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
This week, our first “meal investigation” takes us to Tokorozawa, a city in Saitama Prefecture. This town has many forests where several creatures live and is believed to be the inspiration behind the famous animated film by Hayao Miyazaki, "My Neighbour Totoro".
The area produces a lot of wheat so people here eat udon very often. A speciality dish is Kate Udon, where the noodles are dipped in a strongly flavoured soup that has meat and boiled seasonal vegetables. Tokorozawa also has red soil, which is good for growing fruits. So we visit the Arai Vineyard, owned by Mrs Masayo Arai and her mother, Tsuru. Six kinds of grapes are grown here. They include Kyoho and Himrod; the latter is sweet and seedless. Visitors can enjoy grape-picking in the natural environment and even purchase the grapes as souvenirs.
We next go to an after-school day care centre, Mikajima. About 50 elementary school kids come here regularly. They do their homework or play until their parents pick them up in the evening. We speak to some of the parents, one of whom is Tadashi Narusawa. He agrees to let us visit his home to see the family’s dinner. The Narusawa family consists of Mr Narusawa, his wife and two children - Kazuma, who is 11, and seven-year-old Himari. Mr Narusawa has been making fishing lures for 17 years. He handcrafts several hundred lures each year and sells them to fishing gear stores.
For dinner, the family is having Mrs Narusawa's speciality, grilled chicken with melted cheese and aurora sauce. Chicken thighs are topped with onion, enoki mushrooms and zucchini, after which the ingredients are mixed with the sauce made from ketchup, mayonnaise, salt and pepper. Lots of cheese used for pizzas is added and then the chicken is grilled for about 15 minutes. Other dishes include miso soup with enoki mushrooms and tofu; avocado and tomato salad; and burdock salad with white sesame seeds.
The location of our next “meal investigation” is Tomonoura, a port town along the Seto Inland Sea in Fukuyama City, Hiroshima Prefecture. This area has been an important hub for marine transportation since the Edo period. The picturesque town was also used as a model for Hayao Miyazaki's animated movie, "Ponyo".
For nearly 400 years, sea bream has been caught via net fishing at Tomonoura. Sea breams that come to Tomonoura for spawning in spring and summer are top grade in terms of size, shape and taste. A local speciality is sea bream somen noodles. The noodles go well with the light dipping soup made with sea bream and shiitake mushrooms.
We explore the port town, where one can still see merchants’ houses from the Edo period. We meet 84-year-old Ms Reiko, who runs a store called "Ken-chan no Irikoya". It sells dried food her family makes from seafood of Tomonoura such as sardines and squid. She shows us her lunch, which is a special oden she prepared at home. It has dried sardines, egg, ganmodoki, beef tendon and chikuwa. The meal also includes rice balls covered with Korean seaweed.
After this, we go to Ofunayado Iroha, a sea bream restaurant in a renovated townhouse from the Edo period. We request to see what the restaurant staff are having for lunch. The dishes include hamburg steak made of ground beef, onions and grated garlic; and a sweet and spicy sea bream stew.
Next, we drop by okonomiyaki restaurant Nomura, which has been around for more than 100 years. Its third-generation owner, Mitsue Fujimoto, works as a civil servant. So the restaurant is only open on Sundays and during holidays. Nomura used to sell udon, imagawayaki, cakes and tempura. The former owner, Ms Misao, converted it into an okonomiyaki restaurant.
Ms Fujimoto shows us the staff meal. The main dish is okonomiyaki which combines fried egg - a feature of Hiroshima okonomiyaki - and modern-yaki of the Kansai area. Cabbage and agedama are mixed into the batter and pork belly and thick noodles are placed on top. Ms Fujimoto learnt the recipe from her mother. Another item prepared is stir-fried vegetables such as cabbage, carrots and onions seasoned with Okonomiyaki sauce.
Tips:
1) Fans of “My Neighbour Totoro” should visit Tokorozawa, which inspired the animated film
2) A must-try delicacy in Tomonoura is red sea bream