甘露煮は和食の中で、割りと地味です。

従って、甘露煮屋さんも地味です。

と思ったら、大間違え。

戸倉上山田温泉の甘露煮屋「島屋」へようこそ！

上山田温泉の本通りと戸倉温泉の本通りを繋いでいる銀座通りにあるお店で、毎日はでかいお鍋で甘露煮をじっくり、じっくりと作っています。その背の高い（２ｍの私にこの町の2番目に高いかな？）高橋さん背だけではなく、心も大きいです。3代目の甘露煮屋で仕事は真剣。内臓を使ってうんと珍しい「うるか」も作っている。「知っている人は知っているので、遠くから注文が来る。ただ、知らない人がほとんど…」

お店の内装も千曲川の釣り文化と戸倉上山田温泉の歴史に合わせて木造のボートや上山田温泉の元となる共同浴場「かめ之湯」のモデルなど、沢山の小物が飾ってあります。

…と思ったら、「いいえ、その船は釣りと関係ない。そのモデルは一般の建物に私が勝手にかめ乃湯とか頂け」。

目がどこに回っても、高橋社長の遊び心が感じます。でも安心して下さい：　島屋の甘露煮は美味しいとは冗談じゃない。

In the world of Japanese cuisine, there is something called 'kanroni', which is basically river fish that has been stewed in a sweet marinating sauce. Not exactly sexy, it's still a pretty basic staple of Japanese cuisine.

So one would expect that a kanroni shop would be pretty basic and not-sexy, too, right?

Wrong! Welcome to Togura Kamiyamada Onsen's kanroni specialty shop, Shimaya!

Takahashi-san, the tall (perhaps 2nd tallest person in town after me) 3rd-generation owner of Shimaya is not only big in height, but in heart, too. He is serious about kanroni, and one of their specialties is "Uruka", a seasoning made from the river fish innards. It is a rare specialty. According to Takahashi-san, "People who know it, know it, and we get orders from far and wide. The problem is, not many people know it."

His shop shows a love of the Chikuma River's fishing roots as well as our onsen town's history, with wooden boats and paper models of our town's first bathhouse "Kame no Yu" displayed along with a variety of other interesting decorations.

...or so I thought. "That's just an old boat I found -- it's not even a fishing boat. And that's not really Kame no Yu -- I just wrote it on a model of an anonymous building."

Everywhere your eyes go, they come across some funky decoration. But one thing that is not a joke is the delicious taste of Takahashi-san's kanroni