The quality of fish is poor, and the meat is expensive and nothing special at Hello Day Nieceham Store. The only thing worth buying at Hello Day is horse sashimi, as it is the only supermarket in the Nieceham area that sells pre-cut horse sashimi. Sometimes Foodway also has horse sashimi, but the quality is poor. Hello Day's horse sashimi is the best in the world. It is more delicious than any izakaya or horse sashimi specialty store in Fukuoka or Kumamoto. Seeing the incredibly delicious horse sashimi in Kiyama Town on "Nanshiyou to?" with Hakkou Hanamaru Daikichi, I couldn't resist and went to Hello Day. It's cheap! It's so cheap! Wait a minute!!! It's too cheap. 1.5 liters of cola for 124 yen, Donbei for 108 yen, and Nissin Yakisoba UFO for 108 yen. With the situation in Ukraine and the depreciation of the yen causing high prices, vending machine juices are selling for 180 yen. In the midst of this, Hello Day is selling at pre-inflation prices. The quality of sashimi is poor, and the sushi ingredients are still lacking. However, necessity is the mother of invention. Cheap is the best! No, other supermarkets are just too expensive. Leave the sashimi to Station Food, and everything else to Hello Day. With a limit of shopping twice a week, within 15 minutes each time, one must efficiently shop for both content and price.

Kumamoto is famous for its horse sashimi, but Fukuoka Prefecture's Chikugo region consumes even more horse meat. In areas like Asakura City, Ogori City, Tachiara, Tanomaru, and the mountainous region between Kurume and Hita, there are many high-quality butcher shops known for their delicious horse sashimi. However, all of them serve Aizu-style horse sashimi. I prefer the horse sashimi from Kumamoto. The Aizu-style horse sashimi they refer to has no marbling. It's a style commonly eaten in the Aizu region of Fukushima Prefecture. On the other hand, the horse sashimi served in Kumamoto is preferred to have marbling. One of the differences is whether it's domestically produced or from Canada. In regions like Aizu in Fukushima and Chikugo in Fukuoka, they use domestically produced horse meat, known for its lean and muscular texture, resulting in less marbling. On the other hand, Canadian horse meat, commonly found in Kumamoto, comes from horses like those used in Ban'ei horse racing, which are more fat-marbled. The horse sashimi served in Kumamoto, like at restaurants such as Kanoya, is mostly Canadian. But that's okay because marbled Canadian horse sashimi is delicious. Hello Day also serves Canadian horse meat. Compared to domestically produced lean meat, Canadian horse meat is softer and sweeter. Canadian horse sashimi is sold in many places, but Hello Day is the second best in the world. As for the number one best in the world? What? You didn't ask? Well, I won't tell you.

These days, as we continue living a life of staying at home, I had a craving for professional-made squid ink curry. I realized that I really miss eating food made by professionals! As someone who can't cook, the ban on eating out is a big deal for me. However, more delicious than any restaurant in Kumamoto or the lesser-known Chikugo region in Fukuoka, is the horse sashimi available at Hello Day. There are Hello Day stores scattered throughout Kitakyushu and Fukuoka, at least in the city. Recently, the Niecehama store has had poor quality fish and meat, to the point where I wouldn't even want to eat their sushi even if I was paid. The only delicious items at Hello Day are the side dishes, Sakura Itoshima pork, and horse sashimi. Hello Day Hashimoto store, Jiro Maru store, Hello Park Shufunji store, and even the Bon Lapas Trezo, which is part of the same Hello Day group, have good quality meat and fish, but the Niecehama store stands out for its poor quality. On this day, I was craving horse sashimi, so I went to Hello Day after a long time. I got a good horse sashimi at half price. It was fatty and delicious.

I'm refraining from posting on my food blog, but I wanted to share just one post to keep my streak of 67 months going. On April 15th, I watched a segment on a TV show about a dish called "kawara soba" that I wanted to try. Apparently, this dish became popular after being featured in a famous drama where stars like Gen Hoshino and Yui Aragaki played a married couple. It's been a month since then, and I never expected Gen Hoshino and Yui Aragaki to end up like this! The news of their marriage has left me feeling conflicted, especially since I have a special admiration for actresses like Mao Inoue, Yui Aragaki, Haruna Kawaguchi, Mirei Shida, and Mana Ashida. I don't want to imagine any of them getting married. Anyway, why was "kawara soba" highlighted in the show? In the drama, the mother was from Kagoshima and the father was from Yamaguchi, speaking in their respective dialects. The father's dialect sounded like a mix of Northern Kyushu, Fukuoka, and Kumamoto. I've eaten kawara soba countless times - at the Kawataba Grand Hotel's restaurant, at the amusement park called Shizen Land managed by the hotel, and with my grandparents and relatives in Kitakyushu. For people in Toyura Town, kawara soba is a symbol of their hometown. It's a dish that brings families and friends closer together. Just like sharing a pot of hotpot, we gather around a plate of kawara soba, picking at it together. It's a sign of family, friendship, and love. In the drama starring Gen Hoshino, kawara soba played a role in strengthening the family bond and love between the characters. Without kawara soba, the couple might have ended up divorcing. The mother from Kagoshima made kawara soba for a picnic, but it was different from the Yamaguchi version, causing a disagreement between the couple. The father then took them to try the authentic kawara soba, which impressed the mother with its deliciousness. I'll have to take my family to try the real kawara soba someday, but first, I need to build a family. Well, let's meet again in June.

On April 15th, I can't wait for tomorrow. There will be a special feature on the secret Kenmin Show about the famous tile soba in Shimonoseki. The original Takaseya and Otanofuku are just a 10-minute drive from my hometown. Tile soba is truly a gourmet food from my local area. Tomorrow's broadcast will focus on tile soba, Fukushima Akabeko, and Nagoya's Kinshachi, so there will likely be about 40 minutes dedicated to tile soba. It's almost like a full hour special on Shimonoseki's tile soba. I couldn't wait until tomorrow, so I bought tile soba at Hello Day. The product is called "bukkake tea soba," but it's clearly tile soba no matter how you look at it. It's served on a tile in the restaurant, but you can make it on a hot plate at home. And speaking of Hello Day, they also have horse sashimi. It's more delicious and cheaper than eating it at various other shops like in Kumamoto. People might say it's from Canada, but most horse sashimi served in Kumamoto is also from Canada. Even Suganoya's horse sashimi is 100% Canadian. Regular horse sashimi is good, but the Sakura Yukke is incredibly delicious. The provided sauce may not be enough, but it becomes the perfect snack when you add Gochujang. While liver sashimi is much tastier with beef than horse, there is a unique deliciousness to horse in Yukke. Furthermore, Kumamoto-grown live clams are 78 yen for 100g. I bought chopped green onions for the Yukke, so I'll sprinkle plenty of them on the butter-grilled clams.

During the last state of emergency, I was surrounded by fear that I might die, or I might infect customers at work, so everyone stayed holed up. I'm not so good, as an essential worker, I have to go out for work, and while staggered shifts and rotational work are possible, telework is absolutely impossible. That remains the same even now under the second state of emergency, but compared to last time, there is no tension. Instead of the fear of catching COVID, I think if I did get it, I might as well take off my mask and sing in the Saga Prefectural Office. So, I'm living in self-restraint with that in mind. The travel time from Hakata is the same whether by conventional express train or Shinkansen, but the Shinkansen is expensive, so there's no benefit for Saga Prefecture. So, you're saying Saga Prefecture doesn't need the Shinkansen, right? Then, if COVID spreads in Fukuoka, Saga's infected cases are Fukuoka-related. Fukuoka people, please don't come to Saga. Well, people from Kurume and Fukuoka do come to Fukuoka from your prefecture... The Kyushu Shinkansen's West Kyushu route rejects full specifications, saying the travel time from Hakata won't change, but with the full-spec Shinkansen opening from Nagasaki to Takeo Onsen, commuting from Nagasaki to Saga or vice versa becomes possible. While Nagasaki Prefecture, which has the highest number of people moving out, is making efforts to stop the exodus, Saga is saying "Please move to Saga!" The Cabinet, the LDP, Komeito, Nippon Ishin no Kai, the ruling coalition, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Nagasaki Prefecture, and JR Kyushu have repeatedly sought consultations with Saga Prefecture, but they were ignored. Nagasaki Prefecture, fed up, met with Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Akaba and Secretary-General Nikai, criticizing Saga's actions of ignoring them and making a fuss. The localities of Matsuura City, Omura City, Takeo City in Saga, along with Isahaya City and Omura City in Nagasaki, are requesting a full-spec Shinkansen, submitting statements to Saga Prefecture and the national government. Furthermore, the Saga Prefectural Assembly raised the issue, but Saga's position had already been decided, so they avoided it. In the end, when TBS's Good Luck reported on the use of COVID countermeasure subsidies, they criticized Jun Tamura's name in a public setting, refused a live appearance on Good Luck, said a YouTube appearance by Jun Tamura individually would be possible, but ultimately refused it, saying it should be explained to the prefectural residents first. Some of the uses of COVID countermeasure subsidies were rejected by the prefectural assembly without explanation to the Saga residents, and that's it! How self-serving and cowardly can you be, Governor Yamaguchi of Saga?! Leaving that aside, beef cheek meat was cheap, so beef cheek curry! Oh, it's delicious. Since I live alone, I had curry for four days in a row.

In the quiet New Year's season, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, I had to work continuously from December 31st to January 7th, so there was no holiday break for me. However, after a gap of 10 years, I had to do a night shift on New Year's Eve in Kitakyushu. On January 1st, I had to work overnight and couldn't go back to my hometown. Due to training and exhaustion from a gourmet train journey around Kyushu, I felt completely worn out. In my 20s, I used to recover from tiredness by sleeping, but now, even sleep doesn't seem to refresh me, and the fatigue keeps accumulating. Despite this, I decided to have a home drinking session and went to Hello Day. Although I haven't been giving good reviews to supermarkets lately, I was surprised to find expensive ingredients like blowfish and bluefin tuna at very low prices. Blowfish, which usually costs over 1000 yen, was now half price at 980 yen. And the real surprise was the bluefin tuna, including Chutoro and Otoro, at almost half the usual price. This might be due to the impact of COVID-19. The bluefin tuna was from Malta and Spain. While bluefin tuna from places like Oma, Amami, and Nagasaki in Kyushu is commonly available, I prefer the Mediterranean bluefin tuna. The knife and cutting board were covered in fat as I prepared a delicious tuna bowl.

The other day, I tried the takeout shabu-shabu from Macoichi with agedashi broth. It was unbelievably delicious! The secret lies in the ponzu sauce. Despite being sour, the addition of bonito broth helps to balance and enhance the flavor of the ponzu sauce. The ponzu sauce becomes an integral part of the dish, not just a condiment. When you wrap plenty of green onions around the pork in the agedashi and bonito broth, the combination of the sweetness of the pork and green onions is exquisite. The shabu-shabu with agedashi and bonito broth, enhanced by the flavor of bonito in the ponzu sauce, is like having a luxurious team on your plate. Although I feel bad for Macoichi, I found that Sakura Itoshima pork is even tastier than Goto Miyabuta pork. I managed to get some Sakura Itoshima pork and used granulated agedashi broth and dashi stock for the broth. For the green onions, I cooked them to about an 8 out of 10 (0 being raw and 10 being fully cooked), then wrapped them around the pork to eat. Delightful harmony! Unfortunately, I have run out of Macoichi's ponzu sauce. I wonder if they sell it separately? The pork shabu-shabu costs 1600 yen per serving, which is not cheap, and I personally find Sakura Itoshima pork tastier than Goto Miyabuta pork. I really want to get my hands on Macoichi's ponzu sauce.

For me, who goes to the supermarket after 9pm, Legnet closes at 8pm, MaxValu and Sunny have poor quality meat and fish. Foodway and Station Food are until 9pm, and the last hope in MaeHama is Hello Day. MaeHama, the largest bedroom town in Fukuoka with a population of 30,000. Even after 9pm, Hello Day remains crowded, with 2-3 people always lined up at the register, but it's much better than peak times. The other day, I brought back the Agodashi shabu-shabu from Makoiichi's Goto Shokudo in Kiyokawa. The Agodashi and ponzu were so delicious that I had shabu-shabu again the next day. Makoiichi's Goto Mibuta is also delicious, but the most delicious pork I've ever had in my life is the Sakura Itojima Pork. It is pork raised by Hello Day's own brand, only sold at Hello Day and Bon Lapas. The fine-grained lean meat is as soft as marbled meat. For grilled dishes like ginger pork, Kumamoto's Rindou Pork with coarse fibers is good, but for delicate dishes like shabu-shabu, Sakura Itojima Pork is the best.

Amusement Food Hall Hello Day is a supermarket that I have loved since I lived in Kitakyushu. I used to live in Morishita, Yahata Nishi-ku, so I had to drive 20 minutes to the Machijouzuyaku store of Hello Day. I was happy when the Kurosaki store opened just 5 minutes away by car. When you think of Hello Day, you think of the Maruta-produced bluefin tuna and horse sashimi. Hello Day is probably the only supermarket that sells horse sashimi. And the Maruta-produced bluefin tuna, a rich and flavorful bluefin tuna from the small island nation of Malta near Sicily, Italy. It is similar to the bluefin tuna at Tamusan, a bar in Nishijin. And the saba sushi that is currently a hot topic among some MyRebi-sama. I also want to eat Miyoshi's saba sushi! However, Miyoshi only serves saba sushi during the winter saba season. I planned to go to G Sushi in Ogoori in January, February, and March, but they are closed for New Year's in January, and only open once a month on Mondays in February and March. There is a shop in Ogoori that I have my eye on for chicken white broth ramen, but they only serve it on Mondays and Thursdays. When I bought the saba sushi, the expiration date had passed, so it was completely white, but on the day I bought it, it had a beautiful color. And I challenged Wappa Teishokudou Kego Honten again! Last time, I was so drunk that my eyes and legs were wobbly, so this time I coated the shrimp in batter while sober, and fried it to a decent level of drunkenness. The shrimp fry was much more delicious than last time. The tartar sauce is this one. I usually don't like Kewpie's tartar sauce, but most supermarkets only have Kewpie's. This tartar sauce is surprisingly delicious! However, both the shrimp fry and tartar sauce still do not measure up to Wappa Teishokudou. The path of training continues...

On April 18th, this weekend, Niehama suddenly transformed. Past 8 o'clock, Niehama was completely dark. Geo, which is usually open until 1 am, closed at 8 pm. West Coast, Shinbad sake, and Sake Matsuri also closed at 8 pm. The most symbolic change was Niehama Station being dark. Did the subway stop running!? No, the subway was running normally, but only the North and South exits with the central ticket gate were lit up. Normally open until 10 pm, Lotteria, Station Food, and Ekimachi 1-chome Niehama were dark. And guess what! Even Leganet was closed. No wonder MaxValu was crowded with people. Supermarkets should not shorten their hours! They should at least stay open until around 10 pm, or it will cause confusion, leading to further chaos like the toilet paper situation before. Currently, Hello Day, MaxValu, Foodway, and Cosmos in Niehama are open as usual. The status of Leganet, Station Food Sunny, and Marushoku is unconfirmed. Restaurants are open until 8 pm. Yama no Kaori Charcoal Shop Niehama was still open past 9 pm. Atelier, which is usually open until 6 am, was also open past 9 pm. Kumamoto's Sangyo Bus has a sign on the shuttle bus saying "On shuttle to the next future" as part of their 77th-anniversary celebration. It may be for the next operation rather than going back to the garage, but such details don't matter now. It's time for each citizen to stop operating and shuttle to the next future.

Recently, I occasionally see North Urchin at places like Hello Day and Bon Lapas. As someone from Toyoura Town in Yamaguchi Prefecture, I always associated North Urchin with the area around Toyohira Town, where famous places like Kakushima, the grave of the world-famous beauty Yang Guifei, and Ono no Komachi are located. Toyoura Town is also known for having the grave of Ono no Komachi. The old Toyoura District is amazing! The black sea urchin from Kakushima is also famous, so when I think of North Urchin, I thought of the area around Tokuishi, but it says Hagi Fishery Cooperative. Hagi Sea Urchin!!! Despite the abundance of seafood in Shimonoseki, many of the fish sold there are actually from Sensaki. It's not just a legend, but truly the birthplace of Misuzu Kaneko, in Nagato City. From Nagato City, further from Shimane, there is the Matsushita Village School founded by Yoshida Shoin, where Takasugi Shinsaku and Kido Takayoshi taught in Hagi City. The first Prime Minister of Japan, Hirobumi Ito, who had his portrait on the 1000 yen bill, is also from Hagi City. Yamaguchi Prefecture, which has produced the most Prime Ministers, including Shinzo Abe from Shimonoseki, has delicious sea urchin from Hagi. Since I have only eaten sea urchin from Hagi since I was a child, when I tried other sea urchin, I wondered if this was the real sea urchin. It has a indescribable sweetness. I have only had it once at a sushi restaurant in Nagahama Market in Fukuoka. However, recently, I can't find sea urchin from Hagi even in Shimonoseki. It's over 100 km to go to Hagi to buy it. Even from Shimonoseki, Fukuoka City is closer than Yamaguchi City, but Hagi is even further than Yamaguchi City. However, I was lucky to find sea urchin from Hagi at a supermarket in Nieshima. Truly, it's an amusement hall, Hello Day.

Hello Day. The only unique thing in this area's supermarket is "bukkake chasoba." I call it "kawara soba." It's a specialty of my hometown, Kawatana, Toyoura-cho, Yamaguchi Prefecture. Kawara soba consists of chasoba on a tile, sweet and savory seasoned beef, shredded nori, lemon... On top of the lemon, there is grated daikon radish, which is mixed into a broth similar to tempura dipping sauce. But isn't "bukkake chasoba" just a rip-off of kawara soba? When things didn't work out with my parents, I decided never to cross the threshold of my uncle's house in Kitakyushu. I crossed the Kanmon Strait and vowed never to return. But living with my uncle didn't go well either. He complained about toilet paper, electricity, and gas bills. So, I ran back to my parents' home. When I emerged from the Kanmon Tunnel on the Shimonoseki side from Moji, tears welled up. For my son who occasionally comes back, they prepare steak, oysters, and even a case of beer. It was the first time I truly appreciated my parents' kindness. Fifteen years have passed since then. Now, when I emerge from Shimonoseki to Moji, I feel like I'm returning to Kyushu, to Fukuoka. I have to buy my own beer now, as there is only beer and shochu for my mother. "Bukkake chasoba" brings back so many memories. I thought about having chasoba and inari, but then I saw anago sushi. Today is the spring "doyo no ushi no hi." I'll save the eel for next time and have anago sushi instead. Hello Day is truly amusing.

Many people probably only go to one supermarket. It's a waste when there are supermarkets scattered around like in Niehama, with free parking available. Personally, I prefer Station Food for sashimi, Hello Day for other types of fish, Sato Shokusan-kan for beef, Reganetto's Rindou Pork for grilling pork, MaxValu's Umami Wagyu for simmering pork, Reganetto's Ajiwai Kousai Chicken for chicken, and Hello Day for tsukune. When it comes to Hello Day, they have premium horse sashimi with beautiful marbling, lean horse sashimi that I call Aizu horse sashimi with no marbling at all, and my favorite, the tenderloin (rib bone part) which is sold at the same price regardless of the cut. In Aizu-Wakamatsu, lean horse sashimi with no marbling is popular, while marbled horse sashimi is appreciated in Kumamoto. I also prefer marbled horse sashimi after tenderloin. This time, there was no tenderloin, but I found a beautiful premium horse sashimi. In Nakasu, a premium horse sashimi that would cost around 2980 yen is only 598 yen. "It's from Canada!" you might think, but in fact, almost all horse meat circulating in Japan, including Sugo-no-ya, is from Canada. The only difference is whether it has been raised in Japan for over two years.

Fukuoka-based local supermarket‼️ This supermarket, which has been featured on Cambrian Palace for its amazing sales techniques, has its headquarters in Kitakyushu City and operates about 50 stores mainly in Fukuoka Prefecture. They also operate the high-end supermarket "Bon Lapas". The amazing thing about this supermarket is that each store has a unique theme in its store design, with fun decorations and displays that kids would love‼️ There are trains running on the ceiling, and whale sculptures, etc... Although the prices are quite high, many stores from all over the country come to study and now many stores imitate them. I was surprised at the vegetable section at that time‼️ The vegetable display was like a jungle, overwhelming with green displays (*´∀`)♪ At that time, I often took advantage of the half-price festival for deli foods at Hello Day around 8 pm. The sushi and deli foods were all delicious (*´∀｀) I think there is no better supermarket than this, both before and after. Thank you for the wonderful meal~♪

Amusement Food Hall Hello Day is one of my favorite supermarkets. The Hello Day and Bon Repas chains have a wide range of products, with some being incredibly good while others are disappointing. It's fun to choose from the various options, from top-quality horse meat to so-so ones. Today, I tried Sanma for the first time this year. It seems like there's a big catch in Hokkaido, as they are giving it out for free. Hello Day has double the amount compared to previous years, and it's cheaper too. The Sanma was fatty, sweet, and delicious. This autumn is looking exciting for consumers. I also found Bonito, which was fatty like tuna belly, but it had been cut for a while. The fat had turned and the color of the meat was a dark pink. It's a shame to see such a wonderful Bonito go to waste. However, I then discovered Bonito at the sushi corner. It was the same price and in the same location as the regular Bonito. This was a very lucky find! I quickly put it in my shopping basket before someone else took it. Today's Hello Day made me happy, it's a good Hello Day. Also, the fact that a pack of 5 Umakacchan noodles was only 238 yen was a bonus.