Japan has just recently reopened its borders to foreign travelers in tour groups. One cannot imagine the eagerness of people to get out and travel.
To me, Japan has become what Hong Kong used to be to us Pinoys. For everyone who wanted to travel before, the top-of-mind destination used to be Hong Kong. Now, it’s Japan.
It’s safe, people are kind, toilets everywhere are clean, sights are amazing, and the food is outstanding, if you know where to go.
My food tour has started and the first destination was Hokkaido. The group left at 11:30 p.m. and arrived at 7 a.m. in our destination (Manila-Tokyo-Hokkaido). It was very tiring but no one seemed to care. We all got to the hotel at 10 a.m. and my request was to rest and meet at 1 p.m. for our first food adventure. I have since changed the schedule for next time: Arrive in Tokyo at 2 p.m., fresh unagi meal in Tokyo, then fly to Hokkaido, arrive in the evening, and rest!
Our first meal in Hokkaido was a tonkatsu lunch of pork, oysters, and giant prawns with Japanese rice and unlimited shredded cabbage. I advised everyone to use black salt over the crispy breaded dish to taste the quality of the meat, oysters, and prawns. I got an all thumbs up.
The huge group of strangers immediately bonded as if they had been friends for years. When foodies get together, an immediate bond occurs. That evening, we were all at Ganso Sapporo Ramen Yokocho, better known as Ramen Alley, where I pointed them to the Michelin-starred Scallops Ramen. With a little dab of Japanese pepper on the broth, it got another round of thumbs up from all.
The other meals we had included an all-scallop lunch, from sashimi and scallop sticky rice paella. That evening, we had an all-crab dinner, from raw peeled crab to tempura and sushi, and also steamed meat with delicious vinegar.
There, too, was a sashimi-and-sushi dinner. One lunch was a hoki lunch, which started with toro sashimi, shrimp sashimi, then a grilled crispy mackerel or hoki fish with grated radish dabbed with soy sauce and fish eggs over Japanese sticky rice. The fish was mildly salty, meaty, crispy, fatty, very delicious!
Our first meal was a tonkatsu lunch of pork, oysters, and giant prawns with Japanese rice and unlimited shredded cabbage.
One evening, we had an all-you-can-eat A5 wagyu hot pot dinner. Drop the beef slice into boiling broth and, as soon as it changes color (about five seconds), remove, dip into either sesame or soy sauce, and eat away. With Japanese rice, this dinner would be hard to beat. Normally, each table gets five extra plates of meat. One table got 14—my kind of foodie! But, the last meal we had was another A5 wagyu steak with strips of wagyu, lamb, and chicken. All these meals got a thumbs up from everyone. Shopping galore at the outlet ended our tour before going to the airport.
After the trip, we all looked forward to dieting! I love these tours of making new friends who only have one thing in mind. Eat good food!
See you all on the next trip! Happy eating!
Should you have inquiries about the Japanese food tour, email Pia of JTB at [email protected].