Last night in Okayama. The Dinner.

McDonald's, Okayama.

It's not soft serve. It's softcream.

One of the many things it will be hard to eventually leave behind in Japan. You can get your average soft serve here as well but you can also get this delightful treat. Looks like soft serve, but the texture is richer and creamier (and dreamier). It tastes more like a frozen custard or frozen pudding. I've tried mango, black sesame, vanilla, chocolate, grape, and matcha. Not all at once, though. All flavors equally life-changingly amazing. Check out the wiki entry for soft serve and there's a little snippet about soft cream in Japan.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soft_serve

Taco Style. Take Out Okay.

Good food. Not exactly a correct culinary interpretation of taco...but we appreciated the effort.

Ice Cream Vending Maching. All-Cat-All-The-Time-Shop. Check and Check.

I recommend the white grape ice cream from the vending machine. Avoid lemon. It made my jaw lock up from the sour.

These cats are really big in Japan. Sometimes you'll see them outside of a shop or restaurant and they're supposed to bring wealth towards the owner (that's why the raised arm). This particular shop was nothing but cats and I am not exaggerating. There were three live cats in a giant plexi-glass display in the center and the "music" playing in the shop was synthesized cats mewing Christmas carols.

Anytime I see something screech across a room and latch onto someones neck, and the guy screams and tries to get it off, I have to laugh...

...because what is that thing!? Have you ever wondered what might happen if you impulsively decide to make some late night rice in your rice cooker and then you forget about for three weeks (THREE WEEKS)? I will tell you what will happen. You will walk over to your rice cooker all excited-like ready to fix yourself some late night rice and then you will open your rice cooker and get the absolute worst shock of your life because for a second, you thought there was a ferret or some other dark-haired rodent hiding inside your rice cooker...ready to pounce on you. And then you will be relieved, but only for a second, when you realize it is, in fact, horrible black mold that has taken on a life of its own, and in a way this will freak you out even more because AREN'T THOSE SPORES DANGEROUS!? and now they are in your lungs and you are frantically trying to rinse out the bowl with scalding hot water and it hurts, but now you're just laughing because the whole situation reminds you of one of your favorite Jack Handy quotes.

Halp me.

Can someone tell me how to format my blog so that the spacing between my pictures isn't screwy? That would be great, thanks.

Kurashiki.

First I'll just apologize for the complete lack of posts recently. Going to try and get caught up on pictures so that way I don't have to try to upload twelve at a time...blogger is super slow. These pictures were all taken my second day in Japan (I know, I know, I've only made it to day two) in a town about 15 minutes, by train, from Okayama. It was so beautiful it was surreal. This part of Kurashiki is mostly for tourists, there are shops and restaurants, but we walked through some lovely neighborhoods as well. As usual, I made a spectacle of myself by taking entirely too many pictures. Check out the gold and red Kitty-chan in front of the one shop. This is why I love Japan.

Most restaurants in Japan have these display cases on the outside. So instead of having pictures on the menu, there are wax replicas. Sometimes cute, sometimes bizarre.

Nice, spacious yard by Japanese standards. You can just barely make out some cute toys in the yard.