Jinja and Shoga: Life in the Land of the Rising Sun

Yuki gave me this 2000 yen note on Saturday, and at first I thought he was playing a trick on me or something. But apparently this note was actually drafted in 2000, to commemorate the 26th G8 summit in Okinawa (thank you, Wikipedia). I guess they're pretty rare in circulation--this was the first one I'd seen---but most banks have some. I don't think they actually print them any more, though?

On Sunday, we went out for sushi to our favorite local sushi restaurant. This isn't one of your typical cheapy conveyor-belt sushi places, though---this restaurant originated in Numazu, a city about an hour away that's famous for its fishing port. There are I think 3 of this chain's restaurants here in Shizuoka, but only this one features the conveyor-belt style service. And this one is usually the most crowded, too. Yesterday we only had maybe a 10 minute wait, but sometimes it's been a lot longer.

                                     Waiting outside the restaurant



Inside the restaurant--they actually have 2 conveyor belts; the main one is on the left

                                    The first plate: Shirasu, a tiny fish famous in Shizuoka


Yuki and his kani-jiru (crab miso soup)




 Left: Kani attack! Right: Sanma (don't ask me for the name of this fish in English, because I have no idea)

    Left: Aji and Right: Anago (a type of eel)





Seared salmon

                            

                                                       The grand total: 11 plates!