Living & Working in Ishikawa, Japan
Once a dish found only in fine dining, curry has now become the common folk’s comfort food in Japan. Japanese curry is completely different from any Southeast Asian curry. Its flavors are more akin to those of a thickened beef stew. You can have it for lunch, dinner, heck, some even eat it for breakfast with natto. It is typically served over rice and accompanied by a panko-breaded fried cutlet topping known as katsu. Various preparations of this dish have spawned across this island nation, but today we’ll focus on Kanazawa curry.
Kanazawa curry was invented by Yoshikazu Tanaka, the founder of Champion’s Curry in the 1960′s. It is characterized by the following:
Let’s explore 4 of Kanazawa’s top destinations for this stick-to-your ribs dish.
Champion’s Curry (カレーのチャンピオン)
The original Kanazawa curry is one of the “lighter” versions. This curry is a pale brown with just the tiniest hint of spice. Although thicker than traditional curry, it is still pretty saucy. The standard here is the L katsukare (Lカツカレー). The medium thick pork cutlet has a finely ground crispy panko crust. The cutlet is quite juicy and surprisingly easy to cut with your fork considering its thickness. At 780円, this is the priciest of the four.
Go!Go! Curry – (ゴーゴーカレー)
This is Champion’s biggest competitor in the area. Their intimidating gorilla mascot is fitting as this the boldest, thickest, and darkest curry of them all. Go!Go! claims that their curry is cooked for 55 hours until all meat and vegetables have disintegrated into this thick black caramelized curry. Yum. Here, you go with the rosukatsukare (ロースカツ). You get a very thin pork cutlet covered in flaky crispy panko. The meat is very soft. The caramelization of the meats make this curry one of the sweeter ones for 750円.
Turban Curry – (ターバンカレー)
Turban is your mom-and-pop lunch spot – closed by 7pm during the week and by 5pm on the weekend. Their curry is very similar to Go!Go!’s albeit not as thick or bold. Unfortunately, this shop’s staple rosukatsu, is a bit carelessly prepared. The cutlet is not as crispy and is heavily doused in tonkatsu sauce. Its saved by the surprising juiciness carried by this thin cut of meat. The tonkatsu sauce makes the dish a bit sweet, but the curry itself is quite nice and beefy. At 650円, it is the cheapest of the quartet.
Gold Curry – (ゴールドカレー)
Finally, you have Gold Curry. As you approach the shop, you are greeted by a Ganesha-like character hinting at the flavor profile of this curry. It is definitely the thickest of the four curries – those ice cold water jugs really come in handy to wash this baby down. It is heavy on the curry powder imparting strong Indian flavors. Their signature G katsukare (Gカツカレー) includes a thick cut pork cutlet that’s a bit on the chewy-side, but with a pleasant crunchy breading for 750円. On the 5th, 15th, and 25th of the month, you get up to 200円 off of your G katsukare order!
Personally, I prefer Curry House CoCo ICHIBANYA which you can find all throughout Japan (I get to bump up the spice level here), BUT Kanazawa curry has definitely grown on me. I think I’m even beginning to crave it.
This link will take you to a Google map pinpointing the location of these shops. There are dozens of Champion’s Curry and Go!Go! Curry, so I’ve only listed a few of them.
Mauricio is a 2nd year ALT who eats close to the Japanese average of 84 servings of curry a year.
For all the runners out there 
The 19th Kanazawa City Residents Marathon (第19回金沢市民マラソン) will take place on November 11th this year.
The races available are: 3km, 5km, and 10km. There is no half or full marathon, despite the name. There are also family races available for families with children of elementary school age.
Entry Period: Now until October 5th 2012
Entry Fee: ¥2000 (+¥200 handling fee). Only one race can be entered per person.
Entry Process: You can enter online via jtbsports.jp (you need to sign in for free & search the race) or via post office furikomi money form. You can find the form in the first PDF at the bottom of the page here: http://www.fukui-sports.jp/event/detail.php?cd=221
Where: 金沢市営陸上競技場 (Kanazawa-shi-ei Rikujo-kyogi-jo)
Reception: 10 November, 10am – 5pm, and 11 November 6:30 – 7:20am.
Opening Ceremony: 7:20am
Race Start: 10km course @ 8am, 5km course @ 8:10am, 3km course for general public (not school students) 9:49am.
Time Limit (10km course only): Those runners who have not passed the 5km mark 40 minutes after the start (i.e. at 8:40am), and/or the 6.6km mark in 50 minutes, will be disqualified.
- Runners who complete their race will receive a completion certificate
- Each runner will receive a DIY health check form, to be handed in at reception when receiving your number cards.
- There is no parking at the event, but there will be allocated parking areas for use, as well as a shuttle bus to the event (from these, presumably).
- There will be a massage tent set up for any muscular inflamation or other sprains
- The 10km race runners will be organized at the start line into blocks according to their self-predicted race completion times
Please see the official site for more information (Japanese only): http://www.kanazawa-city-marathon.jp/
So, who`s keen to “enjoying” running together?
Please check the attached PDF for all you need to know about the official Ishikawa AJET events for orientation 2012! Get amped! 
They’ve been written before, but positive reviews of this great little cafe bear repeating. CAFE DUMBO, tucked into a three-story building behind Kohrinbo 109, is a gem. Their menus are limited–drip coffee, basic espresso offerings, juices and a few small meals like taco rice or curry–but the great atmosphere, kind employees, great point system and amazing brunch special make it worth a visit. The second floor is decorated with vintage furniture and you’ll find plenty of reading material if you’re interested in Scandinavian design–they seem to collect art and design books. The employees speak English, and the cafe offers a English menu if you’re worried about your ability to order coffee before you’ve had your first coffee. Plus, for every five drinks you purchase you get a free drink, which is by far the best point system I’ve encountered in Japan.
I went in search of hangover food at 10AM and was pleasantly surprised to find CAFE DUMBO open! The Internet tells me their regular open time is 11:30AM, but the lights were on, sign out and employees ready to accommodate us bright and early. They were offering a brunch special–buy a drink and for ¥200 more you can get two pancakes, two strips of bacon and an egg. For just ¥700 yen I had a refreshing iced latte and an American-style brunch served with my maple syrup inside a glass cowboy boot.
Where: Behind Kohrinbo 109 in Kanazawa
Hours: Open 11:30AM–7PM Sunday-Wednesday, 11:30AM–10PM Friday and Saturday, Closed on Thursdays
Cost: Drinks from ¥450 with food specials available
Parking: Use parking lots behind Kohrinbo
Ishikawa AJET hosted our second annual scavenger hunt, The Greatest Ishikawa Scavenger Hunt the World Has Ever Seen (GISHWHES*) last Saturday in Kanazawa. Fifteen participants on four teams scavenged everything from dogs in clothes to Japanese people with facial hair. They posed in the middle of the Scramble–traffic be damned!–jankened with conbini employees and one group got some elementary students to flip the bird.
At the end of the afternoon the Mauricio, Kacie, Candy, Hannah and Seán took away ¥500 McDonald’s gift cards and some memories of trying to scarf down a hamburger that will probably haunt them forever.
Check out a few of the day’s photos behind the cut.
(Most of the) lovely GISHWHES participants
Don’t forget the Ishikawa AJET Valentine event, Graffiti Your ♥ Out, this Friday at APRE. If you preordered a T-Shirt they’ll be waiting for you once you get in the door. If you didn’t preorder your shirt, feel free to bring your own! Permanent markers will be available for drawing on everyone’s T-shirts.
Cover is ¥500 and all drinks are ¥500.
Details
What: Graffiti Your ♥ Out
When: Friday, Feb. 10 9:00 p.m.
Where: APRE in Katamachi
Huh? We’ll be drawing on people’s clothes because it’s fun.
See you all there!
If you have the voice of an angel, or even if you can’t hold a tune to save your life, come share the holiday spirit with Kanazawa’s many denizens and tourists. Ishikawa AJET is sponsoring charity caroling at the Kanazawa Station East Exit–under the huge torii gate–from 4:30 p.m.–6:00 p.m. on Sunday, December 18. Proceeds will benefit Onagawa, a tsunami-struck town for which Ishikawa JETs have already raised funds and volunteered.
Invite your non-JET friends, co-workers and students to hear some singing (and donate to charity). Everyone is welcome! If you’re interested in singing, don’t forget to contact Kathleen Robertson so there are enough lyric packets to go around.
Joanna Clark is a second year ALT in Kahoku City who will be singing her face off at Kanazawa Station on Sunday.
IFIE is having its first ‘mini international movie festival’ on 2nd & 3rd of July. Here are the details:
What: Bollywood (India) Movie “Monsoon Wedding” & Korean Movie “King & the Clown” (王の男)
When: Monsoon Wedding on 2nd July 13:00 – 16:00 / King & the Clown on 3rd July 13:00 – 16:00
Where: Rifare, 4th Floor (Room ABC)
How much: FREE!
What else: Enjoy some Indian & Korean snacks after the movies.
You need to make a separate reservation for each day. For more info email: joho AT ifie DOT or DOT jp, or click to see the flyer here: IFIE Mini Film Fest
See you movie buffs on 2nd/3rd!!
The Ishikawa Prefecture Tourism League seems to be increasing its efforts to court foreign tourists via the creation of multilingual tourism websites: Hot-Ishikawa started producing an English-language quarterly tourism e-newsletter (see prior link), through which I found Gourmet Ishikawa, a new multilingual resource for dining in Ishikawa. The site may be viewed in Japanese, English, Korean, or Chinese (traditional or simplified) and has great information on not just restaurants but also Japanese dining etiquette and Ishikawan food culture.
Nothing says summer to me like a good mystery or horror film, and what better to kick off summer than one set in Ishikawa?
From the official Toho website.
Zero Focus, or 『ゼロの焦点』, is based on Matsumoto Seichô’s novel of the same name. Directed by Inudô Isshin, the 2009 film is a remake of the 1961 version. In the film, newlywed Uhara Teiko’s husband, a native of Ishikawa, travels to Kanazawa on a business trip and never returns. Teiko then travels to Ishikawa and finds herself caught up in a web of political intrigue.
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