Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Last Night in Tokyo

It's my last night in Tokyo. Jer and I are sitting at the window, 30 floors above the city, sharing a couple of different beers we picked at random from the convenience store (Suntory The Premium Malts and Sapporo Premium Edelpils), deciding what to do next.

The rain is slowing us down a bit. The sky opened this afternoon and off and on since then there has been thunder, there has been lightning, and there have been occasional DOWNPOURS that last for hours.

Yesterday I rode the train out to Kamakura and then took the Enoden line to Hase Station and saw the Great Buddha (Daibutsu), Hasedera and finally Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine. That is the short story. For dinner I met up with Jer and we ate a delicious meal of yakitori, grilled mushroom, and a dish that was called something like meat fries, which looked like little fried shumai.

Today I left the hotel at 6am while Jer was still asleep and rode the subway out to Tsukiji Fish Market to take a few pictures of the outer market. When I was done, I picked a friendly looking sushi place and ordered omakase, or chef's choice. It was fantastic. I couldn't even tell you what I ate, and I didn't ask. But I ate every bite, I tell ya what.

Came back to the hotel, said goodbye to Jer who was getting ready for work, took a nap, and then rode the subway from Yoyogi to Akasuka to see Senso-ji, a very popular Buddhist temple. Around this time it started to rain heavily, which felt good actually because of the humidity. I went to the covered shopping arcade and spent some time there. Ate a rice cracker dipped in soy sauce and a green tea cookie that had some sort of almond colored filling and an iced green tea. Then I picked a place at random and had a very tasty lunch. Noodles in a spicy broth with ground pork on top, side dishes included rice, edamame, a pickled vegetable, and some cubes of fruit in juice. It was a lot of food, but it was so good I couldn't stop myself. No, I couldn't read the menu. Yes, I pointed at the plastic food display outside to the waiter.

Okay, Jer is falling asleep so I better get off the computer.

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