亀清の弁当のメニューは旬によって変わります。写真は2人前で、イメージです。
ゴールデンウィークでどこにも出かけれないけど、食事ぐらいはご褒美が…
そこに、亀清旅館はTボーンステーキを是非に!
宿泊がコロナ休業中、Chef武井の創作弁当のテークアウトとデリバリーを始めてから約100個分を出しております。このGWで追加でTボーンステーキの提供も致します。御弁当をご注文なされる方には特別価格の6000円（税込み、二人前）でテークアウトでもデリバリーでも出来ます。
数に限りがございますので、ご注文はお電話（０２６－２７５－１０３２）でもメール（omotenashi@kamesei.jp）でも、どうぞ。創作弁当は一人前が1620円。
Can't leave the house during Golden Week, but at least want a special meal?
Try Kamesei Ryokan's T-Bone Steak!
During our Corona-closure, we have started offering our chef's cuisine in bento form for take-out or delivery, and have already served approximately 100 meals. For Golden Week, we will also offer our popular T-Bone Steak. For guests who also order a bento, the price will be 6000 yen including tax for a 2-person size steak.
The number of steaks is limited, so please order asap, either by phone (tel# 026-2751-032) or e-mail (omotenashi@kamesei.jp). Price for bento is 1620 yen.
〜休業のお知らせ〜
長野県知事のコロナ対策指示に従って、
亀清旅館は4月24日から5月6日まで休業致します。
お客様の笑顔を1日でも早く見えれ様にお祈りしておりま
取り敢えず、亀清のChef武井の創作弁当をテークアウ
とにかく、コロナに負けるな！
Kamesei Ryokan will be closed from 24-April through 06-May by direction of the Nagano Prefecture governor. During that time our chef's cuisine will be available as a bento box for take-out or delivery (Chikuma City, Sakaki Town). We look forward to providing a relaxing stay after May 6th.
話題の青い目のおもてなしの宿、亀清旅館の料理を閉じ込められた皆様に是非にお届きしたいと思っております。Chef武井の一品手をかけた創作懐石料理の弁当版とオードブル版、そしてアメリカ生まれの主人の手製のシアトルクッキーを提供しております。
Chef武井の創作弁当 6品＋ごはん、味噌丸（お湯を足して汁になる♪）、お茶パック、デザート 2人前 3240円 （１人前も提供できます。料金は数によりますので、お問い合わせをください。）
２人前のお弁当。メニューは旬によって変わります。写真はイメージです。
Chef武井の創作オードブルプレート お造り含めて7品 3～5人分 6000円
タイラー手製のシアトルクッキー 6個 540円 ベーカーズダス（13個）1080円 （残念ながら保健所から許可が下りませんでした。）
デリバリー・テークアウトそして締切りのお時間
ランチ 11:30-14:00 （締切り前日の18:00)
ディナー 18:00-21:00 (締切り当日の15:00)
食事制限（アレルギー、ベジタリアン、グルーテンフリーなど）はなるべく対応いたしますので、注文の際にお伝えください。
量、人数分などのリクエストがあれば相談してください。
ご注文はお電話026-275-1032、Fax 026-276-1032、メール omotenashi@kamesei.jp まででお願い致します。
デリバリは千曲市・坂城町で提供できます。デリバリ代は５００円別途頂きます。お支払いは現金でお願い致します。
４月後半～５月上旬の弁当メニュー：
旬の物 筍と鯛の卵
酢の物 ホタルイカ
サラダ 安曇野風のサラダ
煮物 鮎の煮びたし
蒸し物 きんぴらごぼうのウニ焼き
焼き物 信州サーモン玉ねぎおろしソース
味噌まる 高村味噌、もずく、豆腐
ご飯 筍ご飯
デザート シアトルクッキー ←この程度は保健所が許してくれました。
私の憧れのお二人は最近、亡くなりました。自分が旅館のオヤジになった中で、特にその二人にお世話になりましたので、少しその想いを書かせていただきます。
Two people I really look up to passed away recently. Both have had a major impact on my life as an innkeeper. Here is a bit of a memorial in their honor.
舞鶴の田島さん Tajima-san from Maizuru
Tajima-san 田島さん
戸倉上山田温泉のおそば屋の名店「舞鶴」のオーナーさん。私をかなりかわいがってくれました。お蕎麦の奥深い世界のさまざまの事を親切になおかつ笑顔で教えてくれました。食べに行くたびに、メニューのうんちくを説明してくれました。そして、戸倉上山田の英語版の飲食店ガイドを作った時に、それぞれのお店のメニューを英訳しました。お蕎麦は田島さんが一番手伝ってくれました。未だに覚えていますが、きつねそばとたぬきそばの由来で、きつねが油揚げが好きで、きつねそばは油揚げがトッピング。じゃ、たぬきそばは？天かすが沢山浮いているから「おっ、色々入っているかな?」と期待するけど食べてみたら「ネタが無い」、つまり、タ抜き＝たぬき。狸は人間をよく騙すからこそ、良いネーミングです。
そんなディープなことを教えてくれた田島さんは先月に亡くなりました。
Tajima-san was the owner of one of Onsen Town Togura-Kamiyamada's legendary soba restaurants, "Maizuru". Ever since I moved here, he really took me under his wing and graciously answered all my curious questions about soba noodles. Every time I went to eat, he would teach me something new about the surprisingly complicated world of buckwheat noodles -- and always with a smile. When I made a restaurant guide for the town, Tajima-san was the biggest help for translating the soba-related menu items into English. I'll never forget what he told me about the origin of kitsune soba and tanuki soba. 'Kitsune' means 'fox' and refers to the abura-age fried tofu topping. One explanation is that foxes like abura-age. Another is the reddish brown color resembles fox fur. So what about tanuki soba? It means soba topped with fried tempura batter. Do 'tanuki' (raccoon dogs) like tempura batter? Tajima-san said the fried batter makes it look like lots of ingredients are in the soup. But when you it, you realize you were tricked -- the ingredients ('neta' or just 'ta') were left out ('nuki'), hence 'tanuki'. Raccoon dogs are known to be tricksters, so the name is especially fitting.
The kind Tajima-san that taught me so much about soba passed away last month.
C.W. Nicol (ニコルさん） (Old Nic)
C.W. Nicol at Arato-jo Castle 荒砥城に来たC.W.ニコルさん
環境を守る運動でぎゃぎゃうるさく言っていたニコルさんは私の大ヒーローです。英字新聞「ジャパンタイムズ」の連載コラムで知りました。読めば読むほど、会ってみたいと思い、縁（訳）があって、この戸倉上山田温泉に講演会で呼ぶことが出来ました。世の中で自分のヒーローを実際会う機会がなかなかないけど、一つの夢を叶いました。上田駅までを迎えに行って、雑談していた時に「ニコルさんはアフリカでどこかの国立公園の設立の手伝いもなされましたね」と言ったら、「違うんだよ。俺がエチオピアの国立公園を設立した」と怒られました。さすがヒーロー。戸倉上山田温泉の川（千曲川河川敷）と山（城山、天狗山）を案内しまして、次の日は講演会。その時に、千曲川の河川敷にコンクリートテトラポットを置く作業が行われていた。ニコルさんの講演の中で、ロンドンのテムズ川やバンクーバーのフレーザー川のコンクリートを取り壊して、自然に再生運動の説明もあった。残念ながらあれから千曲川のテトラポットは増えてきた。（泣き） （今もまたテトラポット工事が行われている。）
もう一つなエピソードがある。ニコルさんと私が長野県の阿部知事に受賞されました。その時に知事に会うと照れていたけど、ニコルさんだけが「おい、阿部ちゃん」とものすごく親しくて。さすがヒーロー！ニコルさんは鹿の皮で出来ているスーツを着ていて、もっと鹿肉などの利用をアピールしました。（嬉しかったのは、ニコルさんのその儀式についての記事の中で私の事もメンションしてくれました。）
そのニコルさんは昨日、がんで亡くなりました。79才でした。
Old Nic has been active in promoting efforts to protect the environment for over 6 decades. I got to know about him through his column in the Japan Times. I had always wanted to meet him, and finally got the opportunity when I was able to arrange for him to come and give a talk here at Onsen Town Togura-Kamiyamada. It's not often one gets the chance to meet one's hero, so I was thrilled to be able to meet Nicol-san. I went to pick him up at Ueda Station and while chit-chatting on the way back I asked about him helping to create a national park in Africa. He gruffly replied that he didn't help -- he was the one to create the park in Ethiopia. Oops! Here in town, I took him down to the Chikuma River and up to the surrounding mountains. At that time, work was being done to install concrete tetrapods along the river bank. In his speech, Old Nic talked about how London with the River Thames and Vancouver with the Fraser River were removing concrete and taking the rivers back to their natural state. Unfortunately, the talk didn't succeed in the sense that since then, the number of tetrapods has increased. (More are being made again today.)
Another fond memory of Old Nic is when he and I were invited to an award ceremony by the governor of Nagano Prefecture. Most of us were nervous to meet the governor, but Old Nic slapped Abe-san on the back and, wearing a deerskin suit, pressed the governor to make better use of the prefecture's deer resources. (I was delighted Old Nic mentioned me in his column about the award ceremony.)
Old Nic passed away yesterday from cancer. He was 79.
テトラポット（泣き！） Crying over the concrete tetrapods
どちらの顔が赤い? Who's face is redder?
コロナウイルスの影響で世界中は自粛モードになりました。
当館も予約のほとんどがキャンセルになりました。
泣くか笑うかの所です。まだまだ泣きたくないので、普段通り営業しております。コロナウィルス対策として食事はなるべく部屋出しもしくは個室で提供しております。なおかつ、貸切露天「しなの風呂」は終息するまで無料で提供いたします。
皆さん、お大事になさってください。
Due to the corona virus, everyone is practicing social distancing. Of course, that means for ryokans like us practically all the reservations have canceled.
We don't know whether to cry or to laugh. For now, we're not ready to cry, so we are operating as normally as possible. For our guests' well-being, until the virus subsides as much as possible we will be serving meals to the guests in their rooms instead of our banquet room to avoid large gatherings of people. We will also be offering our private outdoor bath "Shinano-buro" for free.
We hope this new corona virus problem goes away soon. Until then, take care everyone.
お食事はなるべくお部屋で出す Serving guests' meals to their room
貸切露天「しなの風呂」の無料化 Family Bath offered for free
海外メディアに長野の食文化の感想を頼まれた。その答えです。
An overseas journalist asked for our opinion on food in Nagano. She wanted to know what the signature dishes are and the best restaurants, with a focus on international cuisine and dietary restrictions.
I’d like to share the list I put together, but please be forewarned I am biased for our onsen town Togura-Kamiyamada.
Nagano is famous for buckwheat noodles aka soba. There are highly regarded soba restaurants throughout the Prefecture, including Kaya here in our town (historical thatched-roof building that used to be a sake brewery; served authentically with an actual wasabi root that you can grate yourself),
Kaya's historical thatched-roof building
Kaya's authentic soba with an actual wasabi root to grate yourself
Katana-ya in Ueda City (Over 300-year history -- longer than my country! Whatever you do, don't order the super-size. You'll be there for days trying to finish it.),
Katana-ya (Lining up to get in)
and the venerable Kusabue (various locations). Recently some younger chefs are opening soba restaurants with some creative twists. And some areas have regional specialties such as what they mix the buckwheat with or how the noodles are served. For example, Iiyama City's Tomikura district uses the root of a local plant instead of flour. Pictured below is Kajika-tei in Tomikura. Next to the soba is in the photo is Iiyama's distinctive 'sasa-sushi' -- sushi rice with wild mushrooms wrapped in a bamboo leaf.
But real soba fans like to drive up the highlands / plateaus (e.g. Togakushi or Kaida Kogen) where the buckwheat is actually grown. There’s something extra special about eating soba near the buckwheat fields, made in the clear mountain air with clean mountain water. We usually go to Yamaguchi-ya in Togakushi. Their dining room has a huge picture window so on a clear day you can enjoy a view of Togakushi Mountain with your soba. (As a bonus, the owner is an actual Toguakure-ryu ninja.)
Soba-meister and Togakure-ryu ninja Yamaguchi-san (2nd from right)
Besides soba, Nagano’s soul food is a type of dumpling called oyaki. It is vegetable filling surrounded by a flour shell and fried, steamed, or (traditionally) cooked in coals. Pictured below is Ogawa-no-sho, famous for the latter.
Cooking oyaki dumplings in coals at Ogawa-no-sho by Zenkoji Temple
The best (yes, my bias) is Shichifuku in our town, . While at many touristy places the oyaki is of questionable freshness, at Shichifuku she grills them after you order so they come piping hot (they go great with a cold beer!). Common oyaki fillings are daikon radish, eggplant, and nozawana, a type of turnip green. Shichifuku serves all three of those along with a dessert version filled with sweet purple adzuki beans.
Nagano's Shinshu-Shinmachi district is famous for raising sheep, so mutton is popular, too. Known as Genghis Khan, it is usually grilled at your table. In our town, Kimijima-en is the place to go. Their apple-based dipping sauce is the best!
Manzo's original facade. (They recently remodeled and have a new, much fancier entrance.)
For other Nagano ‘delicacies’, this ocean-less prefecture gets creative with sources of protein. Things can get pretty deep. Gotoku-tei near Nagano Station can take care of your craving for bee larvae or stir-fried crickets, as well as the more common ‘basashi’ – horse meat sashimi. Try their gibier dishes, too. Gotoku-tei’s owner Miyashita-san is also a Togakure-ryu ninja.
Gibier hotpot at Gotoku-tei.
As for different types of cuisine, as with all of Japan ramen and tonkatsu are well-represented. Eating good ramen is almost a religious experience in Japan. Just in our town, we have an excellent variety of ramen shops. Kame-ya has a good miso ramen, and one of their dishes is served with the toppings making a picture.
Kame-Ya's miso ramen
Issei’s signature ramen features a “W” (double) soup of both tonkotsu (pork bone) and fish. Yoshiya’s has a soup base made of baby clams (great for people who don’t eat meat).
Yoshiya's baby clam ramen (bottom right) with their signature dish, grilled"horumon" (intestines, stomach, etc.)
A younger guy just moved back to town and opened up Ukigumo last October. His specialty is tsukemen with a hot chili powder soup. (If you're not familiar with 'tsukemen', it is basically deconstructed ramen with the soup and noodles served separately. You dip the noodles in the soup to eat.)
Ukigumo's signature Tsukemen with hot chili powder dipping sauce
For Tonkatsu, the southern Nagano town of Komagane is famous for a version with a sweet sauce called “Sauce-katsu”. One restaurant in our town has a version that is a local legend. Daikokuya’s nin-tare katsu features a ‘tare’ (sauce) with ninniku (garlic). If you like garlic, err, love garlic, this dish is epic.
Our area’s particular specialty is oshibori udon. We take the fat udon noodles and a locally-grown, really, really, really spicy daikon radish and grate the radish and in the radish broth you have to add miso paste to tame it down, then dip udon and eat. Kohaku is especially famous.
20090827124029
For international, I’m a snob when it comes to Thai, and our town’s My Thai is superb. . Our town also has a fancy French restaurant, Lapis Lazuli but I have to plead ignorance – I’ve never had the money to go there. We have some reputable Italian, but I recently went to one that I want to take my parents to next time they come (it’s that excellent). It’s the restaurant named Vino della Gatta attached to the winery in our neighboring town, Sakaki. So you get excellent Italian and can try out Nagano’s wine.
Our town has a new Indian restaurant but when I tried to go they happened to be closed so can’t comment yet.
When in Japan, having a formal kaiseki-style meal at least once is a must. Our chef’s version is fairly creative and fairly reasonable, www.kamesei.jp.
Kaiseki-style dinner by Kamesei Ryokan's Chef Takei.
For vegans, the above-mentioned oyaki and oshibori udon are popular. For gluten-free, some soba shops including the above-mentioned Kaya offer some soba made of 100% buckwheat flour (80/20 or 70/30 is more common) which works as long as you substitute salt for the dipping sauce.
Both our chef’s kaiseki and the above-mentioned Gotoku-tei can handle most dietary restrictions. But when it comes to halal, pork and alcohol-free is possible, but not full halal.
For halal, if you’ve got the money, lapis lazuli, If not, Kebab World in Ueda.
Nagano’s restaurant “scene” is what you make of it. The ski resorts of Hakuba and Nozawa Onsen have increasingly global apres-ski scenes. Matsumoto City has a great bar scene, including some new craft beer breweries (as well as some great bakeries). There are an increasing number of coffee shops and bean roasters popping up for the caffeine crowd.
Here in our town Togura-Kamiyamada, there are 100+ restaurants and not a single national chain. Each one is run by an owner-chef. At many of them, you can sit at the counter and chat with the chef and regular customers (the yakitori restaurant Ushiwaka is especially great for that).
And some of the restaurants are as quirky as their owners, like Rokkatei decorated with European antiques and besides fondue, their signature dish is a tofu steak.
Rokkatei's iconic tofu steak with demi-glace sauce.
For my wife and I, our favorite food 'scene' is to go for a drive out to Nagano's rural by-ways, enjoying the mountain scenery along the way, and stopping at a quaint restaurant before heading to a day-use onsen bath house. One such destination is Cafe Terrace Momo. (As a bonus, their menu is entirely vegan.)
Mari eating dessert in Cafe Momo's garden
亀清旅館のオーナー、タイラーの読売新聞（長野版）のコラムは本日にまた掲載されます。今回のトピックはグレターツーリズムです。編集前の文章は下記です。プロの編集者に磨かれた版は今日の読売新聞にて！
The latest column by Kamesei Ryokan's owner, Tyler, in the Yomiuri Newspaper. The topic: Greta Tourism.
20090116195049
最近はグレタ・トゥーンベリの環境活動が話題になっているけど、私の旅館経営の経験から言えば長野県は進んでいる方だと感じる。温泉や物の再利用、二酸化炭素排出量の少ない旅スタイルで長野らしい自然の守り方が目立つ。
我が温泉宿で好評な行為が湯たんぽである。夜は寝る前でお風呂に入る時に温泉のお湯を入れる。地球温暖化のせいなのかこの冬は昼間が異常に温かいけれど、信州の冬はやはり寒いので、湯たんぽを布団の中に入れたら足元がぽかぽかになる。すごくアナログ的な事だが、地球にやさしいのでグレタさんはきっと喜ぶだろう。
上山田の温泉の成分が強いから難しいけど、温泉地によってお湯はお風呂以外にも役に立っている。熱交換で利用している宿もあるし、旅館業の中で有名なのは渋湯田中温泉の金具屋さん。温泉のお湯を館内に配管で通して、冬は宿の暖房になっている。
当館では暖房にロビーに薪ストーブがある。焚付に利用済みの割箸を、薪に周辺のりんご農家の剪定物をもらってきて、利用している。
りんご農家と旅館の間でもう一つの面白い「物の再利用」がある。以前に客室の畳を取り替えた時、古い畳を知り合いのりんご農場に持って行った。そうすると、リンゴの木の周りに置いた。しばらくの間は雑草を抑えるし、イグサは年数がたてば土になって、りんごの木の栄養になる。
信州は旅行のスタイルもグレタが納得できそう。特に、最近に発表されたジャパンアルプスサイクリングという事業で、３つのアルプスを周遊する800kmルートが注目。この戸倉上山田で2020年が「千曲サイクリングイヤー」だと（勝手に）宣言している。四季折々のライドを企画している。例えば2月はバレンタインデーの記念で、温泉から千曲川自転車道経由で隣の坂城町のチョコレート工場（直販売店）とワイナリー（見学とランチ）へ。
信州の温泉活用、物の再利用、自転車ツーリズムですでに環境を大事にしている。いずれにしても、長野県はグレタの大先輩のC.W.ニコルの活動が数年前からあったし、認識度が高い。有り難い。
我が亀清旅館で新たな実践： 松代焼の販売。Our latest service for our guests: Selling Matsushiro-yaki pottery.
最近は当館の売店を少しずつ工夫してます。
今まで売っていた島屋さんの甘露煮と杏宝園の半生杏に加えて、
木の花の漬物と高村商店のしょうゆ豆、そして今度は松代焼。
お客様が喜んでくれるかな?
松代焼の販売を始まりました！
私たちが大好きな色合いの陶芸、松代焼は長野県の伝統工芸。近くの長野市松代地区で200年の歴史。
手頃の料金で、信州の旅のお土産に🎵
Our local pottery, Matsushiro-yaki, now sold here at Kamesei Ryokan.
We love the Aurora borealis-like wavy blue-green of the glaze. This pottery is a designated heritage craft of Nagano Prefecture and has been being made in Nagano City’s Matsushiro district for 200 years.
Matsushiro-yaki would make the perfect souvenir for your trip to Nagano, and we offer it at reasonable prices.
東京方面の皆様、年末に亀清旅館と我がずくだしエコツアー
のテレビ撮影がありました。
関東のみの放送だそうですが、
本日オンエアーだそうです。温泉とサイクリングとローカルフードの特集。そして、人間ドラマ？
東京方面の皆様、宜しければご覧になってみてください。そして、戸倉上山田に温泉とサイクリングを是非に！
Asahi TV kindly videotaped Kamesei Ryokan and our Zukudashi Eco Tours ride. It will apparently be shown on TV in the greater Tokyo area today. We hope it will bring more people to Togura Kamiyamada for onsen and cycling!
