Today we didn't die!

Today we didn't die! So we ate fugu and survived! Today we failed at our attempt to attend 6am service at Nishi Hongwanji. Harry-chan was suppose to wake us up, but he didn't wake up at his alarm. When we finally got up it was past 8am. We had originally planned to go to service, eat breakfast, go shopping, and then head to Nara before traveling to Osaka to meet Makoto-oniisan. So we just cut out the first part. We decided to eat breakfast at Royal Host, a cafe near Nishi Hongwanji where I've eaten before. Our hotel was the Granvia at Kyoto Station. So we walked up to the top of the station before heading out towards Royal Host.

Kyoto Station

You can see Nishi Hongwanji on the top left!

After breakfast we decided to at least stop by Nishi Hongwaji since we were there. We went into the Amdiado and Goeido before walking the temple grounds.

Amidado

Kansho

Goeido

Kirin Gate

After that we went shopping in the shops around Hongwanji. My favorite type of shopping! Shopping for new onenju and monto shikisho! We stopped by a shop Honda-san recommended and one that I've been to before. We were even given a discount!

Fukuro (Owl) onenju!

Mr Zousan!! (Elephant)

Tea at Satsumaya

After spending over $200 we returned to the hotel and prepare for our trip to Nara. We grabbed a bento and then headed out. We reached Nara mid afternoon and walked to the park. We wanted to see the shika (deer) and then Todai-ji where the Daibutsu (big Buddha) is. As we started walking through the park we saw many deer. However what we did not see was a garbage can. We had forgotten how difficult it is to find one in Japan despite everything being so clean. So we had to walk around with our Starbucks cups. Harry-chan got a little upset...but we got good pictures.

We then explored some of the temples until finally walking toward Todai-ji. We bought some shika senbei (deer crackers) to feed some of the deer while we were walking. When we finally made it, we paid and went inside to see the Daibutsu.

Baby deer!!!

After that we headed back to the train station to take the train to Namba near Dotonbori in Osaka to meet Makato-ni. Once we met up with him we took a taxi to fugu restaurant. While Makoto-ni was talking with the cab driver I overheard them talking about fugu. Aparently fugu is rare and expensive in Tokyo so it was good we were eating it in Osaka. We made it to the restaurant and sat down. We introduced ourselves to Miwa-san who was our waitress and maybe was the daughter of the owner....she and Makato-ni spoke Japanese really fast. When Harry-chan introduce himself they started discussing Harry Styles and Harrison Ford as Japanese people would know his name based on that. She also liked that we were from Seattle since she loved Twilight! It was fun talking with her! We started drinking and she gave us an appetizer made from the skin of fugu. It was also funny to see that at the beginning both Miwa-san and Makoto-ni were polite in calling Harry-chan, Harrison-kun, but after hearing me call him Harry-chan and them warming up to us, they started calling him Harry-chan too, and even started asking what type of girls he liked. He got a little embarrassed, but it was all in good nature.

Kawa or skin appetizer

After that we had our long awaited fugu sashimi! It was so good!! We then had some yaki fugu, fugu nabe, fugu age (since I mentioned that Harry-chan loves karaage) and then fugu sake! The fugu sake was so good. It is hot sake with the essence of fugu made by taking fried fugu fin, setting it aflame, and then dunking it into your sake.

Fugu sashimi!!

Yaki fugu!

Yaki fugu kawa

Fugu nabe

Fugu smelt or sperm

Fugu age

After that we went out to a bar to grab drinks, but before that we stopped off at dontonbori since Harry-chan's never been before. We took pictures at the Glico sign and then headed to a bar Makoto-ni likes to go to in Umeda.

Dotonbori

Glico Sign

The bar we went to was called FluteFlute and was a wine/champagne bar, but also a shoyu bar! They had many different types of shoyu for us to try. We introduced ourselves to Yoko-san who was friend with Makoto-ni. They let us try some sweet shoyu like strawberry shoyu you put on yogurt. When started out with some A5 wagyu beef that was seared and the coated with a uni or sea urchin shoyu.

Strawberry shoyu

We then tried an appetizer platter of foei gras macaroon, caprese salad (with a balsamic shoyu), olives, and then a salmon sashimi mayonnaise spread.

We then had "mendokusai tamago kake gohan" our troublesome raw egg on rice" The reason it is trouble some is because there are so many different kinds of shoyu to try. We tried: tabasco, butter, ginger, different salt levels, all kinds of different shoyu. We were even given samples of some from Kentucky.

After that we walked to the station, said goodbye to Makoto-ni and then took the train back to Kyoto station. We had the best meal we've had so far in Japan with good drinks. I fell asleep on the train, luckily Harry-chan stayed awake and woke me up at the station. We will never forget all of the food we ate, or the kindness extended to us from Makoto-ni and all the people we met in Osaka.

Daily Step Count: 25,532
Total Step Count: 140,404

I'm removing the falls since we arn't in snow country anymore...

Harry-chan's Karaage Count: 9