On to Okayama.

We took the Shinkansen to Okayama today, where my sister worked for a year. It’s kind of an odd place, in the middle of nowhere, but seems to have plenty of tourists. We met my sister’s friend Yumi, who drove us around for a long day of shopping and sightseeing. We had lunch at an old school shopping area that supplies fish and produce and even flowers for the area. This sushi donburi only cost ¥1000, for example, which is half of what I’d expect it to cost anywhere else. And it was incredibly fresh and tasty. Probably better than most expensive sushi restaurants.

Dinner was at a tonkatsu restaurant and the reviews were mixed. I thought it was great and my mom thought it was so-so. My pork was incredibly tender and the tsukemono (Japanese pickles) were especially good. The only thing that could have used improvement was the miso soup.

In any case, we’re off to get udon tomorrow and I’ve heard so many stories of the udon in Kagawa Prefecture that I wonder if it will measure up to the hype. We’ll see!