Culinary musings and a little art appreciation

All right. Let’s talk about the food. Everyone who heard we were going to Japan made some sort of sophisticated comment about the food here and, while I know enough about myself to realize I probably wasn’t going to reach that same conclusion, I was unprepared for this stuff. The picture above is from a Japanese “pub” that Gate One took us to and I felt extremely misled, as “pub” indicates a baked potato or some fish and chips. And while there was potato on the table and fish on the table, the meal was just another demonstration of the Japanese gift for taking perfectly acceptable food ingredients and preparing them in ways designed to keep me reaching for the bag of Snickers and Reese’s I brought from home.

Look closely at that picture and notice that there’s a foil wrapped item in front of me. That’s my main dish. You know what it was?

I never thought I’d say this – but the food in Japan has me yearning for the food in China.

I will say that my travel mates, while more accepting than me, are generally struggling a bit as well. Last night, we made a family trek to wholesome Hooters and everyone remarked that it was the best meal we’ve had in Japan. (I might be mis-quoting Grace here, who seems to like the ramen, which I won’t touch, since it’s one of the key foods the Japanese seem to use for the random insertion of strange gelled substances like sea urchins and things that look like eyeballs).

Yesterday was the day we traveled to Mt. Fuji and Hakone. We were supposed to ride a gondola partway up the mountain and then take a little boat ride. But the weather was poor and so, after we spent two hours driving out there, our plans were summarily cancelled. But fret not. We’re traveling with Gate One tours for the bulk of this trip and we’ve got a tour leader named Shizu, who is ever-cheerful, resourceful and extremely fun. She re-routed us to a kimono museum, set on the shores of Lake Kawaguchiko. Here’s the entrance to this cool building:

And here’s the little lakeside town, Kawaguchi:

Japan is incredibly green and beautiful. I was unprepared for how mountainous and lush it is. When Shizu rescheduled our day, we were able to spend a fair amount of time driving through the countryside. Here’s a couple of shots from the bus, one of the countryside and one of a (sort of) doughnut I scored for Ron at a rest stop.

One other place we got to see is called Hakone Open Air museum. If you follow my blog, you know I don’t often compliment art museums. But this place was so fabulous. It’s set in the Hakone countryside and it has a building full of Picasso’s work, which I was able to appreciate in under 10 minutes. But then, I stepped outside into a sculpture garden of bizarre art. Look at this stuff:

And then, as if this stuff was not enough, I noticed on my map that there was something called a “foot bath” right in the museum and so I abandoned Ron and headed over there and it was true – a little foot spa!

Here’s a couple more shots from the Open Air Museum. If you find yourself in Hakone and your typical tourist boat ride is cancelled, GO – it’s extraordinary.

Shizu also had the bus stop at a woodworking shop that’s been in operation for 7 generations and we watched a little demonstration and were turned loose in the store. Shopping Ron was delighted to discover that he had shopping compadres for once and he wasn’t the only one who whipped out his credit card!

It’s morning here and we’re about to head out on our last day of Tokyo sightseeing. I’m all prepared for whatever the day brings. Last night, after dining at Hooters, I hauled everyone out in search of an “American” grocery store I found online. Cooper and Grace, who both seem to have an internal GPS that I do not, led me over and I was able to score a jar of Skippy peanut butter, which should keep me fed during our Gate One included lunch of sushi, which we get to prepare ourselves at some sort of immersion activity!

I’ll leave you with this. It was one of the food offerings at a rest stop yesterday. No one was brave enough, although I will admit it looks interesting in that it might be a rare food that looks the same both going in and coming out, FWIW:)