Breakfast on day one consisted of the essentials: Japanese pearl rice (to the tooth), small rectangular seasoned toasted nori sheets in which to dip in soy and envelop chopstick-full bites of rice, and an earthy reddish miso soup spiked with spring onions, wakame and blocks of tofu.

The extra day one items included slices of deep-fried firm tofu, slices of kamaboko (fish cake) beside a knob of wasabi, a dish of pickled hakusai (chinese cabbage), kinpira gobo (braised burdock root and carrot), and a dish of boiled and lightly seasoned azuki (red beans).

We also had this dashi poached egg in a ceramic dish, which came after I’d taken the first photo above (and after I had already dug in).

Day two breakfast consisted of the essentials mentioned above (athough this time you can see the seasoned nori sheets in their original packaging), with a sunny-side-up fried egg, steamed mirin/shoyu seasoned kabocha (pumpkin), blocks of silken tofu dressed with shavings of bonito and spring onions, plain boiled sansai (mountain vegetables) and the pickled hakusai (chinese cabbage).

We also had tamago, and oh my god, this was fabulous. For the uninitiated, tamago is a rolled layered omelette that is flavoured with dashi, soy, mirin and sugar. You sometimes see it cold and sliced thinly on top of sushi, but this version had been freshly made, and was juicy and flavourful in all the right ways. I must learn to make this myself one day.

Once again another little dish of sansai (mountain vegetables), this time dressed in a creamy white sauce (which was not mayonnaisey).

And lastly was a different sansai (mountain vegetables), this time braised with carrots.

One thing I love about Japanese breakfasts (like the ones experienced here) is the variety. I love having five or six little dishes to eat from - you feel that you are satiated on a physical, spiritual and nutritional plane. A little bit of protein, some vegetables, soy (in one or two different guises), rice and soup. A perfect healthy way to start the day.