Tenjin (Sunday, August 1)

Matt and I ventured out to Tenjin (the BIG shopping area - I apologize, I believe I called it Tenji last time) to meet up with Wendy and Nathan, another couple that moved here from Tennessee, for lunch. This was our first time using the subway in Fukuoka. You would think having a sister living in Boston I'd be a pro with subways but I must admit, they make me a little nervous and I rarely ever rode the T. Surprising. Yes, I know. However, today we managed to buy 2 tickets AND get off at the right spot! Next mission, order lunch and hopefully point to something on the menu that I like.

Most restaurants here have plastic food displays outside of the restaurant so you can partially see what you're getting in to. We found a place that seemed to have a nice selection of plastic so we decided to give it a try. What happened next... the menu was in Japanese with no pictures! Come on! Now what?! I thought all the menus would have pictures! The only thing I recognized on the menu was sarada (which is "salad" in Japanese). Luckily, Wendy has lived in Japan before so she was able to read a couple of items on the menu. One being okonomiyaki and the other being soba. Soba, I can do soba. Next question, what's on the soba? There were about 6 choices and we can't read anything other than soba. So, I moved my finger to a line, ordered and hoped for the best. I had know idea what was about to be served on my soba noodles and I'm still not exactly sure what I was served but it definitely had noodles, green onions, red pepper flakes and fish flakes. All the other stuff? I have no idea but it tasted good. Nathan, Wendy and Matt all ordered the okonomiyaki which is similar to a quiche pancake stuffed with various ingredients but when it was served to the table no one knew what kind of Okonomiyaki they had ordered so they were all placed in the middle and everyone shared.

Uncle Irv, I know you wanted me to document all the things that I've been eating in Japan but I'm having a little trouble. I don't know what I'm eating nor ordering. All I can do is send pictures and maybe someone else can tell me what I ate!

For a little chuckle:

We were on an elevator the other day, packed in like sardines (love that!) and there was dead silence as we went up. I remember thinking to myself - Ash, what ever you do - do not start laughing, do not laugh... This was one of those awkward moments that if I started laughing it would have developed into a crying, silent laugh because I was laughing so hard and wouldn't be able to stop. Luckily, I managed to keep my composure until we reached our floor. Once we stepped out of the elevator Matt told me that as we were all smashed in the elevator he looked up and saw our reflection in the doors. Have you ever seen "Lost in Translation"? Well, that was Matt in the elevator - head sticking up about a foot above everyone else (along with his blue eyes and light hair). Thank god I never saw that reflection!