The Japan Adventure Begins

It has been a year since I have been back this time. So much has changed and yet has still stayed the same. It is like muscle memory to return.

I arrived very late a few days ago. Since recovering a little jet lag and working on adjusting baby bear’s sleep schedule too (we started today at 6am) and having a damn good meal (more on that shortly) I feel rejuvenated enough to get this written out.

We got back into the local area around midnight Japan time. Not a lot was open but luckily the amazing 7-11 is always there to save the day. We acquired some groceries *cough milk cough* and snacks. You cannot go to any Japanese convenience store and not get snacks! I usually don’t know what I am eating, I look at the package and hope for the best. I suppose it’s like that jelly bean game that was all the rage a while back. I like my version better. I scored some tasty coffee while we were there. Not my FAVORITE coffee but I haven’t found it yet. The search is part of the adventure that makes finding my coffee more rewarding. We also had to get onigiri while we were there.

Onigiri

I love onigiri. It is so simple but so powerful. It is one of my favorite foods. I want to learn how to make salmon onigiri (my FAVORITE onigiri). I have a terrible stomach. It is so fickle and makes eating such a pain. Onigiri is both bland and flavorful. The outer seaweed crisp and flavored of the sea (not all onigiri separates the seaweed from the rice keeping the nori crisp, I don’t care for that particular style) The sticky rice triangle is everything you would expect rice to taste like. However the center…is magic. There is so much yummy in the center that the bland outer shell makes sense. On it’s own, way to salty, but diluted by the rice. Heaven. When nothing else sounds good, onigiri sounds good. My angry stomach from the travel food was happy to have a comfort food after what I had put it through.

After I slept and was able to send Kevon on the morning baby bear routine and get some extra zzz’s we planned out our day. We had a limited time left with the rental car he used to retrieve us from the airport. We knew we needed to get some things to adjust better to returning to Japan. We got a toddler seat for the toilets. Baby bear might not be a fan of the heated seats but I sure am!! Plus now I won’t worry as much about her possibly falling in. We also got some toddler clothes hangers while we were at the “bunny store”. The “bunny store” is what the American locals call the store as the logo has a bunny on it with a blue circle in the background.

In the same shopping complex is the grocery store Sanwa. We didn’t really go in with a plan, we knew some basics that were needed but mostly just exploring the store. We had never shopped in that particular grocery before but it was convenient since it allowed us to finish multiple tasks in one stop. We now have eggs and butter which is a breakfast staple for baby bear and I. I grabbed some tiny eggplant that I want to grill up on top of some ramen I grabbed to eat later this week. I also grabbed a few of the local cups of ramen to try soon as they were a brand I could get back home but not a flavor and I enjoy that.

Once we got home and unloaded it was time to return the rental. I stayed behind with the baby (carrying the carseat back would have been miserable). I rearranged a bit to better suit our needs AKA our sectional is in a different shape now. One more day of unpacking and settling and I think we will be done. For about 3 months when we start prep-work for our PCS back to the United States and start all over again. After Kevon got back it was time for my damn good meal.

Yakiniku

Grilled meat. Amazing, delicious, intoxicating, primal grilled meat. Similar to Korean BBQ, I guess it could be called Japanese BBQ. Either way I love it. We have tried it several times at several shops and it is fairly similar across the board. At this point we may have even reach connoisseur status because there are key features we look at before ultimately agreeing to eat somewhere. We love the tablet option at the restaurants. With the language barrier it is much easier to order on the tablet which can typically be set to English in settings. We have eaten at restaurants without and it has been clumsy and awkward. Having a server who speaks any English is not a guarantee so it is really nice. We like the timed all you can eat option. This allows me to take my time and eat and get to try a little of everything while also getting Kevon as much as he wants too. Between the two of us we still eat for 2 people, not necessarily an even 2. I also got to meet one of the hub’s coworkers which was nice and he was excellent company over dinner so that made the evening so much better.

Now to plan out the week for whatever is yet to come. What adventures are on the books in your house?