As we return to the States we plan on moving to a new house. We plan on buying another vehicle. We plan on having a child. These are big changes. And though I want life to be as relatively graceful as it was before I left, its OK to change, to adjust, to adapt... We had a routine I had grown accustomed to, where Asami and I could predict 80% of everything that was to come our way. It took time to establish this - one year of marriage, Id say. But it takes me back to when we decided to get married and the trials and tribulations we faced: immigration and green cards and visas and schooling, jobs, money, finding our first house, getting our first vehicle, having our first weddings, meeting her parents for the first time in person, passports, bad companies and finding new jobs, and then finally planning this trip. It was wild. We have honestly never had a moment of down time or perhaps that feeling of being "caught up" so to speak. And now, when we return, we're really throwing the wrench in the equation - never again will we have that caught up feeling... but this experience... this blissful experience has taught me... Life isnt about being caught up... for us, life is about the journey. Our bond is strengthened by immigration proceedings, visas, jobs, having no money, finding a city we even like, and of course expanding our family with a beautiful child. It is in the restlessness and uncertainty that we cling to each other, our love grows, we understand our inter-dependence, never co-dependence, and though we may never know what next Monday or what the second Thursday of next August may hold in store for us, it will be ok, it will be great, because we have each other. We have our family. We have each other. We have love.
So let's eat!
What you see here is real sushi. What is marketed in the States as sushi is entirely not sushi. What is marketed in the States as nigiri is in fact sushi. So if you travel to Japan and expect to find your favorite roll, perhaps a Dynamite, or Elvis, or Nashville, or California, or, my favorite, the Ted Bundy, sorry folks, you wont find it. But you will find this. And lots of it. And its bad F'in ass.
Again, sushi restaurants here have this convenient conveyor belt and priced by chipped and colored plate system. Its very efficient and simple. See nothing on the 'veyor that you tickles your fancy? Thats cool! Tell the chef. He's got the hook up on that diggity fish.
Tuna and mystery white fish sounds no good? Ask for whats in the next picture.
This is semi-prime tuna, or toro(TOE-low) as its called here. Its a guaranteed satisfaction, no doubt.
This here is semi-seared salmon. I believe they took a blow torch to one side for a couple of seconds. The video, you see me wipe the lemon slice over it a "coupla" times before flipping the bad boy upside down for a dab of the soy m-F'n sauce. That maneuver you see there is called skill. Its difficult to dip the sushi like that... its very Japanese Ive been told. Her 'rents were impressed by it. What they dont know is that if my wife ever caught me dipping the rice in the soy sauce, she would tell me I ruined it and that its no longer good. Nor is it sushi.
Squid anyone? Its untainted by heat. By untainted I mean its uncooked, as raw as raw can get. And F'n delicious.
More salmon.
And more salmon. Except the salmon in the center is undeveloped salmon. By undeveloped Salmon I mean salmon eggs. And by salmon eggs I mean absolutely F'n delicious.
Racks on racks on racks. Racks on racks on racccckkkkss.
What you dont see is how they calculate the price by looking at this stack. They take a hand held device and run it up and down the stack. The microchips inside the plates denotes a certain monetary value. The machine calculates the total cost. Even your drinks come with a plate to denote their value in currency.
Bad ass.
Off to Kawasaki. Kawasaki is the home town of Kyoko and Yoshinori. This is where they met. This is where Kyoks' parents still live. We went to visit.
Again, if you look closely, you'll see my head is a solid 5 inches over the doorway. Everywhere we go this is common. Every where we go, I smash my dome.
This is Tsuruo(Su-loo-oh). Asami's grandad (ogichan[oh-gee-chan] in Japanese). Hes very nice to me. Extremely nice to me, even, and hes very interested in hearing me speak and things of that nature. He knows maybe 8 or 10 words of English and tells Asami and her mom not to worry, because he's fluent in English and I understand everything he says. Asami and her mom allow him to believe this because they are sweet sweet sweet people. Tsuruo is like any average upper 80 year old you meet. My uncle buck is different, in his 90s hes the furthest thing from senile and still has more personality than I do. Tsuruo is one of those fellas who's real rigid in his ways. He doesnt stray to far from the beaten path so to speak. I think hes hilarious and laugh with him. Asami and Kyoks thinks hes hilarious and laughs at him, in that "laugh at your family member because hes your family member" kind of way. Anyways, Tsuruo wanted to take us to this restaurant that he believed to be very upscale. Asami's rents warned me that the restaurant was not upscale at all and was very average. An average restaurant in Japan is very upscale to me, so I was not disappointed, and as it turned out, neither was Asami or the rest of her family.
Above, on the left, is a plate of sashi and rice. From the picture, I see prime tuna, salmon eggs, salmon, and sea urchin. The brown gooey looking mess is sea urchin. Its an acquired taste. I love it, but Asami doesnt. Its like eating an oyster thats made entirely of liquid. So if you couldnt handle a raw oyster made entirely of goo, you probably couldnt handle sea urchin. On the right is a pudding type dish. I believe its made of egg and some sort of pudding mix. Inside it is a few small pieces of fish, usually shrimp, and a mushroom or two.
This was my feast. I went with sushi because I love it. I also had some tempura shrimp and vegetables, the pudding-esque dish, and some clear soup. Tempura is similar to something fried in the states, but the batter is different. If you want something like fried chicken here in Japan, they call it karaage(ka-la-ah-gay). It has a batter for frying more similar to something youd see in the States.
The fam.
We went back, shared some nice words with each other, and parted ways. Her grand parents are wonderful people with enormous hearts and open minds. They kept telling us how happy they were to see us so happy. They kept wishing us good fortune in our future and how they wish they were younger so they could come see where we live. It made me sad, but happy at the same time. I had to try very hard not to cry at times.
One day, pops and moms decided they were going to take us to the fish market. I heard a story about this place from Julius. Julius is a high ranking Navy officer that spent some time in Japan. While here, his wife, Wanda, taught an English lesson at Asami's home. When Asami came to US, she lived with Julius and Wanda before we found each other. Being that Wanda and Julius were Asami's States-side parents, I established a relationship with them quite quickly. I believe it was Christmas dinner last year that Julius was telling me stories about Japan and some of the cool things to do. One of them, he told me, was to visit one of the fish markets. Here the fisherman unload their catch, and the buyers come in, silent auction style, and bid on the fish. It was really really really amazing to me. The fish were fetching very high prices and the bidding took on a style of its own. It was something I would really like to learn how to do. One thing I noticed was that there was only one younger guy there. This showed me that perhaps the fish marketing is a dying skill. It saddened me, but so goes life.
These are smaller fish of the exotic variety.
These are more popular small fish.
These are all the tuna, some covered, some not. There is a section of tail cut off each of the fish. The bidders walk around with hooks to pick up the cross section and analyze the quality of meat. Also tagged on the fish is its mass.
This is the view from outside the market area.
You can see Mt. Fuji through the equipment atop this fishing boat... What a site she is.
Because it was early in the morning, we forgot to take pictures of our breakfast before we ate it. Just to give you a heads up, it was all tuna. All raw. All delicious.
This is Asami's. All tuna, all raw, all delicious. You also can still see some remnants of pickled Japanese radish and some macaroni salad.
Close to the fish market is the burial site of my father-in-laws parents. He wanted me to pay them a visit, and so we went together. I cried very heard. It was very spiritual, and very moving for me to be here. I did video the ceremony, and I didnt want to be in the picture with the grave. We lit incense, we washed the grave stone with a ladle and a bucket of water, we opened a hot tea and a chu-hi, two of his favorite drinks, and said a prayer.
As you can see, its very very very beautiful.
I prayed that our families be united, in heaven and on earth.
Scenery at the grave yard - simply stunning.
We then went into town to visit the outlet mall.
We came across this sleeping fella. Mr. Miniature Horse.
He was a sweet fella.
And then what did we do?
EAT. F-YEAH.
What you see here is eel bones, eel spines actually. They were crisp like potato chips. Salty, even, like potato chips. I absolutely loved them.
And then came lunch. Grilled eel over a bed of rice, pickled radish, carrots, lettuce, and clear soup. This was one of my favorite meals. This is very Japanese. This is very very delicious.
My wife went with Tempura shrimp. Also on their is a sliced eggplant prepared tempura style, as well as a pepper.
From there we went home. Her dad and I drank a few adult beverages and watched some TV. While us men took on this difficult task, Asami and her mother were working hard... in the kitchen... so we could...
EAT.
F- YEAH.
This is gyoza (Gee-yo-zah). Gyoza is absolutely delicious, especially when its homemade. And this was home made. And this was especially delicious. This style of gyoza has the crispies on the edges. Her mom called them bat wings. I called them frickin awesome. Dipped on ponzu sauce, these things are worth their weight in gold.
Well, to round it out, Ive got six more days left. Im running out of words to describe the feelings Im encountering other than that this is just simply amazing. Japan is just amazing. My family here is just amazing. I am in awe of it all. I love it all. Stay tuned... the big final update is 10 days away. Until then, Ill keep you posted with funny pictures and tidbits of my encounters.
