2015-03-19: Nagoya!

Our total weight of "stuff we own" is down to some 60Kgs. A reduction of 20Kg's. Keep in mind that 20Kg of that is computer equipment and I am hoping to drop that to about 3 or 4 in the technology wonderland that is Japan. I think we are doing well in our goal to be Small Bag Travellers.

I had to buy some Ladies Hygiene products and the guy folded the bag with a dedication to duty that would never be seen anywhere else I have been.

However when you are with a cripple and have to haul 60Kg's by yourself you pray that Baby Jesus would come down and deliver strength inducing smalec like manna.

And the Ladies Hygiene products came in a box so exciting and colourful I can be excused for taking a while to find the damn things. 

Instead of manna and Baby Jesus we have Conrad and his wife Yuko. Conrad is a 12 year friend from Naginata. He speaks Japanese. This is good.
We have rented an apartment over the net but have to sign stuff. Except in Japan you don't sign you use a little stamp; we don't have them. Or phone numbers. Or addresses. Or pretty much anything a functional human would have.

If Baby Jesus was Canadian and Capped he would look like this

Somehow in our overloaded and even less organised than usual state we grabbed a train from Tokyo airport and then the shinkansen down to Nagoya all by ourselves. Somehow Conrad found us at the station. From there everything went swimmingly.

Food & Beverage review: Things are going to be tricky now!

The restaurant we went to is in the same building as this one: 【旅色】焼肉 いっぽん|新栄駅CBC近くで焼肉なら which translates as "[Journey color] yakiniku Ichi-hon | and if Yakiniku in Shinsakae Station CBC nearby" which is relative useless. 

It looks like this for the more hunter gatherer navigators

Apparently the Japanese civil planners used dice when assigning street numbers and so I am going to have to try and figure out how to post google maps links or something. Usually maps.google.com lets you find a place in Japan using the phone number so I will post that for the time being: 052-242-7750
Anyhow. That is not the restaurant we went to I don't think. 

Dark, Comforting, Smelly of Food, Hooray!

In Japan having 5 floors of restaurants is par for the course. We went to the teppanyaki one in the building that phone number links to, on the ground floor.

Even "Weak Vodka" can make you smile though

Yuko is an avid fan of various Shōchū which I just call sake and Ewa calls Weak Vodka. We tried many of them. I like shiso flavoured sake, it is a leaf that looks a bit like a maple leaf and has quite a distinct but mild flavour. Ewa is missing Polish Flavoured Voka.

All food came in "Activity Style"

We had some Okonomiyaki, a pancake with cabbage and octopus in it smothered in mayonnaise and another with fish and a sweet soy sauce.

A Performance Piece I call "Dancing With Shōchū". A complex dance designed to inflame the desires.

We also had a fried beef thing which I ate so quickly I didn't even get photos of it. I had neglected to put my anti allergy pills in my wallet and so was just chancing my luck with all the fish. Then we had one of the greatest participation foods I have ever seen.

A vegetable mix which you chop and fry.

then form a ring.

add fish

And chop and fry.

And attract the attention of the owner who is sure you are doing it wrong and fixes it for you.

Then cover in sauce and eat the little fried bits with teeny tiny spatulas. 

Rating: 7/10 (I love activity food but this was my first night in the "Let's learn to eat fish" plan, if you like fish already you will probably enjoy this place)

Traveling Advice: Trains in Japan

Basically Tokyo airport (Narita) is about an hour from Tokyo by train. Take the express line and get off at the stop after Tokyo to hook up with the Shinkansen (fast wheeeeeee trains) and then go almost anywhere in a couple hours.

Make sure you have some food (you can buy it on the station mostly) because on the train everyone will be eating tasty smelling bento boxes and you will get hungry.

And the toilet has cool arse Braille layout designs

If you are too stupid to buy food for the train there is a smoking compartment every couple of carriages where you can use your appetite suppressing drugs

Rating: 8/10 (I like trains and smoking watching Japan whizz by is fun, they say to let others in but no one was queuing so I stayed way too long)

After dinner it rained. Was pretty.