Snowy Tottori, Mackerel Shabu-shabu, Zuke and Jime | Kazunori Takashio, Dean of the Graduate School of Media and Governance
"I was told, 'Please at least let Professor Takashio go home.'"
A voice calls out from the back seat. I was visiting Tottori Prefecture with several stakeholders to gather information and request cooperation for a certain project. After finishing greetings and meetings in various parts of Yonago City the previous day, we were in the middle of a long journey from the west to the east of the prefecture to provide an explanation at the Prefectural Office. Outside, it was snowing quite a bit. Or rather, a major cold wave had struck, and the San'in region was buried in heavy snow. The voice belonged to the two staff members accompanying me. Actually, my schedule was packed until the afternoon that day, but since I was worried about whether the flight to Haneda would take off, we significantly scaled back the plans. I also switched my ticket to an early afternoon flight. The day after my return was the master's dissertation hearing. Of course—it would be truly bad if I weren't there on the day of the master's dissertation hearing.
Somehow, we cleared all the appointments and headed to the airport early. By the time we arrived in Tottori City, the snow, which had weakened, began to intensify again. The question was whether the flight from Haneda could land. If the aircraft didn't arrive, the flight would be canceled. The final flight of the day had already been canceled. Anyone familiar with airplanes would probably understand why. On the ANA website, all flights were listed as "conditional operation." I peered at the Flightradar screen with the two staff members. The plane we were (scheduled) to board had reached the skies above Tottori Airport. However, it showed no sign of descending. It was circling the same course over and over. When the trajectory turned toward the airport, we would shout "Oh!", and when it turned away, we would sigh "Ah" in disappointment. I wonder how long that repetition lasted. Seizing a gap where the snow weakened, the nose finally pointed toward the runway. It landed, kicking up a cloud of snow. Cheers erupted from the passengers waiting at the boarding gate.
The reason I was so restless was the trauma from last year. At the end of February, I had come here between various duties, just like this time. It was to speak at the kickoff event for the Nichinan University HUB concept, which I mentioned in the June 2023 Dean's Diary: "The Future of the Region Created with Universities Kickoff Forum: Co-creation of the Local Revitalization Nichinan Town Model." It was heavy snow then, too. Since a very important meeting was scheduled for the afternoon of my return to Tokyo, I planned to return from Yonago to Haneda on a morning flight. I knew Yonago Airport shares its runway with a Self-Defense Force base and is resilient against snow, and since the snow had weakened in the morning, I assumed everything would be fine.
That was a mistake. As boarding time approached, the snow grew stronger. After a long wait, I was finally able to board. However, the plane wouldn't leave the gate because they were spraying de-icing fluid on the wings. When it finally started moving and reached the runway, it stopped; the captain came out of the cockpit to check the snow accumulation on the wings. Then, with an announcement of "Actually, it's impossible," we returned to the gate and everyone was deplaned. By this time, students who were heading home on later flights had arrived at the airport, and seeing my flight return from the runway, they were apparently wondering, "What happened?" In the end, the flight took off several hours late, but I didn't make it to the meeting and sent a "I'm sorry" email from inside the cabin.
This time, there was another moment where the captain went outside just before the runway, which gave me a "heart-thumping" scare, but the plane managed to take off several hours late. Once we were in the air, a large bird flew into the view of the forward camera right after takeoff, which was terrifying, and the shaking until we cleared the snow clouds was quite something—it was quite the flight experience. I was relieved to be able to attend the master's dissertation hearing the next day without issue.
Now, speaking of San'in, there is the food. Come to think of it, the topic of my Dean's Diary at this time last year was "My Family's 3-Day Curry Course." I'll share a little bit about food this time as well.
For the night in Yonago, I went to a "Saba Shabu" (mackerel shabu-shabu) restaurant I've been into lately. It's a way of eating not often heard of in the Kanto region, but literally, you eat fresh, thinly sliced mackerel by dipping it in broth. It is so delicious that my mouth waters just thinking about it. A large amount of sliced onions floats in the broth, and you eat them together with the mackerel (naturally, I added more onions halfway through lol). It started when Professor Takita, who frequently appears in my diaries, took me there last winter. I took my son there in the summer, and he was thrilled. The finishing soba noodles are also excellent. I also recommend Mosa-ebi (shrimp not usually found in Kanto), which can only be eaten during this season. Please visit if you go to Yonago.
Another good thing is Sakaiminato's specialties, "Zuke" (marinated) and "Jime" (cured). I got hooked on them after a local person told me about them during the Camp for Designing the Future in the summer. You can buy them frozen at the market, so I have them delivered or sent to me. This time, I bought a bunch locally. At my house, we eat the "Zuke" as a marinated rice bowl, but the "Jime" is also delicious as a base for ochazuke. In particular, "Tai no Jime" (cured sea bream) is the ultimate ingredient for sea bream ochazuke. Make a sesame sauce with sesame paste (1 tbsp), soy sauce (2 tbsp, we use sweet soy sauce), mirin (2 tsp), and sake (2 tsp), dip the kelp-cured sea bream in it, and place it on rice. Sprinkle with rice crackers and shredded seaweed, and pour hot broth (sea bream broth if possible) over it to complete the ultimate dashi-chazuke. Add trefoil and wasabi to your liking.
Well, partly because I was running out of material, this turned into a rather rambling diary. My apologies. Regarding the purpose and details of my visit to Yonago City and the Tottori Prefectural Office, there are many things I cannot talk about yet, so I hope you look forward to future updates. See you in the next diary.
P.S.
I hesitated to write the specific names of the restaurants for "Saba Shabu" and "Zuke/Jime" here, so if you are interested, please ask me. Quietly (omitted...