This morning I woke up at about 7:30 and then Christal, Luke and I went down to the breakfast buffet a little after 8. Otousan got picked up by Uncle Hiro at 8 and then dropped him off at the train station so that he could go to work and we would have a mode of transportation. The breakfast buffet was good, but I wasn't too hungry this morning. When we were almost done eating Otousan came back and told us he had spoke to the hotel and if we packed our bags up they would move us to a non-smoking room when we left for the day. Once we finished we headed up and packed up our bags again and got ready to leave.
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| Breakfast |
Otousan needed to do a few things at his parents house so we headed there first. The house was at the end of a street up towards the top of a hill and the streets we traveled on up the hill were extremely narrow. When we arrived the property was larger than I had imagined, even though I had seen pictures. The front yard had several trees and Christal said they used to have a garden in the front also. The back yard extended about 20 yards or so behind the house and had a small mikan (orange) orchard with various types of mikan, including one that you pick in the winter and wait until the summer to eat. Christal said there also used to be a garden in the back as well. Both sides of the property and the back were all lined with groves of large bamboo and Christal said they would harvest shoots in the early spring to eat. After she showed me the outside she gave me a tour of the inside. It was more spacious than I had imagined and very nice, but very different than western homes that I'm used to. While we were at the house Luke fell asleep so we delayed going to see Hi-Obaachan for a while.
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| The Nishikawa House |
From the house we drove to Aeon mall to see when Star Wars was playing and to look around. We found out it would be on at 3:15 in English so we were going to try and see it, but Christal had forgotten Luke's ear plugs and ear muffs at the hotel so we will have to watch it tomorrow. After visiting the theater we went down and found some matcha soft serve at Yamaguchi Garden of Tea and we all got one to snack on. The texture was super smooth and creamy and the flavor was nice because it wasn't too sweet and the matcha had a nice floral aroma to it.
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| Matcha Soft Serve |
After the soft serve we wandered around a little bit and then went into a pet store to look at the dogs. All the puppies were bred to stay small and apparently their vocal chords are cut so that they won't be too loud. The prices were pretty exorbitant, ranging from the equivalent of about $2,000 all the way up to $10,000! They sure were cute though and Luke certainly seemed to agree.
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| Luke's New Friend |
When Luke was finished playing with the pups we headed to lunch. We tried to go to a sushi place that was right on the beach, but when we got there it was closed. Otousan thought they were closed because they weren't able to get any fresh fish, so we went to an unagi restaurant called Yanagawa-Ya instead. Otousan and Christal both got unajyu with kimosui (eel liver soup) and Otousan ordered me a whole 10-course meal and I shared all the extras with Christal. Besides the unajyu and kimosui it also included tsukemono, assorted sashimi, (peanut tofu with a slice of tai sashimi), eel makitamago, green salad, (cooked eel salad), chawan mushi and an orange for dessert. Everything that I was served was excellent, but the unajyu was, by far, the best. As good as the unajyu in Ginza was, this one was even better. Otousan said that at Yanagawa-Ya they broiled the eel with tare first and then steamed it with the rice so that the rice would be infused with the eel's flavor as well, whereas most places will steam the eel first and then broil it. Because of their cooking process the rice isn't just a compliment for the eel, it becomes melded to the eel and their flavors intermingle with each other and almost becomes seamless. When I had finished I was fairly full, but I wanted to keep eating the unajyu, it was so good.
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| Unajyu w All Its Accompaniments |
When we finished with lunch we drove to Sun Life department store to look around until Luke woke from his nap. We did some scouting for more gifts to take home too while we were there. As soon as Luke woke up we headed over to visit with Hi-Obaachan. Luke played with her for about 15 minutes or so and then he wanted to go back to Mommy. After visiting with Hi-Obaachan we went to Uncle Hiro's mansion where Luke and Christal both had naps while Otousan and I used the internet and I caught up on my blogging.
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| Luke & Hi-Obaachan |
When Uncle Hiro came back from work we all went out to dinner at Kappa, which is another izakaya that was across the street from Uncle Hiro's mansion. It was a small restaurant and the food was really good. We had agedashi tofu, assorted sashimi that included buri, tako (octopus), sake (salmon), kinmedai and tai (snapper), fries, edamame sauteed in sesame oil, gyoza, sliced tomato, tempura shrimp with a squid ink mayo, avocado salad and Caesar salad. When we finished dinner we said goodnight to Uncle Hiro and drove back to the hotel and went to bed.
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| Tempura Shrimp w Squid Ink Mayo @ Kappa |
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