05/31/2013 

Had a great nights sleep on the futon during my first night at Yamatoya Honten, but as usual work up early in the morning.    Waited until 7:30am breakfast and, again "dressed" in the Yukata headed down to the 2nd floor for breakfast.      I actually FORGOT to bring my camera, but will have a similar breakfast tomorrow morning and will take photos.

The setup was in a community dining hall, tatami matting and tables setup with (in my case) a big nametag/sign with my name on it.    There were "backed" chairs (without legs) to make it easy (or easier) to sit (no need to sit with knees bent -- hard for Americans to do!)      There was a large group of 6-8 women eating and two japanese guys eating at the same time.

The place setting included several pieces of fish and a 'grill' for me to grill the fish on.   A bowl of rice (white, not brown -- sorry Phil!), cold tofu and a side plate of sauce/seasoning for same, pickled veggies, some starches (sweet potato?  yam? not sure-- but good!).    A nice serving lady came by with a bowl of miso for me and also poured me tea.   She 'lit' the grill and made sure I understood not to "overcook" my fish.

It took me about 30 relaxing minutes to polish off everything but a bit of the white rice.   Very satisfying breakfast!

Having finished breakfast I returned to my room and did some reading and relaxing until 11:30am 

when my guide, acting as a volunteer guide (mostly free), was due to show up in the lobby.   Her name 

is Atsuko and I found her through the JNTO (japanese national tourism organization) web site.

We met and walked from the Yamatoya Honten to a local street which was a retail fish and food market.   Lots of Tuna, ready to take home or eat on the spot.   Also tako, conger eel, and many many other forms of such things.  The street/area was called "Kuromon" -- here's the banner above the entrance to the street and a look down the first part of it (it went on a long way!)

We took a look at some of the fine fish products -- including some really nice looking Tuna (Ahi!) ready to eat (though we didn't -- just looking at that time)

All of which made us hungry, so we bought a small sample of two kinds of 'dusted' gelatenous dessert treats.  One was dusted with what tasted like peanut-butter to me (though a bit more subtle) and the other with what tasted like green tea.   I liked both, but I think the green tea flavored one the best.

We then moved onto a stand where they were selling different types of proteins and veggies that they had stewed or boiled in a great broth for quite some time.    We picked four different types to try and shared them -- the vendor was very friendly and it was something you'd love to eat on a cold winters day.    Dikon radish (but very mild due to long stewing process, some beef, some type of potato, and a forth one which slips my mind and I forgot to write down).   All very flavorful as the broth they'd been stewing in was a hearty salty type of flavor.

We moved on to observe more "live" seafood -- here's some shrimp still moving!

We finished with the market street and moved onto a street that was full of restaurant items (signs, dishes, tools -- everything you'd need to open your own shop!)     I liked one of the chef statues (much like "Edgar" in my colorado home -- the butler statue that  has a platter in his harms that can be used to hold my keys and the like.   So here's "Chef" Bob:

There was also a whole store for "neon" signs for restaurants -- want one in your home/window?

We kept walking on our way to lunch -- at one point passing a comedy theater that had people outside trying to get folks to come in.    The people were dressed up in "Disney-like" costumes -- think Mickey Mouse suits.    Here's the photo... fortunately others were being "interacted" with and we escaped without incident!

We headed to a nice sushi lunch--

Where in addition to the standard yellowtail and toro we got their special of the day -- Conger Eel.   And this was BIG -- not a little piece.   Just a little piece of rice with conger eel lapping huge lengths over the edges of the rice.     It was GOOD.   To get a sense of scale in the photo I inserted my glasses--

After lunch we walked over to a crepe and ice cream vendor.   Here's their "menu" and the  vanilla ice cream, strawberry, whipped cream creation I got--

Next, we went to the basement of the Fujikawa store (big department store).   It was filled with food vendors of every type!   Wow!!!   As far as the eye can see --- all good stuff!!

After wandering the "food floor" I spotted something interesting -- they had lockers here, but they're refrigerated ones!    Very cool idea (literally).   So people can shop, store their food items, and go upstairs and buy clothing, etc.    

We finished off with a walk to a cheesecake store -- you could watch the cooks through the window!

Alas, I was too full to want any!    Saving room for whatever I end up doing for dinner later...

So my guided tour ended, though we arranged to meet again in Kyoto next Wednesday for a bit more touring and eating there!

I went back to the Yamatoya Honsen and took a nap, followed by a walk down to the basement level where I used their on site "public bath" to take a nice hot soak.    Japanese style (just like spaworld onsen) where you wash off first, then soak, then can wash off again.    Maybe I'll sneak down tomorrow if no one is around with my iphone for a quick shot.  

It's 8:22pm and I'm not starved (still!) but its probably time to walk up Dotonbori and grab something protein for dinner.   I'm thinking I might stop at the crab restaurant and get a fixed set meal there...

And indeed that's what I did at a very late 9:30pm dinner.   Here's the waiting room view to the "tank"

After about a 4 minute wait I was taken up in an elevator one floor and seated -- a good view of Dotonbori waterway bridge over to ShinSaiBashi street where all the highend brand stores are:

I ordered one of the small set dinners.   About 5-6 courses of crab, mostly snowcrab.   About $50 US.

Glad I went with this one as I was totally stuffed by the time the last course rolled out (before I rolled out!)  

Starting course was boiled crab

Next was 'raw' crab sashimi:

Then came a really amazing crab hotpot -- basically crab and almost a 'mac and cheese' like creamy/cheese-like base with soft noodles.   I wish I had more!!  Very rich, but amazing!

Next came crab tempura along with lotus root and pepper(?) tempura:

Then a crab custard type of dish:

Then came a "crab zushi" (pressed sushi local style -- no soy -- its already flavored)

Then a miso with some cut crab fish cake(I think) -- winding down here

And finally dessert (no crab here!)

Whew!   What a meal!!!

Waddled (like a crab!) back to yamatoya honten -- ready to update the above into the blog and time for bed!