Japan 2011-Tsukuba

Today was a very unfulfilling. It started off with a bit of light rain in the morning. By the time we left the hotel, the rain stopped and the clouds began to part. Since we had to catch the Tsukuba Express at Akihabara, we opted for curry for lunch at Coco Ichiban. At this time of year, they have a promotion where you can order the Grandmother curry and get a chance to win a spoon. This year, it was a choice from 2 designs. A and J had won several spoons before and wanted to add to their collection. Days ago in Sapporo, theyand R tried for spoons at a branch near our hotel there. They were resolved to taking home a spoon. I have not been of much help. I could order the same thing and increase their chances of getting a spoon. I have never ordered it before and today, I ordered the curry with thin slices of pork. Oh well.


After lunch, it was on the train for 45 minutes before disembarking at the terminal station. It was told that there was an area around the city that specialized in breads. We exited the station and walked around the many bridges that connected many of the areas shopping and parking. We walked around and bascially found nothing. There was hardly a soul anywhere we had walkd to.

Frustrated, we gave up the search and ducked into a Jusco department store. They had a supermarket with a deli. The prices were quite cheap compared to what you would find in Tokyo. R found a specific brand of curry for a friend of hers. There was some self-serve tempura, yakitori, and fried foods. I helped myself to a few things that I could eat for breakfast the next day

After a less than fruitful day, we decided to leave Tsukuba with hardly a anything to remember the few hours that we spent here. Dejected, we went back to Akihabara to pick up a few things. Afterwhich, it was back to the hotel to drop them off and off to dinner. A week and a half ago, during our one-night stay here, we ahd dinner at a donburi place in a line of donbri shops. We revisited this area and stopped into a tempura rice bowl store. My bowl had shrimp and fish tempura. It also hade two tempura patties. One was made with vegetables while the other contained little white fish and vegetables. It was satisfying.

So, the highlight of the day was finding a stachel of straw that contained natto. Oddly enough, it was labeled chcolate natto. I am not very fond of natto but J likes it so she picked up one of them. This little item also led to disappoint later in the evening when we opened up the little package of beans. Natto is usually covered in a stringy goo when fermenting in the starw wrapping. When the outer cover was opened, a little white bag was found enclosed, not the gooey mess we had anticipated. Within was a bag of soybeans covered in chocolate. I dont know why I was hoping for more. I just was.
BTW, A and J did not win the spoon this time around either. However, they do promise to try again since they still have a few days to go.