Kyoto One thing that has been tripping me up about restaurants in Japan is that they are all clad in dark wood and the windows are rice papered over. It's hard to even tell if they are open in some cases. But you also can't peek inside and see clearly what to expect. I chose a Shabu-Shabu place off the main strip. I know shabu-shabu from home where you are served raw meat and you cook it yourself in a pot of broth. So I thought I had this restaurant down - I knew what to expect and the sign outside showed everything you get with the meal. I walk into the restaurant and knew something was going to be different when I was assigned my own geisha-like waitress and was told to remove shoes and put on slippers. Geisha-waitress lead me to my own little private room with rattan mats on the floor. Then she yelled at me when I entered still wearing the slippers. OK, slippers off. Can't get that straight either - but I think it goes this way - shoes outside, slippers on rugs, socks on straw mats. Make a note of it. Then she starts up the boiling water and brings in all the ingredients for the meal. Each time she leaves she's all full of bows and she closes me in my cell again. It felt pretty weird being served like this alone in a small room. So I decided I needed some pictures - I took out my ever present camera and took a timed shot. Just afterwards she came back in, and a minute later my camera turned itself off startling her. She spotted the camera and I had to reassure her that it did not just take a picture of her. Thrown into the broth were several types of tofu. One that melted down to the consistency of soft bubble gum. Chewy and all. This was the last day of my stomach trouble but that night I stuffed myself - I felt somewhat obligated to eat EVERYTHING because she kept coming in and telling me to. It was a great, but expensive, meal! You are here...