Goodbye Japan

Thank you for following me on my Japan trip, I'm back in Atlanta. Had a really good time, and hope everyone enjoyed the pictures.

Here are a few random pics I hadn't posted yet

The high speed bullet train going through Tokyo.

My own coffee shop.

Godzilla looking over the building.

Bought a knife

As most of you know, I'm a huge fan of global knives. They only have one store, and it's in Tokyo, so of course I had to go buy one. They have a new line that is only available here. The sales lady thought it was pretty funny that I was taking selfies in the store.

The bento box

This is my bento box. There are many types depending on use and occasion. This is the more formal type. The rice in bottom left has cherry blossoms in it and garnished with blossoms and Japanese omlet. The fish to the right is the fish we marinated in miso on Monday. The green beans on top left are blanched then in a toasted black sesame paste. And on the top right are stuffed shiitake mushrooms. 

My view of Mt. Fuji

So I took a tour of the NHK studio, it was mostly for kids and people who speak Japanese, but it was still interesting.

A prop from one of their shows, thought it was funny. Rare, old, super whiskey.

Veg meal

Today we did a multi plate vegetarian meal. We did a lot with fresh bamboo, which is so much better than the canned stuff we have in the states.

I'm not as good as my classmates at playing, but it doesn't look too bad.

Traditional way of squeezing out water from tofu block, it works better than my paper towel method.

We also learned about the different types of rice vinegar​.

After class we went out to dinner at this amazing tempura restaurant.

First day of class

I just finished my first day of class. It's been a long day, it's 6 now and we started at 10 but I figured I would get lost on my way so I left very early and of course had no problems finding the location. We cooked a nice lunch with miso soup, mackerel with daikon, rice bran pickles, pink pickled daikon, spicy stir fried daikon peel, and of course rice.

We also started a dish for Thursday. It's a miso marinated mackerel.

After the class was over we took a walk to the neighborhood grocery store and she showed us around. I took a couple pictures of things I thought looked good. 

The price of all this sashimi is just under $13, yum.

Weird Drink

So everyone knows about Japanese vending machines, the problem is that I have no idea what the different drinks are. Earlier today I had a good grapefruit Sprite type drink, but my luck just ran out. I grabbed this thinking it was like the blue ramune I've had before. Well it's not, it tastes like liquid cotton candy and it has little jelly bits in it. Where do they come up with this stuff?

This is the website for it.

I tried giving it another chance after I wrote this, but I just can't. It reminds me of when milk goes sour and gets clumpy. So down the drain it goes.

Hiroshima

Here is the atomic bomb dome. The reason it stood despite all the surrounding buildings collapsing/vaporizing was that the bomb went off directly above it and so the force of the blast went straight down so the side walls did not take the hit. 

Here is a picture of the building in the 1920's

This is the childrens peace memorial, dedicated to all the children who lost their lives.

Here are some of the thousands of cranes sent in from schools around the world every year.

Here are some of the cranes that Sadako Sasaki made when she was in the hospital with leukemia. They are so small compared to the ones made today. They are less than half an inch long, and she made over a thousand of these while in the hospital. I knew her story before coming here, but I did not know she died on October 25, my birthday. But in 1955.

Fukuoka

I arrived at Fukuoka this afternoon. It's a city known for ramen so of course I headed to one of the originals. Ippudo. It basically started the ramen revolution that we have today. In Kyoto I had real Kobe beef that cost me $80 for a 6 oz steak, and yes it was the best steak I've ever had. But this $7 bowl of noodles was one of the best meals I've ever had in my life. Sorry David, Marukin was the best ramen I had ever had, and the quality of noodles was very similar, but the broth and pork was just orgasmic. Unfortunately now Umaido and Hajime might as well be cup-o-noodle. 

Last night in Osaka

So tonight is my last night here in Osaka before I head to Fukuoka. So I walked around Dotonbori and had street food for diner. Osaka is known for good food, and this area is the epicenter.

This running guy is a famous add that is at the center of Dotonbori 

Just a normal Thursday night. Can't imagine the weekends.

This place had amazing gyoza

Huge line at the sushi restaurant

This is their display food with prices, the largest plate on the bottom right is only $27

Kawasaki meuseum

Just a couple pictures from the meuseum. It wasn't as big as I'd hoped, but still interesting.

Jim, I found your heaven

This is a whole store with only claw machines.

Himeji Castle