Hokuriku, the prefecture at the "rear" side of Japan, is best for taking Echizen-Gani (snow crab).
You must request as Zuwai-Gani if you want male Echizen-Gani, and little Seiko-Gani if female.
In winter, crab meat become best to eat, as their meat get firm. Though, you cannot miss the summer one also, which is no less delicious than that. I get on the sightseeing bus, Kani-Pack (Crab Package Tour) to eat
crabs. We took Meishin Expressway to Maibara, and change to Hokuriku Expressway to get to Tsuruga Inter Change. There are many tunnels in Hokuriku.
There are more than 10 between Maibara and Fukui-Kita, but no such long ones like #1 / #2 tunnels in Kan-Etsu Expressway or Ena Mountain Tunnel.
As the place have so many snow, they need lots of such constructions. There is a place called Tone just before Tsuruga, that means "heavy snow" in Ainu Language. Why Ainu in such place? Does it possibly have any relation with Kitamae-Bune? The bus get off from Expressway at Tsuruga, and passing beside the mansion where Japanese famous actress/singer lives, it headed north on National Highway #8. This is a straight road and has Suizu beach and Kono Beach alongside. As the result, the road is very much crowded in summer. On the opposite shore, there you can see Tsuruga Peninsula. The color of the sea is very much different when we go and come back. It changes from deep blue-green to gray. On Tsuruga Peninsula, Japanese serow is said to live, though it is said they only live in a place over 1500m sea level like Hida or Kii Peninsula. At the foot of the mountain is the seashore, and there you can see the 2nd oldest nuclear power station in Japan. Alongside of the road, there is a prominent wall painting of narcissus. At the end of the year, narcissus, said to be drifted ashore by Kuroshio Current, bloom all at once at the quay of Awaji, Boso and here Echizen, facing southern sea. I want to see them some day, though "Bread is better than the song of the birds" for today. Crab and northern shrimp must come first. After about 2.5 hours, we arrived at crab restaurant.All the northern shrimp has blue-green eggs. All of them are female. I learned that northern shrimp is hermaphrodite, that is male when child, and become female when grow up. After eating crab and shrimp, we rest for a while looking at the deep-blue sea. After that, we went to Echizen-Soba factory and joined the factory
tour. Here, we grinned triangular Soba seed with mortar and tasted it taking the white powder on our hand.
It tasted slightly bitter. Certainly it has plenty of Vitamin B! I tried cold Soba-Yokan. Takefu is famous
for its chrysanthemum doll and bamboo doll.
Cherry blossoms is preferred mainly by male, an chrysanthemum by female. Takefu is a city preferred by
female. Looking Hino Mountain or "Echizen-Fuji" and Kitamae-bune Museum, we started on our way home. Before getting on Tsuruga Inter Change, we visited Kombu (Tangle) House. There are every kind of kombu in here. After looking at the factory, we went to the house shop. There you can find kombu chocolate and kombu ice cream, and there even are kombu parfait in restaurant! I had visited Hokuriku many times by car, though I newly found out that taking bus is very convenient and easy way to come here. Getting in the tunnel, you feel something strange by the color of sodium lamp.The color of the lamp remove the dirt of exhaust gas, and make girls look beautiful. This is the reason why girls looks pretty walking down Ginza street, the main shopping street in Tokyo.
Thinking such incoherent things and half sleeping, we departed gray sea at dawn.