Asakusa, more sushi

Asakusa is one of the top tourist attractions in Tokyo. And rightly so - plenty of exotic-looking temples, big crowds at the weekends, touristy shops selling all sorts of cute and colourful knick-knacks, stalls where you can buy handmade cakes, and some really old shops,.... I loved it. I had been there before with Véronique, on one of my work trips to Japan, and it's exactly like I remembered it.

When Brendan and I got there, after a morning spent at the Imperial Palace East Gardens (which was ok, interesting moats, big walls and guard houses, and one nice pond with trees around it and carps in it. But I wouldn't go back), we were hungry, so our priority was to get a bite to eat before we hit the really busy area. High on our success the previous day at Sushi Dai, we decided to walk into a little sushi bar a little away from the buzz, not much larger than Sushi Dai. The only people in there when we walked in were just finishing, and we soon found ourselves all alone. For one moment, we thought, oooh, what are we gonna do? The staff didn't have a word of English, but there was a poster on the wall with pictures of all the main fishes, with an English translation and the Japanese words. So, we went à la carte and bravely ordered our lunch one fish at a time. That's the way it's done. By that time, a good few more Japanese customers had come in, so we didn't feel we stood out too much. And the food was good. We were rightly proud of ourselves for managing so well!

Two tips:

1. when you come in, just use your fingers to show how many are in your party ("ni mei" for two people)
2. when you're done and you want the bill, cross the index fingers of both hands just like an X. You'll be given a bill, and you walk to the till to settle. It worked well for us. (Does that count as a Japanese word in my vocabulary?)
3. I know, this is Tip number 3. I only intended 2 tips. Bring a little notebook with you, with useful phrases, to which you can add as you go along. And put "Sumimasen" (Excuse Me) in front of everything you say.

Now, the vocabulary lesson:

• Octopus: Tako
• Tuna roll: Tekkamaki
• Horse Mackerel: aji (very tasty - each time we had it, it was served with spring onion on top)
• Tuna: Maguro
• Fatty Tuna: Toro
• Red snapper: Tai
• Salmon roe: Ikura (my personal favourite)
• Crab salad: Kani sarada
• Clam miso soup: Akadashi
• Prawn: Ebi (not to be mixed up with Eki, Station!)
• Beer: Biru

We spent the afternoon people-watching around the temples and shops in Asakusa: ladies in kimonos, people carrying little dogs dressed in the funniest outfits (e.g. a frog hat?), I tried my luck at the hundred-yen fortune boxes, we watched biscuit-making in some of the stalls, I bought Hello Kitty goodies, and also some gorgeous origami paper in a beautiful paper shop. It was a hot day, and we were glad to get back to our air-conditioned room at the end of it, but it was such a buzz. PS: yes, a lot of people in Japan wear face masks - apparently to stop the spread of germs. Véronique told us she found the masks very useful when the pollen count is high.

I'm sorry I didn't buy this little pair!