Translation is mostly solitary, computer-based work, so it’s always nice to get out and go places or experience things that bring you closer to whatever you’re translating. Happily, both location and food play a big part in my most recent translation, Yuta Takahashi’s The Chibineko Kitchen, providing plenty of opportunities to engage with the story (or an excuse to skive off work and eat things).
The Chibineko Kitchen is set in a seaside restaurant – a rather magical place where visitors have the chance to order food from their fondest memories and meet their lost loved ones for one last time. Though the restaurant is fictional, the area in which it’s set is real: the town of Kimitsu in Chiba Prefecture. So, having never been to Chiba before (not counting Narita airport) I thought I’d take a day trip from Tokyo to visit some of the locations that appear in the story.
We left Tokyo early and took the Sobu line to Kimitsu, which is on the Boso peninsula on the other side of Tokyo Bay. Kimitsu is not a typical sightseeing spot, and in fact the station guard was quite bemused when we asked for tourist information! The coastline is pretty industrial, although there is a beach at Futtsu further round – perhaps the inspiration for the one in the story.
When we arrived at half nine, the first thing we did was take a bus to Hitomi Shrine, visited by elderly couple Yoshio and Setsu in chapter four. It’s a short steep walk up a wooded hill for a good view of Kimitsu and the Koitogawa river. The town is quite spread out, and further inland the houses give way to farmland and forested hills.
Hitomi Shrine, closed this morning! Credit Cat Anderson
Where the Koitogawa meets the sea. No beach, but a view across the bay to Toyko, credit Cat Anderson
At the top we got talking to a local man and asked where we could find namero, the fish dish Yuito makes in chapter one – and we ended up not only with a recommendation for a local restaurant, but the offer of a lift too! The restaurant was Kutta in nearby Kisarazu, which is right next to a fish market that opens at around four in the mornings. We got to the restaurant at about half eleven, which was lucky because by the time we left people were queuing up outside. It’s obviously a popular lunch spot.
They did indeed serve namero, a dish of minced and seasoned raw fish – in this case aji (horse mackerel). But if that doesn’t sound like your thing, it also comes breaded and deep fried as namero katsu, and they’ll do you a nice piece of fried fish with tartar sauce, too. We also tried makanai don, rice topped with pieces of sashimi in a delicious sesame sauce. The word “makanai” also makes an appearance in The Chibineko Kitchen; it refers to the food a restaurant provides for its own staff. In this case, they must have decided it was good enough for customers too!
Before heading back down to Kimitsu we took a detour to climb the windy Nakanoshima Ohashi bridge for a view of Tokyo Bay. The skyscrapers of Tokyo were just visible in the haze on the far side, and looking back in the direction of Kimitsu we could see the huge steel works, which feature in The Chibineko Kitchen as the place where Kai’s father gets a job after he gives up fishing, and where Yoshio finds employment at the behest of his parents, instead of taking over the family peanut farm.
After taking the train one stop back to Kimitsu, we headed up Kanozan in a taxi to see the Kujukutani view, another of the places visited by Yoshio and Setsu. Kanozan is just a tiddler as Japanese mountains go, but it affords a wonderful view of the Boso hills. “Kujukutani” means “ninety-nine valleys”, and if you go at dawn, especially after it’s been raining, you might be able to see the hills poking out of the sea of cloud as the mist rises up from the land.
Back down in Kimitsu once again, we paid a visit to Orandaya, a bakery that sells various peanutty snacks (and which gets a brief mention in chapter three). We stocked up on peanut monaka, peanut dacquoise and peanut pies…
Snacks made with Chiba peanuts, credit Cat Anderson
…and then headed back to Kimitsu station via the path that runs alongside the Koitogawa river. Kotoko and Kai walk this path on a moonlit winter’s evening, but we strolled along it on a beautiful sunny spring afternoon. The cherry trees lining the path were about a week past full bloom and starting to show green leaves, and there were lots of other lovely flowers around, including plenty of bright yellow rapeseed (nanohana), the official flower of Chiba Prefecture.
Yoshio's house could be somewhere down this street...Credit Cat Anderson
Rapeseed growing all along the bank, credit Cat Anderson
As you’ve probably gathered, especially if you’ve read The Chibineko Kitchen, Kimitsu feels like a quiet town – and for the characters coming from Tokyo to visit the restaurant, it’s a place where they can find a little space to breathe. Having the story as a guide made this laid-back trip an enjoyable one, and there are plenty more things I’d like to see: Kujukutani at dawn, the beach at Futtsu further south, the huge Kannon statue facing out to Tokyo Bay, maybe even the black-tailed gulls, or “sea cats”… But all in all, I think we did pretty well for a day trip.
Where will the staff and customers of the Chibineko Kitchen find themselves next? We’ll have to wait and see…
The Chibineko Kitchen by Yuta Takashi is out now, available to order here.
