Places I'm Visiting: Japan 2024 – Tottori

Visiting the Tottori Sand Dunes turned out to be something of a waste of time. It's been pouring with rain all morning and, at the coast, where the dunes are, the wind was fierce. We made a half-hearted attempt to talk a walk on the dunes, but ended up standing in the biting wind, getting slapped in the face by rain for a few minutes and then turning back. We took shelter in the inevitable o-miyage (gift) shop. The 'Tottori Sand Cookies' actually looked pretty good – cream sandwiched between wafers, the name playing on the fact that 'sand' is often used in Japan as shorthand for 'sandwich'.

I couldn't resist buying a bottle of locally produced Cabernet Sauvignon (2017)* out of curiosity. It's probably been sitting in the shop through multiple hot summers, stewing in the heat. It may therefore be in bad shape, but I gave in to temptation also because, coincidentally, the wine was made in a place called Hojyo, which happens to be the name of the (unrelated) town in Ehime Prefecture that I lived in as a high school exchange student on my very first visit to Japan (1977-1978).   

In a shop in the station, while waiting for my next train, I came upon canned hamburgers –  or 'Can-burgs'. My curiosity in this case was not enough to induce me to make a purchase.

Before leaving Kyoto, I came across a vending machine selling nothing but Sriracha sauce. Japan is known for selling just about anything in vending machines – I've seen neckties, underwear, shirts, toothbrushes, razors, hot sake, cold sake, every manner of cold soft drink, but also hot drinks like coffee in cans, sandwiches, cakes, and even porn magazines in roadside or train station vending machines but never hot sauce before. What will they think of next?

*The wine turned out to be OK. It wasn't remarkable, but it was quite acceptable everyday wine. According to the bottle, grapes have been grown in the Hojyo area of Tottori Prefecture since the late Edo Period (the Edo Period ended in 1868) and wine has been made there since around 1945.