Yakitori= A Japanese dish of chicken (pork, pork liver, and chicken liver are also very common) grilled on skewers. Yaki means grilled and tori means fowl, but you find other meats on the sticks just as much as you find chicken.
We load up our clothes to take to the Off House. This is our mission of the day. Off House is like the Japanese Goodwill. Some of the clothes we brought here are a little too small or we didn't wear them much. Mama does not want to bring them home and she doesn't want to throw away perfectly good clothes. "Kami's clothes! Yours are little clothes. I hold bag. You put them in. No, wait, I put it. More clothes in? Bag full! Water in too?" Down the hill to Kitakurihama Station we go. It doesn't look too bad from the picture, but this thing will get you every time.
On the right side is a primary school and sometimes the kids are out playing. We always stop and watch if they are. "School! Kids playing there. Far down there. Lots of kids!" They are the cutest in their little hats. The color of their hat most often depends on the their grade level. Sometimes there are more colors and Mama thinks they might be split into groups for certain games. Today, they are playing dodge ball, or something like it. I wiggle a little to get down, but then snuggle in and realize I'm tired.
We take a picture while we stay out of the way of the moving truck.
Also, on the way down the hill is the car that always has the baby seat in the front seat. It's very common here. Car seat laws are nearly nonexistent and I have seen parents doing it all different ways. Riding in taxis here, you will never find a car seat unless you have brought one yourself. Once Mama got past the initial shock, she realized driving over here is much different in so many other ways as well.
Our mission is easily completed as I surrender to taking a very long nap in the backpack. Five pieces of clothing, an imaginary phone number, and lots of nodding with many "sumimasen" and "arigato", we receive 60Y (which is about 60 cents) for the small pile. Well, at least they didn't get thrown away Mama says.
Mama decides she has to have yakitori from the famous stand down the alley in Yokosuka. You eat as many sticks as you want and put them in the cup in front of you. You do not sit down and you use klenex as napkins (which is common in other restaurants as well). When you are done eating, you take your sticks up to the cashier and she takes them to count with her bare hands. Deliver the payment and your snack is complete.
The machine that you see above is for dipping the yakitori into the marinade. You see the whole process start to finish out in the open. This particular stand is very popular with Japanese as well as personnel from the base. There is most always a little crowd huddled together vying for the next warm skewer.
Three blocks from the yakitori we catch the train, home again, home again.
Did you know that in the US you don't have to use car seats in taxis either?! Crazy.
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