KAMUYKOTAN

 Image: Gyouza Teishoku ¥800 (US$5.50) It was embarrassing when I took a seat immediately after entering Miyoshino, a gyouza restaurant, only to be kindly told by the staff to purchase a ticket from the vending machine at the entrance first. I did not know that verbal ordering was no longer necessary. At the same time, I realised how long it had been since I last went to Miyoshino. I kept meaning to try Miyoshino whenever I visited Sapporo, and finally I did so in 2026. It was surprising that the restaurant, which I used to go to in the 1990s when I was a secondary school student, is still open. Over the years, plenty of restaurants have appeared and disappeared. Nearly all the places I used to frequent have closed down.  Nonetheless, some of them have survived the global financial crisis in 2008, the downturn following the Tohoku Earthquake in 2011, and the pandemic in 2020. This is a testament to how much these restaurants have been loved by locals. I will briefly i...