On Sunday morning, we walked over to the Path of Philosophy for a quick walk before getting on the Shinkansen to travel to Tokyo. I’m not sure how much philosophizing I got done, but it was a relaxing stroll to say the least. We didn’t have time to walk the whole thing, or even visit temples along the path because our train left in the early afternoon. So, after hitting the halfway point, we walked to a main street and found a cab. Two hours later, we were zipping through the Japanese countryside on our way to Tokyo.
Our stay in Tokyo was brief. We got to our hotel at around 5 or 6 pm. Since there wasn’t much we could do before dinner, we settled on enjoying drinks and cigars in the bar on the 40th floor. For dinner, we went to a fusion Japanese restaurant. It was similar to Hamcyo in Kyoto, but more modern. We had a hell of a time finding it. We only had the English spelling, and every sign we looked at was only Japanese characters. Eventually we found someone who told us it was on the top floor of a shopping center. Once we arrived at the restaurant, we settled into a private tatami room. We opted for the 9 course set menu since we had no idea what was good. We were served a variety of things, from sushi to steak. I think the steak and sushi stand out in my mind as the best. There were a couple of odd things my parents refused to touch. That didn’t stop me though. The thing I remember most was a slimy brown thing that may or may not have been a slug. Really, I have no idea what it was, nor could I describe what it tasted like. I tried it, and let’s leave it at that.
Monday was our only full day in Tokyo. We had no idea what to do, so we rode the subway to some of the districts. We started at Ginza, the big shopping district. We went through one of the department stores, and my dad found himself a nice scarf. I found some 7 jeans, but they were about $300! I guess only the rich get to have their asses wrapped in designer denim in Japan. For lunch our plan was to eat near the fish market. Once we got there, my parents realized they weren’t in the mood for sushi, so after a brief glimpse into some of the stalls we went to Asakusa. Asakusa sounded like it would be interesting, but it felt more like a Japanese tourist trap. We saw the most popular Buddhist temple in Tokyo, then took the subway to Akihabara. Akihabara is the electronics district. There were a ton of stores with about any kind of gadget you’d want. After more walking, it was approaching dinner time and our feet were tired. We took the Ginza line back to the hotel, and relaxed with our usual drinks and cigars with the Tokyo skyline as our backdrop. Dinner that night was shabu shabu. I had never had it before, and I’m not sure if I’d be eager to have it again. Shabu shabu is a hot pot, or pot of boiling broth in the center of the table. You drop in thinly sliced wagyu beef until it’s cooked, then dip it in sauce and enjoy. Chopstick skills are of the utmost importance to avoid making a mess. We made a very big mess. The beef was great, but I prefer my expensive beef cooked medium rare and served with salt, pepper, and maybe some butter. We had an enjoyable meal, but at the end of it I was ready for some Western cooking. Luckily, we were headed back to the US the next day.
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