Wrapping up our Japan series, here’s some of the stuff we brought back with us to Kuching.
This pack of boxed sake was very convenient to take home. We’re gonna use it for cooking mostly, but first you gotta make sure that the sake is not too sweet, not too rancid, but just right! 😉
After passing on the tonkotsu ramen at the Yokohama Ramen Museum on our first day in Japan, we never got around to having ramen again until the last day in Japan. Could you blame us? We were caught up with delicious plates at Za-Watami Izakaya in Shonandai, a classy meal at Maimon in Yokohama, and an exquisite kaiseki dinner at Maru in Aoyama. We almost ran out of time!
Our last full day in Japan was the one I most looked forward to because I got to spend the whole day with my friend Yuko, someone who I knew from my school days in Hawaii. I had told Yuko I was coming and even though she was working in Korea, she happened to be back in Japan at just the right time. So we arranged to meet up on Friday.
All work and no play makes Nate a dull boy.
Spending full work days in a single conference room is not the most fun thing to do. Our workshop’s organizers realized that, so they made sure to include one “team building” activity which involved getting off work a little early, and taking a train to Yokohama to have dinner in Minato Mirai. It was about a half-hour trip from Shonandai to the Sakuragicho station where we disembarked and joined the madding crowd.
We arrived in Japan and got our train tickets for the Narita Express to Yokohama Station. The scenery at the beginning of the ride was beautiful, with acres and acres of verdant rice fields along the way.
As we got closer to Tokyo, though, you start to see less and less green and more and more tall buildings. The Express dove under the city, so we didn’t get to see much of it until we were well past it. Tokyo would have to wait until another day…