More Arcade Treasures

Classic hyper-realistic food prize.

Mickey and Pooh butts! 

Spring Lovelies!

Oh, Spring!

It's a floral Fuji!

Pizza!

A new pizza joint opened a few months ago in town, and we really enjoy them. They have a smaller menu, serving only small, personal pizzas, pasta, and salads. I was able to get my pizza without cheese (YES!!! Customizing ordered food in Japan is SO difficult!). My pizza was really yummy - there wasn't a sauce, and it was covered with chicken, greens, and lemon. I'd never had a pizza with lemon as a primary topping, but it was amazing!!

Lovely Bakery

A lot of bakeries around here will give you gift wrapping for your goodies even if you're taking them straight home to eat. Some regular stores do this, too. In Japan, presentation is everything. How an item/gift is wrapped is just as important as the item itself. Gift etiquette is different than in the US. We are used to opening gifts as soon as they are handed to us and not caring about shredding paper. Here in Japan, it's rude to open a gift when you get it. It should be sat aside and not opened until you get home, unless the giver says it's ok to open it then. When unwrapping, care should be taken to not rip the paper and value the wrappings as much as the actual gift. At any rate, here is the cute wrapping that came on some sweets one day.

Pretty Pigeon

We were in Yokohama last week and saw a very pretty pigeon! We were sitting outside, feeding the birds, and a gang of pigeons showed up. All of them except two were normal grey and black, but one was a beautiful white and orange/rust color! There was another that was solid black, but that one had severely deformed feet and couldn't walk. The best he could do was hobble a couple of inches. He had to stay lying down unless he was flying. It's amazing a cat or hawk hasn't picked him off yet. I love seeing all the color mutations on pigeons. They are such an underrated bird!

Poor little bird

Pizza Cat

We tried ordering a pizza online from Pizza Hut one evening, and they have cats on their site! I'm sure they employ them to knead the dough.

Umeboshi

We found some dried plum candy, and gave it a try! It's not too bad. These are little bits of fruit leather made from sour plums. They are very flavorful!