Photo Contest #1

Sometimes I will put little contests on my blog and offer small prizes for the winners. Since we will probably do a travel unit during this class, I will start with some travel pictures of mine. Look at the two pictures below. Can you guess where they were taken? (You can answer just one or both.) Of course one picture was taken in Japan and one picture was taken in another country. Can you guess where I ate this lovely meal in Japan? And can you guess in what country I took the picture of this strange animal?
If you know the answer, post a comment to this blog. Good luck!