Ikea and sake differ by only one letter

The days are so full of new and fascinating experiences that it's hard for me to keep up here. I am writing now on Saturday morning as we prepare to leave Kobe for Kyoto. I'll try to give the highlight of the last two days in photos. 

And I've had a request for more bathroom signage, so let's start there. 

This one has the very practical "dry" feature. Not entirely effective but thanks for trying, toilet. 

Above you can see the musical notes button which will give everyone else in the restroom the impression that you are doing something so repulsive that the sound of a flushing toilet is music by comparison. 

And if you didn't already have enough to read, here are detailed instructions on how to clean the toilet seat with the special toilet-cleaning stuff in the dispenser below the sign. The thing on the right where you're supposed to wave your hand on front of it. . . Not sure. 

That completes the toire update for today. 

If it's not too indelicate, I'll move on to meals. I hady breakfast yesterday at Ikea, which is about a 15 minute walk from the hotel (we're in a kind of industrial park area of the city, location of lots of corporate hq bldgs, so not a lot to see or do within walking distance).

It's reassuring to know that "kvissle" means the same thing universally!

Here is my breakfast:

That's not a pop tart, it's a nice soft bread. And that sweet bun was very good too. 

 

The final event of the conference was a social gathering here:

Fukushima cleaned up real well, didn't it?

No, no, ha ha, I'm joking. It's part of the sake making equipment at Shu-sin-kan brewery.  What followed was a traditional 8 course japanese meal. Each course was very small, a taste treat, and exquisitely presented and served. Of course I took a photo of every dish. 

Presented with few commercial interruptions:

Their award winning sake, served at the Nobel prize ceremony in Stockholm, they were very proud to announce. 

The dishes were as beautiful as the food. Ok. No more commentary. Assume that (almost) everything contained seafood of some kind and was delicious. 

Was that 8? The last is sake infused ice cream. 

And because our hosts were japanese businessmen, our night ended at an authentic japanese beer joint -- I've forgotten the term for this kind of local pub--where we sat on tatami mats on the floor and they brought out more and more food. 

Here are some of the guys. 

I missed posting much about the day I spent in Himeji, where the mood was on the serene end of the spectrum. But I'll close with this picture from the gardens there. Imagine the most wonderful constant sound of running water--even nicer than pushing that button on the toilet. 

Namaste.