Day: April 5, 2005

  • Big Trek through Little Tokyo

    Last day in Tokyo: morning at the Tsuji Fish Market, where one third of the world’s fish passes through. Absolutely an incredible sight! Then amazingly we found Sushi
    Dai
    , a famed sushi purveyer. I really wished that I knew Japanese,
    because the three guys behind the counter not only put together the best
    sushi ever (hey, even the bad sushi places can’t go wrong if they have
    access to fish this fresh) but they banter with the customers like they
    were bartenders. The most interesting one was a snapper nigiri flavored
    with lime juice and rose rock salt. Incredible!

    Checked out the Sony Center, where they demoed incredibly great and
    expensive home entertainment systems. Met up with P’s friend M and his
    girlfriend SC again in Ginza. We went to the Toyota showroom center,
    where we got to ride in self guided electric cars, I crashed a GT at the
    Fuji Raceway simulator (not simulated: I took a turn hard and crashed
    into the guiderail, the simulator jerked me back, there was a popping
    sound and the entire steering wheel ripped out of the console. I thought
    that the airbags had deployed). Saw the most expensive thing I’ve
    touched in Japan: a sports car with a sticker price of 6,300,000 Yen
    (drop 2 zeroes for the $US price).

    Had Japanese Okonomi-yaki pancakes on Harumi island for dinner —
    absolutely fantastic. Many of the traditional Japanese foods were
    originally designed to stretch limited meat with lots of rice, broth or
    starch. Of course if they are delicious, that helps too.

    Finally had dessert at some place in Harajiku that had an American
    Indian/Italian motif. Very funky. SC was trying out her English, and she
    was doing very well. Off to try to see the department store opening production and to the
    airport. Will make reflections on the trip on the plane. See you back on
    your side.