Thursday October 27, 4:11 p.m.

Now, this is something that Steve Jobs would weep for joy about. I came across this vending machine in JR Funabashi Station...on the platform for the Sobu Line, to be exact...which works with a touchscreen. Basically, it's an iVending Machine...heck, let's call it an iPop. When it's not being called upon for some juice or coffee, the screen is showing some cute animated commercial.


But when you touch the screen, it transforms to show you its range of drinks. All you have to do is touch the drink you want after putting in the coins...or just use your commuter's pass to pay. I just had to try it myself and went for a can of coffee. Considering I'd had a cuppa for breakfast and then another at the cafe where I teach The Bass, I was pretty much bouncing off the walls by noon.

Thursday October 27, 3:56 p.m.
Last Saturday, I met up with The Anime Chamberlain and The Bohemian in JR Shinjuku for dinner. Now the two of them have both annoyed the hell out of me at different times, so I had been wondering what would have happened if the two of them were put together. Do they get along swimmingly or would they end up eating each other alive? Luckily, the two got along although they both traded opposing sides at a couple of points during the meal. The meal, by the way, was in Okubo, aka Tokyo's Koreatown just north of Shinjuku.


Not surprisingly, we had dinner at a yakiniku (Korean BBQ) joint and went for the 3,480 yen all-you-can-eat meat and all-you-can-drink (of course, this was The Bohemian's idea)
plan. This little bowl was an interesting number to start off with. It's carrot congee...rice soup with some added fiber. But luckily, none of us had any sudden need for the washroom during our 3 hours there.

Naturally, no self-respecting Korean restaurant would serve dinner without the appetizers of sesame sprouts and deep-fried tofu skin. The Anime Chamberlain is remarkably picky about his food (he has been quite disappointed by Tokyo's ramen since he feels that the noodles have all been un-freshly made), but he really liked these condiments.

These are pork bellies frying up on the slanted teppan with onions, sweet potatoes and kimchi. Yep, pork bellies. Usually they would be part of a culinary punch line back in the West but over here, they are part and parcel of a fine Korean dinner. Probably the reason that pork bellies don't have as much popularity back home is because of the thick fat. Ironically over here, they're loved for that same reason.

The pork bellies were cooked and then the eagle-eyed waiter came by with some very sharp scissors and snipped the long strips into bite-sized pieces. The teppan is slanted, by the way, so that the excess oil can run down and collect in a trough at the bottom.

Next to the teppan was a wooden plate filled with fresh lettuce and other greens...known here in Japan as sanchu.

And just before it disappeared deep into the abyss known as my gastrointestinal system, here had been a piece of pork belly about to be wrapped in a piece of green. Ironic, a belly going into a belly.

Wednesday October 26, 7:32 p.m.

This ordinary skyscraper in Shinjuku wasn't here some 7 months ago. Instead, there was a crane doing construction work, and on March 11th, it took on the added job of swinging helplessly like the trunk of an addled elephant. Yup, the construction site was next door to the Maynds Tower, where I usually teach The New Yorker at the Starbucks. I can only hope that this building will hang in there during the next major quake.

Speaking of The New Yorker, I met her at Starbucks today as well. She was actually a bit more lucid than usual; it would be nice to end my tenure with her on a high note. And earlier on, I saw The Kimono Nurse. It was another ball of laughs, but I think I'm gonna have to be a bit more serious with her in future lessons. I will be having Kirk in about 45 minutes.

Wednesday October 26, 7:15 p.m.

I've been hearing some interesting tidbits from the world of entertainment. First off, I heard that there will be some sort of crossover between the new "Hawaii Five-O" and "NCIS: Los Angeles"; apparently, Agent Bly will be heading over to meet McGarrett's task force for a joint mission. All I can say is that sometime in the future, I wanna see McGarrett vs. Gibbs! And I would love to see an encounter between Max and Abby in the lab.

As for the 2nd tidbit, looks like Lindsay Lohan will finally be doing that nude pictorial in Playboy. I don't think that's much of a surprise...more an inevitability.

Wednesday October 26, 1:24 p.m.

In my list of "Things I Won't Miss About Japan", there are those monthly premiums for National Health Insurance and City Tax payments. They do take a sizable chunk out of one's pay packet. But I also realize that NHI goes a long way when it comes to being in a hospital. Hospital stays and treatments demand a hefty price without insurance here...as they do in a lot of other countries. However, on the NHI plan, the government picks up the tab for about 70% while the citizen gives out for the remaining 30%. In fact, Mrs. Travel of the Beehive told me that for her husband's pacemaker surgery a couple of weeks ago, NHI was responsible for paying 95% of his hospitalization and treatment...millions of yen. I'm not sure how the government was willing to pay virtually all of his medical bills, but I'm sure that the family is not going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

As for City Tax, I also tell myself that we do need our mail delivered and our garbage picked up and our streets patroled by the police.

The hook, though, is that the payments for the current year are based on a percentage of one's income for the previous year. That means that if one is having a bad year after a good one, well, there's a reason that the Japanese love to save their income. I'm gonna have to find out next month the fate of my remaining payments once I leave for home for good since they go well into 2012.

Wednesday October 26, 12:13 p.m.

Yup, Halloween Week is once again on us here in The Big Sushi. I've had to be gently reminded again by Movie Buddy that his country of Australia doesn't celebrate the holiday when I had asked him about his plans for October 31st. Still, I think next to Canada and the U.S., Japan has become one of the big hubs for the Witching Hour in the last several years. I never saw a glimpse of this when I first came to Japan in 1994, but now it's a volume business, at least in Tokyo. A lot of the nightclubs in Roppongi, Shibuya and Shinjuku now regularly hold Halloween bashes and actually I'll be heading to a party myself this Saturday over at Shrek's place all the way up in his neck of the woods. It's gotten to the point where that infamous custom of gaijin taking over one car of the Yamanote Line for one full loop is pretty much considered passe.

Last night, I met The Carolinan's friend, The Button-Down Girl, in front of Shinjuku's Studio Alta. As expected, there was a massive throng of people waiting for other people. Still, I had e-mailed a photo of myself to her and given a description of what I would be wearing and holding so it didn't take too long for her to spot me. The touts were out asking folks whether they would be interested in coming to their izakayas. The two of us ended up going to a Cafe de Crie underground since the nearby Starbucks was probably packed to the gills and the Nakamura Bakery decided to move addresses all of a sudden.

The Button-Down Girl is around the same age as The Carolinan, that hazy area between young and middle-aged. Her English is quite good although she's pretty soft-spoken which meant that I had to turn on the ears to 11 in what was a rather noisy cafe for a Tuesday night. She also spent a year in Vancouver and Toronto, which may have triggered The Carolinan to suggest me as a teacher. She'd been to Gaba, one of the remaining big English school chains in Tokyo, with not all that much satisfaction. Basically, I think the company spent a lot of the money on their interior decorators rather than on good training and materials. Anyways, I'm now at her service for my remaining 5 weeks in this city. I did get some intel from her in that The Carolinan will be celebrating a birthday on November 4th, so I'll have to get something for her by tomorrow night.

It's back to a seasonable Fall day here. None of that humidity annoying us anymore. I've got The Kimono Nurse in about 90 minutes before I do a quick scoot down to Shinjuku to teach The New Yorker and then it's back here for Kirk.

Tuesday October 25, 3:45 p.m.

Nowadays when the title "Casino Royale" is bandied about in conversation, everyone thinks of the rebirth of the James Bond franchise with Daniel Craig. But being a middle-aged guy, I also think about the 1967 farce with Peter Sellers and Woody Allen. I've seen it over the years on television (I was less than 2 years of age when it originally came out but even if I had been 20 years older, I don't think I would've ever shucked out the money to see this one), and to this day, it still comes as one of the craziest noble cinematic failures.

I say "noble failure" since it tries so hard to wring laughs out of the audience in a way reminiscent of a 3-year-old girl trying to copy a Mary Lou Retton routine to get Daddy's love. Gags are thrown on the wall like so many used diapers with most of them just not sticking. And I'm sure that having Peter Sellers could not have been easy for anyone involved in the production. But it does show a microcosm of what the fantasy of life must've been like in 60s Swinging London, and of course, Barbara Bouchet and Joanna Pettet are awfully easy on the eyes. Probably the only lasting success from the movie has been the music. "The Look of Love" (no, not the 1982 ABC hit) is a Latin jazz standard, and the Herb Alpert theme is still heard from time to time on Japanese variety shows.

Yup, I did catch it this morning....makes for an interesting thing to view over breakfast.

Tuesday October 25, 2:03 p.m.

For this week's "Things That I'll Miss About Japan", I've chosen the dependable and ubiquitious vending machine. Whereas a vending machine seems to only exist as a punching bag for vandals in Canada, over here they seem so numerous that they ought to be getting voting rights. Especially when the extremes of weather appear in the Summer and Winter, a lot of these machines act as mechanical St. Bernards, providing hot and cold drinks to get us through the days and nights.

And as part of the technological integration between public transportation and public sustenance, a lot of the stations for JR and the subways have vending machines which can accept taps from the commuting passes such as Suica or PASMO. No need to fiddle for loose change, just press the button of the drink you want then tap the pass on the sensor to get that drink. The vending machine automatically deducts the amount from your pass.

Tuesday October 18, 1:49 p.m.

Been a while. Not all that busy today. I met up with The Beehive at Cafe Nard as I usually do. We just focused on the Steve Jobs article that we'd started last week but there was some talk about the ladies' second trip to Toronto next May...this time with me on the other side. Looks like they're set to stay at The Madison Avenue Hotel again. I've got The Magician at 4:30 today. Since she's gone through all of the relevant texts that we have in the school, it looks like I'm gonna have to bring out some of my own stuff. It won't be too much of a challenge, though, since she's still not super fluent. Only coming once every 4-6 weeks hasn't helped, and most likely I'll probably only see her one more time before the end.

Then, I'm going to meet a referral by The Carolinan in Shinjuku in front of Studio Alta. Studio Alta happens to be one of the landmarks in the area, and so tons of people use that spot as a meeting place. So, even on a Tuesday night, the place should be plenty packed. Luckily, I sent a photo of myself to the young lady so that she may have some advantage in finding me through the throngs. In all probability, she will be my very last new student before my permanent departure; she's aware that I will be here for less than 2 months so I can only assume that she really needs some English practice under her belt.

There's been a bit of an early Indian Summer in The Big Sushi over the past few days. Although the heat and humidity haven't reached the sweltering levels of August, thank heavens, it hasn't taken much to start working up a thin screen of sweat under my clothes. But it looks like the typhoons are gone for the rest of this year.

Thursday October 20, 9:16 p.m.

Just read on CNN that the so-called "King of Kings" Muammar Khadafy (I don't think we'll ever agree on an internationally acceptable spelling for his name) has been finally captured after The Fall of Sirte. Just when I thought that the Republican debate slapfest of the night before was going to be the biggest news of the week... Well, I'll see if it's true or not when I hit home in about 2 hours.
Had another good session with Mrs. Thursday. As usual, we went through the various shows such as "NCIS". I also found out that she's a big fan of the original "CSI". She kinda had a bit of a shock when I revealed to her that Lawrence Fishburne was gonna replace the guy who had played Grissom...yep, we're pretty behind with that show over here, too.
Anyways, I'm getting ready to head home. I've got crickets chirping outside... If I ever get any Libyan readers, I'll send my congratulations to them.

Thursday October 20, 5:51 p.m.
I'll tell you...that Kimono Nurse is a barrel of laughs. Just by using one picture that I've gone over so many times in that textbook, the two of us managed to create a running gag routine that could've ended up on a Second City stage. Too bad that I know our time is limited. And then The German had our usual banter for the hour. Not sure how much longer the two of us can go without a text, though. I think we may have already broken a personal best. And Mrs. Thursday and I often ad lib a lot in our lessons, too. I don't think the bossman will like any of this talk but I just have to go with my gut on this one.
Tomorrow, I've just got The Bass and then Swank. It'll be nice to have a night off. Plus, the 2nd season premiere of "Fringe" starts up.
A rather interesting incident on the news this morning that's gotten the morning media worked up. Somewhere in Japan, some lady opened an envelope and it exploded on her. She survived although she's got burns on her face and hands. Of course, my former student, The Journo is on the case. But now we may have media covering this like the American media did for that anthrax scare immediately after 9/11 10 years ago.

Thursday October 20, 1:11 p.m.

Over the weekend, I'd received a kind birthday gift from The Satyr and Miss Ivory via a gift certificate from Amazon.com. Well, of course, that meant online shopping for CDs. And one came in pretty lickety-split. It was another Taeko Onuki...this one titled "Aventure". It's a 1981 release, between Onuki's musical re-birth album of "Romantique" and her most accomplished album "Cliche". "Romantique" showed Onuki going full throttle into her European mode while in "Cliche", she specified that into a more Franco-centric bent. So, "Aventure", despite the title, is a bit surprising that it's notably poppier although a few of her songs on the album (notable for the fact that they got on her Best albums) keep that Gallicness going. A couple of songs almost sound as if Onuki was channeling her contemporary, Yumi Matsutoya. There's one tune in particular with the very poppy and cliche title of "Chance" that would have sounded perfect as a theme song for a light TV drama. Probably for that reason, I think the album kinda dips a bit between the two more significant releases. Still, it's Taeko Onuki, so a fine album.

I've got three coming up today for lessons. The Kimono Nurse should be here in about 40 minutes, followed by The German (who is another nurse) and then Mrs. Thursday. So, it should be a pretty nice day. Earlier I actually went down to Shibuya to sell a couple of books at Book Off. I thought I would at least get enough money for a Big Mac set. Well...even with a 20% increased money back coupon, I got the grand total of 12 yen...for both books. I think I could've gotten one of those tiny blocks of chocolates that sell by the cash register of a conbini, but that was about it. If that's the case, I just wonder if it's better for me to just dump the rest of my books into a garbage bag.

Then, it was off to Tower Records to get a 5,000-yen gift certificate for The Satyr in return for his birthday kindness. Actually, his birthday is today.

Wednesday October 19, 5:19 p.m.

Finished dinner here. My day has been pretty easy. I had The Businesswoman for the first time in about a month. She was at the end of her current contract and when I saw her bring some nice little confectionaries, I kinda figured that that was it for her. I usually assume someone bringing cakes at the end of a contract as a farewell gift. However, she actually did decide to renew although she will probably only be able to come monthly....which means in all likelihood that I'll only one more time to see her before I leave.

I've got 001 and Kirk for the first time in a few weeks as well, so probably lots to talk about and maybe very little textwork.

I hear "Fringe" is heading into its 4th season Stateside. Over here in Japan, we're just going to get the 2nd season premiere this Friday. So, no mention of Fauxlivia or Walternate, and Charlie Francis is still very much alive. The show has become quite popular here in Japan since shows about the strange and bizarre are always welcome in a country that often celebrates the same. I haven't been able to catch all the episodes in Season 1, including the pilot but I've become quite faithful as of late.

The Carolinan has introduced me to who will most likely be my very last student in this country. The lass is well aware that I won't be staying here too much longer but she apparently still needs some help in Business English, so if everything is cool, I'll see her in Shinjuku next Tuesday night.

Wednesday October 19, 3:58 p.m.

Now that I'm in the last two months of my life in Japan, I thought I can start talking about things that I will miss and things that I won't miss about this country. Of course, paramount on the former list is friends and students, but I'll probably give a tear-soaked tribute near the end in December.
As it is, I'll start off with the more conceptual stuff. For example, this picture is indicative of what I will definitely miss about life in Ichikawa, and that is safety. This picture was taken on one of the roads leading to my neighbourhood; that is the Tozai Line subway overpass on the left there. And as you can see, it was taken around 10 p.m. No people in there but that's a bit of an illusion since tons of people leave my station right up to the end of the subway schedule past midnight. I was just walking along the road in the lull moments between commuter disgorgings. But the point I'm making is that even on a desolate street at that time of night, I can walk home confidently safe without having to turn my head or putting a grip on my house keys as if they were a weapon. I can't say that on a similar street even in Toronto my hometown. In my 17 years in this city, I've never been mugged or accosted by street punks (my fist is banging down heavily on something wooden as I write this) on my 10-minute walk home.
Mind you, not too far away, there was that murder a few years ago involving Lindsay Ann Hawker, the British English teacher who had been killed by that deranged young man who had lived just a few blocks over from my apartment. There were some tense weeks immediately after the discovery of the body and the escape by the suspect, but it was back to normal soon after. I could still walk home safely at midnight even on the relatively dimly lit street in front of my apartment.

Something I won't miss about Japan? The summers in Tokyo. That's a no-brainer there. Swimming through atmosphere is something that I'll never appreciate. 35-degree C plus temperatures with 80% humidity...a deadly combination which demands a lot of handkerchiefs, Gatsby wipes and frequent stopovers at the nearby vending machines (of which there are many) for much needed juice. Initially, I thought that I wouldn't survive this summer due to the energy conservation policy in effect, made in the aftermath of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. But strangely enough, I could survive not turning on the AC even though I had to relent for The Egg's sake when he crashed in my apartment. My TEPCO bill was far lower and my fan kept me alive.
Toronto may have its own days of heat wave but it doesn't have them on a long continuous streak starting from July and going into September. Getting back to the ol' hometown may have me appreciating a good ol' Canadian Summer even more.

Wednesday October 19, 1:17 p.m.

Not sure if it had been the fact that the bossman had wanted to give tribute to my past birthday or that he'd felt guilty that I'd ended up at the school just a few minutes after The MedTech had dotakyan'ed last night, but last night he and his wife treated me to a steak dinner at this place. Steak dinner...on the house?! I am SO there!
The place is called Teppei and it's just across the street from our school in Nakano-Sakaue. Judging from the exterior, it seems to have that country house type of feel.

Now, steak in Japan is different from steak in the States. It's not that one big hunk that everyone sees in movies. It's often cut apart into little pieces like in Benihana and heavily spiced with salt, pepper and soy. And there were no onions or potatoes alongside. Instead, it was a leaf of lettuce and shredded cabbage topped off with dressing. Also, considering that the Japanese supposedly have one of the healthiest diets on the planet, the chefs sure like to grease the grills with butter and they even put a nice little pat on the steak after grilling it.

My 250 g (about 8 oz.) came with a sesame dipping sauce. Really nice and buttery meal...with a heaping bowl of rice. Yep, I know...8 oz sounds like a woman's portion. Teppei does have much larger portions and I would've gone for the heftier, more American size but I didn't want to break the bossman's bank.

The place itself is pretty puny...only 6 seats at the counter by the open kitchen and a bench in back that holds perhaps another 6. It was almost full when we came in but luckily there were 3 empty seats at the counter. Perfect! And it certainly had atmosphere. Incandescent lighting, the smell of sizzling beef and Sarah Vaughan singing in the background. Plus there was the sullen lone chef cooking away in his very lived-in kitchen. The bossman had told me about this place before...and about the chef. He's not mean or anything, but he has all the outer warmth of Mr. Spock. You give him the order, he cooks it, he serves it, you eat it, you pay him and you take off. Given the size of Teppei, I don't think he can really afford to have customers lounging too long in the restaurant. High turnover is a necessity here. Not surprisingly, there is no coffee served. Still it was a fine free meal. I may have to inform Skippy and MB about it although I think they are definitely more the lounge-and-chat types.

Tuesday October 18, 7:42 p.m.

As I said, my day has come to a quicker-than-expected end. At this time, I would've been in the middle of teaching The MedTech but she did cancel rather suddenly. It was a pretty long but good day. I had Cozy for an atypical Tuesday morning lesson followed by a rush over to Cafe Nard in Funabashi for my regular session with The Beehive. I got my belated birthday present from Mrs. Jade in the form of a Gucci velvet tie...I don't think I'll be turning into Isaac Hayes anytime soon, though. The ladies surprised me by wondering if I would be interested in going to Okinawa for a visit there to see Mrs. Pottery, our former colleague in the Hive. Even with them paying my tab there, I just can't see it happening seeing how things are starting to close down in my life here.
Heading home, there was one of those demented fellows who occasionally end up on either the Sobu or Tozai Lines. He was some scrawny middle-aged guy dressed up like a hip-hop kid screaming obscenities. Yup, we do have them here, too. Just crashed at my place for about 90 minutes before I made my way out for my next pair of lessons. Stopped off at Maruzen in Otemachi and ended up picking up an "Entertainment Weekly" when I was stunned to see that it only cost 903 yen. My favorite mags there usually cost more than twice the price there which is why I only get the foreign periodicals at Tower Records.
I got to Tully's in Tameike-Sanno over an hour before I was to meet The Godfather, partially in penance for last week's blunder. When he did show up, he quickly batted away any apology and just went straight into talk. I can only consider myself extremely lucky at his generosity.
And then I got through the rush on the Marunouchi Line to get over here to find out that my final class got canned. But Speedy asked me if I would like to try a nearby steak place with him and his wife. I'll never say NO! to steak in any burg.

Tuesday October 18, 7:30 p.m.
Well, my fairly busy day came to an abrupt end as soon as I came into Speedy's and Mrs. Speedy told me sheepishly that The MedTech had done a dotakyan (that's a slang term for sudden cancellation for my new Israeli viewer...shalom, by the way.) So I've been getting some odds and ends out of the way...answering e-mail, responding to comments on Facebook and writing letters informing about my impending departure from these shores. However, I would like to talk a bit about the second half of my rather interesting Sunday. The first half you have come across via my report on my visit to the Rabbit Cafe in Harajuku. The second half entailed meeting up with MB and The Satyr, plus their significant others in front of the famous LaForet Store nearby to line up for Eggs N' Things, that very popular pancake-and-breakfast place that had come over from its native Hawaii early last year.


I don't know why but this picture looks like it was taken in broad daylight but actually it was already past sunset as we were waiting on this side street. Yes, that is indeed a lineup to get into Eggs N' Things. When this place opened up last year, the line was reported to be 2 hours long. Luckily, 75% has been shaved off and we only needed to let our stomachs grumble for 30 minutes. In this country, a restaurant isn't worth a gold star if there is no sign of waiting.

Now, that is indeed a fine Sunday breakfast...on Sunday night. Eggs over easy, seasoned roast potatoes, Spam and corned beef hash. I would line up just for that.

But Eggs N' Things' claim to fame is the pancakes. This is the banana variation: five flapjacks powdered with sugar, decorated in sliced bananas and then topped off with a huge mound of whipped cream and chopped macadamia nuts. The cream wasn't actually too treacly. Pretty light and not too sweet.

This could be called The Leaning Tower of Pancakes....or a dessert in need of some Viagra (ahem).

In any case, with all of us sharing in the fun food, we only had to pay about 1,850 yen per person. For dinner in this part of town, that's a bargain!

Monday October 17, 8:41 p.m.

Over the years, cafe culture has become one of the more burgeoning aspects of Japanese pop and urban culture. Thanks to Starbucks, it became safe to actually wean oneself away from the green tea and become coffeeholics. Then, things further diversified over the last few years with things like Maid Cafes. Now, we've got animal-themed cafes. And Skippy took me and The Wedding Planner to one such place hidden in the side streets of Harajuku, known as a rabbit cafe. So, let me introduce you to Ra.a.g.f. Don't even ask me how they came up with that name.


Ra.a.g.f. is not really a cafe in the conventional sense. It's more rabbit than cafe in that it's really a 1K apartment in a building with a lot of cages with bunnies and a lot of free-range rabbits. I basically had to shuck out 1,000 yen along with a 100-yen feed fee which got me free drinks and rabbit food. There was one other party besides us which you can see here. A bit of a tight fit so reservations are absolutely a must. And the maximum time of stay is one hour. Apparently, there are a lot of rabbit fans in this burg.

Here's one cottontail who got a little interested in my camera. Perhaps a bit Pavlovian in that they've gotten used to getting their food from the tips of fingers. As soon as I activated my camera, the rabbits started going for the lens.

There was another rabbit who just couldn't get enough greens and carrots, and so basically decided to jump for the entire bowl.

It was a nice experience for the hour being among these bunny fans but I think the hour was good enough to get that rabbit fix in.

Of course, there was the question of the bunny bombs, if you know what I mean. Yep, there were plenty of those being dropped like land mines. So, we were fortunate that raisin bread and chocolate-chip cookies weren't on the menu. But the three staffers just nonchalantly picked up the turds with their bare hands. Then again, rabbits eat only vegetation so the smell wasn't any problem at all for these guys.

Saturday October 17, 6:13 p.m.
After paying tribute at The Temple of Jobs on Saturday morning, I went a few blocks north to Yurakucho and into the building known as Marronnier Gate (where they get these names is beyond me) and up to the 11th floor where I was to meet The Teahouse Ladies for one final swan song chat fest before I head on home to The Great White North.
Our target was The Singapore Seafood Republic, a buffet restaurant, a culinary phenomenon that has become commonplace in the last 15 years here.

One of the few times that I will ever visually identify folks in my little world. These are two-thirds of the Teahouse Ladies.

Our table had a nice view of the Swiss Cheese-like exterior of the Mikimoto Building.

Not the largest buffet that I'd ever come across (the legendary Farm Grill which closed its doors for good almost 10 years ago will always be the benchmark for me), but it suited our purposes. And I will try it again sometime between now and December.

Monday October 17, 6:08 p.m.
Was walking through Ginza when I came across the Apple Store. Not surprisingly, it was continuing to be The Temple of Jobs with folks lining up to get their iPhone 4S and paying tribute to the man himself. The message says it all.



A lot of apples for the teacher here.

And the acolytes have been lining up down the Ginza for several hours.