Eating at the Sea of Japan

The seafood here is superb. The things you are eating were probably swimming an hour ago. Some restaurants have live fish tanks, like in China. But the market array of fish is astounding. Winter crabs are the speciality here but I don't think they are as tasty as the Oregon coast crabs cooked outdoors...

And at $7 a pop I don't think we wil be trying any...

  On top of the market on the 2nd floor, there are a bunch of great little restaurants with English menus and wonderful  sushi chefs. I don't want to think about it but I believe they cut up some of the seafood live...certainly all our shrimp are raw, hard to eat as they flip around with just the tail end to hold on to. 

   The first night there were all sorts of lineups so we ate in the sushi bar, good because we didbn't have to take off shoes and get under he table...and we could watch the action at the bar too. Second night, we went to a booth and enjoyed the true Japanese experience. era food was wonderful

  At lunchtime we went into a little place that was almost deserted after the main lunch rush. You order on a tablet, and the sushi comes to you via a mini bullet train along the counter, neat. We were near the sushi chef who just served us personally. Other things go round on a conveyor belt but we ordered fresh each time. The servings were very generous and super fresh fish.

  Last day in Kazayama we got sunshine so did the tourist thing at the gardens and castle. We figured out the bus system and visited the geisha area, similar to Kyoto, with old houses now converted to stores and restaurants for the myriad tourists. That night we also took the us down to a restuarant Ted found in LP Lonely Planet It was a simple sushi bar, but the owners came to visit each guest and there were only 4 others that night. The chef places your orders separately on the bar along with a pile of pickled ginger  - you hope it's squeeky clean.

  We had the chance to visit both the home of the Lord's wife in the famous gardens, simple, elegant with beautiful gardens of its own. It was constructed in such a way that the roof overhang was supported on a cantilever basis so as not to spoil the view of the garden...

  Visiting the geisha area, we also visited a geisha house - you can pay a fortune and stil have an hour's entertainment in some of them. Also on the route was the treasury that held all the gold, as Kazayama is the country's largest producer of gold leaf, used in many fine handicrafts and also to decorate food. I didn't blow the bank buying a jar of edible gold leaf to impress my guests in future!