I think I get it now!

Well, it is not a very elegant way to start a post but here I go. Sometimes people fart really nasty smelling farts and it does smell kind of like rotten eggs. I still have not figured out all of the physics behind this but here I will talk about eating strange eggs in a smelly place. (Who says there is no link between these 2 sentences? It makes a lot of sense!).

Hakone for Christmas
Yes, we went to Hakone for Christmas. Hakone is a little place located in the mountains south-west of Tokyo. You can get there via the Romance Car (curious huh! Don’t be disappointed, this train is the so-called Romance Car because its seats allow 2 people to be next to each other with no separation, no armrest….that’s romantic right?).
One of the attractions around Hakone was a trip to a volcano named Owakudani. This volcano is famous for its black eggs.

Black eggs…what the heck?
It does sound strange but as soon as you get close to the volcano, you start seeing people eating back eggs, start finding more and more places selling these black eggs. Of course we knew from the guide book about them but it was still a bit weird.
The guide book mentioned that eating 1 black egg would make your life last 7 year longer. This is maybe the reason why the place is so popular.

These eggs are cooked in the geysers so, from afar, it looks like a mysterious place, covered in smoke. And when you decide to climb towards the place, you first come across signs that say that you are about to enter a zone with a lot of volcanic gases and if you are suffering from breathing problems or health problems you should not go. Also it is recommended not to stay too long…intriguing place, and black eggs!

Try them
Well anyway, we got there after an astonishing 5 minute walk…walking in the nature, and the appetite comes fast…You bet, we were starving by the time we got there. So we bought eggs.
Chicken eggs, once the black shell was removed (and it left some traces on our hands), the eggs ended up tasting like any other hard boiled eggs. My advice, put a lot of salt on them, it does add a lot to this very “natural” delicacy.

For those who have been thinking about visiting us in Japan, this should do the trick. Fly across the world to eat black eggs in a sulfur smelling place, there is nothing quite like it.

- Nico

A day trip in Kyoto – when the organization becomes Japanese

Some time ago I was on a trip in the surroundings of Osaka and enjoyed a Saturday of free time in Kyoto. Our Japanese colleagues had it all planned out and had rented a minivan with a driver/tour guide. That is apparently a fairly common way of touring around places in Japan.
I am more inclined to get my guide book and plan my trip myself but since we were invited to take part in the tour, we did not say no. Not to mention it was in the end of January and the over heated mini van proved to be very comfortable and very welcome. It was just bad for my belly….no chance to walk or exercise, just the laziness of sitting and being driven around.

Get together and day plan
We met the bus driver at the exit of the super modern Kyoto station and he took us from there to a couple of temples spread around Kyoto. The day was all planned out: 3 temples and a lunch!
What was really cool about having the bus was that I got to visit this “out of way” temple – the golden temple. And I am not sure if it was by accident or part of the plan but we arrived there when the sun was setting …this gave wonderful lighting, blinding light to the temple.

Meet the locals
The evening was also planned out: we were all invited to a little restaurant in the suburbs of Kobe. I was thinking “cool I will get to see a new city” but not really….we got off at a local tobu train stop, and took the taxi straight to the restaurant. So much for the sightseeing. The real treat was in the restaurant. It did not look like anything super special but our colleague told us “I take all of my visitors here” (intriguing). It turned out to a teppenyaki restaurant (cooking on a heated stone) and the chef put on a show (the food was great too)…


Hanging out with the locals, that is such a great way to discover hidden pleasures!

- Nico