Day 43: Saturday, probably last post.

For what is probably our last day "out and about" in Japan, we headed down to the Nipponbashi area and went to the restaurant suppliers district, checking out many of the neat products for sale. We bought a few things, and considered getting a cast-iron press that makes fish-shaped treats (filled with eggs, red bean, chocolate, whatever), but decided in the end against it because (a) we could really only use it on an open fire, which we don't have too frequently, and (b) our luggage weights were all within 1 lb. of the weight limit on our arrival flight, so a cast iron press would probably put it over.

With Malcolm walking (and enjoying it), I think most of our family pictures will look something like this.

We had lunch at a place we've eaten before, the one with "noodles with pork" or "noodles with extra pork" as the dining options:
On the train platform, Archer made up a dance (the "wondadance," with Wonda being a vending-machine coffee drink we've had a few times):

Then we headed out to meet Y. and her grad student A., for a farewell dinner. (The university had given her money for a farewell dinner, but when we tried to swap that money to use it for research, they denied the request and told her it was earmarked for food!) Earlier she had asked if we wanted to go any place in particular, so we chose Shabu-Shabu, which we had not yet had (and we were happy to have with someone who had eaten it before).

When we arrived at the restaurant, there were Western-style tables in the front, and figuring there were traditional low tables in the back I thought to myself, "please sit us in front please in front." But of course, we headed to the back. Which was fine, but we had vowed to not eat any more meals in those rooms, because mealtime turns into an effort to corral and contain the boys. Luckily we were in our own room, so they could run around a bit.

Shabu-shabu very roughly means "meat lightly shaken in water" or some such thing. It involves a few teaser courses, which of course are great:

That sashimi on the right is Fugu, or pufferfish. Its liver is poisonous and is, apparently, a source of some pride among people who eat that part.

And then the cauldron of broth gets heated. You shake the meat in the broth a bit, and douse in one of a couple dipping sauces. No doubt, this was probably some of the best quality meat we've ever had.

Dipping the cooked meat in sauce

Served with veggies, which also go into the pot:
One thing we've noticed a few times now are the proportions of meat to vegetable. There was probably twice as much non-meat food as meat food, and the meat that was there was very thinly sliced. Several times during the trip Y. has remarked about her shock in Western countries at the size of the meat portions of a meal.

Of course, there was the obligatory hamming it up:

On the ride home, Archer sealed his fate as future member of the gymnastics team: