more people, places, and things in Japan

How about some random food photos? I have a great photo of Kelly taking a big honkin’ bite out of a spicy burger from Mos Burger, but somehow I don’t think she’d want me to post it. Kelly took way more food photos than me, and I’m looking forward to seeing them and reliving our food adventures!
Anyway, I adore breakfast in Japan. Yes, there’s the traditional Japanese breakfast of miso soup, rice, and a piece of fish or something, but I lean more toward the “morning set.” Offered at many cafes and restaurants, the morning set usually consists of a hot beverage, salad, yogurt, and some kind of toast. On Kelly’s first morning in Japan, we went out to breakfast with my mother and aunt. Here’s what Kelly and I had:

How kooky and wonderful is that! The sandwich thing on the left is some sausage with ketchup, and the other one is potato salad. Peter was pretty grossed out when I showed him this photo, but I found the meal to be quite delicious.
We did a lot of train traveling at night, mostly because we were so busy during the day that we were forced to ride the trains at night! Apparently the thing to do on the Shinkansen is to scarf down as much food as possible. On the way to Osaka from Tokyo, we hoped to buy bentos on the train, but the food service was nonexistent. So, on the return trip we prepared by buying bentos on the train platform. Not bad!
Mine’s on the left. It’s matsutake gohan (pine mushroom rice). Kelly got a katsu (pork cutlet) bento of some sort. Yum.
And speaking of katsu, one evening we met up with my friend Kanako and ate katsu. I met Kanako when she was an exchange student at Templeton High School (Peter used to work there when we lived in California). She was one of my Japanese tutors. She’s from Nagoya but is currently attending college in Tokyo, so I was really happy to get to see her. She works in Roppongi Hills, so that’s where we met and ate. We went to a restaurant that specialized in katsu. Here’s Kanako with her meal:

Here’s my meal:
It was yummy! What was cool was that you can get unlimited rice and salad (thinly sliced cabbage). There was a ton of food, but I believe I ate all of it. I think Kanako and Kelly were a little shocked (and perhaps disgusted) by my appetite. After dinner we went to Starbucks and got matcha lattes. They are not on the menu, but they do offer them. They are very strong and tasty, so remember that if you go to Japan and need a little matcha jolt!
We also went to a kuru kuru sushi place in Akihabara with Elizabeth (okay, get this. Elizabeth is the daughter of the secretary at the school where my friend Wendy works. I transported homemade brownies to Elizabeth, so she treated us to dinner!), but I didn’t get any photos. I have some sweet treat photos, too, but it’s almost time for Heroes, so I think I’ll sign off now, make a cup of decaf, and settle down in front of the television!