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| Kumamoto-kan: Ginza | |||
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When you're stuck in the heart of the city, the mountains, plains and coastline of rural Japan can seem a long, long away. That is why all of the prefectures maintain offices and showrooms in central Tokyo. The idea is to remind urbanites of the countryside, not just through PR literature but by offering local specialty foods, many of which are unavailable elsewhere in town.
Step inside the Kumamoto-kan, just a few paces south of the Sony Building in the heart of Ginaza, and you are greeted with an array of products from southwest Kyushu. The subtropical climate is ideal for citrus -- not just regular mikan mandarins but exotic ponkan, ama-natsu and depokan, the juice of which is available in numerous bottles and cans. There are vegetables, packets of dried bamboo, herbal teas and many kinds of honey. But Kumamoto's best known and most popular product is shochu. One whole wall is filled with bottles of the potent clear liquor. You can open and sniff the samples, as if trying out colognes, and they always keep at least one bottle ready for you to actually pour out and try. Just round the corner, on Harumi-dori, the Kagoshima Yuraku-kan offers passers-by a taste of Kyushu's southernmost prefecture, the region still known by its ancient name, Satsuma. Here too they offer an impressive selection of shochu (although none can be sampled), especially those made from the yams known throughout Japan as satsuma-imo. Those same sweet potatoes are processed into innumerable cakes and desserts. You can also buy them in their raw state, should you wish to bake your own ishi-yaki imo. Other specialties include kurosu, unrefined rice vinegar reputed to do wonders for your health; kurobuta pork; and Kagoshima's other namesake product, satsuma-age -- patties of pounded fish and other seafood deep-fried an attractive golden brown color. You can nibble on samples, or buy a couple to take home with you to eat with that shochu. Or you can go upstairs to their 2nd-floor restaurant and sample plenty of good home cooking, Kagoshima-style. by Robbie Swinnerton |
Kumamoto-kan
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