In general, I like airports. After I stand in line, abandon my luggage, stand in line again, take off my shoes, get probed, forfeit irreplaceable souvenirs to the TSA, put my shoes back on, and finally escape, gasping for air, into the white light of the terminal… I like airports. And I especially like international airports, with their abundance of duty-free Scotches (which I have actually never found to be a very good deal) and shops hawking local souvenirs. These shops, while often tacky and overpriced, can be an excellent way to glimpse a city or region’s meibutsu – and this goes for America and other countries in addition to Japan. Think of all the cheese-, football-, and beer-related products you can find in any given store in MKE.
I had no prior knowledge of Nagoya’s meibutsu, but thanks to Chubu Airport’s mezzanine-level arcades, I learned quite a bit in my two short layovers there on the way to and from America. Miso products were ubiquitous. So were instant versions of local noodle specialties, including beef ramen, Taiwan-style ramen, and kishimen きし麺 (flat noodles). And somewhere between the store devoted entirely to shrimp chips and the cuddly shrimp tempura plush toys, I gleaned that the Nagoya area must be famous for shrimp (but that’s just a guess).
But the Nagoya meibutsu that enthralled this viking most was the unagi 鰻, the freshwater eel, mostly thanks to the efforts of a restaurant called Unasyo うな匠 (their Romanization, not mine). (more…)
