NAGANO UEDA: Kushiwanya cozy friendly Kushiyaki Izakaya in the country side... love the friendly non-Tokyo cities.

Was transiting thru Ueda on the way for the last bit of snow to ski and stopped by super friendly Kushi-Wan-Ya in Nagano.

Tasty and each piece made to order.

I always think I'm missing out on so much by living in Tokyo... other cities in Japan are sooo friendly and sooo relaxing.  

Restaurant: Kushi Wan Ya Izakaya

Foodie Tabelog: http://tabelog.com/nagano/A2004/A200401/20015133/

Address J: 長野県上田市中央2-13-7

Address E: Nagano-Ken, Ueda-shi, Chuo 2-13-7
MAP: https://goo.gl/maps/NA9mM

らら和んや, らら和んや, 海鮮炭火焼き処, 居酒屋, 上田駅, 長野, Japan, Japanese, foodie, tabelog, canon s120, yakitori, lunch, dinner, Gunma,

OIZUMIGAKUEN: Marufuku Seafood for some very high quality low budget sashimi and fish! Gotta go~

Crab Salad

980yen

480yen Salmon Head

Fugu like 500yen!  This place is always great and cheap.

Restaurant: Marufuku

Tabelog Foodie: http://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1321/A132103/13020391/

Address J: 東京都練馬区東大泉4-2-2 プリムヴェール

Address E: Tokyo, Nerima-ku, Higashi Oizumi 4-2-2

MAP: https://goo.gl/maps/DKW3C

魚介料理, 海鮮料理, 居酒屋, まるふく, Japan, Japanese, sushi, sashimi, izakaya, foodie, Tokyo, Canon s120, sake, beer, cheap, dinner,

TASHIRO GUNMA: Kenchan Shokudo for some friendly home cooked dishes in snow country.

Finally had a chance to tag along with a group of Ski buddies... instead of eating fairly over priced meals at the Ryokan we headed to Kenchan's Restaurant.

Lots of friendly dishes and huge rice upgrade is free

I went for the Korokke and Mench-Katsu teishoku.

My Corokke set.

Not too bad... love anything home made. 

Restaurant: Kenchan Shokudo

Tabelog Foodie: http://tabelog.com/gunma/A1004/A100402/10009546/

Address J: 群馬県吾妻郡嬬恋村田代1019-7

Address E: Gunma-ken, Agatsuma-gun, Tsumagoi-mura, Tashiro 1019-7
MAP: https://goo.gl/maps/NTtCi

けんちゃん食堂, 軽井沢, ラーメン, 定食, 食堂, 焼肉, japan, japanese, ski, snow, foodie, lunch, dinner, Tokyo, Sony NEX-C3, Nagano,

SHINOKUBO: Matsuya in Koreatown for some boney Kamujatan Hot Pot stew~

Checked the foodie rankings with a low price point and Matsuya popped up... as I was walking in I noticed my grad school classmate... he's a foodie so this place must be good.

This Korean pancake was like a huge pizza.

Went for the Medium sized Kamujatan 3,000yen... there was sooooo many bones in this.  Took forever to eat all the little pieces of meat.  Flavor was good... you really can't go wrong.

When you are done the waiter can add a variety of things to the leftover soup.  Went for rice with Korean seaweed.  Unusually they didn't add extra soup throughout the course.

After about 5 minutes of mixing the rice was done.  Very tasty.

Restaurant: Matsuya

Foodie Tabelog: http://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1304/A130404/13000028/

Address J: 東京都新宿区大久保1-1-17 ひかり荘

Address E: Tokyo, Shinjuku-ku, Okubo 1-1-17
MAP: https://goo.gl/maps/MqTGj

松屋, マツヤ, 韓国料理, 韓国鍋, 新大久保駅, Japan, Japanese, dinner, kimchee, korea, foodie, yelp, canon s120, pentax k-5,