Today we got to do a couple of things that not many people from the west have done, even those who have visited Japan. Our host Takane first arranged for us to visit a genuine noodle bar in a neighbourhood just outside of central Tokyo where tourists never go. It was a tiny shack with a couple of tables and some seats at a bar where locals go to sluuurrrp their noodles (and slurp they do). Takane helped us order and Chris had udon noodles with tempura vegetables and shrimp in a soy broth, I had the same but with chicken tempura and we all tried two different types of sake. My chicken tempura was yum, really light and tasty with a proper broth.
This evening we were honoured to be invited to the RIKEN tea ceremony club where we joined their tea ceremony practice. The ladies very kindly lent me a kimono, which you can see in the picture above. It's an elegant outfit but much more complicated (and uncomfortable) than it looks; it has about 5 layers, loads of ties and panels and it took two ladies more than 20 minutes to make me presentable. The tea ceremony is thousands of years old and very exact so the ladies attend each week to learn from an experienced teacher. All the tools used have significance and a special powdered green tea called matcha is used. However for all the ceremonial stuff the ceremony isn't hugely serious and is a great excuse for the ladies to have a good chat and a laugh together. Things we have learned today:
* chicken tempura kicks KFC ALL OVER
* Kimonos are very hard work but I still want one to wear round Donny town centre
* Those of you who thought I would chuck green tea down someone elses 500,000 yen kimono were WRONG WRONG WRONG!!! Thank God.
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