カフェオレ (kafeore, cafe au lait)
We headed out today with the plan to see 下町風俗資料館 (shitamachi fuuzoku shiryoukan, Shitamachi Museum) and eat at a 茶屋 (chaya, tea house). The woman who led our tour at the museum was truly awesome and taught me some new words and concepts. For example she taught me that 招き猫 (maneki neko, beckoning cat) is supposed to be inviting money if waving its right paw, but is actually beckoning people if waving with its left paw. The guide was generally great and really helpful. The museum was fun and had some children's puzzles on display, with which my mother and I had limited success.
banner advertising the museum
many businesses in Japan advertise using this style of banner
Upon asking the museum staff, they told me the tea house is the area was closed for good from about a year ago, so we couldn't go. When I had looked it up on Google maps I could not find it, but apparently that was the reason. We were disappointed. At least the area was beautiful, though.
lotus pond
my mom in front of a small shrine on the bridge over the lotus pond
adorable postbox in front of the museum
my mom and I at Shitamachi Museum, by an old-style ashtray
After we finished at the museum we ate かき氷 (kakigoori, shaved ice), which was truly soft and delicious. We went to 秋葉原 (Akihabara) for a short while to shop. It is definitely oriented toward geeks and foreigners. There are many anime shops and 免税店 (menzeiten, duty-free shops) in the area. My mom bought something at the duty-free shop and I was truly surprised by the process it required. The cashier prepared documents meant to declare that the purchase was legitimate at customs, and even stapled the paperwork into my mom's passport. I never expected that! The whole process took 5 to 10 minutes.
For lunch in Akihabara we had オムライス (omuraisu, omelet rice) at a cafe with excellent service. The dish came with meat sauce but the waitress made a request for meatless sauce for my mom (who's a pescatarian).
Culture note: In Japan, restaurants very rarely indicate vegetarian or vegan options on their menus because Japanese people do not really observe pescatarian, vegetarian, or vegan diets. The common diet makes these options very challenging. A pescatarian diet may be possible, but not vegetarian or vegan.
In the evening my mom and I went to dinner at my host family's house from 5 years ago. It was the first time my mom had ever met them and it was really a great time. I got to meet my host parents (Kiaki and Hinako) for the first time in two years, and their daughter Inoko and her daughter Kana for the first time. My mom bought Kana a wind-up toy bullet train and we gave my host family prickly pear tea and honey from the US. Kiaki was really impressed with my mom's interest in and appreciation of whiskey, so he gifted her a small bottle of really rare whiskey called Ichiro's Malt. She was afraid the open bottle would be confiscated on her return to the US, but it was not noticed.
Kiaki, Kana, my mom and me
Hinako joins in
My host family taught me some new expressions for how to water things down - such as when bars water whiskey down. 水割り (mizuwari, mixed with water) and お湯割り (oyuwari, mixed with hot water).
Culture note: Japanese has different words for water and hot water, and also for raw rice as opposed to cooked rice. 水 (mizu) is "water," お湯 (oyu) is "boiled water" (like for tea), raw rice is 米 (kome), and cooked rice is ご飯 (gohan). In a dish you eat with a spoon, however, cooked rice will be called ライス (raisu).
On the way home my mom got on the train but the doors closed before I could follow her. If you ever have a travel buddy and limited internet or phone communication, have a back-up meeting plan. We did not, but she managed to get help from station staff and find the correct station at which to disembark. We did find each other, but backup plans are good.
We got lost on the way back to out hotel as well and found this beauty.
Travel tips:
13. Have a backup meeting place and plan. It never hurts to be prepared.
14. Get lost. You find things you would never have found if you didn't lose your way.
