This time, it’s a small story, or perhaps a topical story. Pretending not to hear the justified comments that the title “Burning?” must mean something else, don’t worry about it.
The Los Angeles Dodgers won the MLB World Series, and Dodgers fans and Shohei Ohtani fans all over Japan and the world were excited, shouting “Shohei Banzai!” Naturally, Shohei’s home town of Iwate, the excitement level was pretty high, and it must be “burning”.
I’m just a casual fan of Ohtani, but I wanted to share in the celebratory mood somehow. However, it would be too much of a hassle to go all the way to Iwate. So I decided to visit this place in Tokyo instead. This is the Iwate Ginga Plaza, an Iwate prefecture antenna shop in Higashi-Ginza, mid of Tokyo.
Speaking of Higashi-Ginza, that’s Kabuki-za theatre.
There were a few foreign tourists here and there. It was the afternoon, which is not a day for performances, but it is a famous spot after all. The shop we’re looking for is on the first floor of the building opposite Kabuki-za.
Oh, I found a poster at the entrance saying ”Congratulations to Shohei Ohtani”
If you look another shop window, there’s also this kind of PR outside the store.
It is well known that Mr. Otani is a graduate of Hanamaki Higashi High School, but he was actually born in Mizusawa (now part of the city of Oshu), a little to the south of Hanamaki. The area has produced many talented people in the late Edo and Meiji periods, including Takano Choei and Goto Shinpei, and it seems that Otani Shohei’s name may become another historical big name from the area to be added to this list.
To celebrate Ohtani’s World Series victory, there was a special sale of lucky bags in the store.
The contents of the lucky bag include a selection of Nanbu rice crackers and local ramen noodles. Yes, this simplicity and modesty is very Iwate, very Tohoku.
The books section, where you would normally expect to find tourist guides and books explaining the history of the local area, was currently selling mainly Shohei Ohtani mooks (lol).
It was a long time ago, but I have been working in various places in Tohoku over a period of several years, and I have many memories of the cities of Morioka, Hanamaki, Mizusawa, Kuji, Miyako etc. Thinking back, I used to visit the Ginga Plaza quite a lot, but it’s been a long time since I was last there.
As a small token of apology for my neglect, I also took part in the celebratory sale and bought some Nanbu rice crackers, Iwayado yokan (sweet bean jelly) and local wasabi greens to take home. I thoroughly enjoyed the taste of Iwate that I hadn’t had for a while.
So, that was my visit to the Iwate Ginga Plaza, where I was able to confirm that Iwate Prefecture is definitely in high spirits. Apart from the Shohei celebration, I think I’ll go around to the shops in each prefecture in Tohoku, because it’s fun to visit local shops in familiar areas.
