Tokyo Ueno Zoo

For our final day in Tokyo, we headed to the zoo.  It wasn't the best weather, but for pretty much every other part of the trip we couldn't have asked for better weather.

You know you are getting close when you find cute sculpted bushes like this.

Here is the front entrance to Ueno zoo, right in Ueno park.  Besides the zoo, this park houses many museums.  The zoo itself is 130 years old (opened in 1882), and is the oldest in Japan.

We started off with a visit to the panda exhibit.  This was exceptionally sad because this zoo just lost it's first baby panda born in this zoo in years just days before we got there.  They were hopefully it would do well, but it became sick, and just could not fight the infection (I believe it was pneumonia).

I have no idea which panda this is, but I do not think it was the mother of the recently lost baby panda.

Super cute!  Now, I have sat with and pet a panda before (in China), so I can tell you that as soft and cuddly as they look, they are NOT!  They are very bristly.  But, I still enjoyed my up close time with a panda, even if it felt a little different from what I was expecting.

Here is one of the memorials in the panda area that is set up for people to come and pay their respects.

Just outside the panda exhibit was this, which I believe was a Thai monument as an indicator of friendship between the 2 countries for some years now.  Sorry, I don't remember what the sign said, and I forgot to take a picture!

This was a little badger.

Owl

Big bird!!!

Tiger

One of the many monkey varieties that they have here.

Lion

Gorilla

This is a really neat looking bird that we liked.

Something in the dog family.  Can't remember the name.

Sea lions.

Bear

Hanging with the bear!

Elephants

The front one is actually dancing and Ryan has an awesome video of this.  

While the rain held out in the morning, it did start to rain around lunch time, so we headed to one of the cafeterias in the zoo for lunch.  Ryan had curry (on the left) and I had a fried seafood plate.  Too bad I discovered that although it said seafood, they put a fried hamburger patty on here.  I was so lucky that they were so kind in switching out what I ordered, and even let me order a curry dish minus the curry sauce (it is usually cooked with pork).

I thought these condiments were so cute.  You can easily tell what they are to be used for if you can't read Japanese.

This was the second dish I ordered, and the one I actually ate.  It is rice underneath scrambled eggs.  Usually the curry is on top, but I was able to get it just like this.  It was really good.

After lunch we headed to the other side of the park.  Here are some more pictures of the animals we saw.

Tapir, which I actually like even though it looks so funny.

Pallas Cat, which is one of my new favorite animals.

Zebra

Hippo

Okapi, which is my new favorite animal.  It was once thought to be extinct because it hadn't been seen in years, and then one was finally spotted in Africa, and now many zoos have these.  I think it was only rediscovered a few years back.  It looks like a mix between a few different animals.  It is hard to see, sorry, but the back end looks like a zebra.

Ok, this picture is a little better, but now the front half is harder to see.  Trust me, this is one neat looking animal.

Yes, this is as big as you think it is.  Huge!

So cute, and soon I will be headed to Australia and plan to see the penguins there, in the wild!

We totally checked out the pandas again before leaving.  They are such cuties!

After a fun day at the zoo, we headed back to the room to dry off, warm up, and rest.  We also tried those treats we bought from the 100% Chocolate Cafe the day before.  It is sort of bread like and filled with chocolate.

Later that afternoon we headed to the craziest part of Tokyo.  Ok, it is one of the craziest parts.  This are is known as Shibuya.  There is an intersection here that is literally a tourist attraction.  At a huge Manhattan like intersection the traffic stops from all directions and then the people are allowed to cross. But it is not like any cross walk you have ever seen.  You can cross diagonally.  So traffic moves in 12 directions (6 ways to cross, people move in both directions).  I took a picture of it last time, but this time it was too busy and raining, plus getting dark, so it was not easy to get a good shot.  If you are ever in Tokyo, this intersection is a must see.  You can't miss it is you get off at Shibuya station (on the subway).

After walking and staring in awe at the buildings and lights, we decided to seek out some Indian food for our last dinner in Tokyo.  Finally, after searching and searching, we spotted a sign that read "Raj Mahal 5F".  So we got in an elevator and pushed 5.  When the doors opened we were transported into a very nice looking Indian restaurant.  We looked at each other and both thought "jackpot"!  Jackpot indeed.

We started with some papadam.  I liked that it came with some cashews.  We were really hungry at this point because we had been walking around all day, so this was a great start while we waited for our entrees.

I ordered the vegetarian thali, which is just like a course meal, but everything comes on one plate.  Like a combo platter or sorts.  Everything was delicious.

Ryan went with the non-vegetarian version, but he swapped a few things because some just didn't appeal to him (so he ordered them without meat).

Plus, it came with naan, and I do love naan.  We were so happy to have stumbled upon this place.

Well, that was it for our Tokyo trip.  It was a great week, but it had to come to an end, and now we are back to our busy lives.

QUESTIONS:  What is your favorite zoo?  What is your favorite zoo animal?  Do you like Indian food?

French Dinner and Snack Food Comparison

You would never be able to guess that there is a great French restaurant right near the base.  Actually, it's not the only one, but it is the closest one.  Boy is it tasty!

This is Marche...at night!

Ryan and I had been hearing about this place, but never managed to find it.  Turns out it was down a little side street.  Good thing we found it!

I started off with a salad.  The dressing was homemade sesame dressing.

Ryan started with the, onion soup.

Then came the garlic bread, which was probably the one thing about this place that I heard the most about it.  It definitely lived up to the legend.

I ordered the scallops, which came with rice.  That should be no surprise seeing as we are in Japan, and not France.

Ryan ordered a steak.  This was the first time he had an actual steak since arriving in Japan.  We thought the presentation was hilarious.  Check out that plate:

Just wanted to show everyone that there is more to Japan than just Japanese food, even in rural areas, which is where we live.

The next thing I wanted to discuss is a comparison between 2 items I found at the commissary.  I am always wandering around, looking for new products.  One day I spotted these Rice Works chips.  They weren't in the chip aisle, but instead placed with the rice cakes.  Looking at the packages, your first thought may be the same as mine- oh look, it's a healthy looking chip, boy does salsa fresca sound yummy.

Then I spotted the guilt-free indulgence label.  Sounds like it must be healthy, right?

Then I find the list of healthy looking "claims".

Sounds good so far, right?

Now, I must apologize, I tried, and tried, and tried to get these pictures to rotate, but no such luck.  So let me help you out.  The Rice Works chips have in a 1 ounce serving 140 calories, 6 grams of fat, 200 mg sodium, 19 grams of carbohydrate (less than 1 from fiber), and 2 grams of protein.

Let's investigate the Doritos chips, something I think all of us can agree is a "sometimes" food or something we should limit in our diets.  In a 1 ounce serving, these have 150 calories, 8 grams of fat, 210 mg sodium, 17 grams of carbohydrate (less than 1 gram of fiber), and 2 grams of protein.

Let's look at the labels.  First up is the Dorito package.

Probably what you expected.  Now let's see the Rice Works package.

Hey, they both have whole grains in the label (mind you not much by the way of fiber though), right?  Needless to say, it seems like if Rice Works is labeled as a guilt-free indulgence, Doritos pretty much could be labeled the same, but that would never happen.  What am I getting at?  Labels can be misleading.  I know that is not the best word to use, and recently this came up on a listserv where dietitian working in that area suggested using confusing, but really, in this case, I find it to be clearly misleading.  Everything about the rice works screams healthy, yet it really comes out almost identical to a food (or food category) that is so often made out to the the bad guy.  The calories are almost the same and so is the sodium.  One is not higher in fiber or protein.  The only major difference is the fat, and while this extra gram of saturate fat in the Doritos makes a difference, I don't find it to be that significant. As a result, I find this to be an issue with the liberties food companies can take with their labeling.  I am all for companies being able to sell their products, but when it comes to health and dressing up a product to make it look healthier than it is makes me wonder why food companies can take advantage of nutritionally uneducated consumers.

Ah, I feel better now that I shared this.  You can ask my husband about this one.  I was pretty worked up when I came home with the chips.  So, what does this rice works chip look like?

A DORITO!

To bring this to a close, I will say that for someone needing a gluten free diet and looking for the occasional Dorito (or similar), this chip fits the bill.  They are definitely tasty, and I attribute this to the seasonings (and the sodium), but just like the Doritos, these will stay on my "sometimes" list.

QUESTIONS:  Have you seen/tried the Rice Works?  What are your thoughts on misleading labels?  Do you ever compare those foods that look healthy on the labels with similar products to see if they really are a better choice?