Nasushiobara: Marcello`s Wine Bar.
Jul. 22nd, 2008 01:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sechan19I set off for Nasushiobara first thing after class on Friday, having looked up the time tables the night before. There were no issues in purchasing a ticket from the JR Ticketing Office, naturally, and the trip was a quick one--just over an hour from Tokyo station to Nasushiobara. Takako picked me up soon afterward, and we met Paul at the house. I spent the early part of the afternoon and evening working on homework and sitting in on some of Paul’s English classes. Yoko, the girl I’ve been pen pals with all the past year, happened to have class that evening so we met up and made plans to have a drink together the following evening.
After classes were over, Takako and Paul took me to a very classy drinking establishment known as Marcello’s. It’s run by a Japanese gentleman who has gone by the name Marcello since his early days working in an Italian restaurant. Having learned much about the world’s wines, he opened his own wine business with his wife as partner. The atmosphere of the building is Italianate in style, as it was built by the couple when they expanded business; very intimate but airy and with a wide array of fine wines, alcohols, and hors d’oeuvres.
Our first bottle of wine was a French Pinot Noir, beautifully smooth even after only a few years. The vintage was astonishingly well finished for a 2005, I thought. We nibbled on an assortment of cheeses (Roquefort, Cheddar, and Port Salut) with crackers in accompaniment. Later we began a California Merlot with fantastic homemade yakisoba (grilled soba noodles) on the side. When I mentioned to Marcello, in the course of conversation, that in my experience the three things California was known for were the Terminator, surfing, and oranges. He made me an Italian Orange Salad with fresh California oranges, onions, basil, and red pepper. It was absolutely delicious.
Takako and Paul have known Marcello and his wife for years. (We actually ended up there that night because he had called to thank them for an issue of Wine Spectator they’d brought him from their last California trip.) Consequently, we were greeted with royal welcome and enjoyed “regular” status. Being a regular in a tiny Japanese bar is a thing to behold. Everyone is welcoming and garrulous, and you find yourself talking to all kinds of fascinating people--the police officer on your left who is the rare Japanese bachelor that loves to cook for himself, for instance, or the top Honda automotive designer on your right who will probably have masterminded the engine in the next car you buy.
Marcello and I talked quite a bit about Japanese culture, particularly film culture. I impressed him by recognizing a beautiful orchestral version of Sakamoto Ryuichi’s stirring theme to the film Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence and further astonished him with my knowledge of films by Kitano Takeshi. At departure time (two o’clock in the morning, I must note) I was heartily invited back the next time I’m in the country.
Our ride home was a fascinating experience. Apparently, getting a DUI in Japan is more trouble than you ever want to be in. However, taxis are expensive and the designated driver concept isn’t very widespread (the act of refusing a drink in Japan is an art form that requires prodigious mastery to effect). Consequently, an innovative business has sprung up around the bar culture. Daikou (literally “to act on someone’s behalf”) is an inexpensive alternative to the taxi. What happens is you call the service and two men show up. One of the men drives you and your car home, the other follows in the company car to collect the driver and move on to the next job.
If grad school doesn’t work out for me, I know what I’m going to end up doing for a living! Aside from the prohibitive costs of insurance, the popularity of the designated driver program, and the prevalence of inexpensive taxis in America at present, I cannot imagine why such a thing hasn’t caught on more elsewhere. ;)
After classes were over, Takako and Paul took me to a very classy drinking establishment known as Marcello’s. It’s run by a Japanese gentleman who has gone by the name Marcello since his early days working in an Italian restaurant. Having learned much about the world’s wines, he opened his own wine business with his wife as partner. The atmosphere of the building is Italianate in style, as it was built by the couple when they expanded business; very intimate but airy and with a wide array of fine wines, alcohols, and hors d’oeuvres.
Our first bottle of wine was a French Pinot Noir, beautifully smooth even after only a few years. The vintage was astonishingly well finished for a 2005, I thought. We nibbled on an assortment of cheeses (Roquefort, Cheddar, and Port Salut) with crackers in accompaniment. Later we began a California Merlot with fantastic homemade yakisoba (grilled soba noodles) on the side. When I mentioned to Marcello, in the course of conversation, that in my experience the three things California was known for were the Terminator, surfing, and oranges. He made me an Italian Orange Salad with fresh California oranges, onions, basil, and red pepper. It was absolutely delicious.
Takako and Paul have known Marcello and his wife for years. (We actually ended up there that night because he had called to thank them for an issue of Wine Spectator they’d brought him from their last California trip.) Consequently, we were greeted with royal welcome and enjoyed “regular” status. Being a regular in a tiny Japanese bar is a thing to behold. Everyone is welcoming and garrulous, and you find yourself talking to all kinds of fascinating people--the police officer on your left who is the rare Japanese bachelor that loves to cook for himself, for instance, or the top Honda automotive designer on your right who will probably have masterminded the engine in the next car you buy.
Marcello and I talked quite a bit about Japanese culture, particularly film culture. I impressed him by recognizing a beautiful orchestral version of Sakamoto Ryuichi’s stirring theme to the film Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence and further astonished him with my knowledge of films by Kitano Takeshi. At departure time (two o’clock in the morning, I must note) I was heartily invited back the next time I’m in the country.
Our ride home was a fascinating experience. Apparently, getting a DUI in Japan is more trouble than you ever want to be in. However, taxis are expensive and the designated driver concept isn’t very widespread (the act of refusing a drink in Japan is an art form that requires prodigious mastery to effect). Consequently, an innovative business has sprung up around the bar culture. Daikou (literally “to act on someone’s behalf”) is an inexpensive alternative to the taxi. What happens is you call the service and two men show up. One of the men drives you and your car home, the other follows in the company car to collect the driver and move on to the next job.
If grad school doesn’t work out for me, I know what I’m going to end up doing for a living! Aside from the prohibitive costs of insurance, the popularity of the designated driver program, and the prevalence of inexpensive taxis in America at present, I cannot imagine why such a thing hasn’t caught on more elsewhere. ;)
