I have some pictures from yesterday that Kevin sent me.

Outside of Sumiyoshi Taisha.

Here’s what we were doing on the ledge of Abeno Harukas.

And while I took a picture of my omukatsu, Kevin took this picture.

Disclaimer: we’re on vacation, plus the drinking age in Japan is 20.

Kevin got up early and went to Aikido practice again. I got up early in case he needed something but he made it there and back with no issues. We went to a flea market at the Oi Horse racing track and it was kind of fun. But the sun was blazing down and it was in the mid -70s which can be HOT for Japan. It’s especially hot for a Portlander who hasn’t acclimated to good weather yet. There was lots of junk that looked just like stuff I had that is going into the garbage soon. I figure I’m improving the rarity of the products by making them rarer. The only things I wanted were old railway signs and while everything was pretty cheap, the railway signs were more around $100US.

After that we went to Sengakuji Temple, where the graves of Daimyo Asano Naganori and the 47 Ronin are buried. Last time I went I waltzed in and our without much fanfare, but now there’s an entrance fee of ¥300 which pays for 50+ sticks of incense that are placed at the graves of the Lord and the ronin. It was hot, and the smell of incense is pretty powerful.

We were a bit tired from the heat but we went to Noa, an izakaya in Ginza for lunch around 2pm. It’s run by the parents of Taiki, the guy who runs Tokyo Sando. I’ve been there before and the food is excellent. Kevin & Bill had two giant beers and we also ate potato salad, potato wedges, karaage, tebasaki, curry korokke, and dashimaki. The picture is after we’d already eaten most of it.

(There’s a Coke there because I had two Cokes instead of two beers.) We went back to the hotel and I think Kevin and Bill passed out. I was busy watching YouTube videos, eating a snack.

They didn’t want to get dinner at first so I went on my own to Acacia, a youshoku restaurant (Japanese western food). They’re famous for their cabbage rolls. I’m more used to cabbage rolls in soup but they had it in a lightly seasoned cream sauce which I found to be a bit bland. Not awful, just kinda Tokyo-like. Probably better for me with the lower sodium.

I think the best part was the music. They were playing Aretha Franklin!