Posh sushi bar -2-

This sushi bar is called "Maneki zushi", and I came to this sushi bar for the second time this year. When I want to have sushi, I often end up eating some at a Kaitenzushi as I told you before, but ordinary Japanese people wouldn't be able to suppress the urge to have good sushi for a long time.

I'm not writing this blog to "advertise" certain restaurants and shops, but good restaurants would make foreign people want to come to Japan. I came here with three friends, but two of them were late.

Foreign people in my city like to come to this sushi bar, and as you can see English explanations are written on the menu. While having dinner, I could hear foreign people laughing out loud in the room next door.

Usually, if you come to a good sushi bar, you'd have to speak to a waitress to order, but this restaurant had this button.

This plate cost more than 3000 yen. Of course all the sushi tasted very good, but my favorite was definitely that yellow sushi, sea urchin.

Do you remember I introduced this cat "Maneki Neko"? The shop owner places this cat in his restaurant or shop to "beckon" in many customers.  

I sometimes hear people in NYC like to have Japanese dishes, but imo, our dishes are not so addictive like Mcdonald's. But Japanese dishes are often very healthy, and such dishes wouldn't be liked by people instantly. 

Tribe (Coffee Shop)

A new cafe opened two months ago in my city, and an ad said I could have a coffee for 200 yen there. You know, a coffee of Doutor costs about 200 yen too, so I think that's the psychological threshold for those who love to drink coffee so often. 

The name of this cafe is "Tribe", and this cafe served coffee made from beans harvested mainly in Africa.

Can you see the pictures on the sides of the counter? I thought those black people represented the word "Tribe".

There were only four seats for customers, and basically you should buy coffee to take out with your own cup. The right brown stuff is called "Karintou", and it is a snack made from wheat and sweetened with black sugar.

The coffee I ordered tasted really good. And the shop clerk roasts coffee himself with that machine and that must be the reason for the tastiness.

I hoped this coffee shop will do good business for a long time to come. I sometimes find good cafes, but some of them go out of business so easily. 

Trip to Nikkou -3-

After walking around in the Toushouguu area, I came to this lake called "Chuuzenji ko". This lake was just a few kilometers from where Toushouguu was, and it was worth seeing 'cause it was so refreshing to see a lake so huge as this.

 I took this pic from a temple that overlooked this lake. I was thinking of showing the temple in this post, but these days I doubt foreign people would enjoy seeing temples after temples.

This fall is called "Kegon no Taki", and considered one of the most renowned three falls in Japan. The water comes from the "Chuuzenji ko" that I showed you in the first pic. I wished the trees had more yellow leaves so that the fall would have looked better.

 And people were selling things that were peculiar to Japan. These are fake swords, but would you still associate Japan with Samurais?

As I showed in the previous post, there was an artifact called "Mizaru", and "Kikazaru". And sure, Nikkou is known as a place where you could see monkeys strolling in the streets. And this is the reason why they were selling these stuffed monkeys.

A street of the town near the "Kegon no Taki". You can see many souvenir shops.

I was thinking of having something typically Nikkou, but all I could have was this Soba with fried "Yuba". "Yuba" is a sheet-like stuff taken off the surface of boiled soy milk, and it doesn't have a taste like Tofu. And I don't think Yuba could be had exclusively in Nikkou.The yellow fry to the right of the Soba was Yuba.

After seeing the garden, temple, lake and fall, we decided to go home, but I was again feeling hungry from walking around. This is a coffee shop near the Nikkou station. The shop clerk said this shop was based on a French style, but what would you think?

I had this cake that was full of chestnuts. The coffee was very good too.

Do you know we have places to rest in called "service areas" on a highway? You can go to bathroom, or buy drinks and even snacks as well. People would get tired after driving on a highway for hours on end.

 Saw these Hello Kitty straps for your cell phones. You can see the Hello Kitties resembling a monkey. The red Japanese reads, "The three Nikkou monkey Kitties". Would you want one?

I really enjoyed looking around in Nikkou, and foreign people would enjoy this area too because of all the traditional "Japanese" things. 

Trip to Nikkou -2-

I said I went to an area in Tochigi prefecture called Nikkou, and another must-see place is this "Toushouguu". It is a place where the first Tokugawa warlord "Ieyasu Tokugawa" was enshrined. He lived up to age 75, and since then he's rested in peace here.

 There were so many sightseers in front of that gate called "Torii". It was warm on this day, and the high should have been around 15 Celsius degrees.

A plaza where people take pics in front of these traditional buildings. The multiple-fold tower you can see is "Gojyuu No Tou", or a five-fold tower. It was burned down a few hundred years ago, but got reconstructed in 1818.

 I hadn't expected to see this, but you could have taken a ride on this horse. An adult would have had to pay 1,000 yen for a ride.

 This is one of the renowned artifacts in Nikkou. The left monkeys are called "Kikazaru", and the right ones "Mizaru", meaning "never listen", and "never see" respectively. Those monkeys suggest children not "listen to" or "see" bad things and grow up healthily. "Zaru" means "monkey" and "never", a kind of wordplay.  

 I introduced a place where you're supposed to clean your mouth and hands before saying prayer. The ones I showed you before weren't so flashy as this, but almost all the buildings here have gold color on them.

 The main gate called "Youmei Mon". It is said you'd never get tired of looking at this gate until the sun sets, so it has an alias, "The gate of dusk".

 And there were these dragon relieves on the gate.

 This cat is called "The sleeping cat", and in order to see this cat you have to pay more money in addition to the admission fee. The cat is basking in the sunshine, and "Nikkou" means "the sunshine" too. This cat was made by "Jingorou Hidari".

 After seeing the cat you can go up these stairs to see something more. I was almost losing my breath while scaling this stairs .

 But after going up the stairs, all I could see was this tomb. Honestly I wasn't so impressed.

 Do you remember I showed you this wooden plate called "Ema"? You can write down your wish on this "sleeping cat" Ema, and your wish may come true. 

-to be continued-