Kuma Eging & Fishing: Day 2 Japan Trip

Park next to hotel

Another full on day today, had a cracker sleep in and did not wake up till 0600 this morning, after the normal shower and get dressed routine I jumped into the lift and headed for the buffet breakfast, now for those of you who have not yet worked it out I am not too bad on the chew and I enjoy my food so I was a hungry man on a mission to destroy the buffet. Try as I may I only took 3 plates because I had a big day planned, I knew I did well though because the chef told me that they normally only cook eggs twice for breakfast but he was making number 3 just for me LOL. Pretty chockers full of food I decided I would do something I never do and that was go for a walk to have a look at the sights near the hotel, I did not travel too far away as I am sure my body would have gone into shock if I did and for those who dont know Kobe has lots of hills and is on the edge of mountain ranges.

Storm water dragons

I wont bore you with all the details but the pictures will speak louder than words, its really an amazing city. One of the details I have to explain is the amount of vending machines in this town, what ever direction you look is a machine, I was sitting in a park-playground area and decided I wanted a drink so I approached the vending machines for a coke, however, I had trouble finding a coke as the vending machines were full of beer, I had to get a photo of that, not more than 20 meters from this playground area was vending machines full of beer and smokes, in the end I found my coke in a chain store here called Lawsons. The girl at the counter was learning English and I am attempting to learn Japanese so she practiced her English and I had a dip at some Japanese, must have got my message across as I left with a coke and we both had a few chuckles.

beer machine

Maruha Tackle store

I wandered back to the hotel to meet with Mr Kitagawa so we could go and have a look at some tackle stores, I have been looking forward to tackle stores more than anything else and all I can say is OH MY GOD. Multi level tackle stores and with more subiki jigs on one wall that I have seen in Australia period. You name a lure its here, hook size? yep they have it. Surreal experience and lucky I do not travel with a credit card with big limits or I could not afford my trip home, too much to play with and it did my head in. The first shop we went to was a chain store a bit like Tackleworld at home and when I got to the egi section it took my 20 minutes just to browse past the literally thousand of jigs on the wall and Mr Kitagawa tells me that this particular store is not so big and the next one would be better for me, in shock all I could say was OK. I picked up a few toys and off to the next shop. The next shop was bigger and had more variety, called Maruha it had its own floor just for lures so this was going to get

Maruha lure man

expensive......... after a good look around I discovered some Inchiku jigs, this is what I was looking for to buy on this trip as no one in Australia stocks them, they are going to be my new snapper smasher this year, although I reckon I will be beefing up the leader because it is an expensive trip back to pick up a few jigs. I found a few more things that were pretty cool too so invested a bit more into their local economy. We were running low on time as I was dragging my feet a bit playing with all the new toys that I have never seen in Australia, I made my way to the counter and I met with the worker who was happy to see Australian Gan Craft Pro Staff in his store so it was out with the cameras for a few pictures for the store and for his blog, I thought I would get in on the action and get a pic for my blog also.

Gosen Factory

We did have plans to go to a Gyoza restaurant in Kobe but I took too long looking at all the shiney things in the store so it was off to my second preferred food store to Gyoza, McDonalds. I tried the McTeriyaki burger, it gets a 2 thumbs up from me, and then a Big Mac meal just to see how close it tastes to home and nope no different. We did the mad dash back to Mr Kitagawa's office to pick up his boss and then off to the Gosen Factory to see how the line is made, after about 1 hour's drive we arrived at Gosen and was met by Mr Hitoshi Kishimoto (General Manager) and Mr Toshiaki Morikata (Manager Fishing Tackle) where after introductions we went inside to meet with some more staff, we took a short drive to the braiding factory a massive factory that was braiding fine strands of dyneema to make braided line, This factory had more than 700 of these machines pumping out line all over the place,

Braiding Machines

some 4 strand some 8 strand and some assist hook core line, was amazing to see how it all worked and also amazing to see how many quality checks are preformed before the stage of braiding and also before the line is packaged, its a credit to the company and a clear reason why Gosen pumps out some of the worlds best braided fishing lines. We then headed back to the main factory for a quick tour, however, someone does not own pants nor shoes so we had to limit part of the tour because crocs and shorts were not proper safety attire, will make sure when I come back I will bring some normal people clothes. They do everything here, strands for wigs, monofliliment, fluorocarbon and even polyester sewing thread, I saw the mono extrusion and again the quality checks were incredible, if they did this in the rest of the world then there would be no need for warranties. Next stop was the dying room, this is where 60 spools of braid are placed on a machine and left to run the lines are colored and then dried before being measured and packed for your enjoyment. Seriously guys if you are after some great quality line dont pass up on Gosen, its incredibly tight weave makes it finer than most other lines and does not unwind itself when tying knots. Gladiator tackle is the distributor for Gosen in Australia and unlike many other brands that give the impression they are made in Japan, this stuff is because, I know because I was there while it was being spun. It has been doing it for more than 60 years so I reckon they have it sussed by now. They are making a new export model for us soon, I have been using it on one of my egi outfits and am wrapped with it so keep your peepers out for it.

Don Don Barbeque

Back to more important things like my stomach, so we all jumped in cars and headed back into Kobe for a traditional Kobe style Japanese Barbeque. I am telling you folks I am gonna make one of these things when I get home, the table would have seated 6 in comfort with a circular grill in the middle, after a few drinks and some pickled vegetables Mr Kitagawa ordered from the menu for us all, soon to arrive at the table was a plate of think sliced pork for the grill, perfection in taste and texture does not give this meal credit and just when i thought that they may have ordered a little light along comes some of Kobe's famous beef in thin slices ready for the grill, some how I managed to eat some green stuff first but the beef was incredible and I could have eaten a tray on my own so I did. Next was some what different, a tray filled with small dishes arrived with products I had not seen before, with some subtle investigation I found that it was the stuff we in Australia cut out and put in the bin, liver, stomach lining, outer stomach, tongue, esophagus and something else that made my stomach turn a little. I did attempt some liver and stomach but gave up after that and we ordered some more beef. The hospitality from the people in Japan has been second to none, Mr Kitagawa has been a perfect host and a lot of help translating Japanese to Engrish for me and getting me around as well as orginising my entire visit thus far. I can not thank him enough for the experience.