nara

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We're told that doing lunch, particularly among women, has become a fad in Japan. As so often happens in a society which redefines Western ideas along extant cultural lines, the word for lunch in Japanese (hirugohan), denoted by Chinese characters, is being steadily supplanted by a sportier Japanglish term, ranchi (the katakanized way to pronounce "lunch"). Katakana = cool is a generally accepted equation. Playing a weekly game of social scavenger hunt, friends use the internet or lifestyle magazines -- there's like a gazillion of them -- to search far and wide for unique eateries and culinary experiences.
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With the English teacher (Claire) outvoted three-to-one by her students (left to right: Kiyoko, Yoko, and Katsumi), this week the New Interchange Intro textbooks were tossed aside and the search was on for Kurumi no Ki (Chestnut Tree), a cozy, charming restaurant in Nara. They had a blast. Should you go there, expect a considerable wait, even mid-week, before you can dig into the daily set menu of traditional Japanese tastes: despite a reservation, the wait exceeded one hour.
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