Monja
(March
1 - March 21, 1999)
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We have been in Tokyo for a week and, although I have never been here
other than in the fall when the weather was perfect, it has been pretty
nice,
albeit a bit cool. I still prefer T-shirt weather.
Unfortunately,
I wasn't writing travelogues during my first assignment in Audit, so
it's hard to give
first impressions of Japan since my first trip here was for eight weeks
back
in the fall of 1993. Back then I had first impressions on the 1
1/2 hour
ride in from the airport; of the city as we approached the hotel; of
this
magnificent Hotel New Otani that our team always stays in and which
most of my colleagues
have also loved; of the first temple and shrine that I visited; of
Yoyogi
Park
and the many hundreds of young people enjoying the music of bands
lining both
sides of the street that was shut down on Sunday afternoons; plus many
many
other first impressions. The Shinkansen (Bullet Train), Kyoto
(the old
capital of Japan) and its marvelous temples and shrines, Nikko, Asakusa
with its great
temple and shopping area and, of course, Mt. Fuji. Trust me,
there is
nothing about Japan that I haven't liked, including the aesthetics, the
culture,
the people, the
food.
There are five of us on this trip to Japan: me and Diane; Nick, who was
on assignment in Tokyo and lived here from 1984-86; Borhan, who has
only
been through, but not to, Tokyo; Alan, who has been here previously,
but only for
eight
days. Nick left on Sunday to go work with the team in Singapore
and Alan and
Borhan are scheduled to leave at the end of this week. There is
also one
Japanese person, Takahiro Wakizaka, who is on the team. He is on
loan to
us from the Japan Audit department. That will leave Diane and me
here for
week #3. Last week was work and dinner. Alan and
Borhan arrived
Monday evening and we just ate near the hotel at the Cozy Corner, a
good first night place to
grab something quick. Tuesday started a round of some favorite
places. Although Takahiro lives in the area, he came out to
eat with us a few times.
* Tuesday was
shabushabu. Now this is a great dining
experience. I found the following on a web site that best
explains what it is:
"Shabu Shabu is a traditional Japanese dish that translates as 'swish
swish' since you swish thinly sliced ingredients (meat, usually beef,
or
vegetables) in a pot of boiling water set right at the tabletop, then
dip them into
sauce. The sauce cools the steamy morsel before tantalizing your tongue
with
Eastern flavors. It's akin to Boeuf Bourguignon, or meat fondue.
This meal is sure to fill you with warmth, and it's subtly intimate; it
relieves cabin fever, and lets you have total control. The steaming,
aromatic pot teases the senses and satisfies, while the speed of
cooking
preserves much of the nutrients in the food. You may even work up
a sweat.
Shabu Shabu can be found at select Japanese restaurants."
Our favorite shabushabu restaurant is Shabuzen in Roppongi. The
ambiance is perfect because it is designed as a shabushabu restaurant,
so the pot
is actually built into the table. It's a cozy restaurant and
makes
for a great dining experience when eating with colleagues and
friends. They offer an "all you can eat" meal for 4500Y (about
$45). Combine the shabushabu with some beer, wine and/or sake and
you think you are in Heaven.
* Wednesday we went to
Moti's Indian Restaurant, of which there
are three in the area. We went to the one in Roppongi (we are
working in the
Roppongi area).
* Thursday the guys
wanted to go eat Yakitori in Roppongi and I
didn't want to ask Diane to come over from the hotel again. So I
went back to
Akasaka to meet Diane and we went to our favorite kushiyaki restaurant,
which also
serves yakitori, in the Belle Vie building. Yakitori is
chicken. Kushiyaki serves chicken, but you can also get other
items, such as octopus, ox tongue,
etc. These are all grilled and served on sticks (skewers).
Great
stuff, although Diane passed on the octopus after one taste.
* Friday we all went back
to the Belle Vie building (lots of
restaurants in the building) and ate at a favorite tempura
restaurant. We mostly
had fried prawns and pork, some miso soup, and Japanese salad, plus
beer.
* Saturday we went to eat
with some Japanese friends, Tad and his
wife Teruko. Tad was on assignment in Atlanta back in the late
1980s and
it has been nice to visit with them on each of our trips to
Japan. He took us
this time to a place that served a sort of teppanyaki called
'MONJA'. This
dining experience turned out to be the highlight of the trip so
far.
There are different kinds of monja, such as beef, chicken,
seafood. We met
Tad and Teruko at the Tsukishima (ski shima) subway station.
Since this
is very near the famous Tokyo fish market at Tsukiji (ski g), Teruko
thought that
fresh seafood was in order so she ordered the seafood monja.
Diane and
I, and our old team, have never been to this part of town because it is
not a
tourist area. Tad referred to it as downtown Tokyo and more in a
residential area. It is known for its monja restaurants and many
Japanese go there to
partake of this meal. I found a web site for monja that has some
photos on
how it is prepared for you culinary fans out there. The words are
in
Japanese. Monja was the first and third courses of our
meal. So what the photos
show is the preparation of the two monja courses that we had. It
was fun
trying to keep the broth inside the circle of food as it absorbed
it.
YUMMY. Check out www.st.rim.or.jp/~guilala/JPN/cook.html.
The restaurant was a couple of blocks walk and it was a small place, as
were most of the restaurants in the area. It was traditional so
we had
to take our shoes off to sit. Luckily, it had a built in bench so
we didn't
have to sit on the floor. Done that and it gets harder to do as
one's bones get
older unless, I guess, you're used to it. Teruko sat traditional
style with her
legs bent under her on the mat on the bench, but Tad sat with his feet
on the
floor. This was a big table and had two built in griddles.
The meal
itself was SIX courses, as follows:
course 1 - monja. This
consisted of sprouts and other veggies, as
well as seafood, and was in some broth in a bowl. The contents
are put on
the griddle, except for the broth, and cooked. A couple of times
during the
cooking the broth is added, mixed in and more cooking. Teruko
cooked on one
griddle and was the expert. Tad said he wasn't a cook and had no
problem
passing the baton to yours truly. Not that I'm a great cook, but
it looked like a
fun thing to do. After some cooking on the griddle, the food was
spread out on
the griddle so the underside could brown. Then everyone just
scraped some off
the griddle and ate.
course 2 - teppanyaki.
This consisted of beef, shrimp, ox tongue,
scallops, octopus, squid and some sprouts. We all were able to
cook our own
and eat at will.
course 3 - monja. Same as
course 1, but with some other items
added to the mix.
course 4 - okonomiyaki.
This was presented in a bowl with egg,
flour, cabbage, seafood. Turns out to be just like a big omelet
that we all
shared.
course 5 - yakisoba. Soba
is noodles, so it was noodles, shrimp,
squid, octopus, sprouts, ginger, scallops. Same as before, all
cooked on
the griddle.
course 6 - anzumaki. This
was dessert and was cooked by one of
the restaurant's workers. It was like a crepe and we had two of
them. One was apricot and the other sweet bean paste.
Add some beer, sake, and soft drinks and what an incredible dining
experience. I think shabushabu has met its match and we will have
to try and do
this again before we leave. However, Tad and Teruko are leaving
for vacation
in Atlanta and Las Vegas next weekend and will be returning to Japan on
the day we
are going home. So we'll have to do it by ourselves. It is
always much easier to have a Japanese speaking person along to help
with the ordering.
Of course, when we are by ourselves, it becomes more of an adventure.
* Sunday was a cold, rainy day and we decided to eat in one of the many
restaurants in the hotel. There are more than 30, yes THIRTY,
restaurants in this hotel complex. So there are plenty of
choices. We
wanted to do the yakitori place, but they were packed. So we
picked one that
served beef, fish, and Italian food. Small portions, big price,
nothing special.
For sightseeing, we decided to stay local on Saturday because Nick
wanted to do some shopping before he left on Sunday. That worked out
pretty good because it allowed us to visit the Meiji
Jingu Shrine (www.meijijingu.or.jp/english/index.htm and
www.meijijingu.or.jp/english/intro/building/index.htm). This is a
shinto shrine. Most of the Japanese are both Shintoist and
Buddhist. Shintoism is the oldest religion of Japan and is
closely linked to nature. It
is based on the cult of kami (gods). Buddhism was introduced from
continental
Asia in the 6th century AD and is based on the idea of enlightenment
through
meditation. (The preceding came from one of our travel
books. You don't think
I really remember this stuff, do you?) ;o)
NOTE: We can't remember why we
don't have any photos of the Meiji Jingu Shrine, except for a wedding
party, or Yoyogi Park. Diane thinks there may be more photos
stored in our daughter Jill's house and
not with us as I get these international travelogues up on our
website. I'll update the photos at a later time if we find some
stored in our photo boxes in Jill's basement.
After the shrine, we walked over to the adjoining Yoyogi Park where
there was some political rally going on. We decided to get some
lunch there
and we got our favorite Yoyogi Park lunch of fried noodles. Alan
had wanted
to try the 'octopus balls' so he got a bunch of those. No, it
isn't what it
sounds like. It's pieces of octopus wrapped in a doughy type
mixture and served with
some spices. Not bad.
Although this was not my first trip to Yoyogi Park, I have to tell you
about that first visit here because I will never forget it. This
was
back in 1993 and Peter, Sue (who later became manager of the
department) and I went
to Yoyogi. What a place. They closed down the wide avenue
every Sunday at 1 PM. The street is
separated by a median with a hedge along the entire median. The
local bands
would come out and
stake out a spot on the street (both sides were full of bands) and the
street was
full of young Japanese kids, mostly girls in their school uniforms,
like what we might refer to as teeny
boppers. The kids would stand in front of their favorite
groups,
some at ground level, some on stages they set up, and have a great
time.
Behind the kids would be the tourists taking it all in. I think
Peter and I
went to Yoyogi on 4-5 of those first 7 Sundays we were in Tokyo.
After the
first couple of visits there, we started to also enjoy watching the
tourists watching
the bands and the kids. The bands ranged from 50s, to rock, to
punk.
Some of the kids were also dressed in punk. We also found some
groups we liked,
especially a group named Seek that always seemed to get the largest
crowd in
1993. By the time we returned in 94, Seek was nowhere to be found
and after that
trip I found that they had a contract with Sony.
Then there was a
change in government and
they closed down Sunday afternoons at Yoyogi Park. Such a
shame. We never
saw any problems there and the only people we ever saw getting drunk
were, if you can
believe this, two American kids walking around with a bottle of
Jack Daniels.
Idiots. I always maintained that we probably couldn't allow
activities like this on a
regular basis in the USA because there would be people that would
somehow manage
to ruin it with booze and/or drugs. I'm sure you all know that I
am not
one to shy away from expressing my opinion, so I found a sort of
Chamber of
Commerce address for the Yoyogi area and sent a note asking why it was
shut down
and expressing my opinion that I thought it was too bad they did that
since
everyone seemed to be having a great time. As usual with people
in
power, I got the normal 'non answer' that didn't say anything. So
Yoyogi Park
is a thing of the past. It was pretty famous and I've seen
articles in old
travel magazines and the web that talk about it and have photos.
NOTE: Although I didn't write
travelogues back then, and I was taking lots of video of everything we
saw in Japan, Diane remembers taking photos in Yoyogi Park. I
will include some of those photos of the happenings in Yoyogi Park at a
later date.
After lunch in Yoyogi Park we walked over to Harajuku and Omotesando to
do some shopping at
our (actually, Diane's) favorite shop, the Oriental Bazaar. It's
a tourist trap, to be sure, but we loved going there every time we were
in Tokyo. We ended up buying stuff for ourselves and as gifts,
such as tea sets, sake sets, and some beautiful geisha dolls that sit
on the mantel of our fireplace. Nick
had a couple of places to stop
first to get some herbs and Alan wanted to stop at a place that Diane
found that
sold Beanie Babies. They were pretty expensive, though, at 1800
Yen, which is
about $15. Finally, we headed over to get some Hagen Daaz.
There used to be
a shop next to the Oriental Bazaar that was a favorite Sunday afternoon
stopping
place, but it closed down. So we had to go to a different
one. But it
was sort of on the way back to the hotel. They had a deal going
for 7 scoops of ice
cream for 500Y, about $4.75. Wow, what a deal. Nick and
Borhan
devoured the 7 scoops. After ice cream, we walked back to the
hotel to rest up for dinner.
A quick word about the Hotel New Otani. This hotel has sort of
become home when we are in Japan. We have normally worked in
Kawasaki or
Mitaka, both about 45 minute commute. There was one trip where
the commute was
almost 1 1/2 hours to Yamato, but the team opted to stay at the New
Otani and
commute. That's how much some of us have loved this hotel.
It is huge,
somewhere around 1500 rooms, several shopping areas, almost like a
small city. It
has a beautiful Japanese Garden in the back with a great
waterfall.
Check out http://www1.newotani.co.jp/en/tokyo/
or
http://www.southtravels.com/asia/japan/hotelnewotanitokyo/. It is
quite busy
on the weekends as many Japanese people come to spend the weekend in
the area and stay in the New Otani. We were told that people will
save their money for a long time just to spend a weekend in the New
Otani. The rooms run around $400-$500 per night. Even with
the discount we get via the local IBM office, we still pay around $250
per night. There is a wedding pavilion in the hotel and many
people plan their wedding in the hotel.
On Sunday, we went to Asakusa, which is the site of the Sensoji
Temple. To get to the temple from the main street, one goes down
a long corridor for
several blocks with shops on both sides. Unfortunately, it was a
cold,
rainy day on Sunday and not as much fun as when it is warm. Diane
and I have
been there several times. Actually, Diane gets to roam around
during the
days while I'm working and had already been to several of the places we
covered over the
weekend. We ate lunch in a small restaurant in Asakusa and then
headed to Akihabara,
which is the electronics section of Tokyo. Store after store
after store
filled with electronic gear, some of which has not made its way to the
USA yet.
Well, that brings week # 1 to a close and what a week it was. The
current plan has Borhan and Alan leaving at the end of the week, which
will leave
Diane and I here by ourselves. This is quite different than when
I work
with my normal team as there are usually team members here until the
end. If the
weather is nice, we think we may try to take the Shinkansen (bullet
train) to
Nagano for a day over next weekend. But that's next week's
travelogue. We did spend a weekend in 1993 in Kyoto and Nara and
rode the Shinkansen. It was quite an experience. So fast,
yet so smooth.
Until next time.
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