Furusato Sushi Japanese Restaurant was the perfect place to meet Mike and Lucille Story for dinner to rekindle our friendship.
We share a special bond with the Story’s that was created by our fateful meeting on a Japan Tearoom and Garden Tour in 2010 (photos), during the Spring Cherry Blossom season. It was one of the best group tours my wife Cecile and I had ever taken and we have a nostalgic longing to return there someday. The word Furusato, is a well known Japanese children’s song that was composed in 1914. The song was played at the closing ceremony of the 1998 Winter Olympics at Nagano in 1998. It also means “old home” or “hometown.” It describes a person who is working in a distant land, expressing his feelings of nostalgia for the hills and fields of his childhood home.
When one walks into the restaurant, the sushi chefs behind the counter make you feel welcome by enthusiastically greeting you upon arrival and saying goodbye and thank you when departing. The roving waiters and waitresses were very attentive in making sure your water cup and tea cup is always full. The sushi portions and combination meals are substantial and tasty, and the ambiance is comfortable and pleasurable.
For appetizers we shared two orders of Edamame, and one order of Agedashi Tofu and a large porcelain container of saki. I ordered my usual combination dinner that includes of steak and salmon teriyaki, rice, Miso soup and salad, and everyone else shared their favorite sushi dishes. Our waiters and waitresses even brought a couple of courtesy food offerings.
We share a love of travel with the Story's and have even taken the Silk Road tour in China together. Mike, a retired chemist who was partners in a business with an office in Japan is intimately familiar with common Japanese phrases, food and culture. At their invitation we went to Robato-Yaki sushi restaurant in Nigata. Our gracious host was their friend, Takao Donumba, Ph.D., who was a frequent visitor to the U.S., and has children who went to school here (see photos). We also got to meet the mayor of Muko, the sister city of Saratoga. My favorite place to go after a long day of touring and before dinner is the single sex communal Japanese Hot Baths with an average temperature of 42 degrees. Towels, scrubbing cloth and traditional Yakaka cotton robes are provided. After one of these hot water treats, the operative words that come to mind are ahhhhhh and arigato (thanks)!
