Okonomi-whateee?

After a quick shower at the hotel Sheri and I headed back to Ebisu on Sunday night to meet up with friends from work and see a typical expat apartment in Japan. My friend lives in a quiet area about 10 mins walk from the train station, in a trendy apartment complex with great views of Tokyo. After a brief discussion of options, we headed out for dinner at a new place down the street, only to find that the menu consistented primarily of parts of the chicken that we throw away back where I come from. We only knew what the restaurant served because my friend's girlfriend was along for the adventure, and she speaks fluent Japanese... don't leave home without your translator. So we headed down the street, into a rainstorm, and ended up running in to a small restaurant that serves "Japanese pancakes" - which we learned, are NOTHING like the delicious pancakes we had tried earlier in the day (see Good Honest Grub from earlier post). The real term for the meal is Okonomiyaki, and the meal is prepared on a teppan plate in the center of your table... consisting of various unrecognizable vegetables, seafood, egg, and plenty of dried seaweed on top, after passing on the Soy salad starter we each received I was hungry enough to make quick work of the pancakes, but I think it's an acquired taste. I will say that experiencing a foreign city with friends who are familiar with the town makes it much easier to explore new things without feeling too vulnerable. The rain was still coming down when we had finished eating, so we hustled down to the train station, but after having gone nearly 2 months without seeing a cloud in Doha, I'll admit I actually slowed down in places to enjoy the cool shower. It's the basic things in life that often bring us the most joy, especially so far from home(s).

Ebisu is definitely our favorite section of Tokyo, so much so that Sheri made a hair appointment with an Aveda salon we walked past on the way to dinner, and while I went to work on Monday she was out finding fun little shops and setting out on her own adventures in her new Japanese haircut (quite a nice cut). We met up at the hotel and headed out for a nice dinner in another area, Roppongi - which is a bit edgier, with a lot more "neon" than the other areas we had visited. Our destination for dinner was a Tepan-Yaki restaurant down the stairs and down the street from Roppongi, within sight of Tokyo tower (which is amazing at night). The restaurant is called "Panic", which I thought was a great name for a Tepan-Yaki joint... I made a reservation to sit at the bar where the food is prepared, so we took our seats next to some locals guys who were a few courses and drinks ahead of us. The other 5 tables were empty. We took our ENGLISH MENUS - big plus, and since you can only fit about 20 people in the entire shop, there is only a chef, a waiter, and a dish boy... a small operation, but as we soon discovered, there's a reason they have been open since I was in elementary school. It’s not about the flash of Tepan-Yaki “performances” at the likes of Benihana – it’s about the food, which was incredible. We started with fresh Bruschetta cooked on the tepan in front of us, with red tomatoes and thickly sliced bacon on garlic bread, then moved to Beef, Tomatoes, and Garlic, progressed to the famous thinly sliced Japanese Beef, sampled some friend noodles, and ended on fresh flame touched pancakes topped with icecream, caramel, and chocolate sauce... this might be a good time to remind you that forks are typically not provided in Japan, chopsticks are the universal utensil... but can make things quite frustrating (like at the Okonomiyaki restaurant) - so Sheri was very happy to see the waiter bring out a fork for the main course. If you find yourself in Japan for at least one night, make sure you get reservations for and directions to Panic Tepan-Yaki... potentially the best meal I've ever had / definitely top 3.

Just when I thought I had this Tokyo train system figured out I hopped on the wrong train Tuesday morning, and was so focused on finishing my book, Prince Caspian, that I went 4 stops in the wrong direction! Made for a good laugh around the office, especially among the Japanese admin assistants, who are never shy to share a laugh with you, or call you out for leaving before 6pm, which is the official quitting time in Japan (most folks stay later) - of course we do get to start our day shortly after 8am, and I am far more productive in the afternoon, so I actually prefer the late start / late finish approach here. On a positive note, the extra time during my Tuesday commute did let me finish my book, and now I've started enjoying some podcasts on my iPod in the mornings. It's about 40 minutes from the time I leave my hotel room until I arrive at work, which gives me enough time to enjoy an episode of "Renewing Your Mind with RC Sprouls" or "ESPN's Pardon the Interruption". On a whim I actually added a new Video blog to my iPod before my trip to Japan - it's the first episode of a new HBO show called "Flight of the Conchords", and it's hilarious. It reminds me of the dry humor of The Office, but the main characters are musicians from New Zealand so they use a lot of the same jokes/phrases that our Australian friends from Doha have taught us - even including commentary on the relationship between Australia and New Zealand that's spot on with what we've heard our Aussie friends talking about. I checked and sure enough someone is posting episodes of "Flight of the Conchords" on YouTube, so I encourage those of you who enjoy a good laugh but don't have HBO to look it up online before the YouTube Gestapo remove it for copyright infringement.

Tuesday was Sheri's last day in Tokyo, but she managed to find a hidden shopping area in Ebisu, complete with a Japanese IKEA-like store where she got some pillows and other items for the villa in Doha (I love calling it the "villa"). She also found me a sweat rag – aka a small thin washcloth that guys carry around to help wipe off the sweat that accumulates on long walks between the train and air conditioning – very handy; I should pick up a few more for Doha (see earlier post about sweat & Doha). We rode the train back to the airport where we proceeded to get in the wrong line about 5 times, each time greeted with a kind smile a few English words, and directions to the place we ought to have been in the first place. Once we had checked Sheri's bags in we grabbed a bite to eat on the terrace cafe, called the American Diner, where I had a hotdog for the first time since leaving the states and we took a stroll along the observation deck before heading back downstairs. On the way to the security check point we stopped into a bookshop for a copy of the Great Gatsby for Sheri's trip home (only lasted her to her connecting flight in Osaka, apparently she's a quick reader). The shop next to the bookstore was a really great pen shop with some other odds and ends; I plan on making a pen purchase on the way out of town with any money I have left over...

Sheri was sad to leave me behind for another week, but was admittedly looking forward to going back to Doha (quite an incredible concept): where folks speak English, use forks, and drive big cars (aka care less about the environment).

The rest of the week has flown by, with a visit to a 5 story shop in Kawasaki called Bic Camera - behind California Pizza Kitchen where I've eaten twice in 4 days... Bic Camera is known for having, you guessed it, the newest and coolest cameras at good prices, especially with the current exchange rate (finally found a place where the dollar has improved in value). I've done quite a bit of pacing through the Digital SLR aisle, with lots of beautiful cameras that would take great pictures on our upcoming vacations... like any wise husband I need to ensure I have Sheri's approval - she has saved me from plenty of hasty binge buys, and vice versa. (side note I finally bellied up to the bar and got a digital SLR last night... so you may see the quality of blog pics improve).

Over the weekend my two coworkers and I hit the train station with beers in hand (yes we did work on the weekend and yes you can drink beer in public in Japan - still two very strange concepts which offset themselves in Kool and Tuffness), and headed into town where we met up with the rest of the group: the Japanese girlfriend (aka translator from earlier post) and his old college roommate & mom who came into town on holiday. We headed to a restaurant called Two Torches, which was a 10 minute walk from my hotel, into an area I hadn't yet explored. We had reservations for 7:45, but all of us were late to the meeting point and we ended up an hour late for dinner (tourists)... good thing tardiness is standard operation around here, and our Japanese translator phoned ahead to ensure our table would still be waiting for us. When we arrived we were brought out onto the patio, to a long table with plenty of room and a great view of the river. As dinner cruises floated by we ordered from a number of individual vendors within the restaurant - Yakitori (meat skewers), Noodles, Sushi , Veggies and Alcohol - each variety with it's own stall and owner... all of the food was very fresh and delicious. The beer came out in large communal bottles (like those you get for Sake bombs in the states, was that Lute Olsen), and the locals taught us that in Japan you don't fill your own glass/mug, instead you fill someone else's to signal you're ready for more. We picked up on that custom quickly and when dinner finished, we walked back to the train station by my hotel (Shinagawa for those not paying close enough attention), where we found the 2nd destination of the night - nicknamed the Beatles bar, since no one really knows what it's called - it's a tiny establishment in the basement of the Shinagawa train station... hidden amongst other tiny shops and restaurants, it has 6 tables, 21 chairs, one crazy owner and a four person live band. When you consider that the 3 bar stools were being used to hold bags from the locals who came straight form work, we were lucky to find enough room for the six of us, and it was an absolute blast. The band was quite entertaining, playing loud rock music with plenty of guitar solos and audience participation. They sounded great considering they each operated their instruments nearly upright to make room for the 19 customers inside. We actually happened upon the Beatles bar on the week of its 30th anniversary, you'd be hard pressed to find anything in Qatar that's 30 years old. We didn't have to order drinks, the owner came around with more giant bottles of communal beer for the table, and then put his fingers through his glasses (black rims but no lenses) and we all followed suit with a chorus of grunting and laughing. Once I get the pictures on my computer I will be sure to post a photo of the owner, definitely a man who loves his job. Only downside to hitting up a local place like the Beatles bar is that the band and owner have to catch the train home, so shop closes at midnight... which was still plenty of time to have a great night. Enjoying life appears to be a truly universal concept.