Japanese Cuisine

Today we went out in order to celebrate Hiroki (My host brother) and Hideharu's (My host dad) birthdays which are this week. We headed into Shijo at around 5:00 to buy Hiroki's presents which were reasonably enviable. First stop was a Louis Vuitton outlet. Everything in that store was way out of my price range, that's for sure. He was looking for a small carry bag, but didn't like anything there so we soon headed for the Prada store. A small satchel-like bag (And by small I mean small) was settled on and cost about $700 Australian! Amazing. He also bought new, nice shoes for about $200.

After the shopping was over with, we made our way to the restaurant we'd be eating at. It was a small, but expensive, restaurant called せき川 (Sekigawa) a mere walk away from the main shopping street of Shijo. The restaurant was totally traditional Japanese food. Meaning lots of raw meats and seafoods were eaten, horse and whale meats included. I did not want to eat the whale meat at first, but my host family insisted so I thought I may as well try it. It was not revolting but very edible. Must have cost a fortune though.

As far as I could tell the horse meat was raw and very cold and chewy. Not really a remarkable taste either. But overall the meal was delicious and relatively filling while not being fatty at all. After eating lots at Western style restaurants you always feel bloated and large, but after this I felt the same as when I went in! Minus the stomach pains, of course, I was starving beforehand.

It was interesting to experience some of the more Japanese styled foods, and I was surprised that I actually liked most (If not all) of what was on offer!