As is customary at the end of the year, I help out with making New Year's Eve soba noodles at my family's restaurant, "Shokujidokoro Mine," in Makinohara.

Along National Route 150 in Makinohara, at the corner of the Shizunami Coast entrance intersection, you'll find "Shokujidokoro Mine," a Japanese restaurant where you can enjoy handmade soba noodles, eel, and set meals, with a soba banner flying and an orange, hand-dyed noren curtain swaying in the breeze. Actually, this is my family's restaurant. My parents opened it when I was little...

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The performance at Tempura Tenkin, where they dip their hands into the piping hot pot and fry the tempura with gusto, is a must-see.

Tenkin is a long-established tempura restaurant where you can always see a line of customers outside. The proprietress can be seen opening the sliding door and calling out, "How many people are in your party?", confirming the number of people outside. Even in the cold winter, the line never ends during lunchtime. Lunchtime hours...

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The okonomiyaki at "Okonomiyaki Kokoro" has a crispy yet fluffy and moist texture, and its taste is addictive.

Along the street in Sumiyoshi, near Seirei Hamamatsu Hospital, there's a shop with a noren (traditional Japanese curtain) displaying the three hiragana characters "Kokoro" (心). It's an okonomiyaki restaurant run by owner Tatsuya Oishi, which opened six years ago. I found this shop relatively soon after moving to Hamamatsu and it piqued my interest...

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