Tsukimi

Tsukimi is the moon viewing festival at the harvest moon. We went to a garden near Yokohama to watch the moon. Unfortunately some of our group was running late, so we missed the moon rising, which is supposed to be beautiful. Once at the garden, it was obvious this was a popular viewing spot. There were quite a number of people. Unfortunately it was too dark for any of my pictures to come out. We went and saw a group of women play traditional instruments. It was nice. Then we took a few walks around the garden, though it was rather dark. I’d definitely like to go during the day. One of the professors that went with us said it’s beautiful in the fall, so we might go back then.
After leaving the garden, we went to eat at a sushi place. The food was good but the wait was long. Christine and I had fun trying to figure out what was on the plates. The plates are color coordinated to their cost. My favorite of the night was called “Saruman Mayonesu” or Salmon Mayonnaise. The plate we had was partially cooked, but there was also a Salmon Mayonnaise sushi. When I say sushi I mean real sushi, as in the fish is placed over a small clump of rice. There are very few rolls, and the few rolls there are, are mostly salads (tuna salad, crab salad, etc.). I haven’t been too lucky and have gotten really bony pieces of fish 50% of the times I grab a plate. At the sushi place they offered free green tea, and this is the best green tea I’ve ever tasted! There is this kind of “dessert” served at sushi places called inari. Inari is rice wrapped in a sweet tofu wrap (aburage). I opted out of it this time, but it really is very good. After eating we started the long trek home. I think it took us about an hour to get home by bus and train.

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