Japan – Sushi making, Fushimi Shrine, Farewell Dinner

This morning after breakfast we realized that our luck had finally run out with the sunny weather. Rain was predicted for most of the day, but it didn’t deter us from taking the subway to the Daiki Suisan Sushi Seminar, to experience the making of nigiri sushi.

We were greeted by the master sushi chef and we sat down at the table and examined the fish on the tray in front of us: ahi tuna, flounder, salmon belly, octopus, squid, shrimp, and salmon. The chef then had us don plastic gloves so that the sticky rice we’d be working with would not stick to our hands. We made a small ball of sticky rice, weighing it on the scale to the correct weight determined by the chef. Then, we formed the rice ball into a long rectangle, making a dent in the middle with our thumb. We then placed the fish on top of the rice, making sure that the rice was not too visible under the fish. I did mine very carefully and the chef went by and gave me both thumbs up, so I went on and did the same for all the other fish.

The chef gave us a strip of seaweed and we put a rectangle of rice in the middle of it, leaving a small space on either side. Then we wrapped the rice overlapping the seaweed around it and we topped it with a fish, pickle, and I believe sake mixture.

I finished making all my sushi and this time the chef went by and said to me “Beautiful!” (I was the only one who received that accolade, so apparently I am good at frothing Matcha as per the monk and now I’m a good sushi maker according to the chef! LOL!)

The chef then told us a little about his life, and then he brought out all of his sushi knives and told us what they were all used for in the fish and vegetable cutting preparation. It was a very interesting morning, and best of all, we ate the sushi that we made for lunch. It was delicious!!

We thanked the chef, and Allan and I presented him with Hershey candy bars for his grandchildren, and he was very appreciative.

We all went and had some matcha ice cream in the sweet shop nearby, except for Allan who has vanilla since he was pretty much macha-ed out. We walked around a bit in the huge mall under the subway system, before we boarded the subway back to the hotel.

We took the train to the restaurant where the farewell dinner would be served. We walked down a long quaint alley, with little restaurants on either side, and then we arrived at the restaurant. We took off our shoes and climbed the stairs to a room which overlooked the river. We had bento boxes for dinner, and we all thanked our guide Hiro for the wonderful job he did getting us from place to place, regaling us with interesting stories about his life in Japan, and just being a fabulous guide!

After dinner, we took the train to the Fushimi Inari Shrine, which is famous for its thousands of vermilion colored Torii gates which line the walking trail. It is the most important of all the several thousands of shrines dedicated to Inari, the Shinto god of rice. Statues of foxes are found along the trail, thought to be the messengers of Inari.

We had the shrine almost all to ourselves as it was around 8 pm when we arrived, and it was very serene walking under the gates.

We rode the train back to the hotel, and bid farewell to some of our new friends that we wouldn’t be seeing in the morning. We finished packing and went to bed to get a good night’s sleep before our plane ride back home tomorrow.