Category Archives: Japan

Tom and his girls came to grab us the morning we had to leave and took us on a tour of a convenience store where the girls showed us some of their favorite crap foods. We got a selection of samples of course! With ice cream, gummy products and tea in our bellies we headedContinue reading “Convenience stores and pagodas”

When I booked the ryokan and noted the futon bed I was pretty jazzed. I love futons – plump and firm and oh so easy to just roll out of bed. During our first night when the grandmas came to “bed making” and politely insisted that we “go walk”. When we returned we were delightedContinue reading “Where is the mattress?”

We taken to calling them ‘the ryokan grandmas’ – they’ve brought us our food, fixed up the futon at night and cleaned our room during our stay. They basically run the place and we’ve noticed that when we do something wrong we get a look. If Kaety doesn’t finished all her food there is aContinue reading “The Ryokan grandmas”

Wandering the streets of historic Kurashiki was like traveling back in time. Everything was charming and romantic. Above the district were two large temples. We wandered around all day shopping, sitting, gawking, talking and laughing.

The set meal the ryokan staff served us in our room was beautiful and intricate. All the little covered dishes and boxes were delightful and always gave you a sense of a gift to be opened. The food was over the top. Tiny little stacked items with nested items were all colorful and complementary. ThereContinue reading “The Ryokan Meal: Amazing”

We made arrangements to stay at a ryokan in the historic district of Kurashiki about an hour south of Kobe. A ryokan is a traditional Japanese guest house – rice paper walls, tatami mat floors and futon. They serve your meals in your room and have a communal bath for the guests. We had noContinue reading “Naked mistakes in Kurashiki”

We met up for with Tom for dinner in Kobe after the conference. We hugged him and immediately peppered him with all the questions we hadn’t even been aware we’d been saving up, “What’s that yellow thing we keep tripping on?” He took us up the hill into an old neighborhood that was a fascinatingContinue reading “Italian dinner in Kobe”