Japantown kind of day. The other day Jo-Ann and I mutually found that we were out of some of our stock Japanese cooking items. I guess partly because, unbelievably, we've been back from our two week Japanese adventure about a year. Jo-Ann also wanted to have one of the last outings with the kids to San Francisco before school starts again. So off we headed to San Francisco with the main intent to visit Ichiban-kan (the dollar store) and Nijiya market (groceries) and a little lunch. I've been going through mugi-cha (barley tea) like mad this summer and that was at the top of my list.

After walking much walking about and taking our treasures to the car, we decided to try Izumiya for lunch. Their bento boxes were especially reasonably priced. Because I'm on the South Beach Diet, I ordered the sukiyaki and gave my rice to Toran. The sukiyaki was excellent and very authentic. The hot dish was packed tightly with all the right ingredients, from authentically thinly sliced beef, to fish cakes and shirataki.

Jo-Ann, Toran and Aurelia had the bento boxes which started out with miso soup. It had a nice mixture of ingredients, not as plain as some other places.

The kids wanted to share the bento box with the tempura and sushi, and enjoyed every bite.

Jo-Ann had the salmon and tempura bento box. One of the nice things about this restaurant's bento boxes is that it gives you lists of things to substitute so it is a very personalized lunch! Jo-Ann enjoyed hers as well.

I've been to this restaurant any number of times, especially for their okonomiyaki, a southern Japanese dish I'm partial to, and not found many places. It has quite a variety of small dishes, so it is a good place to try bites of different tastes. The service is not all that friendly, but if you are not in a hurry and have some pleasant friends to be with, this is easily overlooked.

A note from Juneau: The public library offers 30 minutes of free connection! Yesterday Sitka was as beautiful as a gem, felt like I was home in Seattle though with all the green trees, mountains and water. Although that would describe Marin pretty well too, my home of 11 years. The Mendenhall Glacier was spectacular this morning. To think I used to tobaggan down glaciers when a child! We're leaving Juneau tonight and arriving in Skagway tomorrow where we'll take a 3+ hour train ride. I've naturally been taking photos and will have a better report when I return home.