Dining in Japan

Ask an American to describe Japanese food and you are likely to hear two things; sushi and Benihana's.  That is about all we get in the States, and the former scares most people off.  After all, who in their right mind would want to eat a raw fish?  Well, as it turns out, a lot of people, and I do include myself in that group - with some qualifications.

A pretty typical dinner from my hotel in Tachikawa - Sashimi, rice, tempura, Japanese pickles, custard, and miso soup.

But what is real Japanese cooking?  Well for starters, the Benihana-style restaurant known as "Teppanyaki" where the food is prepared in front of you by a knife juggling, wise cracking chef is really quite rare.  I have  only seen one of these during my travels in Japan, and that was in a hotel catering to westerners.

What I do see commonly are specialty restaurants; selling mainly Sushi and Sashimi for example, others selling primarily noodle dishes like Ramen, Soba or Udon, other restaurants for Sukiyaki and Shabu Shabu.

Tachikawa sushi bar at lunch time

 Confused by the names?  Here is a guide:

Fish
In my opinion, the Japanese do fish as well as anyone, and some fish is clearly better raw than cooked - Salmon and Tuna especially

Sashimi - Raw fish served on its own -usually dipped in soy sauce with wasabi.

Sushi - Often made with raw or cooked seafood, but sometimes with vegetables and always with rice

Sushi box lunch purchased at the station for my bullet train ride to Kobe

Noodles

Ramen - way better than the instant variety

Soba Noodles - made from buckwheat - supposed to be healthy

Udon Noodles - very thick and soft

Dipped stuff

Sukiyaki - Like hotpot but you simmer your food in a sweet soy sauce and broth mixture - lots of thin sliced beef, vegetables and tofu

Shabu Shabu - Like sukiyaki, but the broth is different - not as sweet

Fried Stuff

Tempura - dipped in a light batter, cooked in very hot oil - not greasy

I know I am just scratching the surface here, so I promise I will keep digging...

Dig Deep - You Might Find a Great Layover

I'm an idiot!  I have been flying back and forth across the Pacific for seven years and it never occurred to me that I might have better choices in layover destinations than Portland or Detroit, the places that tend to come up high on the list when searching.  I had no idea that had I dug a little deeper, I could have been spending days on the beach waiting for an evening flight instead of fighting for one of the precious few comfortable chairs in a crappy Delta Skyclub.

However, three weeks ago, when booking my recent trip back home from Tokyo, I spent a bit more time than usual searching flight options, firstly because the direct Tokyo to Minneapolis flight was full, but I also thought with a layover I might save the company some money.  Alas, there was none to be saved, but I did find a connection on my return to the States through Honolulu.  Hono-friggin'-lulu!!  And for the same price!  Sure, it took a bit longer to get home, but thanks to the International Date Line and fortuitous flight times, I didn't lose any productive time - and I got to lay on the beach in Hono-friggin'-lulu!

Business travel can be a drag, but once in a while...   Bliss!

Drunken Octopus Wants to Fight!

Haven't seen one like this in a long time.  In the Men's Room at Lulu's on Waikiki.

A Free Day in Tokyo (surprise surprise, I visit a pub...)

Riding the Tokyo train system requires three things:

Some of this...

...to load onto one of these...

..., and a good set of these!

...because the Tokyo train system is not for the feint hearted

Below is an image of what I believe is the inspiration for the Tokyo commuter rail system

Now here is an actual map of the system

See the resemblance?

I am currently on my fourth visit to Tokyo, but until now I have felt a bit cheated.  I have never had time to do even a little sightseeing in this, the world's largest city.  But this trip, I have an entire weekend free, and thanks to some advice and assistance from my coworkers here, I also have a plan, and this plan requires me to take the trains, because that is how one gets around in Tokyo.

First, a little stage-setting.  Tokyo is huge.  At 35 million people, it is by far the largest metropolitan area on earth (second place is a mere 20 million folks).  Its like taking the entire state of California and compressing it into Connecticut.  The population density is unreal.  But for a city this size, the thing that struck me most on my first visit here was how few cars you see on the roads, and in fact, how small the highways are.  The main expressways through the city are mostly 2 lanes in each direction.  Hence, if everyone here tried to drive their own cars to work, I think you would see a pretty close approximation of what armageddon looks like.  Most people commute around the city by train, and as the above map (and raman packet) suggests, the train system is quite capable, albeit a little intimidating

Light Saturday traffic on the Chuo Line

The intimidating part is twofold.  First, it can be insanely crowded at peak times.  Fortunately, today is a Saturday and it was only mildly insanely crowded in some stretches.  And secondly, as the above map makes clear, it is very complex, and finding the right platform and train is not easy in some places.  But it can be managed without speaking Japanese as many signs are in English too.

Anyhow, in the morning I hopped on the train at Tachikawa Station near my hotel and rode to Shinjuku Station, about 35 minutes away.  It was a pleasant enough ride; apart from being packed at times so that you were firmly pressed against your neighbors, but that's Tokyo - buffers are not permitted.

Shinjuku Station, a major hub in the local transit system is listed in the Guinness Book as the world's busiest train station, and having seen it, I don't doubt this.  12 different train lines intersect here and 3.5 million passengers travel through this station every day across 36 platforms.  I didn't dare try to stop and take a picture in the main walkways of the terminal for fear of being trampled to death, so I pulled this one off the web - clearly taken by someone braver than me

As I am on a lifelong quest to find a good Irish pub in every city on earth, and make no mistake - every city has at least one -  I chose Shinjuku in part because there is a pub, The Dubliner not far from the station.  I am pleased to report that it not only looked like the real thing, but they even had my favorite stout, Murphy's on tap, and it tasted just as smoky and rich as any I have had - properly poured.

After leaving the pub, I wandered the surrounding streets for a long while until it started to rain, after which I headed back to Tachikawa and the hotel.  Here are some pictures of the Shinjuku area:

Perhaps I shouldn't find this surprising, but...

...it appears that if you are so inclined, you can order a Kamikaze in a Japanese bar.  Or at least you can in a psuedo-Italian restaurant/bar in Tachikawa.

Its the little things....

Vertical Cities

Land in Hong Kong, on the Island especially is very expensive.  As a result you see a lot of buildings with small footprints but many floors.  My favorite hotel, The Mercer, has no more than three rooms per floor but reaches 32 stories.  Apartment buildings of 30-50 stories are everywhere.

The Mercer Boutique Hotel, Hong Kong.

View from my room on the 32nd floor

Looking southwest from the Mercer

Shopping malls in Hong Kong, in fact in many Chinese cities are also arranged vertically, not sprawled and surrounded by massive parking lots as in the US.  A favorite mall in Shanghai, dedicated it seems to nothing but electronics is seven stories tall.  This does not appear to be unusual

The Metro City Shopping Mall in Shanghai

"Chinese" Foods They Don't Eat in China

I love Chinese take out in America, even the smallest towns seem to have them and in cities they are everywhere.  However, the food offered in these restaurants is typically quite different from what is served in China.  In fact, and in my experience, the most common Chinese menu items in the US are either heavily adapted from their Chinese origins to suit American tastes, or these foods simply don't exist in the home country. Here are a few examples:

Egg Rolls



I love egg rolls, especially in the North of the US (I have yet to find a good one south of the Mason-Dixon line).  Whether they are filled with pork, shrimp, or god knows what, they are unhealthy and deep-fried.  Small wonder we Yanks love them.  However, in six years of travels through the "Middle Kingdom", I have never seen one in China.  The closest thing they have, and these are fairly common, is the Spring Roll which is much smaller, lighter, and filled with vegetables.


Fortune Cookies



The fortune cookie, that small, sugary after dinner item containing a typically lame message and some lucky numbers has its roots in Japan, not China, and its familiar version was created in America around 1890.  There is nothing similar in China, although the concept of a food item with a surprise inside in not too far removed from the "Moon Cake"


Chop Suey



I distinctly remember referring to this nasty, gloppy collection of someone's leftovers as "chopped sewage" when I was a child.  Of course, in our house chop suey came not from a restaurant, but out of a can from the culinary masters at La Choy".  Ahhh, memories....

No self-respecting soul in China would serve this - EVER!!


General Tso's Chicken



While this is one of my favorites, it was introduced in the US around 1970 in New York.  It is supposed to represent Hunanese food, but having experienced no small amount of Hunan cuisine myself, trust me, it doesn't!  Hunan food is typically spicy and often oily, but not sweet, not deep fried, and never covered in a syrupy sauce.  It also appears this dish has no connection with the actual General Tso, who at least was a real person.


Chow Mein



Sorry "La Choy" fans (assuming there are any), this is another one of those dishes developed I am sure by a frugal immigrant chef who needed a way to get rid of yesterday's leftovers.  I don't really know where this dish comes from - Wikipedia is rather ambivalent on the subject, but I have once again never seen to or anything really like it in China, and small wonder.  True Chinese cooking is art!  This crap is nothing of the sort.