Narita, Japan

A lot of people were unaware of my spur-of-the-moment mini vacation this week. It was without a doubt the shortest trip I have ever been on, but nevertheless memorable. My dad took me on one of his three day trips to Narita! This was my third visit to Japan, but the last time I went was in 2007. I was beginning to miss it. The purpose of the trip was just to go somewhere before the shackles of another semester imprisoned me to the life of textbooks...and also to eat divinely delicious Japanese food. I often try not to be a foodie while on vacation, but in this case being a foodie was my objective. However, I did have one other goal: to take a ton of pictures. So here they are! The rectangular pictures are from my Diana F+ camera taken with 35mm, 400 iso film and a 38mm wide-angle lens. The square pictures are from my Diana Mini camera taken with  35mm, Redscale XR film.

Day One.

Sushi

My Dad is seriously the best tour guide you can have in Narita.

As soon as we arrived he took me to a prime sushi spot.

 

Some green tea and the best sushi in the world.

Fresh Ahi

One hundred yen a plate. We ate 23 plates between the two of us.

Wana (Sea Urchin). It turns to liquid in your mouth. Very strange, but not bad.

 

We enjoy.

After an early dinner I got to check out a cool little supermarket.

With fresh produce.

We didn't do very much that first day besides eat sushi, see the market, and go to the mall. Note about the mall: no matter where you are in the world, the mall is a watering hole. Its also a haven for the populace on an August day in Japan. I cannot stress how incredibly hot and muggy Japan is during the summer months. That first day was 92 degrees fahrenheit with a weak breeze that blew more hot, humid air. The mall was definitely a haven for me. It was also a great place to get some cool souvenirs.

Day Two.

Bikes

Hawaii may be a day behind Japan, but jet-lagwise we're first. We were up obnoxiously early the next morning, but my dad had a pretty good idea of how to spend the rest of the day.

Bikes. We rented them from the hotel and headed towards town.

First on the itinerary: breakfast at my dad's favorite place.

I shall explain the process. You crack the egg (raw) open in a small bowl, add shoyu (soy sauce), green onions and natto. Stir and pour over rice. It is accompanied by miso soup and beef, which you can either add to the rice or have separately. Delish.

We then proceeded on our ride into the city.

The area surrounding the city is mostly countryside.

Where eggs are sold in vending machines.

Rice Paddy

Then we reached the temple.

Japanese can create some insanely beautiful gardens.

Koi Pond

For your convenience after a hike through the beautiful temple gardens.

They like vending machines. Anyone who has been to Japan will tell you the same.

Here we reach a gap in photographs. My photos of the city have been...lost. Meaning I took pictures of town, but they didn't show up on my roll of film. Sometimes that happens....

This little excursion was coming to a close. One meal left before we had to head back to the hotel and rest up before getting ready to go to the airport (told you it was a short trip). The debate between ramen and curry was an easy choice. Ramen makes you perspire. I couldn't imagine being any hotter than I felt that day so I went with curry. Also, curry is one of the most delectable dishes on the planet. Japanese curry especially. Along with soba, curry is my favorite Japanese dish. It was a must.

Now, in order to find a worthy restaurant for this last meal we biked the long way back to the hotel. That gave us a larger selection of places to eat than biking through the countryside did. Unfortunately it was 3/4 uphill. But we did it. Equipped with a torpedo sized bottle of water each. I thought I would die of a heat stroke. Then we reached it. A place that even my dad had never been to. A place whose curry trumped The Curry House by a thousand. And I forgot what it was called.

Before I went to Japan I was highly advised to eat tonkatsu. Best advise ever. Especially if served with curry over white rice. It was such a good way to end the trip.

Itadakimasu