On Friday night after work Kuniko and I met to have sushi at a local sushi bar. We weren’t sure what to expect of this place, since it is a local place that we’ve never tried, but it came on the recommendation of one of the neighbors. Earlier in the day I made a reservation, just to be safe, but as it turned out we were the only customers at the time. It was a tiny little place, just six seats at the bar, and you really were face to face with the chef. He was pleased to have customers, and it sounded like he was going to close after we left, so I got the impression that he was open mainly just for us that night.
The sushi was good. A little more wasabi than Kuniko was comfortable with, although I didn’t mind. We had the usual fare – maguro, hirame, ebi, tamago, hotate, mushianago, and ika. He also made a special makizushi called shinkoumaki that was based on hot egg and eel that was good. The price was very reasonable – we got out of there for less than 6000 yen for two people. Not bad.
The next day is was off to Costco and Carrefour on an early morning run. Since we arrived a little early we started at Carrefour. Carrefour is a French megastore chain that tried several years ago to make it in Japan, but they ultimately failed (wine and cheese aren’t so popular as day to day items here). After they failed they sold some of their stores to the Japanese-owned Aeon food group, who have been selling Carrefour goods in their stores under contract, but mainly have normal Japanese products for sale. In the newspapers I found out that Carrefour isn’t renewing Aeon’s contract to use their name and products this year, so our shopping trip was the last chance for us to buy some of the rare stuff that even Japanese-owned Carrefour sells. We spent a little more than we usually do on French jams, wines from Europe, Thai and Malaysian spices, French sauces and mushrooms, and their last six pack of Negra Modelo beer. This is all stuff that will be gone next time we come.
After Carrefour it was over to Costco just as they opened, and we bought plenty over there – wine, pork ribs, towels, tortillas, etc. While shopping I was surprised to find that they were selling a gas grill. It was a little different from the one my folks shipped to me by sea, and it was pretty expensive (68000 yen!) but there it was, for sale in Japan. I don’t know if it will be a big seller, but I’m definitely letting my expat friends know about it.
We came back with loads of food and were completely exhausted after putting it all away. I reorganized the pantry to handle all the new goods we purchased, talked with my folks on the phone, and from that afternoon until late last night we really just lounged around the house. We did some chores, did some class preparation, but mainly just worked on a couple of bottles of champagne along with a couple bottles of wine.
This week is a little more lively than the last one, with a couple of events during the week and a weekend away with Kuniko’s family eating blowfish on Awaji island to celebrate Kuniko’s father’s sixtieth birthday. More on that later…
