Friday 25 April: In Shizuoka, Ayame & Konori take us out for a dinner at Thai Orchid, run by a friendly Thai couple. The food is authentic, delicious and *very* reasonably priced.	Ayame and we go on drinking at a bar downtown. The sake is Toyo Bijin (Oriental Beauty) from Yamaguchi; UsaKousa get to munch on a complimentary veg/tofu/egg snack.
Aubergine in dashi, with lotus root, ginger and sansho leaves.	Tempura of seasonal vegetable - including "ascetic's garlic" (the deep green leaves at the bottom): "Alpine Leek" in English and Allium victorialis in Latin. (And yes, it is very garlicky and tasty.)
	Saturday 26 April: Another get-together in Tokyo, at Noriko's place, where we all contribute. Left: pre-dinner snacks of colourful Hokkaido potato crisps; vegetable crisps; almonds; curry-flavoured cashews & wasabi cashews from Hokkaido; German pickled gerkins (guess who had to buy that at the shop on the way ;-) We drink Kirin beer, vino spumante, cava, Japanese plum wine, water, etc. etc.
Fumie has flown in from Sapporo, bringing some fresh Hokkaido asparagus with her - yum!	Peko & Fumie in the foreground, Peter & Hide, and Noriko in the background.
During the evening, we're all far too busy drinking, chatting and eating, to take any more photos. Here's the only one that I've somehow remembered to take... Top from L to R: fresh baby sardines from Shizuoka; cooked wasabi leaves; miso sauce for the squid below; sashimi of sardine, sea bream and bonito. Bottom from L to R: Bamboo shoots & mixed veg; fresh baby shrimps; boiled firefly squid.
Monday 28 April: Another dinner at Nomura. Usako marvelling at giant rock oysters, turbos and clams on the counter in front of us.	Hitomi's thick slices of scallops, deep-fried in batter with black sesame seeds - mmmmmmmmmmm!!!
Kousa and grilled black rockfish giving each other attitudes.	And Kousa seems to have won...
UsaKousa sipping a glass of wild plum wine on the house - a jar of which stands on the counter.	Slices of red bream sushi: perfectly cooked rice with sesame seeds, thick slices of fish, and sansho leaves inbetween. Utterly delicious!!
Tuesday 29 April: Our last supper at home in Gifu. The tabel is full, as always in Japan...	The centrepiece: takeaway bento & mini-sushi boxes from Takada Hassho.
To Part 6