Maki sushi is probably the most well known type of sushi in the U.S. It consists of a layer of nori surrounding a layer of rice surrounding the fillings in the middle, all rolled into a cylinder and then cut into several smaller slices. The most well known type of maki sushi is the California Roll.

Our third day in Japan, we decided to get out of Tokyo for a day, and head down to Kyoto. Which meant getting up early (which is really that much worse when you have jet lag and are exhausted from so much walking!) and catching the first Shinkensen (bullet train) to Kyoto. Luckily it left from Shinagawa Station (the station right next to our hotel) and we already reserved seats (free with the JR pass, but this way we had seats and could just relax and not worry about getting enough seats together.)

When we got to Kyoto, it was pouring rain. Pouring.

But gosh darn it, we’re not going to let a little rain keep us from seeing everything we wanted to see, now were we?

*sigh*

Nope. Of course not.

So we trekked through the rain to get to our first destination: Nijo Castle.

By the second day of our trip, this was quickly becoming a very common, and very welcome sight. You can get darn near anywhere in Tokyo, and even to quite a few other places in Japan, by using their very extensive public transportation system.

The trains, I love them. Oh, how I wish we had a transportation system like this in Los Angeles! How wonderful that would be.

Congratulations to Warren (#7), Ed (#26), and Jennifer (#30). They were the winners of the sushi kit contest! Your sushi kits and Sushi Day shirts will be shipped to you soon.

Also, I’ve posted about sushi on my other blog, Fridgg, for this month’s Daring Cooks challenge. The recipe called for unagi… but unagi isn’t sustainable, and you know I couldn’t do that. So pop on over to Fridgg, and check out the recipe I created as a sustainable replacement!