Episode 17, Transcript (translated into English)

Recommended Food in Okinawa and Hokkaido

Hello Everybody! Today is the 17^th Lesson.

It’s nice number. “Lucky Seven”.

Yes.

I think most of you in your countries like this number “Seven”, isn’t it?

I’m not so sure though but usually if we mention the number ‘7”, people would probably think of “Lucky Seven”.

Exactly. “Lucky Seven” is often called for the number seven and it is a good number. (Laugh)

OK with this lucky number, let’s start our podcast with enjoyable conversation!

In our previous podcast, Ms Pipi was invited to share with us about Love and Romance conversation, a rather irregular type of conversation lesson. Today we shall return to normal conversation lesson. So please give us your support.

OK, let’s start with talking about our recent updates. Kayuko chan would you like to start first?

Kayuko: Recently, I went to Portugal for holiday.

Mizuho: Wow! How do you say in English? Por…, Portuguese?

Kayuko: I came back two days ago.

Mizuho: Ototoi means the day before yesterday.

Kayuko. Yes. It was very enjoyable! The scenery of Portugal was beautiful. The colourful buildings were also beautiful. I went to two cities in Portugal and these two cities were rather different in their atmosphere. It was really enjoyable and I think it is suitable for women to tour such places.

Mizuho: Is it because they are safe places for women to go?

Kayuko: Yes, safe place. I took some Instagram photo as well. There are also many places for good food.

Mizuho; Portugal’s local food?

Kayuko: Mostly seafood. I also ate Tapas and it was delicious although Tapas is Spain’s local food.

Mizuho: Sorry for the change of topic. When you were talking about the day before yesterday, I remember when I was a child, in kindergarten or elementary school, I was not able to remember the days such as “Tomorrow, day after tomorrow and 2 days after tomorrow”, “Today, Yesterday and Day before Yesterday”. So I memorized these words in rhythm – “Ashita (Tomorrow), Assate (day after tomorrow), shi asatte (2 Days after Tomorrow)”, “Kyo (Today, Kino(Yesterday), Ototoi (Day before yesterday)”

So if you cannot remember such days, do sing along in rhythm and they can be so easy to be remembered!

Kakio: Yes. Sometimes I also get confused with tomorrow and the day after tomorrow even till now.

Mizuho: Yes, sometimes it happens at that moment, you are just unable to say out the day correctly. (Laugh) Anyway let’s sing with rhythm to remember correctly for your reference.

Mizuho: OK so my turn for update. In my previous podcast episode, you probably have known that I talked about my boyfriend, Kame san. Kame san is his nickname by the way. I celebrated his birthday for the first time and hence was very anxious. Because birthday is a very important day, I was wondering what present should I buy for him, what should I do for him on that day and so on. 

Kayuko: What did you do on that day?

Mizuho: Anyway, it was not a very special way of celebrating. My flat mates and I decided to celebrate with him during midnight when it passed midnight and wished him “Happy Birthday” and gave him present.

Kame san’s friend (childhood friend) – “Osanai najimi” which means childhood friend, about seven of us went to the restaurant and had dinner together to celebrate. Anyway, we had an enjoyable night.

Kayuko: That was great!

Mizuho: Ok let’s get into our main topic now.

Kayuko: Aren’t you going to talk about the part about greetings?

Mizuho. Oh yes, now I remember. Today, when I was going to school, my friend said to me, ”How are things going?” “How are you?” is the usual standard greeting though but when being asked a different greeting like this, I was stunned and did not know what to reply at that instant.

When I asked a native English speaker friend, she told me it is ok and you don’t have to reply. You can simply say “I’m fine, thanks” if you want.

In Japan, it’s really different. When we are greeted, we have to reply the greeting question no matter what. Such as “Today, I woke up, went to school, ate lunch and now I am studying.”

Kayuko: Indeed. In Japan, we are expected to reply a greeting question in detail.

Kayuko: In English “What’s up? How are you?”. It is not used as a greeting but also a part of the conversation as a start. Not really a serious part of conversation.

Mizuho. Yes and now I have understood that difference. In Japanese, there is no such. That’s my conclusion. (Laugh)

Mizuho: OK finally let’s start our main conversation. So, what will we be talking?

Kayuko: Okinawa and Hokkaido food.

Mizuho. Great! That’s my speciality!

Kayuko: I received request about recommendation of food from Okinawa and Hokkaido if they want to tour there.

Mizuho: Mizuho who is a food lover will answer to these as well.

And after that, I will teach a little about music and song lyrics meanings in the podcast.

Kayuko: I went to Okinawa three years ago and was on a school tour.

Mizuho. Me too.

Kayuko: “Goya champuru”– this food is very bitter. (vegetable)

Mizuho: Do you like this food since you were a child?

Kayuko: I really like this food since I was a child. My father was doing gardening and grew this “goya”, and hence I ate frequently.

Mizuho: I didn’t like this food when I was a child as it is bitter. My mother sometimes will cook this food and I had no choice but had to eat some. When I went to Okinawa, I ate “Goya champuru” and began to gradually like this food as it brought back good memory of my school trip in Okinawa. Although it is bitter, this food is good for health. So please try it.

Kayuko:  And Souki Soba as well.

Mizuho: You can probably eat Ramen easily even in overseas or London. But for specialty soba shop, it’s not so frequently seen. This soba (noodle) shop which is specialty in soba, you probably seldom see hand made in other parts of Japan. The ingredient, Wheat or buckwheat, most of them don’t get to be exported to other countries, so you can only taste this in Japan.

Kayuko: For those who have allergy on wheat, maybe you have to take note.

Souki Soba is taste like Ramen, not really the typical Soba texture and taste.

Kayuko: Souki Soba I am not sure is it really Soba. (Laugh)

Mizuho: Do you like?

Kayuko: Hmm, actually I don’t really like Souki Soba. Have you tried before?

Mizuho: Yes I have eaten. I don’t quite remember. I don’t think I dislike the taste of this soba but I won’t say I like this soba very much too. Just average for me. But it is a popular food.

Kayuko: And how about Ice? (Ice-cream)?named Blue -Seal ice-cream shop is  also famous (https://en.blueseal.co.jp/).

Mizuho: Sata antaki – Round donuts.

Kayuko: Really round doughnuts. (Laugh) which is Kyutai – globe or a ball shape. Really delicious. My friends often make these donuts during Valentine’s day. It’s easy to make these.  Because most women will give chocolate so giving donuts is really different.

Mizuho: Now I remember, another food is “Beni – imotaru” it is good as souvenir. (http://www.okistyle.com/a2z/?p=2588 )Beni is Sweet potato in purple colour, filled with “imo”(yam).  on top is “cheeseco”, short bread which looks like the short bread in UK here. There are a variety of tastes and It’s really delicious, so please do try this food.

Kayuko: When you were on school tour, you rented a “Minpaku”. “Minpaku” is renting a private home, something like home stay.

Mizuho: Yes at that time, I had taste Okinawa food. I cooked together with my host family and ate together. We fried the food and then ate immediately. It was really delicious. For those who went for tour, I am not sure whether you have tried home stay or not but for Japanese like us, if you live in Kanto region, and you tour Okinawa, you will feel that the culture of Okinawa is different from Kanto. It was really enjoyable and a memorable experience for me. 

Ok to summarise, my recommendations are Cheeseco alike Beni sweet potato for souvenir to be bought back to your country.

Kayuko: Yes and Goya champuru, if you eat this, you probably may like it. (Laugh)

Mizuho: Ok now let’s talk about Hokkaido food. When did you go to Hokkaido?

Kayuko: I cannot really remember. Think it was when I was around 10 years old.

Mizuho. I see. That was about 10 years ago?

Kayuko: Yes. That’s why I cannot remember much. I think only scenes of some snow falling in that place. Sapporo, snow festival probably that I remember slightly.

Mizuho: I went about 2 or 3 years ago. I went during the summer when I was a University undergraduate. It was not very hot during summer but rather cooling. Really comfortable during summer.

Kayuko: Hokkaido is situated the most northern part in Japan. That’s why, when it is winter, it is really very cold while during summer, it is cooling and not very hot.

Mizuho. Yes and Okinawa is the most southern part of Japan.

Mizuho: Yes, it is easy in summer of Hokkaido. Snow festival is very famous for most people to go to Hokkaido during that time. But I am going to talk about Summer in Hokkaido here. In Japan, summer can be rather humid and really difficult to be outdoors. Therefore, Hokkaido is a place where people want to escape the hot and humid summer in Japan. That’s why I would recommend Summer in Hokkaido. The food I will recommend first is Genghis Khan (Mongolian Barbeque).  Mostly barbeque food such as mutton. We seldom eat mutton in Japan.

And seafood is famous. “Kaisen Don” – seafood in rice is very delicious!

Personally, I would recommend this! “Kaiten Zushi” – Sushi chains (conveyor belt sushi) named “Tori Ton”( http://toriton-kita1.jp/) and” Nemuro Hanamaru” (http://www.sushi-hanamaru.com/la_en/) in Hokkaido only. There are probably some in Tokyo but maybe just one or two chains there and usually very crowded.

Kayuko: That must be really very delicious!

Mizuho: Seafood don is more popular dish for tourists whereas Sushi chains in Hokkaido are more localised and for local residents. Hence, I think you can really taste the localised food with the Hokkaido residents.

And… I get tired speaking so much. (Laugh)

Kayuko: (Laugh) I have not really been to Hokkaido so I cannot talk much about it.

Mizuho: And soup curry which is curry rice that does not taste so heavy texture like the typical Japanese curry rice. This is really soupy texture. Really delicious!

Sapporo, the city of Hokkaido and the place next to Sapporo called Otaru is really beautiful.

There is a shop named “Rutao” cheese cake shop which is very famous.

Kayuko: Otaru – “Rutao “ famous cheesecake, I want to eat!

Mizuho: Then there is famous cookie “White Lovers” in Otaru. And “Rokkatei”, chocolate shop is very famous. Rokkatei is the main store where you can also find “White Lovers” cookies there. The famous ice-cream “Butter sand”, a cookie that taste like ice cream in Rokkatei (https://matcha-jp.com/en/2751)

Kayuko: I want to eat!

Mizuho: The “White Lovers” also has a cookie factory where you can tour around and you can try the speciality ice-cream there. You can probably buy those Hokkaido souvenirs in Tokyo as well but for ice- cream, you can only taste there in Hokkaido and hence I really recommend this.

Kayuko: Oh I really want to go! Recently, I read the news that tomorrow is the beginning of Golden Week. Golden week in Japan is like summer vacation (national holiday) which takes about 1 week. This year, we have about 10 days of Golden week. Hence it is longer than the usual.

Mizuho: So as what Prime Minister Abe said, it is good for economic growth when tourism increase during this golden week.

Kayuko: During golden week, people go to popular places like Okinawa and Hokkaido.

Mizuho: Okinawa can be too hot to visit but if in May, it is still not too hot. Summer in Hokkaido is not hot and hence really popular among tourists.

Oh you can also take the bullet train to Hokkaido. You can take from main lands such as Honshu, Tokyo by bullet train. Really unexpected right?

Kayuko: Is it?

Mizuho: Quite similar to Europe style train I guess. Underground the water maybe? I can research on it. Maybe in a tunnel…

Kayuko: Mizuho, your last recommendation is?

Mizuho: Moyiwayama (Moiwa Primeval Forest)– where it is famous for its night view. Although it can be very cold as it is on top of mountain but really beautiful at night. There is ropeway so you don’t have to walk all the way up to the mountain.( http://www.sapporo.travel/find/nature-and-parks/mount_moiwayama/?lang=en)

Mizuho: The next corner, a new corner. I’m a bit nervous now. It’s a song corner. When I am studying English, I try to memorise some of the lyrics so that I can use them in conversation.

Today I will recommend this song from the band “Sukima switch”.

Kayuko: “sukima” means a gap.

Mizuho: Osanzu love – the main theme drama song of love relationship between gay couple.

               (Singing… )

(No translation for singing’s explanation and the questions and answer session)

Mizuho: OK we have talked quite a lot today.

Kayuko: Yes thank you for listening.

Mizuho and Kayuko: Thank you for your support and your reviews in the podcast blog. That’s all for today. Bye bye!

This transcript is from Rikko.

Thank you very much for sending this Rikko!