Shabu Sha-boooyaaaa

I'm pretty sure I have a new favorite food. Shabu Shabu. Last night after I got settled in and met the family, we went out for dinner at a Shabu Shabu restaurant. WOWEE was that a great dinner. For those who don't know what Shabu Shabu (shah-boo shah-boo), it is a type of Japanese meal where you have a hot pot in front of you and everyone cooks thinly sliced meat in the middle of the table. Click the wikipedia link above for a better description and pictures.

We ordered what is called Suki-Shabu. Instead of a regular shabu shabu, there was also a Sukiyaki style sauce to cook our meat/veggies in. Mom and Dad are in for a treat when they come out here for this. When we were kids, my sisters and I used to affectionately refer to this meal as "Stinky Pot" because whenever my grandpa ordered it, it smelled funny. But I take it back because eating the meat dipped in the raw egg or ponzu sauce was unbelievable.

When eating the shabu shabu, I used what I like to think of as the "hot/cold" method. The food is always pretty hot coming out of the pot, so after eating, I would take a swig of ice cold Kirin Ichiban (Japanese brand of beer) to cool back off. It worked perfectly. Speaking of which, I've had beer with almost every meal so far other than breakfasts. They often come in ice cold mugs (just like at Honda-ya!) and I don't know if I'm just imagining it but I think the Japanese beer tastes better out here, too. I'm beginning to think the Japanese reserve all the best foods (rice, fish, beer) for themselves, and ship out what they don't want.

I've eaten every last bite for every meal that I've been served so far. I don't want to be impolite and not finish my meal. ...Also its just really good.

Last night I watched a Japanese game show where this girl with crazy eye brows painted on climed to the stop of Mount Kilimanjaro. Japanese game shows really are as crazy as they say.

Yoko san showed me around the city today so I could acquaint myself with the three "denshya eki" (train stations). I think I actually have it down pretty well now...but we'll find out tomorrow when I ride the train by myself back to Shinjuku. Below is the train map. Keep in mind, this is an easy one to read because it is written in English. At many of the stations, they only are written in Japanese (and what's even worse...Kanji).