Yakitei Juju, Nara, Japan

Nara, about an hour’s train ride east of Osaka, was the first permanent capital of Japan back between 710 and 794.

Yakitei Juju, Nara, Japan

The Western area of the city is full of magnificent temples and shrines and thousands of roaming wild, but relatively tame, deer.

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DSC03507 (August 28, 2016)

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DSC03532 (August 28, 2016)

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DSC03540 (August 28, 2016)

After several hours exploring Kofuku-ji and Todai-ji I was walking back to Nara station looking for an Okonomiyaki restaurant that I had spied earlier on in the day. The restaurant was called Yakitei Juju.

It was mid afternoon by the time I climbed the stairs to find only a handful of diners enjoying their meals.

Despite it being quiet it took some time to grab the attention of the server to get an English menu, but I soon had a beer and an Okonomiyaki on the way. Okonomiyaki takes a little while to cook, so given the warm weather and over 10km I’d already walked, a second beer was ordered just as my meal was ready to be served.

At this particular restaurant they cook the Okonomiyaki in the kitchen then place it on a smaller hotplate in your table to keep your meal hot while you eat it.

In all, a decent Okonomiyaki to tide me over for the hour train ride back to Osaka.

Suginoko, Haneda Airport, Tokyo, Japan

I’d arrived at Haneda Airport for my flight to Sydney a little early and the Qantas check-in wasn’t open yet. I opened up TripAdvisor to see what were my options were for one last Japanese feast and I found that there was a Yakitori close by.

At the back of the public international departures concourse there are a couple of escalators leading upto the 4th floor to an area called Edo Market. It’s a large area with heaps of restaurants. Mostly Japanese but a couple of other options as well.

Suginoko, Haneda Airport, Tokyo, Japan

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