Debuwagon Part 2: Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnd We're Off!

Since we had to work on Saturday and Sunday for the school festival, we were given Tuesday and Wednesday as days off.

So Eisaku and I decided to make plans for another Debuwagon trip.

For those of you who are uninitiated into the world of the Debuwagon, let me explain how it came about.

There's a TV show here in Japan called "Love Wagon", or as it's pronounced over here, "Rabuwagon". Young adults from around Japan tour the world in a pink van, trying to find love. They choose to profess their love to another member with the understanding that whatever the response, he or she is going home. Sometimes a new couple goes back to Japan together, sometimes one person leaves by himself or herself.

Eisaku and I like to eat. We especially like to eat good food. So our trips around Hokkaido eating various delicacies have been dubbed "Debuwagon", "debu" being the word for "fat" over here.

Anyway, it's all about the food, and the word was that there's good eatins out Nemuro way. Specifically, hanasakigani, or Blue King Crab.

Awww yeah.

So I made reservations for places to stay and provided the wheels.

Today we had to clean up the school, post-festival style. Once the bell rang at 4:30, I was out the door and on my way over to Eisaku's place to pick him up.

Quick stop in Tomakomai for coffee, then straight on to Obihiro and our lodging for the night.
Our not-so-spacious room in the Casa Hotel in Obihiro.

After checking in, we headed out into town to get some eatins. Marumatsu Shokudo was closed, so there would be no butadon goodness for us this night.

Hmmm, Moulin Rouge, Obihiro style.

After some searching and some discussion, we decided to hit Obihiro's Yatai-mura, an area comprised of food stands featuring all types of food.

We ended up popping into a place that advertised a three-blue cheese plate that sounded really good.

This is it. A food stand. We're talking high-quality food stand. With a ham hock. And Guiness.

DAMN GOOD spare ribs. I smiled when I ate them. Hell, I smiled when I ate anything here.

A blue cheese pizza. Roquefort. Mmmmmmm.

Escargot-style shellfish of some kind. I didn't touch 'em, but Eisaku said they were tasty.

They had cheese, ham, chorizos, salami, more cheese...

A tasty, tasty meal. Apparently, we were lucky it was Monday night, because it's usually packed.

Funny thing, the other customers that were there kept talking about Shimane.

Then it was back to Casa Hotel and off to sleep, 'cuz we had a big day ahead of us.