foodie monday in minoo

Satoshi had Monday off, which was a holiday, so we went to see a movie. The Japanese movie "Umizaru, the last message" was in 3D, think BP oil rig meets Japanese Coast Guard.

The ticket price was 200 yen (about US$2) more than what we would have normally paid, which is normally 1800 yen (about US$18) by the way, so it was 2000 yen (about US$20) per person. If you wanted to bring home your 3D glasses, you could, I figure we paid for them, so why not??

Anyway, I was amazed at how technology has changed, the glasses are not with one lens red and the other blue, they are grey. The movie on the other hand has a red and blue tinge to it.

I've seen 3D televisions on the market here and can't imagine what type of vision people who have bought them must have.

After the movie, we went to check out Hakodate Ichiba, which is a conveyor belt type sushi place.

Most of their selections weren't too impressive, though two stood out for us.

A seared maguro (which could've been more seared) topped with ra-yu (chili oil).

The other was grilled eringi (mushroom) topped with some yuzushio (citron flavored salt).

After lunch we walked to check out a historical site, Kayano Sanpei's house.

This house belonged to a young samurai who also wrote haiku under the pen name Kensen.

This young samurai was apparently torn between filial piety and loyalty to his lord and in the process committed suicide on the anniversary of his lord's death...kinda dramatic, yeah??

In 1973 this house was considered a historical site by Osaka and in 1992 the house was donated to the city of Minoo.

In 1993, an addition was built called "Kensen-tei" which is continually used for haiku gatherings and tea ceremonies.

Satoshi went to check out this guy's grave which is located in a different area away from the house, so while I waited for him, I admired all the rice fields.

Satoshi was amazed at how much "country" there was where we live.

To get home, we tried out our city's community bus, which I touched upon the other day here.

I found out that this is actually a new system in our city.

Before, there was a bus only for senior citizens, but they have changed it and now anyone can ride the bus.

There are 5 lines (red, green, yellow, pink, blue). Depending on the route, for 200 yen, you can ride almost anywhere in Minoo.

To pay your 200 yen fare (as you get off the bus), you can use bus coupons, pre-paid/post-paid train debit cards or pay cash.

And if you want to transfer to another line, then you need to ask the driver for a transfer, and the transfer ride will cost you 100 yen (about US$1) cash only.

Not the most convenient transportation system for us because they run about once every hour (some lines are more infrequent), but it was a good experience and we hope to use it whenever we have extra time to get from one place to another.

Overall, it was an overcast day, kind of humid but not as bad as the week before.

We have another holiday coming up in a couple of days. Hope you have a great week.