My first trip to Japan, the first night, I ate: tofu, pickles, sake. This is because I cannot eat fish. I have to say, as meals go, it was a little tragic. They were the only things on the menu I could recognize that weren't american food.

I met exokam at the airport this afternoon, and after some quality lounging at the hotel (where I drank two big glasses of water from the tap, because I *can*, unlike China, where one is more cautious) we went out to eat at an Izakaya that she found in her book. After some cheerful sign language, they led us to a little tatami room of our own. We were very careful to take off our shoes outside. We weren't sure what to do with the shoes, so we left them in the very narrow corridor.

And then we ate:
- house pickles (minus the fish topping for me. sakana wa dame desu.)
- two kinds of fresh tofu, one plain, one sesame, with ground salts and sesame sauce (oil?)
- cold soba with shredded daikon (cool and delicious for humid warm weather)
- pickled cucumber in sesame vinegar
- grilled skewers of salty chicken gizzards, and chicken thighs with spicy miso sauce

We washed it all down with shochu, which is a clear and delicious alcohol made from sweet potato.

Our favourite was the chicken thighs, but it was all pretty tasty. Oishi!

Then we paid the bill, but when we stepped out into the corridor: no shoes! Someone had neatly put them away somewhere.

So now I know the word for shoes: katsu. Katsu doko desuka?

(It turns out, the panel walls hide little shoe cabinets.)

And now exokam is sleeping the sleep of the jetlagged, and I am getting ready to go into the office tomorrow.