Warmest oysters ever tasted in Anamizu

Prelude (added 4 days after first posting this blog):

This article is not like the rest. Nothing much about facts and background...a lot on personal feelings. That is because I am attempting to convey something I experienced in Japan that surpassed the destination itself.

Travelling is more than sight-seeing. Relax. Slow down. Be friends. If you have gone travelling to a foreign place, but have not had any interactions with the locals, then you are missing out on the essence of travel. Humanity. Sometimes I can travel miles to a place, but only remember the journey along the way or an interaction I had there. This article is about that. The best thing is that it is both about the journey AND an unforgettable interaction.

Remember, sometimes the highlight of your travel may not be the destination itself! :)
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Main blog:

At Riki, a small family-owned oyster & seafood shop in Anamizu

I have had the great fortune to meet some really special people during my travels in Japan this time. Some of them I may never meet again, but I know I will remember for a very long time. Two of these people own a small family-owned oyster shop called Riki (カ) in Anamizu, a town located in Noto Peninsula, northern Ishikawa Prefecture.

The Noto Peninsula boasts the largest oyster cultivation district on the Sea of Japan. Therefore finding an oyster restaurant at Anamizu didn't seem such a difficult task....unless you are talking about searching for it at 8.30pm and without any prior reservation, not to mention that the temperature outside was about 7 deg! It turned out to be a huge challenge, though hunting for the oysters while on a Harley Davidson made it a great deal more exciting :) My friend, Nate (from Kanazawa, he would add) and I had already, before reaching Anamizu, been riding an hour from Kanazawa to Nanao, and another 45min from Nanao to Anamizu (not to mention the detour to Notojima in between). With the cold wind rushing against us at about 120km/hr, we were almost freezing at a blistering 5deg. So if we didn't have the oysters we wanted, we would be two very hungry and cold monsters indeed.


Riding on the Harley up the winding roads of Ishikawa Prefecture!

There were many small restaurants in Anamizu that serve fresh oysters in various forms such as batter-frying, stir-frying, or just simply raw. The most interesting must be baking them alive (somehow the Japanese have a fetish of eating things alive..). By 9.30pm however, none of these delicious options seemed within reach. We were about to give up until a local lady helped us telephone Riki, which we were convinced was the only one in town that still had a table on a tatami seating for two! We sped there fast as we could, and were elated to step into Riki knowing that we finally had seats waiting for us in a warm place, and that we were actually going to have oysters...(some of the freshest at that)!


Delicious fresh oysters at Riki in Anamizu!

Riki was a nice warm place to be in after braving the cold for almost 2 hours. The oysters were delicious and we had to order more since we didn't know when we would come back again. We had friendly little chats with the elderly couple who were running the shop over some beer, mainly about the oysters and the queer transparent looking tiny fish called Isaza swimming in the tank that would be eaten alive later (Isaza is also a specialty of Anamizu - http://www.hanashiori.jp/image/fish/big/isaza_big.jpg). We also talked about why I could speak Japanese, how Singapore is like (besides our Merlion!) and how they would love to visit :)

I loved the homely feeling away from home, but the warmth didn't end there. The Oba-chan (auntie) and Oji-chan (uncle) that I knew for only slightly more than an hour, did something for me which I shall always remember. We were about to mount onto the Harley for a cold 1.5hrs ride back to Kanazawa at 11.30pm, when the Oba-chan suddenly appeared at the doorstep with a thick bubble jacket probably more expensive than the meal we had, uttered in Japanese that it should keep me warm for my ride home, and buttoned the jacket on for me.

In this situation where even the most polite 'Domo arigatou gozaimasu' was unable to fully express how I felt, I did the most un-Japanese thing. I gave the sweet Oba-chan a big hug and could not say anything more.

I still remember the ride in the cold night to hunt for the oysters, and the little shop with some of the freshest taste of the oysters I ever had. But most of all, I will always remember the gesture of kindness and humanity I received in the most unexpected way here in Japan. Thank you Oba-chan & Oji-chan. I will keep the jacket for now and hope to see you again one day in Anamizu or Merlion Singapore....:)

* Tel no. for Riki (カ): 81-768-52-2164 (only Japanese!)