My Hovercraft Is Full of Eels

Saturday morning (8th of October), I woke up with that startled feeling you have when you realize you just overslept and missed something important. My mobile phone was in my left hand, next to the pillow, and I have no memory whatsoever of waking up to the alarm. It was 10:21 and I had a rendez-vous at 10:30 with the lab's assistant professor, Obata-sensei, her friend Noriko-san from Tokyo and Noora. Luckily for me, that particular morning my bed hair was truly awesome and after getting dressed I was ready to go. Since I live on campus I was barely late at the meeting point in front of the lab.

Our intention was to eat at the renowned Atsuta Houraiken restaurant, which is specialized in one of the local delicacies, hitsumabushi or grilled eel with rice, seasonings and a special tea-based sauce. We also wanted to visit the sacred Atsuta shrine located in the same area.

Everything went according to plan except for the part where we wanted to avoid the long queues at the restaurant. At 11 o'clock the queue was already an hour-long and we decided to go see the shrine while waiting to be summoned by the waitress, who was calling out names in an annoying and endless high-pitched voice in front of the restaurant.

Atsuta shrine. The sword was nowhere to be seen...

The path leading to the shrine, overshadowed by 1000-year-old cypress trees, was filled with families and tourists, most of whom were Japanese. The shrine is one of the most sacred in Japan and holds one of the three Imperial Regalia of Japan, Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi, literally meaning "grass-cutting sword". According to the legend it was handed to the imperial family by the sun-god herself and is only viewable by the Emperor and a few selected Shinto priests. Having said that, I really think I chose the wrong profession... We also witnessed a traditional Shinto marriage ceremony. The shrine was quite modest, resembling all the other shrines I have seen so far. That was a little disappointing since I was expecting something spectacular after reading about the legendary sword.

Exiting the refreshing shade of the temple area we were greeted by the blazing sun in front of the restaurant - and it did not make the waiting any easier. Once inside Atsuta Houraiken we took our shoes off and sat down at a traditional Japanese low table. The food arrived quickly and we followed the three-step custom to eat hitsumabushi: the first serving with eel and rice only, the second with added seasonings and the third with seasonings and the special sauce. The savor matured with every new ingredient and the final serving with all the ingredients was by far the most delectable. The only thing tempering my delight was my utterly numb left leg that I had to get out from beneath the table midway through the meal. I really thought I had lost that leg for good but it would have totally been worth it.

Hitsumabushi. We were so hungry we nearly forgot to take a picture of the meal.

After the meal we all headed back to downtown Nagoya to take a peek at Osu Kannon, the temple I described in my earlier blog entry, and eat some dango for dessert.  The next stop was another Japanese peculiarity, namely a cat café. Because the homes are small and local people spend a lot of time at work, it is often not possible to own a pet. But there is a cure for that: at pet cafés you can cuddle, stroke and play with cats, dogs and most probably other types of pet cafés exist too. Confined in the small room were a dozen cats and as many people, all girls and one couple. Admittedly, had I been alone or in a different party, I would have most likely been frowned upon.

View from the ferris wheel.

It wouldn't have been a perfect day without some karaoke, so we rented a little karaoke room for an hour and sang our lungs out. The singing session's highlights included My Neighbor Totoro's ending theme song and the popular South Korean girl group Kara's song entitled Mister. It was really a lot of fun, but it didn't end there. We rode the famous ferris wheel on the department store façade (picture in one of my previous posts) and enjoyed the magnificient views over the city.

The karaoke room.

Tebasaki.

Before calling it a day, we had to taste another speciality of the local cuisine, tebasaki or spicy chicken wings. According to our guides, one the best places to eat tebasaki is Furaibou so that is where we went although it was very well hidden. All in all I really can't praise the day enough... luckily I didn't oversleep in the morning! High five everyone!