good foods, and good friends

June 13, 2013

We didn’t have much planned for today, which was good because we were both a little tired (Ben especially) because it was uncomfortably hot in our room all night. We had a fan and the window and door open, but there still wasn’t much of a cross breeze. Also having the door open invited Lucy in and she jumped onto my bed and scared the life out of me. She jumped onto Ben’s bed too and scared him. In the morning, Toyo had prepared us a traditional Japanese breakfast, which consisted of rice, miso soup, a small grilled fish, sticky beans, egg, nori and watermelon. It was way more food than we normally eat so we both struggled a little to finish what she had prepared.

Our plan for the morning was to go to a traditional Japanese garden called Shukkei-en. It was already really hot and humid (about 32˚ plus humidity), so we took the trolley and tried not to do too much walking. As it was, Ben was walking too fast for my liking and I was gross and sweaty by the time we got to the garden. 

The garden itself was very beautiful and varied in the plants and layout of the different areas. It was meant to be a miniature version of several different landscapes and that is exactly what it felt like as we strolled through. There were lots of koi in the ponds and as soon as they saw us on the bridge they were crowding as close as they could get because you can buy koi food there and they know they will be fed. 

We were too cheap to buy food so we just laughed at them for following us along the bridge. Everyone here feeds all the animals and so they are super tame, it was the same with the monkeys and the deer; this is why at home there are signs not to feed the animals, because then they don’t bother to find food on their own and they can become a nuisance and dangerous (not that we felt we were in danger here from the animals, they were extremely tame and being around people was not new for them).

Once we finished at the garden we hopped on a trolley (with the ac pumping, so amazing), and went back down to the shopping arcade to poke through stores out of the sun. 

We went to the Daiso and picked up a few snacks for our train day tomorrow. There are several stores in Japan that sell only socks, nylons and tights, and we have seen many girls here wearing “tattoo nylons”, which are actually pretty cool, but I never wear nylons so I didn’t buy any. At the end of the arcade we caught another trolley to go meet Toyo and Taso for lunch at their favourite okonomiyaki restaurant. The food was so good and a little different than the okonomiyaki that we had in Nagoya. Ben has decided that we must learn how to make these delicious Japanese pancakes and then have people over to show off our skills. We also decided that Toyo’s friend Marie should come to Canada and open an okonomiyaki restaurant.

(Cabbage)

(Pancake base)

(Noodles) 

Cabbage and other stuff on pancake base)

(Bacon *HAM*)

(Flip the whole thing)

(Egg Layer)

(Add secret sauces, and spices)

(done)

(Enjoy with friends)

After lunch we went to the Hiroshima Museum in the Peace Memorial Park; it was only 50 yen to get in and it was air conditioned. The museum was all about the history of Hiroshima, atomic bomb, and the aftereffects. It was very interesting but also depressing to see how completely destroyed the city was; pretty much everything in a 4km radius from the hypocenter was destroyed either by the blast or from the fires.

While we were there, of course there were also a bunch of school children who were circling Ben like sharks. A couple of them asked him questions for their English class but they left me alone (I pretty much did all the other interviews when we were approached previously). By about 4:00pm we were finished at the museum and managed to avoid any more children as we made our way back to the apartment. We wanted to relax a bit and start packing our stuff.

When we got home there was a big box in the entryway and Toyo said they wanted to surprise us with an air conditioner for our room! We were definitely surprised and grateful. Marie came over for dinner again and we had a stir fry of yellow peppers, pork and three different kinds of mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, eel and zucchini tempura, and eel soup with green onions and tofu. The soup was on a burner on the table and as it boiled we took a piece of raw eel that Toyo had cut into bite sized pieces and then scored and swished (or as they say “shabu-shabu”) through the boiling broth. Because the eel is scored, when the skin gets hot it shrinks and the meat “blooms” like a flower. It was really tasty and fun.

We had another wonderful evening visiting and Ben helped Taso install the air conditioner. I also showed the girls a video on YouTube of the Polar Bear swim and they thought it was hilarious and want to make plans to do the swim in 2014, but only if Yeshica does it with them. They also sent along a little gift for Jessica because they had so much fun laughing about crazy Canadians and the Polar Bear swim.

I told them that Ben wanted to learn how to make okonomyiaki and they were surprised that he wanted to cook. I told them that on days when I am working, Ben always makes our dinner, and that most of the time we prepare dinner together. They were very surprised by this and thought it wasn’t normal; in Japan the husband doesn’t do any of the cooking. I told them that for many Western families it is normal to share household tasks and they found this very interesting.

We wrapped up the evening early at about 10:00pm because Ben and I were planning on leaving before 7am to start our journey to Hakone as it was probably going to take us 5-6 hours to get there.