One of the biggest reasons I travel to Japan is, honestly, for drinking. Whisky, wine, sake(nihonshu), shochu – almost every kind of alcohol except Korean traditional liquor is cheaper and more varied in Japan. And for someone like me who usually drinks alone, Japan is heaven.There are so many bars that serve wine or sake by the glass,so I can try different things without overdoing it. When I travel in Japan, I usually spend more nights drinking than sightseeing during the day. And at the end of every “drinking activity,” I always eat ramen.Since Japan doesn’t have a hangover culture…

As I mentioned in the previous post, Kagoshima is known for its rich local ingredients and its shochu. There are many shochu bars here, and this one – Shochu Bar ROKU – is one of my favorites. It’s located in Tenmonkan, along Nikanbashi-dori. The first kanji in Kagoshima means “deer,” pronounced roku in Japanese. And when you drink shochu, there are a few ways to have it — roku, mizuwari, sodawari, and so on.The word roku here comes from the Japanese pronunciation of “on the rocks.” So, the name “ROKU” refers both to Kagoshima itself and to a way of…

Kagoshima is famous not only for its meats – Kurobuta(black pork), Kuroge Wagyu(black-haired beef), and Jidori(local chicken) –but also for its seafood such as Katsuo(bonito), Kibinago(silver-stripe round herring), Madai(red sea bream), Saba(mackerel), and Ise-ebi(spiny lobster). Among all of these, I think the most famous product of Kagoshima is shochu. The distilled spirits made from Kagoshima’s Satsuma-imo(sweet potato) come in many varieties, and their flavors and aromas have such a wide spectrum that they’re always fun to explore. Plus, prices are very reasonable in Kagoshima, which makes the city a dream destination for drink lovers like me. That’s exactly why I…

It was the first evening in Kagoshima. I wondered what kind of place and what kind of meal would be good for dinner. Of course, the main reason I came to Kagoshima was to eat Kurobuta(pork from Kagoshima black pigs) shabu-shabu. But now it’s autumn, the season when fish get fattier. Kagoshima is famous not only for beef, pork, and chicken but also for fresh seafood. Strangely, in my previous trips to Kagoshima, I hardly ate fish. Alright then – tonight is a fish night! I searched on Tabelog and Google Maps — and even got some help from ChatGPT.…