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QUBES are on the move! Here we will share our fun and exciting activities we had both on and off campus. Keep your eye on our exploration of study life in Japan.
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[15.11.27]
The Charm of Fukuoka’s Slow Life and Oysters!
The Charm of Fukuoka’s Slow Life and Oysters!
From November to March, many spots in Itoshima’s bay is bustling with people seeking for warmth in vinyl tents. This is called “kakigoya” or oyster hut. It may not look like much, but these kakigoya will provide seafood lovers with not only shelter from the harsh winter winds, but also a distinct kind of happiness that only fresh, tasteful seafood can provide. So what is inside these kakigoya? Fresh, huge oysters!
Inside these kakigoya, there are rows and rows of low tables with a barbecue set in the middle. Fresh oysters is the specialty, but they also provide other types of seafood, such as prawns and oysters. And the charm is you have to barbecue it yourself. Of course, if it is your first time, then the staff will show you how. It looks like an easy job, you might think that it can’t be hard, just put the oyster on the grill and job’s done. But no, it is not as easy as you think it is. There are tricks to grill it, such as which side to lay down first, and how long you have to wait before you flip it, and how long you can leave it on the grill before you start eating it. All these factors are crucial if you want to eat delicious oyster! Definitely an experience worth checking out!
Well, many people do not know the processes these oysters have to go through before it is served in kakigoya. On November 21, 2015, I had a great opportunity to visit Kitazaki. Kyudai’s Environmental Planning and Design Laboratory, which is under Faculty of Civil Engineering, collaborated with the Kitazaki Community and invited several international students to check out Karadomari Oyster Factory and Kitazaki Share House.
There are several steps in harvesting Oyster. First of all, they make a square structure out of bamboo and put i the sea bed for Oysters and scallops to grow on. In November to March, these bamboo oyster houses are lifted out of the sea and oysters and scallops are harvested. There are a lot of dirt sticking and the oysters and scallops stick to each other, so the factory workers separate them using a tool that looks like a hammer.
Next, the oysters are brought inside a different building. The outer shell of these scallops are smoothed out using a grinder and washed with water. All throughout this process, the oysters are alive! That’s why people crowd kakigoya, because the oysters are truly fresh until it reach the grill!
Meanwhile, the scallops go through a different process. The scallops are collected and are sent to the colder waters of sendai to let them reproduce. The reason is because Fukuoka’s scallops are bigger than the ones in Sendai but they don’t reproduce so well since Fukuoka’s waters are quite warm. After these scallops are let to reproduce, some scallops are sent back to Fukuoka to be sold.
And that is the processes which the oysters and scallops have to go through before it is served in a Kakigoya.
Next, we went for a tour of Kitazaki Share House. People used to live in this house, however it was abandoned when the occupants moved to the city. Thus, to have more people, especially youths, live in this area, the community decided to rent the rooms inside. It has a small garden in the second floor, in which mizuna and daikon are grown. The top room has an ocean view. Moreover, each person only has to pay 15,000 yen, already including all utilities. For those of you who like a slow life, or “inaka seikatsu” it is certainly a good deal.
What makes this place very charming is how warm the people are. They were very welcoming and tried to have a conversation with us. We used broken Japanese and they used broken English, but it was a conversation nonetheless. It felt like everyone in this community are a family. If interested, check out their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/kitazakisharehouse/?fref=ts
It was a great day spent exploring Japan’s rural neighbourhood. We were welcomed with Kitazaki community’s hospitality and left with a happy heart.
Nadhifa Utami
November 26, 2015
From November to March, many spots in Itoshima’s bay is bustling with people seeking for warmth in vinyl tents. This is called “kakigoya” or oyster hut. It may not look like much, but these kakigoya will provide seafood lovers with not only shelter from the harsh winter winds, but also a distinct kind of happiness that only fresh, tasteful seafood can provide. So what is inside these kakigoya? Fresh, huge oysters!
Inside these kakigoya, there are rows and rows of low tables with a barbecue set in the middle. Fresh oysters is the specialty, but they also provide other types of seafood, such as prawns and oysters. And the charm is you have to barbecue it yourself. Of course, if it is your first time, then the staff will show you how. It looks like an easy job, you might think that it can’t be hard, just put the oyster on the grill and job’s done. But no, it is not as easy as you think it is. There are tricks to grill it, such as which side to lay down first, and how long you have to wait before you flip it, and how long you can leave it on the grill before you start eating it. All these factors are crucial if you want to eat delicious oyster! Definitely an experience worth checking out!
Well, many people do not know the processes these oysters have to go through before it is served in kakigoya. On November 21, 2015, I had a great opportunity to visit Kitazaki. Kyudai’s Environmental Planning and Design Laboratory, which is under Faculty of Civil Engineering, collaborated with the Kitazaki Community and invited several international students to check out Karadomari Oyster Factory and Kitazaki Share House.
There are several steps in harvesting Oyster. First of all, they make a square structure out of bamboo and put i the sea bed for Oysters and scallops to grow on. In November to March, these bamboo oyster houses are lifted out of the sea and oysters and scallops are harvested. There are a lot of dirt sticking and the oysters and scallops stick to each other, so the factory workers separate them using a tool that looks like a hammer.
Next, the oysters are brought inside a different building. The outer shell of these scallops are smoothed out using a grinder and washed with water. All throughout this process, the oysters are alive! That’s why people crowd kakigoya, because the oysters are truly fresh until it reach the grill!
Meanwhile, the scallops go through a different process. The scallops are collected and are sent to the colder waters of sendai to let them reproduce. The reason is because Fukuoka’s scallops are bigger than the ones in Sendai but they don’t reproduce so well since Fukuoka’s waters are quite warm. After these scallops are let to reproduce, some scallops are sent back to Fukuoka to be sold.
And that is the processes which the oysters and scallops have to go through before it is served in a Kakigoya.
Next, we went for a tour of Kitazaki Share House. People used to live in this house, however it was abandoned when the occupants moved to the city. Thus, to have more people, especially youths, live in this area, the community decided to rent the rooms inside. It has a small garden in the second floor, in which mizuna and daikon are grown. The top room has an ocean view. Moreover, each person only has to pay 15,000 yen, already including all utilities. For those of you who like a slow life, or “inaka seikatsu” it is certainly a good deal.
What makes this place very charming is how warm the people are. They were very welcoming and tried to have a conversation with us. We used broken Japanese and they used broken English, but it was a conversation nonetheless. It felt like everyone in this community are a family. If interested, check out their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/kitazakisharehouse/?fref=ts
It was a great day spent exploring Japan’s rural neighbourhood. We were welcomed with Kitazaki community’s hospitality and left with a happy heart.
Nadhifa Utami
November 26, 2015
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