So day four started off nice and slow, with an onigiri (or two) that I had picked up at the 7-11 the night before. (It was like I KNEW I’d be moving slowly the next morning.)

One was salmon and one was tobiko or masago. As to which was which….

I took the time to dump all of my photos from the past few days onto my laptop, and reflect back on the trip so far. Slowly, I was allowing myself to accept the fact that I was actually in Japan. Also, I was realizing that I was completely smitten with this whole country, even more so than when I first started planning this whole trip.

Nathan had set it in his mind that I could not truly experience Japan until I had sampled CoCo Ichiban. Nathan can be very correct sometimes. This was one of those times. CoCo was a wonderful experience, from the moment that we walked in the door and received international menus. Not just English menus. Not just picture menus (though there were fantastic pictures involved.) These were INTERNATIONAL menus. If I had wished to order in Portuguese, I could have. Another wonderful thing I noticed (and this is not just limited to CoCo) is how, at many of these establishments, you have the ability to choose a variety of portion sizes. And this is not just your average fast-food sizing; this is full on personal customization. You want a lot of rice? a little rice? Any of the in-between rice sizes? ALL OF THE RICE?!? You got it! The same goes for sauces and toppings.

As I was not currently conditioning for any eating challenges at the time of our visit, I chose a modest amount of rice and chicken cutlet curry.

It might look underwhelming, but I would probably eat this every day if I could.

As we ate our ever-most-filling delight, I began to ponder where the local Japanese person might go if they were in need of new tea cups, tatami mat, lumber, art supplies, and a hamster, all while checking out a giant tortoise.

“Why, they would go to Joyful Honda!” my cousin gleefully exclaimed. And thus our next venture was secured.

So very Joyful!

So basically we explored all over this wonderful land of ALL OF THE THINGS, and I picked up a trinket or two, but I failed to take any super awesome pictures. Every so often, I like to just enjoy being in the moment rather than trying to capture the moment. I wasn’t being super lazy, I swear!

I did, however, think to capture this gem. I think all elevators should carry this, or similar adorable warnings, to keep me from getting my fingers crunched by their doors.

Crab will always beat scissors (though I imagine rock might beat crab)