More Shopping.

Sunday 21st October. Day 87. Warm, humid, rain later.

We didn't arise from the futons until about 9 o'clock. We had breakfast in Mr. Higuchi's room. There was ham and egg; toast (it was the special thickly sliced, very fine textured bread at which the Japanese excel); strawberry jam or orange marmalade; coffee and milk.

After breakfast, escorted by Mr.Higuchi, we walked to the local market.
It is a bit like the Victoria Market or the Prahran Market in Melbourne. Actually, I had gone to this market in 1999 with Kumiko, another of Mr. Higuchi's daughters. The market is huge, like a covered city. There are stalls selling fish, meat, vegetables, pickles, sweets, cakes, clothing, shoes, bedding, materials, toys, and etc., etc. There were at least two 100 yen shops (such good value), and a cobbler.
We ate lunch in a Chinese "ramen" shop. Mr. Higuchi ate noodles. Colin and I ate "mabotofu" (tofu in a spicey meat sauce) and shared a plate of mazegohan. After a little more walking, we went back to the ryokan to drink some coffee with Mr. Higuchi. That done we went up to our room to rest. We watched TV and read an English newspaper so it could be thrown away.

About 7-30 pm, Kyoko got back from Tokyo.
It was her birthday so we went to have dinner at a kushikatsu restaurant. The speciality was tempura battered ingredients impaled on skewers and deep fried. We had skewers of prawn, very tender chicken, potato, one whole asparagus spear, and "wild" eggs. There was a much greater variety available. We had a sauce, a sour soya sauce, to dip the skewers in. It was a delicious meal and there was always plenty of ice cold water to drink, and green tea.
After dinner we walked along the narrow streets through light rain to Kumiko's house. This is a seventy three year old building, traditional and attractive. There are nine rooms and a shrine to grandmother (she started the ryokan) in the tatami room.
We met Kumiko's 22 year old son, Takahiro, daughter Yuuka, and older son Shoujo (or is he Kyoko's son?). We had actually met Yuuka and Shoujo at Kyoko's house in Ascot Vale in 2000. Yuuka was visiting her aunt and Shoujo was cooking at Kuni's Restaurant in Little Bourke Street, Melbourne.
We talked, drank tea, and ate small jellies. My jelly was green tea flavoured, and Colin's was azuki bean. There were about six different flavours. They were quite delicious.
About midnight, we found ourselves back at the ryokan.

The next day, we temporarily became Very_Rich.