Horse Sashimi & Whale Tongue @ SHIBA

I'll keep this one short as the battery on my keitai is running low...

What? Cam... Short??? Impossible!!!

We walked to Nishi Honganji Temple, then another 30minutes to Sanjugendo Temple which houses 1001 buddha statues each representing 1000 arms... each arm representing 35 worlds... I wanted to bring Mia here as I have come many times with friends. It IS impressive.

Then we walked another hour to the Gion area looking for a bar... finally we found Shiba near the Kamogawara River.

So now we are enjoying great conversation with the owner who was the 1971 Japan Grand Prix F3 Champion! Very cool... he has also been running this tiny candlelit restaurant for 40 years and has changed almost nothing in that time!

So we are having horse sashimi (raw horse), okonomiyake, lamb shabushabu and probably whale tongue! It is all delicious! Sea Shepherd eat your fucking hearts out!

Kampai!

I love you!
Cam

Mia Munching Makunouchi Bento

We wanted Mia to experience the obento on the shinkansen...

So she is!

And you know what? I think she likes it...

Vegetables...
Rice...
Fish...
Seafood...

Go West! Go Kyoto!

Hi there.

Well we are taking a classic camcation...

We decided to catch the Hikari Superexpress Shinkansen from Tokyo Stn @ 11:33. W got to Bakuro-cho and bought our tickets with 33 minutes to spare. Tokyo Stn was only a four minute ride on the Sobu Line so I figured we had plenty of time.... Little did I realize that the trains run infrequently at this time of the day!

We got to the platform thinking we would wait five minutes only to find out that the next train would not arrive until 11:18!

Tokyo is a big station so upon our arrival we had to hoof it up about five log escalatored flights of stairs but we made it with three minutes to spare!

When we finally entered the train, Mia told me that Tokyo today at about 25C was like a very nice mid-summer day in Denmark and now she is thinking about wanting to go swimming!

We will arrive in Kyoto at 14:15. From there we will wend our way over to the Shimizu Ryokan where we will stay for two nights. Mia is excited as it will be the first time ever for her to sleep on the floor.

In the afternoon we will try to visit some places on our own and then get to the Gion District (famous for Geisha in the olden days) to walk around in the evening, have dinner and drink a bottle of wine.

Tomorrow is a morning bus tour of Kyoto and an afternoon visit to Nara, the ancient capital of Japan. I wonder if this year tours to Nara will be different? Apparently Nara is having a year long festival this year that they have only once every 1300 years... Since we are only there for an afternoon it might be difficult but we will see...

Mia is in a skirt, bare legs and a t-shirt but she keeps wiping her forehead and neck because the train seems unbearably hot... I am training myself to wear pants in the summer so I have my jeans on. And Im used to my crotch always being wet from sweating at the office so I dont mind so much.

We just passed by a great view of Mt Fuji with lots of snow on top but as I was engrossed in thumbing this blog I did not take a photo.

Shikata ga nai!

Have a great Thursday.

I love you!
Cam

Off with Mia to Kyoto and Nara for the next three days.

We just got back from another great adventure to visit an 11.4m, 850 ton, bronze Buddha statue, constructed in 1252. It was very impressive! Video and photos later...

CoffeeGasm Extraordinaire!

Yesterday Mia and I went all over the place. We took trains and did a huge amount of walking.

We had to change trains at my office station so I showed her where I work (closed, so couldn't go in, but secure so I wouldn't be able to take her in anyway). Then we went to Asakusa (google that) and walked through tons of shops where she bought a bunch of souvenirs (problem: her suitcase is full now and her clothes are all hanging, or in my drawer...). We saw one of the most famous temples in Japan, an old attached shrine, and more.

In one section of the area in which we visited, there is a 700m street section that is filled with about 1500 stores entirely devoted to everything household/kitchen/restaurant... it was amazing!

Then we went to a lunch in a traditional Japanese cafeteria-style place (about 4pm), and off to Kappabashi-doori which is what I will explain next. 

Unfortunately is was just around closing time for most of the shops so we couldn't enjoy much more than seeing some blow your mind knife stores filled with thousands of every knife imaginable, and other things.

We DID however find a coffee paraphernalia store that was open still...

And when I saw all of these mokka pots, I had a coffeegasm! WOW!

This photo contains the traditional Bialetti mokka pots for 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 9, 15, 18 cups. It was amazing!

On top of that, I bought myself ANOTHER mokka pot (3cup). But this one has an electric base so that it does not need fire! I decided that enough was enough with drinking really shitty instant (or even drip) one-cup coffee at work so I bought it!

Now I am sure when I take my coffee breaks down on the 6th floor, people will come wandering in as the scent of real coffee essence wafts its way up and down the stairwell...

Japanese coworkers... eat your heart out, cuz this coffeegasm is mine!

After that we walked all the way back to the start, got on a boat and cruised down the Sumida River for 40 minutes, watching the night settle in and all the colours come to life. Seeing Tokyo from the rivers was fascinating... it was a totally different world.

We landed, and walked all the way back to Tokyo Tower in the beautiful night air. On the way we stopped and had a bottle of wine. Then we continued on, and took the elevator up to the 150m 360 degree observation deck. The night was perfectly clear for this so Mia (and I) got the perfect night view of The City. It blew me (and her) away. I took a lot of photos.

After that we walked back to another station, and came home. Then we had dinner around midnight, and headed to bed about 1am.

Off to do some grocery shopping. Mia is not used to eating "Camfast" as she usually only has bread and coffee, but she's loving having MEAT MEAT MEAT, vegetables, cheese, eggs, salads, soups, yogurts, toast, tea, coffee, water, for breakfast. It keeps us going until 4pm or so (and then I die, of course, as I did yesterday).

Have a great weekend.

I love you!

Cam

Flashback: When I stayed with Mia in Denmark six years ago, we drank a bottle of wine a night. I'm staggering down memory lane these two weeks... Apparently she and her husband drank a bottle every night for 20 years. Wow... Those crazy Europeans!