Our First Japanese Sushi Experience.

Hi All! Long time no blog, again. Sorry about that.

We have been in our apartment a week now and received our first "express" shipment this past Monday. All I can say is, we didn't plan that shipment very well. No Keurig. No Brita. Not the right clothes. While it is nice to have a few of our own kitchen items and to cook again its definitely not the same as having our entire kitchen. Maybe its just me and I can't think straight but almost every recipe I plan without remembering that I don't have this item or that item to help me with the process. I guess the banana bread and soup will have to wait....

Oh, but we packed our smallest TV. I have been watching HGTV alllll day long when I can. Please don't judge me.

I wish I could tell you that we have been exploring all over Japan and seen lots of cool stuff but that's definitely not the case. Since the last post we have been off base once. Once. Now base is not some "just like America" island, we are surrounded by the culture entirely--but this is why I haven't blogged yet. In my opinion my posts should be about some big elaborate trip we took but that won't happen all the time and I must realize that. We live here, we are not on a vacation here- we have to find that exploring/living balance. 

This past weekend we took it easy. We did venture off base once to the 105 Yen sushi place. For reference 105 Yen is approximately 1 US Dollar. I know what your thinking- "Ew, why would you trust sushi from a place that charges a dollar?!" My thoughts exactly..but when in Rome Japan, do as they do. Eat dollar sushi. 

It is a bit hard to see and understand but this is at the end of our table, its a Sushi "go round"aka automated belt that travels? Hopefully that makes sense?! In this picture there is an apple juice box passing our table. The faucet looking thing is a hot water dispenser for tea. The rest is typical sauces, chopsticks, etc.

 Sushi goes around on the belt as you can see in the picture above. As they go around you can take certain plates that you find appealing off the belt. Each plate costs 105 Yen. They have English menus that describe what food is going around the belt so you don't have to pick something and have no idea what you are eating! They also have touch screens at the end of each table, as seen above. If you don't see what you want coming around the belts you can order something specific and it comes on the belt to you and plays a song as its arriving, pretty cool!

 Shrimp Tempura.

 Cucumber Rolls.

California Roll.

It was an experience. The Japanese people in there have these little plates stacked a mile high and just keep eating the sushi. I was skeptical. I won't lie, the only thing I ate were the cucumber rolls and some pineapple. Ryan was more adventurous! I have never been one to eat the sushi that has fish on the top not in the roll and almost ALL these options were on the top. We will go again and I will try more. I will try any vegetable, legume, fruit, fungi etc. on the planet but I will always have a hard time with meats, including raw fish! 

Oh, and the chopsticks. We use them. They aren't easy but we are getting better. Noodles and chopsticks....its so fun!

Since the weekend we haven't been doing much that is worthy of writing about. Ryan is pretty ill with a cold and we are both crabby because we are sleeping on a full size bed without our favorite pillows.

Lastly, big news, I'm on a volleyball team. Its almost laughable- but I am way better than I thought I would be. Ryan's command has a team and I'm on it. Nothing like playing with a bunch of sailors. More on that later...

I have tons of blog posts planned and some BIG changes too! This weekend we're hoping to get out and explore more pending how Ryan is feeling.

If you are curious about anything specific you think I have already experienced in Japan please leave a comment and I will reply and maybe even post a Q & A post with all the questions. It sounds so silly but its hard to remember what might be interesting to people who aren't here to experience it first hand!

Happy Weekend Everyone!

XOXOXO

Ashley