Japan Part One: Tokyo
April 10-12, 2006		 Other Albums
 

After 14 hours of flying, we arrived in Tokyo for the first three days of our trip. Jordi had booked us in the Park Hyatt without our knowing it, so the first thing we did was settle into our room and get our bearings. The Park Hyatt is the hotel where Lost in Translation was set; our room was on the 44th floor, with a view over part of downtown Tokyo. It's amazing that in the middle of one of the most earthquake-prone regions of the world, there are so many high-rise buildings. You tend to think about this a lot when you're sleeping on the 44th floor. Our room came with one of the multifunction toilets we'd heard about; there were three different cleaning options, plus a hot air dryer and deodorizer. It did practically everything except test your urine (there are models that will). Our first food outing was to the food hall (depachika) in the Takashimaya department store, where there are stands for all types of food. It's sort of a cross between a Spanish market and an American mall food court. These were skewers of grilled eel. A stand specializing in katsu, or various meats (such as pork and chicken) breaded and fried. Although it sounds heavy, it was actually light and not at all greasy. In some of the stands you can sit at a small bar and have lunch or a snack. This stand had a selection of yakitori, which is grilled meat on a skewer. For dinner that night, we went to Robataya, a restaurant in the Roppongi district. Here there were two chefs seated in the middle of a large table of ingredients, passing dishes to the diners seated around the table with wooden paddles.
Watching the chefs work was interesting; here you can barely see the knife as he cleans asparagus at top speed. Also interesting was the fact that halfway through our meal, the waiters and chefs traded places. A plate of very fresh sashimi. Just as we'd heard, the wasabi was very different than the paste you get outside of Japan: much milder and slightly sweet. Two red snapper bound for the skewer. The fish were all very fresh, and some of the shellfish were plucked straight from the tank. Onto the skewer and then the grill... The fish is ready (head and all), and the chef passes the dish to us on a wooden paddle. There was a lot of shouting between the staff; each time someone placed an order everyone would shout it out in unison. Kobe beef yakitori (more on this later). The atmosphere at Robataya was fun and informal, due in part to the attitudes of the staff. Apparently the Park Hyatt concierge told them we were VIP's, because we definitely got special treatment. The man next to Amy ate the red snapper's eyeballs. The woman next to Jordi was an annoying American woman who kept him occupied in conversation all night.
The two chefs hard at work. Here you can see the paddles that they used to pass finished dishes and drinks to the diners. Each chef apparently had his own wooden block nameplate; when the waiter and the chef traded places, the new chef placed his block in front of him at the table. Amy and Jordi pose, bellies full, outside the entrance to Robataya after dinner. We saw a few McDonald's (is there a country where there aren't any?) and found out that they have a slightly different menu. The sweet chili filet-o-shrimp, for example. It's customary for restaurants and food shops to have wax replicas of their food in the front window, since they hold up better than the real thing. Some of them are very realistic, although I'm not sure about the loaf-of-bread caramel sundae. This plastic rice dish gets good marks for realism, but it's no paella. On the same street as McDonald's and TGI Friday's was the, um, intereresting entrance to the Venus Cabinet. This businessman seems tempted, but walks on by. A view down the streets of Roppongi toward Tokyo Tower.
A flash from the past...as we walked toward Roppongi Hills, we saw this billboard for Excite Japan. It's good to know that it's still alive somewhere. Mori Tower in Roppongi Hills, as seen by night. At the top of the tower is an observation deck which looks out over Tokyo. A view of Tokyo from the observation deck atop Mori Tower (250 metres up). Did I mention that this is an earthquake zone? Another view of Tokyo Tower, this time from the top of the Mori Tower in Roppongi Hillls. The nighttime lights of downtown Tokyo light up the overcast skies. The atrium of the observation deck atop Mori Tower. The observation area has a 360-degree view of downtown Tokyo, and at night it's an impressive sight. Amy gazes out over the nighttime cityscape while two lovers snorgle in the background. To wind down the night, we visited the bar at the top of the Park Hyatt, where a jazz ensemble was playing.
The jazz singer emotes while the bar patrons nurse their drinks and enjoy the view of the city. I sometimes wonder what the story is behind the single people you see in a hotel bar or restaurant. Business traveler? Waiting for someone? Lost in translation? One last nighttime panorama of Tokyo, this time from the Park Hyatt bar. A few flying cars and talking billboards and the Blade Runner image would be complete. The next day we went to the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. Although it was interesting, the palace itself wasn't nearly as grand and elegant as you might think. These building stones carry the mark of the shogun who built the wall. The crowd at the Imperial Palace that day was almost entirely made up of middle-aged Japanese women, making us a definite minority. This pagoda was built on the Imperial Palace grounds to provide a view of Mt. Fuji. Although these green mounds look like small hills, they're actually 6 meter high hedges, carefully groomed and maintained on the Imperial Palace grounds. The palace guards parade past the blooming cherry trees on the Imperial Palace grounds.
One of the best parts about visiting the Imperial Palace was the incredible greenery, especially during springtime. This tree was in full bloom, as were most of the trees lining the walkways of the palace. The Imperial Palace is separated from the East Garden by a moat, which during the summer is filled with lotus flowers. After leaving the Imperial Palace, we walked through a downtown park where the trees were absolutely loaded with cherry blossoms. As the petals were falling, it looked like snow. Amy gives the traditional Amy gives the cherry blossoms a closer look (and smell). For lunch we went to a small, out-of-the-way restaurant called Obana, which specializes in unagi (grilled eel). It was so out-of-the-way that the directions included That night we went out walking and window shopping in Shibuya and the surrounding areas. At night there are so many signs and lights that it would be easy to succumb to sensory overload. This inflatable penguin was advertising prepaid travel cards (although that wasn't obvious to us at the time).
They have Wendy's in Japan...more tempting than McDonald's, but Greg and Jordi resisted. (Hey, there are no Classic Doubles with Cheese or Frostys in Spain.) Even on a weeknight, there were a lot of people out on the streets of Shibuya. There are several of these multi-way pedestrian crossings in Tokyo, where you can cross diagonally as well as laterally. The crossing a block or so away from here is supposedly the busiest pedestrian crossing in the world. Shibuya was an amazing place for people watching: women dressed up as schoolgirls with short skirts and blue hair, guys like these with coiffed hair and meticulously arranged grunge...I can only imagine what a weekend night must be like. Sukiyaki for dinner; this is a plate of kobe beef ready to cook. Kobe beef comes from Hyogo prefecture (Kobe is the capital), where the cows are massaged and fed beer and/or sake to produce this tender, marbled meat. Whether this does anything or not, it was delicious. Vegetables, mushrooms, noodles and tofu ready to go into the broth for sukiyaki. Cooking the beef along with everything else in the sukiyaki pot. Sukiyaki is traditionally a dish that can be made very cheaply, although not with kobe beef. Amy digs into her sukiyaki, eyeing up her next bowlful as it simmers in the pot.
Our last day in Tokyo, and a view of our hotel from the street as we head to the fish market early in the morning. The Tsukiji market tuna auctions begin as early as 5:30am, and while they're primarily for buyers and sellers, you can get in as a spectator to certain areas. Here two workers hoist a tuna, giving you an idea of how big and heavy these fish are. Gutted, tagged, and ready for auction. Most of the tuna up for sale here have been flash-frozen immediately after being caught, although this one looks pretty fresh. An auction session in progress. Potential buyers wander between the rows of tuna, inspecting each one before making their bids. The auction pace is very fast, and selling off an entire lot only takes a few minutes. Inspecting a frozen tuna with a flashlight, this man seems to be enjoying his work. Frozen tuna as far as the eye can see. It's hard to believe that fish like these might end up in small tin cans on a supermarket shelf, especially since they could be used for sashimi. Each batch of tuna was marked in a different way (some in multiple ways). This batch was marked by tracing a symbol into the frost on the side. This batch seemed to be marked as they were being sold by this man with a paintbrush, who painted a kanji character on the side.
A fishworker suits up for action, his fish-grappling hook in hand. A very discerning buyer looks skeptically over the range of fish up for auction. Another auction in progress; although it was orderly and not at all hectic, it was hard for an outsider to figure out exactly how the auction process worked. Once they've been sold, the tuna are carried off by the buyers, either by forklift or, in this case, by an old man with a hand cart. The frozen tuna is taken to warehouses just outside the market area, where workers cut it up into manageable bits using band saws, and then ship it off to its final destination. In addition to tuna, the Tsukiji market carries almost every kind of seafood imaginable, straight from the boats to the market stalls. The crowd seemed to be made up mainly of wholesale buyers and picture-snapping tourists. This man was busily cleaning and slicing eel as if he had been doing it for years. In fact, he probably has been. Buckets of eels, ready for sale to the public. They look at lot more appetizing after they've been cleaned and barbequed, I suppose.
You get a good idea for the size of a tuna when you see two men using a sword to carve one up. At some point, the job is too much for two men and a sword, and a third man needs to come in and help finish the job. You need to watch where you're walking in the Tsukiji market, since workers in strange cylindrical carts are constantly zipping through the aisles at top speed. After going to the tuna auction and browsing the market, we were in the mood for sushi, so we went to a sushi bar just outside the market entrance, called Daiwa Sushi. There was a line to get in and the seating was tight, but the fresh fish was well worth the wait. After breakfast, we made our way to the Edo-Tokyo museum, which gives some of the history of the city through artifacts and model displays like this one. This scene is of the city of Edo, the predecessor of modern Tokyo. The museum includes a replica of a kabuki theater, complete with life-size figures of kabuki actors. More life-size figures of kabuki actors, complete with elaborate costumes and makeup. Women were banned from the stage, so men played the parts of women. For lunch we went to Kyubei for some of the best sushi we've ever had. Everything was very fresh and prepared with care, and we talked with the chef a bit. (Yes, this does mean that we had sushi for both breakfast and lunch.) Here the chef is preparing our toro (tuna belly) and bonito.
This amaebi, or raw sweet shrimp, was alive minutes before we ordered it. After serving it as nigiri sushi, we ate the grilled heads. Here the chef is pulling off the shrimp heads. The bonito tuna was finished off with ginger and garlic. We were the only gaijin (foreigners) there, which is usually a good sign. Anago, or grilled conger eel. This just melted in your mouth. We had five varieties of maki (sushi rolls) - tuna and onion, cucumber and red clam, squash, cucumber, and white radish and pickles. Sakura mochi. We were in Japan during cherry blossom (sakura) season and they make all kinds of sweets from them. Sakura mochi is a sticky sweet pink rice cake wrapped in a salted cherry tree leaf that has a beautiful perfumed flavor. One last look at the cherry blossoms of Tokyo; the next morning we would get up and head to the train station to take the Shinkansen (bullet train) for the next leg of our trip.
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Ireland
 August 18-26, 2005
Paris, France
 January 12-18, 2005
Musée Louvre
 January 12, 2005
 

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