Morioka is famous for its noodle dishes.
These dishes are Reimen, Jajamen, and Soba served in small bowls.
This last dish is called Wanko soba.
Morioka’s yurukyaras are black bowls with these dishes inside.
Reimen is a sour and spicy, cold noodle dish. It tastes very refreshing in summer. The noodles are made from rice power. Inside the soup is watermelon,
hard boiled egg and leeks. Kimchi is usually served on the side.
Jajamen is a savory noodle dish. Udon noodles are covered in a miso pasted with minced meat. Chopped cucumbers, leeks, pickled giger, hot chili sauce and vinegar can all be put on top. When they are almost finished, many locals ask the staff for chitan. They add soup and an egg.
Wanko soba is a fun group activity to do with friends or family. The person who eats the most small blows of soba wins. Hungry men usually eat more than 100 bowls.
When I was in elementary school in the US, we only learned how to speak English. In junior high school, however, I had my first opportunity to learn about other languages. First, in my second year of junior high school, I actually learned a little bit about Japanese during my social studies class. It was only a few words such as “konnichiwa” and “arigatou”, but it was very interesting!
Then, in my third year of junior high school, we had a special class for learning other languages. In this class, we would learn three different languages: French, German, and Spanish. We only learned one language at a time, though. After a month or two of one language, we would change to the next one. It was very short, but again, very interesting. I enjoyed learning French the most, because we got to choose French-style names to use during the class.
25223761 – love info-text graphics
Finally, in high school, we had to choose one language, and keep learning it until the end of high school. In my first year I didn’t choose one, but the choices were again Spanish, German, and French. These languages also each had their own club. Some of my friends joined the Spanish club and German club.
In my second year of high school, I decided to start learning Spanish. Just like Japan, sometimes the language teacher is not a native speaker. My first Spanish teacher was like this. But my new Spanish teacher was a native speaker, however, which was much better.
In my third and fourth years of Spanish learning, I never had another native speaking teacher, but my teachers all had lived in a Spanish speaking country before. This was a major good point for me, since I could trust their education. There was a lot of speaking practice in these classes, and we didn’t just try to remember a list of vocabulary words. I think this was also a big good point. I never joined any language clubs, but even now I still remember a little bit of Spanish, which I can use to speak to Spanish-speaking people in Japan!
