A fantasy inspired by the reality, vice versa, or's photostream

Iwataya, a local tofu shop in Kamiyashiro, Ise City, Mie Prefecture, Japan. This husband and wife business has had pride in hand-making tofu and tofu products. Their typical day starts at 4am with steaming soybeans. By the time this photograph was taken at 6am, half of their work had been finished. Content of white bags in this photograph is Okara, by-product of Tofu.

Their small was filled with steam and heat from deep fryer. It was striking to see them work quietly. No conversation was made unless I initiated it. On a cold morning in February, tofu was being made silently.

Those are Gammodoki, deep fried tofu with vegetable in it. My father grew up eating this. I like to eat it with just grated ginger and a bit of soy sauce. "This gammodoki is quite unique," the husband, Toshiro says, "it's got bits of sweet potato and that's our tradition."

Saiko takes care of fried tofu products. Besides Gammmodoki, she makes Age, a thin deep fired tofu, Atsuage, a thick deep fried tofu. She says she reads newspaper everyday. She is interested in royal wedding in UK, Michelle Obama, Facebook, etc. She is concerned with young people who don't have much connection to real world outside of the Internet as well.

Packaged tofu: These days, Japanese children see this is tofu, which is packed and sold in a store. Iwataya sometime invites kids to see how tofu is actually made. A lot of them are surprised to know that tofu is made of soy beans.