Japan Eats!

Here's a hodgepodge of some of the best things we ate and drank in Japan.  Oh boy, I was on the gluten and the ice cream and the booze over there.  I mean, we were on vacation.  Judge not!

Sake sitting in its own puddle.  Yep, you drink the sake out of the bowl after you finish the glass.

This is Jetty and Tomo.  These guys are key to your izakaya experience.  Trust what they order; it's the best stuff.

Hmm... there's some salmon collar, an omelet with cabbage, and assorted yakitori (un-skewered).

This is Tomo's legacy to me--the umeboshi hi.  The smushy mess at the bottom is an umeboshi plum, that dietary wonder.  The glass is filled with soda water and shochu and, I swear, it's the ultimate hangover beater.

Proof that Juna is the coolest 1-year-old.  Here she is sleeping off the day at the izakaya.

We went to another izakaya that is so hard to find, but so worth the confused taxi ride there.  Our taxi driver realized where we were trying to go and confirmed with Miya, "It's the famous one that's really dirty, right?"  Right.

Oh boy, was it good.  The owner was so involved and so proud of his meat.

Here is some "sake stealer" (the pink stuff), which is basically fish guts.  It's super salty and it pairs with sake magically.  

Here is the owner, cutting off fine pieces of this marbled beef for us to try.  Mmmm.

This is obviously intestines, but it's a mix of chicken, pork, and beef.  Yums.

Grate-your-own wasabi.  This is the real deal.

Melt-in-your-mouth beef, with a dollop of wasabi.

Part of our satisfied crew.

Of course the hot dog comes with a cute li'l individual ketchup and mustard packet.

Carrot and orange flavored ice cream.  

I thought these donuts were cute...

Until I saw THESE!

And the Billiken reigns supreme in Japan.  At least as far as candy goes! 

The best izakaya night in Kyoto.  This crew was the best!

Just the regular ol' bento boxes you could buy at the train station blew our mind.  What a healthy and balanced (and beautiful) meal!

We had to try all of the local favorites in Osaka.  This is okonomiyaki.

And this is takoyaki.  Those fried balls are filled with octopus.  Yums!

We went to the cutest "camping" themed restaurant in Osaka, where they served all of the food like this, with shovels as spoons and water in a thermos.  So cute!

This is the summer eel that's a specialty of the Kyoto region.  

 And this is agedashi tofu, which is basically deep-fried tofu.

And I'll leave you with Byron and the cutest watermelon ice cream ever.