Japan in Thirty Days

Like A Kid Again

01 Nov 2010 2 Comments

by windyswindt in Windy/ウィンデイー

We planned on today being a free day, but Mishima Rotary Club wanted to be sure we experienced what the city had to offer, so at 11:00 AM we met in the hotel lobby for another adventure. It is unusual to have a day that we can wear jeans, relax and just be silly. Today, I felt like a kid again.

We were told that we would visit an aquarium, so I imagined tanks of beautiful fish like the aquariums in the United States. Once again, I was wrong.

When it came time for lunch I was expecting a bento box or sushi but we were brought to an Italian pizza and pasta restaurant. The thin crust pies were baked in a brick oven just the way I like it, but they had toppings you can’t get at home.

In the afternoon we visited a beautiful castle with a museum inside filled with artifacts dating back hundreds of years.

For dinner we had Shabu Shabu! This meal if very popular and we all understand why. It has the same social interaction as fondue, which requires that everyone congregate around a main dish. Everyone eats out of the same boiling pots, sharing thin strips of prime beef, mushrooms, noodles and veggies.

We were introduced to a creative dessert after Shabu Shabu. You skim the fat off the Shabu Shabu water, add a large amount of cooked white rice and three raw eggs to the water. Stir until thickened, then top with daikon paste, green onion and ponzu sauce. It was fun to see our dessert made right at our table and it tasted surprisingly good!