Trip to Enoshima

Four pictures of my trip to Enoshima with Khing-san.

http://picasaweb.google.com/grout7/Enoshima#

Khing and I visited Enoshima, a small island south of Fujisawa. We saw lots of surfers on the way. There's a bridge - Khing says it reminds him of Mont Saint Michel. We walked up a steep street between shops. We bought a potato cake, a fish cake, and a tasty grilled substance on a stick that we couldn't identify.

At the top of the little town area, you start up the steps for the temples. For ¥150, you can ride a series of escalators to the top. Most people take the steps. As you walk, you pass several shrines, a temple, more restaurants and shops, and some houses.

At the far end of the island, you descend to the rocky shore. We thought that when we got to the far side of the island, we could return by walking around the island at sea level. But, Enoshima is too rocky for that. The only way back was up all those stairs, across the top of the island, and back down the way we originally went up. The juggler passed us on the way back down.

Is It Still A River?

Most of the streams I've seen in Japan are in cement channels. Of course, I've mostly been in urban areas. Japan has lots of wild and steeply descending streams elsewhere. This is the river right by our apartment-to-be in Fujisawa.

It doesn't look like a living river, but this fellow is doing OK:

And here are some carp:

That's Not Milk

Here are the sake selections at Khing's Palace. The stuff in the three-liter carton isn't as good as the 1.8 liter bottle. I know, it could just be the psychology of drinking out of a box, but I think the bottle really is better.

The cool think about sake is that it varies widely. It can taste clean or rich or yeasty or lots of other things that I can't name. Somehow it always tastes like sake, too.

Food Day At Work

At home people bring in donuts. Monday Kanno-san brought eggs and Ono-san brought persimmons. The eggs were boiled in an Onsen or natural hot spring. They're popular for bathing, but apparently you can cook in them, too. They are white inside and taste like regular hard-boiled eggs, but I guess the minerals in the onsen turn the shell black.

I remember Mari-chan saying how she missed the persimmons in Japan and couldn't find them in the US. The only persimmon I ever tried in the US was unpleasantly astringent. The first one of these I cut open was juicy and super sweet - it was awesome. The second one wasn't quite as good. I ate them for breakfast during the week and I bought a couple more at the grocery store today - I think I'll try them in my oatmeal.

Mixed Nuts

I bought this big can of mixed nuts at the drug store near work (
¥880). On the front it says, "Crown nuts and fruit - Mixed Nuts - Delicious...Any Time - Crown Foods Co. Ltd. Yokohama." That's the only English on the package. I can't even figure out how much it's supposed to weigh. The selection of nuts is wild: two kinds of peanuts, almonds, walnuts, cashews, corn nuts, garbonzo beans, and pistacios IN THE SHELL. It's like they put land mines in there to make sure you're looking at what you're eating before you put it in your mouth.

I'm enjoying them with my Eco Choco. I haven't yet found top-notch chocolate here, but this one's not bad. The only thing I can decipher from its package is that it's Rainforest Alliance Certified and bitter. I wouldn't have called it bitter, just moderately dark. The other dark chocolate I tried, "Meiji Black," is dark in color but sweet. It's excellent in my oatmeal.

What Is It?

In Japan, you have to get over the idea that you should know what something is before you put it in your mouth. This morning at Denny's, I had a breakfast soup with various items in it. I didn't know what most of the things were, but the whole soup was yummy. A little reasearch tells me one of the items was lotus root, like in the picture. It had a lovely crispness, a bit like a water chestnut.

I Think They Have Those

Here's how Dante decided it's OK to go live in Japan for a while:

"So, Dante, what do you think about going to live in Japan for a while?"
"I don't want to go."
"Why not?"
"Because they don't have computers there."
"Oh, I think they do have computers. And we'll take ours with us."
Looking thoughtful. "Do they have TV?"
"Yes, they have TV, too. And, you know what? At school in Japan, they speak English."
"Really?" His eyes widened.

So, Japan is better than Spain, because he doesn't have a computer in Spain, and Japan is better than Minnesota, because at school in Minnesota, they speak French.