehoods
- Facing Terror
- Food Heroes
- For The King
- Forums
- Futuropolis
- Gangnam Insider's Picks!
- Get Real S17
- Going Places
- Going Underground
- How To Raise A Super Baby
- In Conversation
- Into The Vault
- India on Film
- Inside the Storm 4
- Indonesia’s Game Changers
- Inside The Children's ICU
- Inside Our Factories
- Insight
- Inside The Cryptokingdom
- In Search of Umami
- In Pursuit of Magic
- I Remember The Fall Of Singapore
- Johor: A New State of Affairs
- Japan Hour
- Just Like You
- Kashmir: A War of Stones
- Land Unlimited
- Law of the Land
- Love in A Time of Change
- Life Lines
- Luxe Asia S5: The Ultimate Access
- Made in Singapore
- Maverick Politicians
- Money Mind
- National Service - The Beginning
- National Service - The Transformation
- Neighbours: Singapore-Malaysia Relations
- Nepal's Child Brides
- The New Silk Road
- Once a Refugee
- On The Red Dot
- Our Tiny Superheroes
- Palu: A Month After
- Perspectives
- Parliament Specials
- Asia Tonight
- Power And Piety
- Powering the Future
- Power List Asia
- Raffles Revealed
- Raffles: An Icon Reborn
- Real Deal
- Rebellion In Marawi
- Refugee Chef
- Regardless of Class
- Regardless of Race
- Regardless of Religion
- Roar!
- Savouring The Future
- Slackers, Shockers, Suits and Superheroes
- Singapore Food Stories
- Singapore Reimagined
- Singapore Mosaic
- Game Changers Singapore
- Singapore Tonight
- Singapore on Film
- Singapore After Dark
- Smart Cities 2.0
- Specials
- Super Octogenarians
- Start-UP S6
- Talking Point
- Taking Singapore Forward
- Tapestry: The Heart of ASEAN
- The ASEAN I Know
- The Big Questions
- The Dark Web
- The Family Affair S4
- The Great Migration
- The Last Rites
- The Past Beneath Us
- The Successors
- The Terror Trail
- The Truth About Fake News
- This is What I Hear
- The Traitor Within
- This Weekend
- This Side of The Border
- Tipping Point
- To Live
- Trash Trail
- Undercover Asia S6
- Unusual Suspects
- Vanishing Foods
- Vice & Virtue: 1800s Singapore
- Walk This Way
- When We Play
- Wild City: Forest Life
- Wild City: Secret World
- Whiter Shade of Terror
- Why It Matters 1
- Why It Matters 2
- Work Is A 4-Letter Word
- Don't Call Us Poor
- Don't Call Us Beaten
Bookmark
Japan Hour:
It's Lunch Time
Join us as we travel around Japan in search of interesting spots and delicious local cuisine. We first head to Niitsu, a town along the Shinano River in the southeast of Niigata City. It has become a famous town because the Train Suite Shiki-shima, a top-grade sleeper train, stops by here. The train, which began operating in May last year, starts from Ueno in Tokyo and travels around the Tohoku, Hokkaido and Hokuriku areas. It has three types of rooms, with the most expensive Shiki-shima Suite costing a whopping 950,000 yen per person. Some of these rooms also come with their own cypress bathtub.
We will explore the area around Niitsu Station. We first wait for the famous Shiki-shima train to pull into the station. We notice all the passengers alighting at Niitsu. We find out that this is to enable maintenance to be done and cooking materials to be loaded onto the train. So passengers would take a bus to the next station, Higashi-Sanjo, from where they would board the train again.
Once we have seen the Shiki-shima, we head to the "train shopping street". A local tells us that during the steam locomotive boom 50 years ago, the depot at Niitsu had locomotives and the area started to be known as a “train town”. So the town’s shopping street reflects this, with the aim of promoting Niitsu and attracting train fans. For example, the shutters of many stores along the street are decorated with paintings of trains. The paintings are done by shop staff, students and volunteers.
We meet Mr Ishizuki, a third-generation manager of a fruit store. He shows us Cajyutta, a new style of enjoying fresh juice directly from fruits such as grapefruit. He explains that this way, the fruit doesn't come into contact with air or lose its full nutrition value. This year, he started offering such fresh juices to visitors of the “train shopping street”.
We are keen to see what Mr Ishizuki is having for lunch so he drives us to his house. His wife prepares his favourite Java curry, radish and fried tofu stew, and Pikari Chamame edamame beans. These beans are the result of Kurosaki Chamame beans from Kurosaki-machi being cross-bred with Dadachamame beans from Yamagata.
We return to the “train shopping street” and this time, we speak to Mr Yamagishi. He used to work at a construction consulting firm but decided to quit before his retirement age due to the recession 11 years ago. Now he is a house-husband and takes charge of the cleaning, laundry and cooking. His wife’s family owns a pharmacy and he stays with her on the second floor of the store.
He agrees to show us the family’s dinner. Dishes include hamburger steak made from Japanese Black beef, taro with miso, boiled fish with mirin, boiled edamame beans, chilled yose tofu and stir-fried kinpira lotus root.
Our next adventure takes us to the Soji-ji temple in in Tsurumi, Yokohama. It is the headquarters of the Soto school of Zen Buddhism with 700 years of history. It houses more than 100 trainee monks. The huge compound consists of several buildings and structures. The biggest building at the temple is called Daisodo. Our guide is Mr Matsuzaki, who trained for seven years at a temple in Fukuoka. He is now an instructor of trainee monks. He first takes us to the main building. We reach the place after walking for 10 minutes along a 150-metre-long corridor. We then go to a hall called Shuryo, where zen mediation sessions for the general public are held.
We get to experience zen meditation. We learn how to sit cross-legged while resting our hips on meditation cushions called Zafu, the correct way to place our palms and even how to inhale and exhale properly. We are also told that for zen meditation, one has to face a wall, something called Menpeki.
We are interested to find out about the meals prepared at Soji-ji. Mr Matsuzaki tells us that for breakfast, the monks would eat rice porridge and pickles, with seasoning such as salt with sesame. He takes us to the kitchen to show us how lunch is prepared. About 10 trainee monks cook for 150 people for every meal; the monks are rotated every three months. The menus are passed down from the senior monks to the new monks.
The monks prepare dishes such as fried tofu with thick buckwheat sauce; fried gelatine noodles with shishito green pepper and radish sprouts; boiled spinach with shiitake mushrooms and carrots; miso soup with seaweed and maitake mushrooms; and pickled radishes. The meals are transported in carts via an elevator. Everyone at the temple eats in a building called "Sodo", where trainee monks also do their zen meditation.
Tips:
1) Railway fans should check out the shopping street at Niitsu, which features items, paintings and decorations inspired by trains
2) Visit the Soji-ji Temple in Tsurumi, where one can learn zen meditation