FOOD!

You will all benefit from pictures from Poppy and BBs camera for the next few posts.  Everyone else is better at remembering to take pictures than me.  This post is a sample of some of the food available here in Japan.

Vending machine ice cream

Sanwa (local grocery store) sushi

Probably chicken

Hot dog at a baseball game (some things are universal)

You can get pretty much anything from a vending machine here

Fresh catch at a fish market

Some kind of giant dumpling thing with pork inside

Sweet potato cakes

Sweet potato and green tea soft serve

A squid that is flattened into a cracker using high heat and pressure.  It was fabulous.

Candy-dipped banana at Hello Kitty Land -personally I thought it was gross

Chicken??

More sushi

More sushi... this time at a sushi Go-Round

Yummy

Japanese curry.  The red is spicier at this restaurant.

Udon noodles

The best food of the visit was not photographed.  For our 10th wedding anniversary, Ryan and myself went to Nakamura Sushi.  Mr. Nakamura gave us a special seat at the bar and for two and a half hours personally prepared sushi for us.  We sampled everything, including sea pineapple and sea urchin.  Everything was good, but some things were better than others.  The whole experience was delightful.  I sat next to a Japanese computer programmer who helped to translate for Mr. Nakamura (who spoke pretty good English himself).  He was delightfully socially awkward and was very helpful in teaching me the proper sushi-eating technique.  Next to Ryan was an older Japanese gentleman who goaded Ryan into drinking plenty of sake.  I can't begin to describe all the delicious food we enjoyed, so you will just have to visit and try it for yourself.  If sushi isn't your thing, then you can babysit while I go back there and eat :-)