Traveling With a Beautiful Girl - Chapter 35: Hamamatsu Izakaya Restaurant

Upon leaving the musical instrument museum, the sky was completely enveloped in darkness.

Just in time for dinner, we slipped through the noren of a Hamamatsu gyoza izakaya that we had set our sights on during lunchtime.

(T/N: Noren are traditional Japanese fabric dividers hung at the entrance of shops and restaurants.)

The menu featured not only Hamamatsu gyoza but also an array of Hamamatsu’s B-class gourmet dishes, including Enshu cuisine’s horumon-yaki and eel from Lake Hamana. As a sightseeing enthusiast, I got excited in an instant.

(T/N:For anyone interested here: B Gourmet)

“Lake Hamana is said to have an area that could completely fit the entire Yamanote Line loop.”

After ordering a variety of recommended dishes, Nanase said with a lively voice.

“I’m looking forward to the eel.”

“It’s nothing special, really.”

Even as I stared intently at the menu page featuring Lake Hamana’s eel, I couldn’t be persuaded otherwise.

“But the Yamanote Line loop is quite large. In terms of the size of Japanese lakes, wouldn’t it rank in the top 5?”

“You would think so, right? But the lake’s area itself is actually ranked 10th in Japan.”

“There are still 9 more above it?!”

“Even the area along the Yamanote Line where we used to live feels surprisingly small, doesn’t it?”

“In reality, it probably was small.”

I spent 17 years living in my parents’ house in Tabata, in the upper right corner of the Yamanote Line. I’ve lost count of how many thousands of laps I’ve made around the Yamanote Line, which was designed to encircle the city center in a loop.

Looking out the train window at the seemingly endless skyscrapers, I thought Tokyo was incredibly vast, being the largest city in Japan. However, when traveling like this, I realize that Tokyo was actually quite small.

“Sorry to keep you waiting! Here are your oolong tea and Calpis!”

As I was lost in strange emotions, the cheerful waiter brought our drinks.

Since neither of us had a culture of toasting, I immediately went to take a sip of Calpis, but the waiter stopped me, saying, “Ah, sorry, please wait a moment.”

According to the waiter, there’s a rule for toasting at this restaurant.

“When I say ‘Ready, set!’ you all raise your glasses and shout ‘Yaramaika~!’ Then, we will follow up with ‘Yoisho!'”

Oh, I like this! It’s very local!

Nanase seemed quite displeased, but she had no choice but to go along with the professional atmosphere created by the waiter.

“Alright, here we go! Ready, set!”

“Yaramaika~!!”

“Y-Yaramaika…”

“Yoisho~!!”

Cheers! Gulp, gulp, gulp!

Wow! Was Calpis always this delicious?!

“…What does this shout mean?”

In contrast to my high spirits, Nanase seemed drained, like a wizard who had just had a massive amount of MP taken away. She still seemed to struggle with events where enthusiasm and high energy were important.

“I don’t know, but it’s a toast shout, so it must be something auspicious.”

Not being able to leave things unknown, Nanase began to search on her smartphone.

“I see, I see…”

“What does it mean?”

“The western side of Shizuoka…in the Enshu region. It seems that there’s a ‘Yaramaika spirit’ which means ‘Let’s give it a try!’ that was cultivated by Tokugawa Ieyasu, who achieved success there , as well as Honda, Suzuki in the automotive industry, and Yamaha, and Kawai in the musical instrument industries.”

“Wow, that’s cool! It seems like something that would really cheer you up when you’re feeling down.”

“If a fighting spirit could solve problems, we wouldn’t have to struggle. When faced with difficulties, we should carefully organize the available information and analyze it calmly. If we logically work through it, we’ll usually come up with similar solutions.”

“Well, determination is important, right? We have to keep moving forward!”

“It seems our ways of thinking don’t quite match, Takahashi-kun.”

“Are you saying that now?”

Anyway, the Enshu region is impressive.

It’s the birthplace of many renowned companies. As our knowledge of Hamamatsu deepened, Hamamatsu’s B-class gourmet dishes began to arrive one after another.

Hamamatsu gyoza, horumon-yaki, and so on…¹For anyone interested here are the pictures Hamamatsu, HorumonYaki,

Having been on the move all day and starving, we couldn’t resist the delicious aroma of the food.

The famous Hamamatsu gyoza had a crispy exterior and juicy filling, with an outstanding compatibility with the accompanying bean sprouts.

Enshu-yaki, an okonomiyaki containing thinly sliced takuan (pickled radish), had a crunchy texture and was addictively delicious with the generous amount of Worcestershire sauce poured over it.

The potato butter, wrapped in aluminum foil, was a miraculous combination of fluffy potatoes and a large chunk of butter, creating an incredible taste.

This is what’s great about it, this is.

We wholeheartedly devoured the gourmet food that embodied the ideal of travel destination cuisine. Nanase’s movements were calm and composed, but her chopsticks moved faster than usual. It seemed she was enjoying herself quite a bit.

As we enjoyed the gourmet food in silence for a while, the waitress came over with an apologetic expression.

“I’m very sorry! We’ve run out of eel today…”

“Oh dear.”

That was unfortunate.

“…I see. Understood.”

“I’m sorry~”

The waitress, with a >_< expression, walked away.

Nanase looked visibly disappointed. She must have been really looking forward to it. I made a suggestion to Nanase, who had a gloomy expression as if there was a power outage.

“Shall we have eel somewhere tomorrow?”

Her face lit up.

“You’re so easy to read, it’s funny.”

“…Promise?”

…What’s with that pleading upward glance?

That’s cheating.

“O-of course.”

After calming my flustered heart from the surprise attack, I said,

“I’ll find a good restaurant.”

Then, I realized.

Usually, I just walk into a random restaurant without planning, but this time I researched in advance.

As I vaguely sensed it, I thought I might be gradually influenced by Nanase.

“Oh? They ran out of eel?”

From the seat next to us, we heard a familiar voice.

“I’m very sorry! We sold more than we expected today…”

The waitress gave the same response as she did to us earlier. Across from her was…

“Well, it can’t be helped. I’ve heard that eel is becoming harder to catch these days, and there’s a recent regulation limiting the amount of eel each restaurant can purchase, so it’s not unreasonable for them to run out at this time.”

“Y-yes…”

The waitress had a bewildered look on her face at the OL’s explanation.

This explanation feels déjà vu somehow.

“That person, from lunchtime…”

Nanase spoke up. Then, the OL seemed to notice us.

“Ara.”

Our eyes met. She had an expression as if she found something interesting. Somehow, I had a bad feeling.

Yamanote Line Loop: