Japan: The Sushi Train

June 7, 2018 - 

Japanese rest room stall at a train stop.  Sure glad I didn't have to go!

Another day, another quest for food.  I have found that the Japanese do not believe in breakfast.  Most stores and restaurants don’t open until 11am.  Even if you do find some sort of Japanese breakfast, it’s likely a cup of noodles with a raw egg on it.  Jack, Sam, Dennis and I wonder endlessly in search for some kind of breakfast.  I figured Sam would have known of some place but didn’t.  He claimed he normally ate at home when they lived here.

It was this morning when Jack suggested we look for a flight to go home early.  He was already tired of Japan.  His biggest gripe was he was hot all the time.  That’s true.  He’s a big kid and was sweating quite a bit.  I totally get where he was coming from.  In a number of places in Japan, it only what they call “mildly air-conditioned.”  I would look around and you’d see Japanese people wearing jackets and long sleeved shirts and such and not be sweating.  Escape from the heat was a major reason I left Illinois.  Though we made fun of Jack, Dennis was already compiling a list of “What I Hate About Japan,” with the number one item being no air conditioning.

Anyhow, we managed to find a coffee shop that served breakfast.  And I’m talking eggs over easy and bacon (despite the bacon nowhere to being crispy).  

After breakfast, our plans were to get back on a train to a manmade island in the harbor to a Harley-Davidson shop.  Dennis needed to get a Harley shirt as a souvenir for his brother in law.   It was warm and humid during our walk to the Harley store.  But we were all entertained by Jack’s dislike of the climate.  

Once Dennis picked up the shirt we headed back to the hotel and then left again to ride a cable car up to the Nunobiki Falls and Herb Garden.  This was right next to the Crowne Plaza.  The cable car would take you up to the top of what everyone called the mountain (this peaked at 1,200 ft in elevation… this is NOT a mountain).  At the top there was a cafe and herb garden.  A hiking path could take you back down, which Dennis and I did and bought the one way tickets.  Jack and Sam bought the 2 way tickets.  They didn’t want to walk down; they need to get back to the room to be on their phones.

Dennis and I took some other paths that we thought would give us another view of the Nanobiki waterfall.  The climb was steep and turned out, only gave us a partial view of the city.  In the woods of these paths, the humidity was pretty high and we were working up a big sweat.  I have no idea how Dennis’ back was going to feel the next day.  If I knew we were going to be doing this, I would have brought my hiking shoes.

Probably the biggest surprise with Japan I now realized with all the woods around me and sweating buckets was… no bugs.  And we’ve encountered a good amount of rain too.  Very seldom have I seen any bugs.  I did see one mosquito… and that was inside McDonalds.

For dinner that night, Ben was finally able to join us.  He planned to take us to what his family called “The Sushi Train” and was one of their favorite places to eat.  I have no idea what the place is truly called.  It might even be the Sushi Train.

Jack riding up the gondola at the Nunobiki Falls.

I really don’t know what to expect from this.  I’ve never been a sushi fan.  I think the only sushi I’ve tried was in Florida one year and from what I remember, smelled horrible and tasted the same.  But I figure sushi in Japan and sushi in the US are different.  So I planned to go into this with an open mind and give it a try.

We get there and get a booth.  The actual “train” is a conveyor belt that delivers food to your table.  There were two belts.  One was loaded with sushi of different types of fish and ran to all the different booths down an isle.  The second was one where you special ordered an item off a kiosk at your booth.  As you finished your plate, you would then dump the empty plates down a slot to who knows where it went then.  The atmosphere of the restaurant was that of an all you can eat buffet place.  Cheap.  We’d tease Jack that he probably likes this restaurant because of how the food comes to you and you don’t have to get up.

I really don’t know what the fuss is all about with sushi.  I tried it.  It wasn’t horrible, taste bad or have bad texture or smell.  But it was bland.  The fried shrimp was pretty good at this place, along with the large bottles of beer.  Ben explained that while the sushi at the Sushi Train was good, but he knew of a better place to get sushi.  And he added that once having sushi at this other place, you’ll never want to have sushi at the Sushi Train again.  With sushi for me, the only place to go from here is up.