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We’re back from Japan!

(Actually, we’ve been back for almost two months already. But we haven’t been able to record until now, so…)

We’re back from Japan!

We’ve fallen hard for the combinis (convenience stores, like 7-11 and Family Mart).

We have a renewed obsession with onigiri.

And we miss Japan like crazy now that we’re back!!!

Day 1

So what did we do in Japan? Well, on the first day we were both there (Allison arrived a few days before Rachael did), we all went and visited the Tokyo Skytree.

And by visited, we mean stood around and looked up at it. When we were there, you had to have a reservation to get up into the Skytree, because it’s only a few months old.

So instead we got curry pastries.

And while we were sitting around eating, met some very interesting people!

Day 2

The next day, we all rented a car, and off to Mt. Fuji we all went. (Mr. Fuji drove.)

We got to check out a Japanese rest stop, which is ridiculous compared to what we’re used to in the US. It’s got an entire food court!

Then around and around and around, up Mt. Fuji.

Though it was quite warm in Tokyo, it was freezing cold and incredibly windy and rainy up the mountain, so we unfortunately didn’t get to spend much time there before sprinting back to the car.

But it was totally worth it for the little udon restaurant we found at the base of the mountain.

The noodles were handmade – to die for. And the only meat available? Horsemeat!

And then, like any normal traveler would do in a foreign country, we went to Costco.

Seriously. We went to Costco. Which was one heck of a freaky experience in itself.

You walk in, and it looks exactly like every single Costco you ever see in the US.

But then they have some different things – like all sorts of different types of sashimi-grade seafood. Fish, fish eggs, uni, seaweed… we’re seriously jealous.

However, the real reason we were there? Rachael has been tempting the rest of us with Hokkaido Milk Soft Cream ever since we started this podcast, so Allison couldn’t pass up an opportunity to try some.

So worth it!

Stay tuned the next two weeks for the rest of our Japan trip!

We’re having a contest!

You can enter to win one of two pairs of silicon saibashi (cooking chopsticks, like these) that we brought back from Japan.

All you have to do to enter is leave a comment on this post.

One entry per person. You have until 11:59PM on Monday, September 24th, 2012 to enter. We will ship internationally, so anyone may enter. The two winners will be chosen using random.org.

Good luck!