Odds and End/ings – Japan
Ending my Japan trip, so I’m posting odds & ends that I didn’t publish previously…
Pachinko! And slots!! These are everywhere!
pachinko games
slots!
Great sushi! I was ordering by looking at pictures, and the lady sitting beside me was trying to help me with identifying each piece of fish. I honestly don’t know what kind of fish two of the sashimi on the plate to the right are. One is mackerel, and one MIGHT be monkfish… not sure about the 3rd. This place had the best rice I’ve had since I’ve been here, and this tuna was out of this world. So many different flavors and textures! The fish roe was my second favorite – citrusy and sweet!
tuna roe, “extra fatty” tuna, mackerel, monkfish, ??….
tuna & pickled radish
❤️ panda seaweed!
tuna, avocado, mayo, etc
Stairs leading to subway platform
subway art
Japan has their fair-share of japan-styled american fast food places
mcdonald’s, japan-style
KFC, japan-style
subway, japan-style
Hyper Media Men’s Relaxation Space: I’ll let you google this if you want…… but basically, for some reason, it’s not kosher for men to do certain things in the privacy of their own homes, so they rent a room and engage with themselves here.
all righty
Kyoto Botanical Gardens… my favorite part was the bonsai exhibit
bonsai
bonsai
bonsai!
lovely little bridge
pond
birdies
they told me they were strawberries… so I ate them…
fountain
Next up: Country #3
KitKats and Castles
KitKats are huge in Japan.
Around 2000, Nestle started marketing weird flavors of KitKats for Japan and then rolling out new flavors all of the time. They’re now really popular as gifts, especially around Christmastime. I had no idea of this before I came here and started seeing odd KitKat flavors in convenience stores. I picked these up out of curiosity:
citrus kitkat – didn’t like this one
matcha kitkat! so green but so good!
Here is an article talking about the KitKat program Nestle has in Japan😃
They even did this last year.
So, after I arrived in Osaka, I discovered that there are actually 8 KitKat Chocolatories in Japan, which ONLY SELL SPECIAL KITKATS! Suddenly, purchasing chocolate became my number one priority on my Osaka tour!
This Chocolatory is inside a Daimaru, which is a really nice department store chain, and (like all of the department stores) has a food speciality floor on the basement level!
kitkatzzz
kitkat ‘museum’
kitkat chocolatory
Ten minute wait in line, snaking around stanchions, and I came away with these:
pretty packaging
💚
these flavors!!!
chocolatory
The flavors I purchased: Butter, Pistachio Raspberry, Green Tea & Kinako, Chili & Passonfruit, Strawberry Maple, Orange Cocktail Noir, and Sakura Green Tea!! I’m trying them and sending the rest home as gifts😊
As a footnote (because this is wayyyy less exciting than the KitKat store, I’m ashamed to say): Osaka Castle. Very grand and beautiful, and because it’s white, I found it interesting because it looks a lot different than the other structures I’ve been seeing in Japan.
osaka castle
osaka castle painting – how it looked in the 1500’s
osaka castle moat
osaka castle
osaka castle moat
Please let me leave you with the funniest sign I’ve ever seen
what happened to this guy to get him so pissed off about drunk, tattooed exercise freaks?
Next up: CAMBODIA
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