6 posts tagged “tokyo”
In an old part of Tokyo in the late afternoon, I passed a narrow alley. The houses faced each other, almost touching, and pots of flowers and plants filled the available space. The sky behind had turned red, and I felt a sudden and unexpected rush of love for the sheer quantity of human existence; so many lives being led so closely together.
Tokyo at sunset
chaos of humanity
ache of affection
--Julian
This is very useful information, both depressing and inspiring. It's depressing when one's realizes how many meals one has not eaten at the places listed. It's inspiring because one realizes, with the added pleasure of some travel thrown in, how many great meals are out there just waiting to be consumed.
Number fifty on the list, Ramen Jiro, is the only suggested eatery I've tried, and I entirely concur with the author (he's right about the one near Keio University being the best, too). Having had the privilege of slurping down more than one steaming bowl of Jiro's special, I guess my entire life hasn't been wasted.
--David
Reality is created out of confusion and contradiction, and if you exclude those elements, you're no longer talking about reality. You might think that—by following language and a logic that appears consistent—you're able to exclude that aspect of reality, but it will always be lying in wait for you, ready to take its revenge.
Haruki Murakami, in Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche
—David
I am at the hospital now. From my room on the 7th floor I can see the Mori Building. It's been raining all day. Perfect hospital weather. I am starting to feel sick, walking around in my pajamas and slippers, and sleeping a lot too. But I am perfectly healthy. It's only a feeling. I found the Haagen-Dazs case, and the pay PC, so I guess I will survive. My nose surgery is tomorrow, and today I've had a round of tests. Everyone asks me if I can speak Japanese, and no matter what I answer, they speak to me in Japanese. It's good for me I think, but I hope I don't make a lethal mistake.
--Mark
Tokyo is one of the world's great restaurant cities, and putting distance between myself and all that good Tokyo eating is one of the things that was hardest for me when my wife and I made the decision to leave the metropolis behind for life out at the beach in Chigasaki. My first few forays into a couple of Chigasaki's worst dining establishments suggested to me that my regret was well founded.
The good news is that before long I discovered a few places in Chigasaki and elsewhere in the Shonan area that are worthy of comparison with Tokyo's finest.
Foremost among these is a little robata located not ten minutes from Chigasaki station called Inaka. I'm not providing a link to it, primarily because it's not the sort of place that has a web-page, but also because I would hate for it to be overrun by out-of-towners. It's certainly good enough to make a trip from out of town worthwhile, but an influx of non-locals would make it less special than it is.
What they serve, for the most part, is the hearty food one can get at any robata (grilled fish, yaki-tori, shell-fish served in a variety of ways, tofu, goya champul, fried potatoes, etc.), but all of what they offer is done with excellent ingredients and exquisite care. The master and the two young men I take to be his sons are there nightly tending to Chigasaki's thirst and hunger, and as they seem to know most of the regulars one understands why they serve nothing that is sub-par: their customers are also their friends. (And if you do find your way to Inaka, and return a time or three, you too will be a member of that select group. One can't sit at the counter and not get into a conversation with one's neighbors.)
I have yet to mention the sashimi. Over the years I've been holding up the counter at Inaka I've seen the master hand off more and more responsibilities to the boys, but the one job he always reserves for himself is preparing the sashimi, and the sashimi he serves is always perfect. Did I say Chigasaki restaurants can compare with those in Tokyo? Actually, I've all but given up ingesting raw fish in the capital. Though I've seen others wolf it down between remarks on how good it is, the stuff I get in Edo always tastes slightly off to me. To be fair, these occasions have often been at chain izakaya, but it's clear that the buyers at those places are willing to settle for fish that is simply not as fresh as what they use at Inaka, and the staff are willing to serve it to their mostly anonymous customers. I guess if I were inclined to spend four to ten times what I do at Inaka I could get a decent plate of sashimi in Tokyo, too.
I wrote above that I don't want Inaka to be overrun by out-of-towners, and I don't. There are, however, enough clues in this post that the truly dedicated will be able to locate it, and the truly dedicated--those who won't be flummoxed by the lack of an English menu or English speaking staff--are, of course, welcome.
Maybe I'll see you there.
---David
