Tokyo: Our first japanese dinner - Japan travel: personal experience. Episode 2

Tokyo: Our first japanese dinner – Japan travel: personal experience. Episode 2

On 04.09.09, In Personal, Tokyo, by Ryuichi

Here we are again with a new chapter of our trip to Japan!
Once we rested at the hotel our bellies decided it was time for food. We had a walk to see what we could find to eat and there were plenty of restaurants so we had a hard time choosing. At one point we found an interesting restaurant and just ahead of us some Japanese girls went in. We figured that if it was good enough for a real Japanese person it was be good enough for us, too.

Tokyo Japan dinner

First off, we had to take off our shoes and leave them with those of the other customers. A very kind waitress walked us to our seats and gave us some menus. Luckly, they were illustrated so we did have some idea of what we were going to be eating. The house specialty was the grilled meat. We had a choice among many kinds and cuts of meet, each of which was to be personally cooked on the grill at the table.

Here’s the inside of the first Japanese restaurant we dined at. It was very cute and pleasant, though the table was a bit short. At least there were benches to sit down on.

interno ristorante

Here’s the meat while cooking on the grill!!! It was really delicious, especially because it was soaked in this mysterious sauce!!! The picture doesn’t show the burning coals under the grill, but trust me it was HOT and the meat didn’t take much time to be ready.

carne alla griglia

After the great hearty meal of meat we were thirsty despite the free water we got at the restaurant. We stopped at a drink vending machine. In Japan they’re everywhere and they’re filled with whatewer kind of drink you might want. Most of them are good and all of them were very cheap at around 120 yen (less than 1 euro) each. I was shocked when I saw that one price was modified from 130 to 120 yen!! Its incredible, they lower their prices while we do the opposite!! ^^

This is Yuki while buying a bottle of Grape Fanta from a vending (veeeeery good). All of them worked perfectly and not one of them bore signs of vandalism. In Italy that’s impossible.

In the higher section you can see many kinds of coffee and cola.

distributore automatico a Kyoto

On the way back to our Hotel we found a Manekineko just outside of a restaurant. Close to it the was a menu with the prices. Obviously I couldn’t keep myself from taking a picture of it.
Manekineko greets the customers of the restourant^^

Even if it was quite early we were feeling exhausted from the llong trip so we went to sleep. We asked to have breakfast at 8 am. The next day, after our beds were taken away and crammed in the wardrobe, the table was back to his usual place and the breakfast was served. I never thought that the Japanese could eat so much in the first hours of the morning!! We had rice, salty vegetables, fish, omelettes, miso soup, etc.

Wooo, our first Japanese breakfast!!! The pink cubes were used to boil the tofu, inside the soy, cheese was floating with vegetables and mushrooms.

colazione Kyoto

Everything was delicious and in the end we were so filled that we didn’t need to eat anything else until dinner!! Afterwards, we found a covered street that was obviously some kind of market. Both on the right and the left there were plently of fresh food shops: meat, fish vegetables and other mysterious things that we couldn’t identify. At the end of this street we saw a big stone torii that was there to announce the presence of a shinto temple nearby. The torii is a portal that has the function of purifying the people who enter the temple.

torii

The Torii was huge and a Shimenawa, the big rope with the paper garland, was on it. As you can see, the torii touches the walls of the nearby structures; from far away you can see the lanterns and the altar of the temple.

Here there are the lanterns and the now-closer altar. In this little temple we found two rather disquieting figures… but we’ll touch on them later.

lanterne - chouchin

The belivers, purified from the torii, offer some money through a big grate just before the altar. Afterwards, they ring the big bell with the rope bound to it. In the end they clap their hands twice and pray. On the left there was an aquarium with two “whales” inside…

Carps or whales?!? They were really HUGE carp and swimming in the little aquarium on the left of the altar. I can’t even fathom how delicious they could be *ç* . Though… It’s probably better not to think about it or I would be blasphemous.

carpe

Maybe the resized picture can’t show their size at best, but I grant you that they were big. Really big. The second disturbing thing was an Omikuji dispenser. The omikuji are some kind of divine prediction, the one I took was of the “seven luck deities”. I’m still translating the divination, though once obtained I had to link it to a rope that was along a tiny street on the side of the temple. Close to that spot there was another altar, very little and finely red painted. It also had this ceremonial rope to give the offers and call the god, etc etc.
It was fine, but we had much greater projects….