Zipping Across Japan

My JR Rail Pass expired yesterday, but not before I got to zip around Japan several times on the Shinkansen, or bullet train. I keep hearing about plans for California to build something similar. I can only hope that it happens in my life time ... perhaps the high gas prices will be fuel enough to get the tracks down soon.

One of my favorite parts of riding the Shinkansen is watching the train agents turn back towards the passengers and bow before exiting the car to go to the next car.

Sushi Lovers -- A Lesson from Midori & Hisayo

While eating and drinking in a cute mom-n-son restaurant called Piccolo's last night, my host Hisayo and her sister Midori opened up with me, sharing their horror over a faux pas of foreigners when it comes to eating sushi -- we don't know how to use our soy sauce properly.

The proper way to use soy sauce with your sushi, they tell me, is to make sure you dip the fish side into the soy. And, by all means, make sure you do not dip the whole piece of sushi into the sauce. Just dab the end of your sushi, fish side down, into the soy. Foreigners tend to soak their sushi, rice side down, into the sauce. This collects way too much soy, overpowering the delicious fish.

Midori and Hisayo are experts in soy, by the way. Their family runs a soy sauce (shoyu) distribution business in downtown Ena.

And another tip: Make sure the fish side goes onto your tongue so you can fully savor the fatty tuna, eel or whatever is featured in your nigiri.