Fish, fish, and yep, more fish!

After my delightful meal from AM/PM the other night, I had the pleasure of attending a very traditional Japanese meal. We sat on tatami mats, with a table maybe 6 inches off the mat, and were served by women wearing traditional kimonos. A very unique experience already! Let's take a look at the courses we ate:

1. Octupus and beans - The first course was a small bowl of octopus (about 3-4 pieces), not bad for octupus, chewy as to be expected. There was also a small bowl of white beans in a liquid.
2. Sashimi - Well you certainly can't go wrong with sashimi in Japan. This time we enjoyed some fatty tuna and flounder - both very delicious.
3. Fish Soup - This reminded me a little bit of the shark fin soup you can have at Chinese restaurants. It was a white fish in a thicker based soup with white rice at the bottom.
4. Spring cooked fish - Basically, we have no idea what type of fish this was, but it was white and indicated the coming of spring in Japan. For already having eaten 3 fish courses, this was still tasty.
5. Bamboo - Ok at this point, I'm getting a wee bit full, but excited for the change of having vegetable! This bamboo also came in a broth and is very common over here.
6. Brown stuff with a green paste - Yep, that's right. I have no idea what this was, but it had no taste. Actually, the green paste did, but it was bad, so I scraped it off. I'm getting full by this point, can only eat a few bites.
7. Fish noodles with egg - Again another soup type dish. Upon first glance, it looks like clear noodles in a broth with a raw egg on top. Oh wait, those clear noodles are little fish with eyes! Once I saw that eating this dish was complete.
8. (Yes, we are still eating) Pickles - Somewhat normal, but I'm just way too stuffed to keep eating. This had three different variations of pickles.
9. Rice with fish - This rice is cooked with little tiny orange fish (with eyes) that are often crunchy. Luckily, they weren't too crunchy this time.
10. Miso soup!
11. Oranges!!
12. Moshi - This Japanese dessert is actually quite good. I wish wasn't so full by the time we got this far.
13. Last but not least.... green tea!

Phew, what a meal! Now, it should be noted that these "courses" were on the smaller side, but still way too much food for me. I only wish I could have captured some of this on my camera. It was definitely one of the more traditional meals I have been to here in Japan - quite the experience!