On our fourth day, the foodies take to the field and the classroom to get a unique perspective on the amazing foods that we have been enjoying. Prior to leaving for Japan, each of the delegates selected one of the following tour options:
Group A:
- Kikkoman Shoyu Factory (Takasago, Hyogo)
- Hakutsuru Sake Factory (Kobe)
* T, Dale, and Dad went on this one.
Group B:
- Tako Rice Cracker Factory (Kobe)
- Kirin Beer Factory (Kobe)
Group C:
- Fujiya Seika Factory (Osaka)
- Kitanu Koubou (Kobe)
* This tour's focus was on Japanese confections. Ann, Mom, B-o-b, (he was still in the shower when the tour was about to leave) and I were on this tour.
Group D:
- Cooking Demonstration and Lecture w/ Elizabeth Andoh (private residence)
* This tour was for the serious cook. Elizabeth Andoh gave an extensive lesson on the art of Japanese stock making. Most, if not all, of our industry professionals attended this educational experience. Gary chose to participate in this tour.
After tours A, B, C and D, we all met up at the Tsuji Culinary Institute, Japan's most prestigous cooking university, for a special cooking demonstration.
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Tour C: Rakumameya: Unique Nut and Bean Shop
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After traveling for about 50 minutes to the outskirts of Osaka, Tour C arrived at the Fujiya Seika Factory. On the tour bus, we were met by the president of this confectionary company, which produces a variety of sweet and savory nuts encased in a crispy
, baked shell.It is unfortunate that I can't recall his name because his enthusiasm and hospitality blew us all
away. He welcomed us into his factory with a warm heart and open arms. You just don't experience this type of reception back in the U.S. The people in Japan wear their hearts on their sleeves and are just absolutely amazing. By the end of the tour, we all felt like we made a new, life-long friend. Because I can't recall his name, let me respectfully refer to him as Mr. President.Mr. President explained to us that his factory was started by his grandfather in 1913. While they enjoyed a period of prosperity, Mr. President said that present times are a bit more challenging. The competition in Japan is fierce, especially for a small family-owned factory. The export market, he explained, is impossible to penetrate due to the cheap production costs of Chinese factories. To survive, Mr. President explained that he was taking his company in a new direction. They will market their product as a high-end specialty treat, beautifully packaged, and marketed in department stores. In addition to their traditional flavors, such as soy sauce, seaweed, seafood, and wasabi, Mr. President has been diligently developing new gourmet western flavors, such as cocoa, grean tea, ginger, coffee, carmel and English tea. We sampled just about all the flavors, and believe
me, they are delicious!The factory tour was such a delight! Before entering the factory
, we each had to put on a hair net. Look at how they compliment our outfits!All product
s are produced with the same basic steps, which I will walk you through. First, an employee begins with barrels of roasted nuts (eg peanuts, soy nuts, cashews, almonds, red bean, black bean, etc.) and gives them a flour coating of about 1/3 of a centimeter. This process is done in a giant rotating metal tumbler. The employee hand creates this crust by alternating numerous times between adding a simple sugar syrup and wheat flour.Once the flour coating is complete, the be
ans take a trip down a gas-heated conveyer belt, where they are par-baked. Next, an expert roaster places 
the beans in a special oven, equiped with circularly rotating trays, where the beans finish their roasting process. This is a crucial step, which will determine the bean's texture, crispness and roasted flavor. At this station, an expert employee repeatedly removes hot samples of the roasting beans, testing the crunch between his teeth every five seconds or so until the beans reach perfection. He does this every five seconds, all day long!
Afte
r the roasting process is complete, the beans are given their unique flavors. Here, an
employee demonstrates how he creates soyu flavored beans. Mr. President gives us an extra special treat by demonstrating how the beautiful macha (green tea powder) with roasted red beans are created. This is the only time during the factory tour that Mr. President respectfully asked us not to video tape or take pictures, because he was allowing us to witness a secret family recipe. I was, however, given permission to photograph the final product. Aren't they absolutely beautiful? The macha beans tasted as good as they looked!Now that the product is complete, the beans take a final trip upstairs, where they are packaged
in a variety of different ways. Here we see single free samples being packaged, to be distributed at the department store Rakumameyas to shoppers. They also package them in bags of single flavors and beautiful variety gift boxes, like the one
shown at the beginning of this post.At the conclusion of a tour, Mr. President usually gives away complimentary size sample packets. However, he explained that we were his special guests from San Francisco, his second home where he spent two years studying commerce at Marin City College, and wanted to give us something extra special. We were all touched when he gave each one of us a complete gift set with 10 different varieties! How generous of Mr. President. Wanting to express our gratitude and impressed by the quality of his product, we asked him if we could purchase additional gift boxes to share with family and friends back home. Although the factory was not set up for retail transactions (there was no gift shop on site), he scrambled to find the 40 or so gift boxes that we requested.
I can't say enough what a special and unique experience this was. Arigato, Mr. President san!
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Tour C: Kitano Koubou (Kobe)
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After leaving the Fujiya Seika Factory, the foodies hopped back on
the charted bus and headed to Kobe for Kitano Koubou, which is a culinary center and gift shop showcasing Kobe's confectionary offerings. (No, not chocolate cows.) Here, we participated in a baking class, in which we each made an almond fruit tart. Aren't they pretty?=====================================
Entire Delegation: Tsuji Culinary Institute
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At the end of our factory tours, the entire delegation met up at Japan's premier Tsuji Culinary Institute. Here, we attended a cooking demonstration held in an auditorium-style classroom, where two senior professors taught us how to make key Japanese dishes. We were also given instructional booklets with illustrations and recipes to take home.
Senior Professor Kazuki Kondo (to the right) was first. He was extremely entertaining and spoke
fluent English. He used to be a cook for the Japan's consulate general in San Francisco and called San Francisco his second home. Professor Kondo, with the help of two female assistants (Rose and ??) , demonstrated how to make ichiban-dashi (bonito stock) and kani-shinjyo no suimono (crab ball soup). We were very impressed when he showed us how to turn a petrified, rock-solid piece of bonito fish into delicate snowy flakes that would be used to flavor the dashi. Knowing his life might be in danger if he didn't feed us, assistants carted in sample sizes of the crab ball soup for each of us to try. Yum!
Following Senior Professor Kondo was Professor Yoshitaka Kotani (to the left). Professor Kotani was also very entertaining (in a stiff-sort-of-way) and used a translator to interpret his demonstration. He showed us how to make beautiful hako-zushi, which is an Osakan boxed-style sushi. We each got to taste samples of this as well.
What a neat day this was. The foodies proved that we can be great learners as well as champion eaters :)
