Car owls and sushi belts

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This country simply adores dogs and in particular, dachshunds. We've seen more in the last week than in a whole year at home. Only minatures ones though I'm afraid mother - they wouldn't fit in their handbags!

Nipped into the Dog Bakery before we left yesterday and Mark managed somehow to prevent me from buying up most of the shop. Left with just some hand-baked donut biscuits for the woofer at home but only if he's behaved himself.

The drive back to Tokyo was happily uneventful with Miss Japan GPS back on form - much fewer incidences of 'error zero ichi' being shouted at us which made for a much calmer journey. However, Just as we came to the outskirts of Tokyo, Mark turned to me with a puzzled look on his face. This not being a usual facial expression for him, I enquired what was up. He swears he saw a man drive by in a gold nissan 350 with the window open and a live barn owl perched on his shoulder. I suggested it might have been a cockatoo. This was, I admit, a stupid idea given who I was speaking to (and quite why a cockatoo would have made it more acceptable I don't know). The look I got from Mark assured me that yes, he could identify a barn owl when he saw one thank you very much.  So although we now had the species confirmed, we were still no closer to knowing why he had it! The temptation to follow him was high but we had a bullet train to catch so answers please on a postcard.        

Once the car was dropped off, we lugged our backpacks over to the train station and went hunting for the Shinkansen platforms. As expected it left on time at precisely 14:47 with us happily esconced in our reserved seats. Gorgeous looking thing for a train though I say it myself! 

Can you imagine being able to spin a bank of chairs round on a BR train by 180 degrees so a group of 4 can face each other? Nope, well you can in Japan! 

We passed Mt Fuji which really does embody the perfect childhood drawing of a mountain complete with extra pointy top and obligatory snow. Mark managed a couple of photos from the wrong side of the train but is hoping for a better shot of it on the return journey - preferably minus the bloke with the face mask this time!

His job done, Mark promptly went to sleep as we sped along at 300km. I used the time more constructively and wrote my blog. Unfortunately, so engrossed in this was I that I forgot to pay attention to where we were. Luckily, Mr Fiennes' internal compass alerted him when we neared our destination and he woke up with the words 'time to get off' already on his lips. Sometimes he is such a smart alec it makes me want to spit!
   
Kyoto has a different feel to Tokyo although I can't quite put my finger on why or how. Perhaps it's the 17 world heritage sites that sets a more historic, cultural tone. We've certainly seen more western tourists here than anywhere on our trip so far. Saying that though, there are also lots of Japanese tourists doing the rounds too.

Our hotel was s standard western style and seemed to cater mainly for business men. The only vaguely interesting thing about it was the fantastic selection of tat shops beneath it and the 100 metre tall Kyoto Tower on the top. Also it was right across the road from the train station so that made life with backpacks that little bit easier and I'm all for that! Oh, and I forgot to say our toilet was a Toto Washlet which I thought added to it's already considerable charm!
  
Bags dumped we headed out to hunt for the infamous sushi restaurant with conveyor belt service. The Kyoto subway had some excellent vending machines including one that sold ice cream - please can we all petition the British government for these too? Had some funny looks as I posed for photos in front of it doing the Japanese equivalent for 'cheese' - a V for victory sign.

The first thing I noticed about Kyoto was the unending beeping noise. Virtually everything beeps so that you can go from a shop which beeped (not sure what or why but it did), down the escalator, which beeps, to the road crossing outside, which beeps, to the subway entrance which also beeps. Talk about driving you crazy - I figured I'd get used to it eventually and tune it out but nope!
  
After a bit of tooing and froing down the wrong street (Mr Fiennes says the road name was wrong on the map), we tracked down the restaurant. Feeling somewhat daunted by it's busyness, we plunged in with our best 'lost tourist' smiles showing. We were ushered to the last remaining seats round the oval counter and issued the usual wetwipe before being left to our own devices. In front of us was an endless array of small plates slowly revolving around the counter and all manner of cups, bowls and sauces to deal with. Oh heck, now what do we do?

Luckily, we were brought an A4 laminated card with photos of each sushi type and wonderful instructions in English. First we each took a cup from the top conveyor belt and located the green teabags in a wooden pot. Once our cups were then filled with hot water from the taps strategically placed around the table, we moved on to the soy sauce decision. Correct small bowl located, do we go for the run of the mill sauce or the sweet soy for eel and octopus? Hmm, let's go for the general one first eh and see how we go?

Chopsticks taken from another pot and broken, meant we were now ready for the all important bit - not the choosing of a plate but the tricky pick up before you break the whole revolving cycle, touch the other plates or drop anything. Possibly my worst nightmare if you factor in my usual poised and precise demeanor!

Referring back to our laminated card of pictures, we opted first for a plate of 4 small tuna rolls (not sarnies Dad) to break us in gently. 

I should point out that we had been watched intently through all of this by the gentleman on Mark's right who had amassed a huge pile of plates. Under the keen eye of an obvious sushi enthusiast, we were a little on the nervous side to say the least!  

Concentrating probably more than we did for our exams, we both picked up the roll, of so carefully dunked it in our saucer of soy sauce and transferred it to our waiting mouths. Yum, and the action completed without mishap, at least that we were aware of! We could not have made too big a error in eticette as our silent observer promptly paid and left, his plates looking like a homage to Piza's leaning tower.

We proceeded to work our way through the spinning smogasbord, our choices becoming more adventurous each time. Mark worked his way up to eel but opted out of the sweet soy sauce, while I tried crab, lobster and something that looked more like red leather. Favourite for me was definately the prawn tempura though, easy to pick up but was never sure what to do with the tail.          

On the final count up, we had collected 14 plates between us which wasn't a bad haul. At 137 yen a plate it worked out a bargain - roughly £13 for the pair of us. Worth it just for the fun!

Back at the hotel, we traipsed off to find the lounge bar for a 'swift half' before bed. Finding we were their only patrons, we sat at the bar and discussed the cocktail menu in our best English accents complete with plums. As the bartenders were so keen, I thought I'd give them something to mix up rather than order saki, so ordered a Cuba Libre (nothing too fancy) while Mark had a very nice brandy. Best damn one I've tasted!

5 minutes into our very enjoyable nightcap, in rolls 5 business men who it was fair to say were several sheets to the wind and endeavored to keep the bartending very busy. Bang went our quiet drink! No matter, we had a busy time planned for ourselves the following day so headed off to bed. 

Currently writing this sat back on the Nozumi bullet train to Tokyo. Mark's taken his photos of Mt Fuji and has fallen asleep again - must remember to get off this time!

TTFN, Lisa & Mark x

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