Free day mayham

Our highly regulated schedule got a bit of a breather yesterday, as it was our free day, a gap of time appreciated by all. I wish the program had done this earlier, or more often, as for the first time since I got here, I felt like I was in Japan, not a teacher convention. While other teachers went to far-off cities, I opted to get lost in Tokyo while trying to hit a couple ambiguous destinations in the mean time.
Using the “force,” I navigated myself through the Tokyo subway system that, even in another language, is far easier to explore than NYC’s. First Stop: Kappabashi Tool Street, land of the Japanese restaurant supply shop and home to Tokyo’s waxen food empire. Be in toro, tamago, a bowl of ramen or a giant side of beef, the sample stores of Kappabashi meticulously recreate anything a restaurant might want to display without legions of swarming flies above. Even with the unbelievable price tags (1 piece of toro nigiri for 1500¥, something that works out to about $13!) my lust for fake sushi negated my concept of thrifty shopping, walking out the door spending more money on fake sushi than I’ve ever spent on the real stuff.

I wandered a bit and found a street festival that, through the powers of deduction, I believe was a Buddhist celebration of small children day (???). Fascinated by Japanese street food and tediously (ahemmm) at work in my study of Japanese cuisine, I attempted to eat EVERYTHING in the market, though found my belly unaccommodating. One of my favorite dishes there was a sort of Japanese pancake (Okonomiyaki) with cabbage, dried fish shavings, dried shrimp, topped with an egg then flipped. The final product resembled a giant omelet and was quartered, slathered with a soy-based sauce, then liberally mayonnaise. Another dish I sampled was chicken yaki-tori (chicks on sticks) which, surprisingly, was kinda raw in the middle. As you kids know, I treat salmonella like nuclear fallout and kindly, after taking a couple bites, disposed of in the nearest trash can. Probably the most interesting thing I saw was this woman who dipped pickled fruit on a stick into this glucose-strong concoction (think REALLY thick corn syrup in clear, blue, red or brown) then placed the candied (?) covered fruit on a slab of ice. Many kids got sprinkles on theirs, and, much to my regret, I was overstuffed by this time (and just looking at it kinda hurt my teeth).

I heard the sound of drums and walked to the near-by temple which was teaming with kids and men all dressed up in traditional attire and 2 portable temples. After some fanfare from the drums, the kids, lead by the men, hoisted the temple on the shoulders and began to parade through the streets. They came to a stop and received bagged goodies from some ladies at a shop. Not dissimilar to Halloween, the kids and their giant temples preceded through the streets collecting bagged goodies wherever the old ladies were.
Off to Hikone today and will post the best part of yesterday later...no really, it's a keeper..