01/03/2011

We are in Mie visiting Hisae & Norio (my sister & brother in law).  Their home is in a more rural part of the country, so it is a whole different experience than Tokyo.  We took a 2-hour bullet train/local train combo from Tokyo with them.  It was fun to travel & snack on the train while catching up with them!  Once we arrived, we went to Norio's parents, the Setas, for dinner.  The Setas have an outdoor shed with fire pits & wood-burning stoves.  They prepared a feast for us that included clams, mussels, snapper, fresh (as in still moving) lobster & other seafood that comes in shells I've only seen in Florida gift shops.  We had too much sake before walking home to their apartment to sleep. 

This moring, we went to Lotteria, a Japanese fast food burger joint.  We saw Lotteria on a Japanese TV program this week and we wanted to try their specialties.  Naoto had a hamburger with a poached egg & teriyaki sauce on it and I had a shrimp burger with lettuce & tartar sauce on top.  It was soooo good!

After lunch, we went to the Ise Shrine, a large shrine in Mie.  It was pouring & chilly, but we had a fun time making a trek to the shrine and then walking through the shops and seeing the traditional Japanese crafts.  I found my favorite snack here, a toasted rice cracker coated in sugar.  It is soooo good because it is served hot & fresh and it brought back good memories of eating in Kyoto in 2008. 

We spent the evening at the grocery store stocking up on our favorite snacks and then tonight we went to dinner at Douton-Bori where we grilled our own Japanese pancakes.  Norio was an excellent host who just might have a career in Beni Hana :) 

Tomorrow is our last day, so off to bed so I can make the most of it!