Thursday, December 01, 2011



Friday December 2, 4:59 p.m.


Man, it must be cold today! I'm in my school and even then I've still got my coat on. That's considering the three other layers and my natural layer of fat. I just can't believe that Tokyo is supposed to hit 18 degrees this weekend.


I'm at less than 2 weeks and counting before I take that last Air Canada flight from Narita. Another sign that my adventure here is soon to end is the fact that I've been writing "FINAL" after a number of students' names when I write down their reports. I did it with The Sisters of State this week and I did it with The Bass after his lesson this morning in Funabashi. That picture is the signboard for our cafe, Grace, near the station. It was a good place to hold lessons since we often had the 2nd floor all to ourselves. Today, though, there were actually two pairs of businessmen but they were no problem. I'm gonna miss that place.


Sped cross-city to Nakano-Sakaue to Speedy's for a lesson with The Kimono Nurse. Jolly as usual, and laughs at anything I say. Heck, I just exhaled and she guffawed. She can't make it tomorrow for the annual Xmas party but she's a hopeful for my farewell party at Speedy's the following Saturday. Tomorrow's party will probably be the smallest in the history of the school. There will probably be more staff and teachers than actual students, although I know that Mrs. Thursday will be there with her daughter. Heck, even a former student, the flirty Polynesian will be there...probably to imbibe as much alcohol as possible.


I've got The Button-Down Girl for what may be either her second-last or last lesson tonight at that Cafe de Crie in the Subnade shopping complex in Shinjuku. I hope it isn't too lively there, otherwise I'm gonna have a heck of a time trying to hear her during the class.
Friday December 2, 4:36 p.m.

After devouring half of the food of Tokyo at The Royal Park, The OL, Betty Boop and I decided to walk off some of the thousands of calories ingested and went up one of the nearby towers to its 47th floor. I got some spectacular shots of the view.


This is a picture of Hama-Rikyu Garden Park, formerly a villa of one of the Tokugawa family of shoguns back in the 17th century.


Took another shot beyond the park and onto Bay Bridge.






And this is a birds-eye view of the famed Tsukiji Fish Market. Never actually visited there since I don't desire to sacrifice valuable sleep just to watch folks haggle over a hunk of frozen tuna.


Over the past few years, Betty Boop has been working on a farm all the way out in Chiba Prefecture. Despite all of her high-energy behaviour yesterday, she remarked that she has been a bit depressed since one of her horses bit the dust over the weekend, and for the reason that I'm heading home forever. I did invite her and The OL to come and visit Toronto from time to time. Both of them have done homestays in the United States, and BB had stayed for nearly 2 years in California, so they should be able to come and visit their old teacher.


As I indicated, it was a totally free lunch and dinner day yesterday since after I finished teaching The Carolinan for her final lesson last night, the bossman and his wife took me to the nearby tsukemen shop and paid for the whole thing. More on that later.
Friday December 2, 4:24 p.m.

Yesterday was one of those extremely rare days when I didn't have to pay a single yen for food. For one thing, The OL and Betty Boop took me out to The Royal Park Shiodome Hotel in Shimbashi for an all-you-can-eat buffet up on the 24th floor. Pretty swanky. I see The OL often enough for her lessons, but I hadn't seen BB in a few years. She was still as manic as ever although she either couldn't or wouldn't utter any English since she's been out of practice.
Yup, this was definitely a high-class buffet. No pre-wrapped o-shibori here. And there was decadence well represented....for example, an omelette stuffed with foie gras and covered in truffle sauce. I wondered if I needed to deposit a down payment before getting one of those.




This is what it looked like when the chef did his job. I think just watching him professionally make the perfect omelette was worth the price of admission.





One of my three rounds up to the buffet table.






A major scrum erupted around the buffet table when the waiter brought out a tray of pieces of strawberry shortcake. It was kinda like watching a shark feeding frenzy. No report on whether the waiter survived the onslaught.









However, the ladies were able to get three slices from the table.










Friday December 2, 4:10 p.m.

As I mentioned, Tuesday was pretty much an all-day round of feasting for me due to the farewell parties. Lunch on that day was eel with The Beehive; then later that night, I went down to tony Ebisu and met The Sisters of State for dinner. The Carolinan took us to a place that she knew called "Les Gaku de Mariages", a tiny French place that had gotten quite a number of stars for its reputation.


First off was an appetizer with a couple of slices of marinated mackerel hiding underneath some slices of kabu radish. Everything was marinated in honey and vinegar.



This might look like something that a staffer may have forgotten to rinse out after the fact, but it's actually consomme foam over foie gras mousse. Yep, it's pretty zeitaku...high class.





The main course: Iberico pork in a mustard sauce. It was as tender and juicy as it looked.







I guess I was fated that day to have shirako. I first had the milt when I was at Inariya, that eel restaurant that I'd gone with The Beehive. Then, at Gaku, one of the courses was squid-ink risotto with a bed of sauteed shirako on top. Some of that cod must have a price on my head by now.










And for dessert came wine jelly and a compote of pear with a slab of vanilla ice cream on top. Couldn't get more French than that.


For all intents and purposes, that was the last time for me to see The New Yorker. And I saw The Carolinan for the final time last night here at Speedy's. It ended pretty quietly and the bossman offered to have one of his new teachers take over for me. The Carolinan took in the information without making any committment, so we shall see. She's definitely one who keeps her cards close to her chest.


Friday December 2, 1:25 p.m.

Wet and cold out there today. I swear it feels more like Toronto than Tokyo. Wouldn't be surprised if a few flakes fell down. But true to our recent yo-yo weather patterns, it may hit the rosy heights of 18 degrees C this weekend.

Nothing says the end of the year in this country when two lists come out via the media here. One is the "Ryukougo Taisho" or "Trendy Words Award of the Year". And the other is the performer list for the December 31 "Kohaku Utagassen" or "The Red & White Song Festival" held by NHK. As usual both lists got a full court press.

The trendiest word this year is "Nadeshiko Japan", one of the few words not to be associated with the March 11 disaster and probably one of the few positive ones. The word is the name of Japan's Women's Soccer Team which won the Women's World Cup earlier this year. Some of the other words are "3/11" and "Dojo Naikaku" which translates into The Loach Cabinet referring to current PM Noda's administration; during his acceptance speech as the new Prime Minister, he referred to himself as a mudsucking loach...basically a plain-speaking, hard-working fellow. Strangely enough, I didn't see the word that I thought would be up there: "setsuden"....energy conservation.

As for the Red & White, it's the usual cast of characters: Saburo Kitajima and Sachiko Kobayashi will be there as the enka veterans, and of course, Arashi and AKB 48 will draw in the young crowd. But for the first time, K-POP will also be represented by the leggy KARA and Girls' Generation (I can only guess that toilets will probably stop flowing altogether during their performances...and then start gushing like a Noah's Ark flood immediately after). But the thing that got me is the first-time appearance of Sayaka Kanda...and her far more famous and successful mother, Seiko Matsuda, in a duet. When I realize that I first saw Seiko-chan 30 years ago on the Kohaku as a teenager, I can hear those wrinkles erupting all over my face. In any case, my attitudes toward the year-end visual wallpaper just make me think that it seems to resemble more and more like another one of those 4-hour Music Station specials that come on every 2 months on TV Asahi.
Thursday December 1, 6:25 p.m.

Now to describe the massive feasting and farewells on Tuesday.

The Beehive and I had our usual lesson at Cafe Nard out in Funabashi, but afterwards we had lunch just around the corner at Inariya, an eel restaurant. Now some of you folks may be retching right now at the thought of eating something marine and long, but for me I actually fell in love with the fish 30 years ago.


Because of our numbers, we had the largest room in the restaurant, a very homey chamber. It even came with its own tokonoma, or alcove.



Classy service all the way.





Our first course was this small bowl of tofu topped with 5 salmon eggs and a whole boiled oyster.







Some more appetizers before the main event. The one that I would like to explain about is at the bottom right. That is shirako...now, don't run away when I say that is the milt from a cod. Yup, it's a gross-looking thing which is white, soft and glistening. I've seen it used tons of times by The Iron Chefs of Fuji-TV but never got to eat it. But on Tuesday, I not only had my first taste of it at Inariya but I ended up having a second taste later on that night at the French restaurant with The Sisters of State. And the verdict is....it was pretty good, kinda like mozzarella cheese in taste and texture.



Even the beer was served in something that looks like it should be in an art gallery. Pretty much all of the serving dishes did.











This was the o-sumashi, the clear soup of the lunch. It contained rings of deep-fried tofu, or abura-age, and the kimo, or liver, from an eel. Again, I'd like to say that we didn't eat this on a dare.












And the main event: una-ju. Grilled eel slathered in sweet and savory sauce placed gently over a bed of rice in a lacquered box. Couldn't ask for a better culinary sendoff. As I mentioned, I first ate this 30 years ago when I'd come here for the second time. The rest is history.









Now, since I was dining with ladies in their upper middle age, appetites wouldn't be as huge so being the vacuum cleaner that I am, two of them generously gave me portions of their eel lunches. I was quite filled, I tell you.











After a rather heavy lunch, it was nice to have something as refreshing as a slice of melon.















This is the alternate entrance to Inariya on the side street. In a way, I think this somewhat more dilapidated entry seems more appropriate.










Thursday December 1, 5:49 p.m.

Last Friday, as you may have read, I'd gone to dinner with my old friend The Acupuncturist in East Shinjuku. After dinner there, he took me to some sort of festival that was going on just to the east of Kabukicho. There is a huge temple there and everything was going on around it. Plus, the north edge of the main street was lined with the usual stands of yakitori, okonomiyaki and chocobananas as would usually be the case for a huge festival.


Yup, it was quite the crowd. But it was a Friday after all. I took this shot from the top of the stairs going to the temple. It was indeed wall-to-wall people.



Friday night in Tokyo? Festival? You bet the crowds will be out to get their fill of drink and squid. The folks were all bunched up on the benches drinking their Asahis and shochus. And it was a pretty chilly night.





Of course, this was a temple so folks were lining up to literally throw in their two yen and pray for a better tomorrow. Considering this year's events, I think people were praying that much more strongly.







Quite the dazzling array of lanterns.









Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures inside but there was even a freak sideshow of sorts. Yes, even in this country, they have such things. We were privy to the hebi onna...the Snake Woman...a heavily made-up lass with Sadako (the ghost from "Ringu") hair who took chomps out of a dead decapitated snake. I had been kinda looking forward to a more Ozzy Ozbourne treatment, though. Still, it was also fun watching the same woman string a metal chain up her nose and out her mouth.


This particular avenue had shops selling various battledores...wooden boards with handles suffused with flowers and other ornaments. One rather tipsy fellow held his purchased battledore and proclaimed something, so I gather that it is used as a giant charm of sorts. Somewhat less ornate versions are used on New Year's Day to play some primitive form of badminton, although I think the shuttlecock would probably end up getting caught on the branches.


In any case, I'm glad that I could see my final festival before I depart.



Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Wednesday November 30, 5:47 p.m.

It'll be a very quiet midweek session here at Speedy's. 001 cancelled her lesson for today so all I've got is just Kirk. However, yesterday I had a double farewell party session...first, with The Beehive at this eel restaurant in Funabashi, and then later last night with The Sisters of State at this French restaurant in Ebisu. I'll have pictures and full details up later on. Let us say that I was one full dude by the time I hit the hay last night.

Since I had all this time off today, I ended up recycling some clothes and CDs. I took some old coats over to this place near my station. I gave the ladies there 5 items of clothing, including a denim jacket and a vest. I got about 100 yen for my trouble since two of the items were considered unacceptable...there was a stain on my UNIQLO jacket and the zipper on the vest was broken. As for the CDs, I went over to my favorite kayo kyoku place in Jimbocho, Tacto, and was surprised that the lady there took everything, including the Western stuff. She kinda looked rather apologetic when she told me that I could only get 1,000 yen for the 13 discs that I was handing in but for me that's the biggest amount I've gotten for recycling so far. I used that bill to help me out in buying a few more CDs before I head on back.

I had another talk with my sales representative at Nippon Express about some of the other logistics. I've gone for the Self-Packing option instead of having some of the guys there come over and do it since I save money with the former. I even bought a really cheap bathroom scale to help weight the boxes so that none of them go over 30 kg. So far, so good. Plus, I made sure about what documents I have to mail over to her by next Monday.

No feasts today but tomorrow morning, I'll be meeting up with The OL and Betty Boop. Boop I haven't seen in quite a few years but when she found out that I would be leaving these shores in 2 weeks, she quickly set up some sort of lunch for me at The Royal Park Hotel in Shiodome at around 11:30 tomorrow.
Wednesday November 30, 5:31 p.m.

Feast No. 3 in the farewell to J-Canuck Sweepstakes took place on Sunday night with the juku boss and Cozy. The three of us went to Kisoji, a restaurant smack dab by the centre of Ginza, which specializes in shabu-shabu and sukiyaki, both good dishes to have during this time of cooling temperatures.


We had our own little tatami room with the grill all ready to go. Our waitresses were also suitably decked out in their kimono. It was a small room but for 3 people, there was still plenty of space to spread out.


Even in a sukiyaki joint, the course meal always has some sumptious appetizers, and that includes sashimi. Some nice red maguro there. I guess some of that good cholesterol had to be represented along with the usual artery-clogging one.






We even got some crab legs to pull out and dip into a vinegary sauce.






Ahhhh...the piece de resistance. Thin, marbly slices of beef for cooking.










And the rest of the goodies for a typical sukiyaki. Mushrooms, green onions and tofu.










Typically, you take all that cooked stuff and put it into beaten raw egg. Now, Mom always made it a ritual to whip up sukiyaki for Sunday night dinner during the Fall and Winter back in The Great White North, but we never used raw egg there since there was always the danger of salmonella. But no problems here although I still have to get accustomed to the goo.








After gobbling down tons of veggies and beef, we've got the o-shime or the grand finale. And in this case, it was the addition of kishimen noodles. Kishimen are these flat and wide rice noodles that come from the Nagoya area. Why not have some more carbs with that cholesterol?










Dessert was ice cream. While Cozy and the juku boss had matcha and vanilla respectively, I went for the berry. It had that nice tang to it.


What I haven't shown is what we drank with our dinner. We had the house sake which was aptly called Kisoji. I don't think I've had a tastier sake in all my life. Smooth to the point of creaminess, I managed to down several o-choko worth of the stuff before our 4 hours were done. Usually holding my alcohol is pretty tough for me, but I found myself savoring Kisoji, and I know the stuff was primo stuff since I didn't get the slightest hangover from it the next day. The juku boss even remarked that the color in my face stayed resolutely normal throughout the night which is highly unusual for me since even one lone glass of beer can get me beet-red.

Monday, November 28, 2011


Tuesday November 29, 3:47 p.m.

My second weekend feast took place on Saturday night when I met The Jyuppies for the very last time in the wilds of Chuo-Rinkan, which is the very last stop on the extremely long Hanzomon/Tokyu Den'en-Toshi Line. Basically, it took me 2 hours to get from Ichikawa to this place in Kanagawa Prefecture. But it was all good! The Jyuppies took me back to their favorite sushi restaurant, Nakamizo. It's one of those tiny local restaurants that you have to be in the know about.

The three of us started off with raw bonito which was accompanied by sprigs of myoga and a small bowl of garlic soy sauce. And there was a dollop of eyewatering Japanese mustard.











This is kanimiso....perhaps the sushi equivalent of pate de fois gras in France. It consists of chilled boiled crab meat mixed with rich crab liver.












Even the soup was special. This is indeed miso soup but further flavored with the umami from a juicy hunk of shrimp.














Of course, since this is a sushi restaurant, the main platter was filled with lots of sushi: shrimp, squid, akagai, toro, etc.













And Nakamizo's famed uni (sea urchin) sushi came out. This is why I would come out all the way 2 hours to this place. This is probably the only restaurant I will go to in this country to have uni. I've never been a fan of the orange gushy stuff but only Nakamizo seems to get it totally fresh which lends it a far more favourable flavour. Next to it is the "dessert" sushi of sweetened fried egg.






We just had to have more of the uni so out it came and with it was some shime saba (mackerel).

This is the type of neighbourhood restaurant that I'll miss when I head home to Canada in about 2 weeks. I can only hope that the current izakaya boom in Toronto will result in one of these places, but I frankly doubt it.