Day 54 in Japan - A dash of jinja

Today I was a little sad - it was a Shimizu Day, and a bit grey and rainy. I got a bit of time on the train this morning and got to send a few messages home and got a bit sentimental. Awwww. And it is shitty class day (damn you shitty class). So, after work I decided that I wanted to do something to cheer myself up. Sam got onboard the "do something fun" boat, and so after work, he walked both our bikes to the station to meet me (very awkwardly), and we went for a bike ride to our recycle shop. 

Famicom anyone? This is the Japanese
 version of the NES (unfortunately not for sale yet).

After having a good look at other peoples junk (sometimes literally), we went for a sunset ride in West Okubo. We found new temples and shinto shrines (which are called jinjas in Japanese), and even climbed up a hill to watch the sun set over our local town. As there aren't really any hills around, this was actually kind of an achievement. 

Sunset over rice fields.

The roof of our local Buddhist temple - Shokakuji Temple.

Kanagasaki Jinja - our local Shinto Shrine

Lantern outside jinja

Ginger (if you think my hair is orange) and jinja

The sunset over Okubo

After the sun had set, we pointed our bikes home, but got distracted by a TORI NIKU PLACE ALMOST NEXT TO OUR HOUSE! Tori = chicken, and niku = meat, so a tori niku = deliciousness. The whole menu was in kanji (with photos), and all the staff spoke only Japanese, which would have intimidated Sam and I a few weeks ago, but now we manage to muddle our way through. I got a crumbed and deep fried chicken cutlet with rice and a gravy-type sauce. Sam got a rice bowl thing that cooked by itself. The chefs were awesome guys, and we will definitely go back here even though it was a little pricey. 

Chefs at Tori-Doru (our new local chicken shop - a little different to Chicko's)

Food Highlight of the Day: Chocolate bar filled with peanuts. Wait, I'm not finished yet. Filled with peanuts THAT ARE COATED IN CRUNCHY BISCUIT. You know, like those peanuts that are almost twice as big as a peanut and normally have some salty coating on them? Yeah, now put them into a chocolate bar. Instant mood lift!