Kumamoto pt. I

I went to Kumamoto this past weekend for a fieldtrip. We first went to Suizenji park, and then Kumamoto castle. In between we were served a traditional Japanese meal. It consisted of both cooked and raw fish, tempura, rice, super delicious shiitake mushroom soup, radish with wasabi, some kind of brown pudding-ish stuff, a sweet bean paste w/ some green stuff, a vegetable dish (with squash, lotus root, and green beans), some crusty brown stuff (sorry, I don't know what a lot of this is), and lotus root with wasabi stuffed in the holes. My buddy described the last one in that list as a "war in [his] mouth." I'm inclined to agree. Raw horse meat is a popular delicacy in Kumamoto.

Anyway, pictures...

1st, Suizenji park: