Holy guacamole am I glad that we did all of our sightseeing yesterday! Today's weather has been pretty terrible from beginning to end with an interminable icy rain. Of course, umbrellas didn't make the "must pack" list so we've had the repeated privilege of looking like aquatic morons as we stand for minutes-on-end at glowing red street crossings. Brittany even said she saw a lady point and laugh. Who could blame her? Fortunately it was mostly a travel day and we didn't have to be outside all that much. We took several trains and the metro to get from Hiroshima through Kobe and on into Osaka.

I've been looking forward to today for months . I sacrificed an extra full day in Tokyo to make a two-hour pit stop in the land of the unequivocal beef champ: Kobe. We've all seen it on the menu before, and I've been convinced in the past that my hundred dollar steak at Ruth's Chris was indeed true Wagyu (high grade Japanese cattle) beef, straight from Kobe. To that I now say, "nay nay!"

I spent hours researching the best spots for beef in Kobe, read hundreds of reviews, and finally settled on a place called Wakkoqu. I felt pretty sure of myself as I beamingly walked in the door, after having made a reservation two months in advance, only to find out that I was standing in one of two Wakkoqu locations and (can you see this coming?) my reservation was for the other one. With great relief we determined that we had only a ten minute walk ahead of us (in the rain again) and that we'd be there in plenty of time for our reservation.

The restaurant was very small and intimate. Up to six people sit in a semi-circle around a flat grill where a thin, expert chef prepares your meal . I was a little worried about what Brittany could eat as virtually all the dishes featured the beef of every carnivore's dreams, but we quickly saw that prawns could be had. Perfect! Our relief was shattered after about three seconds when Brittany pointed at the word on the menu and our non-English speaking waitress painfully mustered the words "sold out". Ooooooohh. The only option was to order a beef set meal with rice, soup, and vegetables. Brittany could "enjoy" her starch covered plate while I got MORE KOBE BEEF!!! As this is our first trip to Japan and it's technically an anniversary trip (man I've been using that excuse to splurge an awful lot here!) I went for the "extra special Kobe beef"; their absolute highest grade. Soon after the order was placed, two slabs of steaks unlike anything I've ever seen were brought out to our chef, shown to me for my approval (as if I had any idea of what to look for), and the feast began. Our chef trimmed the excess fat from each beautiful piece of meat, then cut and cooked it in small batches, just a few bites at a time . He cooked at the pace you ate so it would never got cold.

We couldn't quite communicate to him that Brittany wasn't going to eat any of the beef, and as it sat on her plate we tried something new. Brittany looked up the word "vegetarian" in Japanese on her phone and showed it to him. "Ohhh!" he exclaimed, and then quickly added hers to the pile already on my plate...."he hungry!" The best part about this was that I was able to taste the standard and high grades of the beef side by side. The regular Wagyu was fantastic, but I kid you not there was a MARKED difference in the taste and flavor of the special grade. It made me feel better about blowing so much of our trip budget on one meal (this place gives Eddie V's a run for its money). You barely chew; this stuff just melts in your mouth. Pair that with the bottle of Medoc we shared and this was the best steak of my life. I kept telling Brittany how much I wished that Paul, Dad, and Joe were with me to savor the experience, which got us talking about how we imagined each of them would react to eating steak with nothing but tiny chopsticks . I think this is when we laughed the most!

Towards the end of the meal, the fat that had originally been cut off was cooked and served. Believe me I know how gross it sounds to eat a pile of fat, but this wasn't Walmart steak gristle. I will never again feel so little guilt while eating beautiful chunks of cooked lard. And with that I reluctantly conclude my ranting and raving about the Wagyu beef...which I had...in KOBE, JAPAN!

It was all humdrum boring stuff from there. We took a long list of trains and metro lines to get to our new digs in Osaka, a five minute walk from the castle. The room is very nice but SUPER tiny (this coming from people who live in a 377 sq ft house). We want to go walk around and check out the castle grounds but the rain just refuses to stop. Maybe we'll get out there for a little while...

Tomorrow we take our last train ride into Tokyo. We've got three nights in a little Hostel/Ryokan there before flying home. I've only got two things left on my list: the Yamazaki whisky distillery and Bethel. Not saying which one we'll do first haha

PS Lots of people have emailed me about the magic toilets. They really don't look all that different, but they have a remote control either on the side or on the wall. Here are some pictures from where we are now, in Osaka. It looks complicated but you figure it out really quick. Turns out your butt is a fast learner!