Dinner tonight tasted amazing! I'd like to show you what I had but the only camera I had on me was my phone and I don't have the cable for it.

Dinner is Japanese food, while breakfast is a choice between Western and Japanese food. (D'oh! I've just remembered that I didn't put down a preference.) You come in, take a tray, take a main course dish, a side dish, a bowl of rice, a bowl of soup and pour yourself a drink. I'm not sure what we had exactly. The main dish was fish with some greens, the side dish was greens in soy sauce with tofu, soup is miso soup and there was dessert tonight. Erm, glutinous rice balls, maybe, topped with a sweet, sticky sauce. After you've finished eating, you throw away the cling film that wrapped the main and side dishes, put the hashi in the pot, rinse the plates, bowls and cup, and wipe down the tray. I want to show you how the canteen works, step by step, but I'm too embarrassed in case they think I'm a silly gaijin that's easily amazed.. And that is what I am. 

The couple in charge of this place are really, very lovely. They always smile and bow and greet you. They were in the corridor leading to the canteen when I went down for dinner. I'm not sure what they were busy doing, showing some new people around maybe, but the lady left them to help me with dinner. It's only my second dinner here and Yuuko (my Japanese next door neighbour that speaks brilliant English and spent last year studying in Brighton) wasn't around to eat with me. The lady pointed at the trays on the table to signal that I should take the ones that had been left out, rather than from the cupboard, told me to say itadakimasu to the cooks as I took a dish from the shelf in front of the kitchen (of course I should've known to do that myself and made a point of saying gochisousama as I cleared away) and poured my soup. The booklet of dormitory choices states that dietary requirements cannot be catered for but the man asked me what foods I don't eat when he showed me how things are done in the canteen. I said that I don't eat pig meat and pig meat was on the menu that night, so he asked me what my favourite food is and I could have that instead. Isn't that lovely? I turned the offer and said that I'd be happy to have a simple vegetable dish but he then asked if I'd eat beef, chicken, fish.. Yeah, I'll try food so long as it doesn't have pig meat and I had beef for dinner that night. Awesome.