Japanese Eats
November 21st, 2006 by StephWay way back in October, several of the English teachers in town threw a sweets party and invited some Japanese friends. Well, small seeds plant wonderful things, because last weekend, we were all invited to the Japanese equivalent: a Kiritanpo party! Kiritanpo is basically the chicken soup of Akita, and it’s one of the foods Noshiro is famous for. It makes a nice communal experience if you make a whole huge pot of it that everyone can dip into. There’s also the gimmick factor, as a major component of the experience is pounding rice onto these sticks, which then get toasted and eaten with the soup. Kind of like a Japanese crouton, if you will.
It was a rather large gathering, with perhaps 15 or so in attendance, including my predecessor, who I haven’t seen or heard from for months. After the eats, we all played parlor games (!), and passed a very nice afternoon indeed. Chris even picked up a side job… he is now an English tutor for the very kind hostess of our party. She is taking the highest level English proficiency exam in a month or so, and has to memorize countless idioms of questionable utility. Unfortunately, she’s moving to Tokyo in March, but it’s always good to have friends in Tokyo, eh?