The weather didn't look too promising to begin with.
We left early to make sure we got a good place to sit and to be sure we got as many bags of oysters as we wanted. The supply of oysters proved not to be in question (apparently some earlier years they ran out) but the seats were and we got good ones.
Huge oysters for cheap!
Oysters were sold by the grocery bag for roughly US$12, each bag containing 15 or so large oysters. Lee stood in line to get our two bags of oysters, one for each of us, while I went to find a seat with friends who had arrived not too long before we did. This festival had a perimeter of tents selling additional seafood, cotton candy, ice cream, chocolate covered fruits for dessert, local wines and other beverages to enjoy with your meal, and sides like various soups, noodles, and grilled corn:
Pretty much all fresh from the local sea, which was less than a football field away.
Inside the ring of vendors was a large tent-covered area filled with wood-fired grills. Some grilling areas were lined with benches while some were standing room only. There was a stage at one end, and our friends were able to snag several grills with benches and a good view of the stage.
Cook-your-own-everything - think this would fly in the US? There were a lot of tents like this one and they were full starting at 10AM.
Lee returned after waiting in line for a bit with our two bags of oysters as well as a local rosé wine which was amazingly inexpensive, actually pretty good, and went very well with the oysters. It was surprisingly sweet, since most rosés are more vinegar-y. With our oysters and wine, we were nearly ready to go. We got a quick primer on how to cook them (when they're white, steaming, and/or open, they're ready! Lee- I knew that) and our utensil pack, which consisted of a glove for your non-dominant hand to handle the hot oysters, a knife for your dominant hand to coax open the shells, a Styrofoam plate to eat off of, and chopsticks to do the eating with. This was a very well-organized festival!
Barely-cooked oyster - scrumptious!
The people cooking their oysters were not left to their own devices to wreak havoc. The grills were tended by red-jacketed attendants circulated between them who added wood, showed you when your oysters were done, handed out the proper grilling gear, and dealt with proper spacing and replacement of shell buckets. One particular attendant not only assisted with our oyster enjoyment, but also recommended a particular brand of sake that was supposed to be especially delicious when juice from cooked oysters was added. I admit I was skeptical, but we all tested the idea and found it tolerable verging on good.
He may look sketchy, but he was right about the sake!
In addition to oysters, they had nearly anything you could want to grill (or not, as the case may be). Crab legs (which were a bit more expensive than we wanted to pay for), chicken kebabs (which we got), balls of rice, hot dogs on sticks, seafood with and without tentacles, and things we had no clue about. Lee got a plate o' sea creatures, including a large shrimp, two small ones, a fish helpfully gutted and butterflied, a squid, and a snail. I partook of the fish and shrimp, which were really good, and left the snail and squid to him. (Lee - I can't recommend the snail. We'd had pretty good snails at parties before but this one was awful. Can't complain too much, was really just doing it to have things to grill.) So we grilled and drank and grilled some more, and those bags of oysters did not run out quickly at all.
Our chicken, our neighbors' smorgasbord.
Lee's seafood platter, you can see all of it cooking on Flickr!
Our friend Jamie is also shocked that Lee would eat the squid. Ew. (Lee - this was also not the best, but once begun had to be finished)
I also picked up a bowl of soba that was handmade on-site. It was quite delicious and really good earlier in the day before the sun started shining when it was still cold. We were sitting near the end of one tent, so as it crept closer to noon, the sun, the grills, and the wine warmed us and jackets, scarves, and hats were put away.
Rolling out the noodles, the tables in the back were for cutting them.
Fresh soba in broth, delicious!
In addition to the food and fun at the grills themselves, there was entertainment on the stage. There were adorable kids playing Taiko, a fairly long bit of karaoke, and this guy, who performed the same song about six times:
Oh, Japan.
We have no idea what to make of him. There are a couple of videos on Flickr, one with his signature move (towards the end). We believe that the "field goal" move, done for the lyrics "Mountain Song", are in fact a visual to represent the kanji for mountain, 山. (Lee - he was better than most of the karaoke and he must also be given points for enthusiasm. I suspect he waits all year for this event.)
So all in all we must say that this was one of the more entertaining and excellent festivals that we've been to in Japan. The prices were low and the quality of food and drink was high, it got sunny and warmed up as the day went on, and a good time was had by all.
So all in all we must say that this was one of the more entertaining and excellent festivals that we've been to in Japan. The prices were low and the quality of food and drink was high, it got sunny and warmed up as the day went on, and a good time was had by all.
Check out our Flickr set for additional pictures - this was a great event!
