Okayama

Okayama is the biggest city near Saidaiji. 18 minutes by train or car.
In the city you have the 3rd famous park in Japan, a castle and of course a lot of shopping and restaurant.
And yesterday I was sick, and people are worrying about me, and since I said I like Katsudon very much (fried pork with egg and rice), they have decided to take me to Okayama to a famous Katsudon restaurant!!!

On the way I saw a nice Italian restaurant. Japanese people are fond of pasta and pizza but japanese way :-)
Actually quite good but a bit different!!!

The main part of the meal are vegetables. So you have a lot of vegetables  shops like that. And very often the vegetables are from the region.

This is just very nice I think.

So this is the famous katsudon restaurant. Normally people are queuing to get inside, but because we came late this was ok.

That's the view from the street. The name of it is Holland street, looks a bit european, don't you think!!!

Tada that's the entrance. You often have these flag at the entrance of the restaurant.
I like it very much !!!

And here we are: Hiretoshi san and Masako san. They took us there.
They are sitting on the ground, but they though it might be a bit difficult for me so I was sitting with Hiroshi san on a bank.
Actually they are quite right after a while I don't feel my legs anymore and the place is very small, this is not done for a big gaijin!!

That's the counter of the restaurant and Hiroshi san.

Inside of the restaurant some decoration
I like this kind of mask very much actually!

and that's my lunch. A big bowl of soup with ramen and pork and vegetables

And my katsudon. This one is a special one with a special sauce actually.
It has a different taste but it was very nice.
I am very happy to go with them in this kind of places, because everything is in Japanese with a lot of Kanjis and nobodies speaks english so this is difficult for a foreigner to go there alone.

After we went to a shopping arcade. There are such arcade in every city in Japan with a lot of shops, nicely decorated, away from the rain, snow and wind. Great places!!!

Japanese are mostly Shintoist or Buddhist but they love Christmas.
You have christmas music everywhere, publicity on TV, everything is decorated, a lot of illuminations. They like all these kind of events very much.
Here we have some snow man candles.

That's the decoration of the arcade, very nice :-)

And after because the lunch was not enough we had some deserts!!!
That's mine: Flan, cheese cake, ice cream and strawberries with a tea!!

That's another one. You see the merry christmas thing :-)
Well everything was just great!!!!








Today is my day off, and the same troop have decided to take me to see a movie.  We have selected mission impossible because this have original language, which is easier for me. A japanese movie won't make it.
So we went back to Okayama to a huge theater!!!
You can select your seat on a map, and then of course buy some popcorn or sweets or drink.
We were very reasonable and had only drinks :-)
After the room was big. Seat are great: big (very big for japanese, did I told you that I am almost the biggest everywhere: great feeling!!!) and there is enough difference between you and the front row that even if a big guy is coming you will see the movie :-)
Sound is not too loud.
There is no break and this is very silent. People here are very respectful!!
Movie was great, everybody enjoy it very much!!!
After we went for dinner. In the theater there are some restaurants, so you don't have to go too far.
I had a katsudon again, which makes everybody laughs :-)
This one was great too.

Then back home to have a good sleep!!!
Tomorrow we have tako yaki party!!! Yeahhhhhhhh