Morning Bliss: Soba and Sips at Jindaiji Temple

Eat, Walk, and Wish (from Miram)

It is just before 10:00 in the morning. I get on the bus and ask my late-riser, who is sitting next to me, what time she woke up. She says 2 o’clock, which makes me laugh. I was already awake, and Nanako was smiling at me and pointing the camera at me.

I am very happy that we came to Jindaiji Temple, which is famous for soba (buckwheat noodles), as I have been craving for soba recently. I was so happy to be here, but the heat and humidity was so strong that it was more than I could bear. I quickly took out my insect repellent mist and squirted it on Su-nan and Nanako’s arms and necks.

We soon arrived at our destination, Tamanoya. We soon arrived at our destination, Tamanoya, where a craftsman was silently making buckwheat noodles in a buckwheat noodle making hut. He looks so cool.

It was early in the morning on a weekday, and there seemed to be no other customers. We choose our favorite seat. We chose the table near the window.

When we opened the oshinagashi, we thought, “We’ll have beer,” “We’ll have tempura,” and “We’ll have some wild vegetables. Yes, that sounds good. Let’s do that. I’m already craving beer, so I place my order quickly, and the Jindaiji beer is brought right to me. We pour it into each other’s glasses while saying “hahaha! Morning beers make me feel excited.

We talk about nothing else as we sip the orange-scented Jindaiji beer. Who will eat the two prawns? Who will eat two prawns? That may be true, but who would want to eat two prawns? That may be so, but I think prawns suit her very well, so she eats them. I wanted to try the nori tempura, and the other shrimp was for Nanako. Nanako, wearing a dolphin T-shirt, also looked good with the prawns.

Finally, I ask for soba noodles. I had the summer-only sesame soup with colander. I put my hands together again to see the beautifully sliced buckwheat noodles, scooped them up, dipped them quickly in the sesame juice, and slurped them down. I chewed it well and enjoyed it. Scoop, dip, slurp, and savor. This repetition makes me feel very relaxed. It makes me feel very attentive. When I told this to my wife, she said, “I know what you mean. I was so glad that she accepted my words so warmly.

I was so happy to hear that she accepted my words. But I enjoyed walking around Jindaiji after that, and I will write more about it.

After leaving the restaurant, I felt like a traveler. I walked around the temple as I pleased. I look at Gonsandaiji Hall, Godaison Pond, and somehow draw a fortune. It turns out to be a bad one. When I was upset, everyone quieted me down. Friends are kind.

We walked around again and found a magnificent Tanabata bamboo branch. We wrote our wishes on it and hung it up. We were a little enchanted by the strips of paper, each with its own unique style.

Eventually, we felt a craving for something sweet, so we went to Kitaro Tea House. This was quite an exciting spot.

There were mean-looking yokai all over the place, and I found them endearing and relaxing. The cold soft-serve ice cream also relaxed my body.

Taking a break, we talked about where to go next time and what to do. There are plenty of places to go and things to do, and it’s a good thing. I hope it will be a pleasant summer.

June Soba (from Obara Ban)

Even though we gathered in the morning, it was the height of summer in June, and sweat was pouring down my cleavage. We met at Chofu station and took a bus to Jindaiji.

As soon as we arrived, Miran waved some kind of spray on her arm. When I thought, “Oh, it’s insect repellent spray,” she would ask me if I wanted it.　I took her word for it, and it was a nice spray with no unpleasant smell. I was walking through the greenery thinking, “That’s pretty nice,” when the buckwheat noodle shop suddenly appeared. I went inside to cool off.

I immediately ordered beer, tempura, and wild vegetables. The beer and wild vegetables soon arrived, and Miran and I poured each other drinks.

I’m not very good at pouring or being poured for, but when I’m with people I’m used to being with, I’m fine with either. I wonder where this feeling comes from and where it is heading, because I also think that if I had the opportunity to have a drink with a person whom I continue to respect and admire, the drink would be wonderful. I wonder where this feeling comes from and where it is going. But I think that pouring is something that the inferior person does to the superior person. I prefer hand-drinking! (The beer that Miran-chan poured for me was wonderful and delicious.)

On a day when even the wind was lukewarm, the beer tasted like something to live for, and it soaked in.

The tempura we received included two prawns, two eggplants, two sheets of nori (seaweed), a shishito pepper, a sweet potato, and a shiitake mushroom. I thought everyone was aiming for the shrimp tempura, so I suggested a game of rock-paper-scissors, but Miran-chan and the editor said it didn’t have to be shrimp, and we got the shrimp tempura without even needing to play rock-paper-scissors.

We then ate a full meal of delicious soba noodles. After leaving the soba restaurant, I walked around the area and saw a Tanabata festival.

We decided to write our wishes on the beautiful colored paper, and Miran was the first among the three of us to finish. I thought it was a very Miran-chan wish. Miran-chan has been a dazzling presence for me ever since I met her, and this wish made me want to nod my head and think that at the core of Miran-chan is this kind of wish. The next one was Nanako-chan’s, which was also pure and shining like Nanako-chan’s, and it made my heart flutter. I agonized over it for a long time and decided to write “read and write well. I was embarrassed because my handwriting was not good. It is difficult to make a wish.

Then I went to Kitaro’s teahouse. It was the Kitaro teahouse of “Gegege no Kitaro” (Gegege no Kitaro). Chofu City is said to be the place where the author, Shigeru Mizuki, lived for nearly 50 years, which is why Kitaro Teahouse was built here in Jindaiji Temple.

I had a sweet treat at the teahouse, and on my way home, I tried the gacha-gacha, and the one I wanted the most came out. I stared at it all the way on the bus and train on the way home. I had more treasures.