Friday, July 22nd 2016
We had lunch at Argento Tatsuji Aso, a two-star Michelin restaurant in Ginza. This is a Japanese take on Italian food from chef Tatsuji Aso. What really caught me by surprise was the attention to detail. I had heard that the Japanese were very big on presentation and I think these dishes demonstrate it. This was truly an outstanding meal.
Friday, July 22nd 2016
Ginza, the Champs-Elysee of Tokyo with a lot of shopping. I am not a shopper but there was something for everyone in this neighborhood, huge department stores, designer shops as well as an Apple store. This was a short stop and I could have spent the better part of an afternoon. We went into the Mitsukoshi department store, about the size of Macy’s in NYC. We went to the lower floor where the entire floor was made up of food stalls selling all sort of good things from sweets, to breads, to tonkatsu. I could have lunch there everyday for a year and not get tired of it.
Some of the vendors were giving out free samples and I stumbled across this one vendor that made a soft spongy bread with various flavors swirled in – such as caramel, peach liqueur, cinnamon or green tea. I couldn’t resist and bought a loaf. Sophon purchased Dorayaki (read bean pancakes).
Have you ever seen a square or pyramid-shaped watermelon? Maybe I am reading the card wrong but I believe it cost $156 in US dollars. Continue reading
Saturday, July 22, 2016
Started the day at Tokyo Tower. It looks a lot like the Eifel Tower but according to our tour guide, it is taller by 13 meters. It was built in 1958 and at the time, it was the tallest structure in Tokyo. Today the tallest structure is the Tokyo Sky Tree that was built in 2012.
The itinerary mentions that the today, the tower is used to relay five FM radio stations. When I travel, I typically bring my iPod (in my earlier days a Walkman) and I tune into FM Radio. I enjoy listening in to see what kind of music and radio stations are popular. When I scanned for local stations, my iPod picked up 2 FM stations, the first station that it picked up was playing Domo Arigato Mr Robato by Styx. What are the odds of that? It turned out to be an English-speaking station.
Our host, Roy Yamaguchi, was celebrating his birthday that day!
The views were spectacular despite the rain. I was amazed at just how large Tokyo is. Tokyo has over 13 million people, NY is about 8 million and Los Angeles is about 4 million. The city went on and on in all directions. It really is amazing.
Thursday, July 21st, 2016
Omotestand and Harajuku is a shopping area. One one street they have stores that you would typically see in any shopping area – including an apple store. Parallel to that street called Takeshita Street that is focused on teens. I had never seen anything quite like it before. Although the tour guide and internet describes it as being a youthful area, it was clear this was for young girls. There was more bright pink along that street than I have ever seen. There were so many candy and ice cream shops that I could smell the sugar in the air.
There were large groups of teenage girls. Many of them were dressed in their school uniforms. Others were dressed up as dolls and other – I couldn’t tell you. This is not a blue jeans and t-shirt culture. Although this was a three-ring circus, I didn’t take many pictures, I felt there was something wrong with taking pictures of these teenage girls.
At one point, I noticed an old woman dressed as a school girl and I thought, you have gotten to be kidding me! She had to be at least 70! As we walked by her, Sophon said, “That is not a woman!”. I was trying not to be judgmental, but there is something wrong with an old man dressed in a school girl uniform in an area catering to teenage girls. Continue reading
Thursday, July 21st, 2016
This was a nice temple a lot newer than the ones we had seen. Then again, it was complete in 1922 and had to be rebuilt after WWII. I am seeing a theme with just about everything in Tokyo being rebuilt after WWII. Most of my WWII history focused on Europe. I wasn’t aware that Tokyo took on so much damage during the war.
As we entered the grounds, along one side of the street were Sake Barrels, along the other side of the street, it was wine barrels that came from France. Seems like someone thought Sake and French wines were important!
At many temples or shrines, you can buy a piece of wood t write your wish on it and then you can hang it in front of a special or divine tree. It is always fun to look at the wall of wishes – many languages from all over the world. I spotted one that made me laugh. “I wish to go to Disneyland” in small letters and in big letters “I wish to go to Disneyland and Disney Sea gain. A wish is a wish!
Thursday, July 21st, 2016
Shibuya Crossing is said to be the busiest crossing in the world. The crossing is next to Shiibuya Station. When the lights turn red at the intersection, they turn red in all directions and people cross in all directions creating “The scramble”. With video three-story video screens surrounding the area and people crossing in all directions, it feels chaotic.
We made the crossing and went to pay homage to Hachiko. The story goes that Hachiko would go down to station to wait for his master to return from work every day. His master died but he still returned to Shibuya Station each and everyday until he died. They made a movie called Hachi:A Dog’s tale.
Thursday, July 21st, 2016
We stopped at the Imperial Palace Plaza. A huge oasis of greenery in the center of Tokyo surrounded by huge stone walls and a moat. The Palace is not open to the public unless arranged through the imperial family. The inner palace grounds are also closed off to the public except on 2 days of the year, Jan 2 for the New Year and the Emperor’s birthday. The East Garden is open to the public but we did not stop there.
To the south, where we parked, is a bronze statue of Kusunoki Masashige, a 14th century samurai who was very loyal to the emperor. A cool statue. I am going to have to play with this picture when I get home so I can see it better. It really is a cool statue.
Me
Thursday, July 21st, 2016
We headed out to our Sushi Making Experience where we learned how to make sushi. Complete with Sushi Uniforms and hats we learned how the rice was prepared and how to shape the rice to make Sushi. I had taken a Sushi class before at a Sur La Table and knew going into this that Sushi making is not easy. You don’t take anyone off the street and train them for a day and have them start making sushi.
This class reconfirmed what I had learned in the last one. The rice is poured into a wooden bowl, rice vinegar is added and then the rice is worked. If it is not stirred the correct way the flavor isn’t right. Sushi Chefs spend years working on perfecting the rice before they can move on to making sushi.
The biggest challenge of the class is working with the rice. If your hands aren’t wet, or if you handle the rice too long, it begins to stick. Sticky rice is called sticky for a reason and it sticks to everything and can be challenging to get off. I thought I did a pretty good job with what I made but it was nowhere near as nice as what I would find at my local grocery store.
After we finished our lessons and made our Sushi, we ate our lunch. It turns out that Malaka (our host) is not an adventurous eater. She let someone else have her sushi. After eating one bite he face turned red and he commented on her liberal use of Wasabi. It was a funny moment.
At the end of the meal, we were all presented with our certificates and a gift bag with a mug and a few other items. It was a nice touch to a really nice event. Although I am now certified, Sushi is something that I will leave to the pros! Continue reading
Thursday, July 21st 2016
Today starts the Authentiscapes portion of the trip by Admiral Travel. I haven’t been on one of their tours, I am anxious to see how it turns out. It is a custom tour as opposed to a generic tour resold by an agency. I found out about this through an email. I assume that I received it because I have attended the Hawaiia Food and Wine Festival. The host is Chef Roy Yamaguchi. His wife Denise runs the Hawaii Food and Wine Festival. I have wanted to see Japan for a long time. What a better way to see a country than through a group tour focuses on food!
Sophon and I had met the group the evening before at a reception. The first meet and greet is always feels a bit awkward. This group seemed especially nice and I found myself feeling at ease with them right away. There are a few people who are friends with Roy who are from Hawaii. A few people who are friends with the Agency’s owners, Ryan and Malaka Hilton that are from Florida and there are people who have traveled with the agency before. It is a nice mix of people.
I checked the weather forecast and this wasn’t going to be a good weather day. Being from southern California, we don’t see much rain. I guess my umbrella was going to finally get some use. It wouldn’t make for the best pictures but the rain was a nice change from the warmer temperatures.
The day started by meeting the group at 9:00 AM. It was a busy day starting with a stop at the Tsukjiji outer Market. The Tsukiji market is Japan’s largest wholesale fish market. The Outer Market has over 400 shops selling a variety of food with a focus on fish. As I walked around I wish that I had skipped breakfast, there were so many things that looked good. I tried minced fish on a stick wrapped with bacon and it was delicious.
Wednesday July 20, 2016
The final stop of the day was at the Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine followed by a walk through a shopping area of Kamakura. The shrine dates back to 1063 and although the guide gave a lot of history involving shoguns and empresses, I knew I wasn’t going to retain it. This was my second shrine and I was beginning to notice a couple of activities that go on at shrines. One of them is to pick a stick out of a metal box after shaking it. On the stick would be a number that corresponded to a drawer that contained a fortune. Not all fortunes were good. Not sure if you tied the good fortunes, bad fortunes or both but after receiving the fortune you would tie it to a wire to either make it come true or to prevent a bad one from becoming true.
Another item is to buy a plaque where you can write your wish. You can hang that wish in a designated to pot to come true. I had seen similar kinds of activities in other countries. They help raise money for the shrine or temple while providing a fun activity along with hope to the people who engage in them.
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