The Little Teashop in Tokyo by Julie Caplin Page 0,52

old places. You should go to Disneyland and you must go to the Robot Restaurant.’

Haruka let out a little moan of distress which Mayu chose not to hear. ‘The robots are awesome.’ She pulled out her phone and showed Fiona a picture full of colour and weirdness with girls dressed up in outlandish clothes riding giant robotic figures. ‘It’s seriously cool.’

Fiona studied the picture. Not her cup of tea but she could see that it would enchant younger visitors and she had said she wanted her pictures to show all sides of Japan.

She looked up in time to catch Gabe winking at Mayu. ‘What sort of places do you want to visit?’ asked Haruka serenely, as if oblivious to her granddaughter’s healthy disdain. She invited Fiona to take some of the thinly sliced raw fish laid out the long narrow dish in front of her. ‘This is sashimi, ahi tuna. You take it like this.’ With expert fingers, she used her chopsticks to dip the slice of fish into bright green wasabi.

Fiona followed suit, with a little less grace, and popped the sliver of fish into her mouth. Wow. Her eyes watered and her mouth stung at the fiery burst of heat from the wasabi. ‘Gosh,’ she said blinking. Everyone very politely pretended not to notice her streaming eyes; even Mayu managed to duck her head to hide a smirk.

‘If you dilute it with the soy, it takes the fire out,’ said Gabe kindly, pouring a small dish of soy from the large bottle of Kikkoman on the table and pushing it towards her. Haruka gave him a regally approving nod and in response he grinned.

‘You have not tried wasabi before?’ asked Haruka.

Fiona shook her head, still trying to catch her breath and get the fiery taste off her tongue. ‘It’s powerful stuff. A bit like horseradish or mustard, I guess.’ And to be fair she liked both of them. Desperate to reassure her hostess, she added. ‘I like it a lot, it was just … unexpected.’

‘Try some sushi,’ said Setsuko. ‘Dip it into the soy. This is maki, and the rice is rolled in nori, which is a seaweed wrap, and there are different fillings in the rice. Shrimp, avocado and cucumber. And this,’ she nudged a plate of pink slices, ‘is pickled ginger. Good to eat between to cleanse your palate.’

‘Right,’ said Fiona grateful for the explanations. A little clumsily she picked up one of the delicate parcels, marvelling at the patience it must have taken to create each tiny one; they were little works of art. Managing to hang on to it and dip it into the soy, she was rewarded with a bite of savoury bliss; inside the salty wrap of seaweed, the milder rice offset the sweet, meatier flavour of a large piece of prawn to perfection.

‘Did you make these?’ she asked Haruka. ‘They’re wonderful.’

Haruka nodded and the faintest of pleased smiles touched the corners of her mouth.

Not wanting to appear too greedy, Fiona held back for a moment before selecting her next one, desperate to try the sushi with the roll of cured salmon. It tasted every bit as good as it looked and before long she’d worked her way through several more under the approving eye of her hostess.

‘You were talking about places you’d like to visit,’ encouraged Kaito, clearly keen to hear the details.

‘I’d like to go to a variety of different places. Places that epitomise Japan but also that draw tourists, both local and international,’ she explained as she chose what Setsuko told her was a maki roll filled with rice and pickled cucumber.

With the aid of Gabe, she tried to explain her idea as everyone ate.

‘You want to take pictures of tourists?’ Mayu waved her chopstick in slight disbelief and from the expression on her face, Fiona got the impression she thought it was lame.

Haruka, after an initial nod of reproof about the chopstick waving, pushed another dish towards Fiona. ‘Eat. Eat.’

‘Sounds …’ Mayu pulled a face.

‘I want to illustrate their response to the place. Why they’re drawn to it.’

‘I think it’s a great idea,’ said Gabe, expertly picking up a piece of sushi flecked with tiny bits of green with one hand and nudging Mayu with his elbow. She nudged him back. They were like a pair of school children and although Haruka ignored the two of them, there was a faint smile on her face. It was clear that Gabe was very much one of the family. She