Golden Week Trip 2010 - Wanko Soba and more

We drove up north to the main(ish) part of Iwate prefecture, Hanamaki. Probably Morioka would be the biggest city, but our goal here is to try out Iwate's traditional cuisine, Wanko Soba. So Hanamaki was a good destination for us.

平泉より更に北上、岩手県花巻へ。ここでの目的は、やはり岩手名物の「わんこそば」。と言うわけで、わんこそばに挑戦してきました。

For those of you who don't know Wanko Soba, it is soba noodles served in tiny cups which are re-filled repeatedly. By just hearing this, it probably sounds nothing special. What is special is the way you eat it. It follows a ritual that looks like a game. You put a special apron. Then, side dishes of noodles are served and the GAME is starts...

1. You take your bowl in front of you and the server behind you throws a cupful of soba into your bowl.
2. You must eat continuously - one cupful of soba at a time. Your goal is to eat as many cups of soba as possible.
3. Throw away the left over soup into the large bowl placed in front of you. You cannot eat too much if you get filled up with lots of liquid.
4. You can eat side-dish food too. Don't eat too much or you'll get too full. I think these are mostly for your taste change since you are eating same soba over and over.
5. If you want to stop, you MUST put the lid on the bowl before they serve another cupful of soba. No lid means you are still going. They will keep serving you even you say you are full. You can not put the lid on if there is still some soba left. It is a race whether you put the lid on first or they throw noodles in first.
6. When game is over, you count how many cups of soba you have eaten. I hear 15 cups is equal amount of an ordinary full bowl of Soba.

I hope you got an idea of this traditional Iwate cuisine. Maybe you can read more here.

Mike wanted to be among the group of top level eaters (over 200 cups of sobas.) He tried hard but he ended up having 70 cups. He said he doesn't have to see Soba for next couple of years.

マイケルは、横綱レベルの200杯以上を目指す気満々で望んだのですが、あっさり敗北。65杯止まりでした。（これだけ食べれれば結構スゴいと思ったのは私だけ？）この後、向こう数年はそばを食べたくないと申しておりました。

I tried hard, but I gave up on my 53rd cup. I thought I did better than I expected though.

マミーはというと、53杯でギブアップ。でも、がんばった方だと思うんですよね…。

We also visited Kenji Miyazawa park in Hanamaki. Kenji Miyazawa was a Japanese poet and author of children's literature in the early Shōwa period of Japan. At the park, there were places where people can be part of Kenji's story. Kids had so much fun there.

宮沢賢治童話村にも足を運びました。童話の世界に飛び込んで疑似体験できる場所がたくさんあり、子供たちは大興奮です。

Noah LOVED the train ride. He was so fascinated with it that he didn't want to get off.

ノアのお気に入りは、銀河鉄道の夜の列車ライドでした。さすが男の子なのか、乗り物に非常に興味を示しており、汽車列車は大好き！この列車ライドが終わっても、降りようとしなかったノアです。