🇯🇵 Nasushiobara

The rural town where Masa grew up. Tony and Masa visited his family (mom and daughter). His mother made motsuni, "a slow simmered stew of pork tripe, konnyaku, daikon, green onions, and miso," sashimi with freshly grated wasabi, uni, and otoro (tuna).

Masa's brother Kazuo had a restaurant in Nasushiobara called Sugimura. Could not find it on the map. They had "kimoyaki, eel liver dipped in a sauce of sake, soy, and mirin, and grilled low and slow over charcoal... insanely delicious custard of eel and egg, jacked with bean curd, bonito broth, and kelp... hitsumabushi, eel steamed, dressed, and grilled, over rice."