Day 9: gyunyu

Today we went to kiyomizura where toby was engulfed by a veritable paparazzi of Japanese students from some sort of athletic team. They took his photo alone, then had all of us pose with them, then posed with him individually. Just when we thought they were done, we ran into them again at a different part of the temple, and then again, and then one more time. He was quite the star. Who knows, maybe he’ll be the next Japanese fad, bigger than pikachu or frilled lizards or skirts that look like you’re not wearing any pants.

For dinner we headed to a tiny place purported to make the best oyakodonburi in all of japan. We waited quietly in line while toby befriended a large testicled raccoon statue out front then sat down at two of the twelve seats to eat. And I have to say, it was really good. But perhaps even better, we may have stumbled onto their secret, the key to making eggs, chicken, and dashi somehow transcendant. There are a small number of foods, well actually just one that we know of, that toby’s skin is a wee bit sensitive to. And after a couple bites of the oyakodonburi, he had the telltale red marks on his chin. He’s like our own little hercule poirot, just without the mustache.