A Honeymoon in Asia - Tokyo - Day 5

We started the day early with breakfast in Tsukiji fish market.  This is part of the chef's omakase set for $38 

I had the uni don bowl.  Sea butter

the market is closed now to the public until 10am because of bad foreigners

Masako scored us tickets to the Ghibli museum as soon as they went on sale and its a good thing she did because they sold out instantly and Steven and his brother couldn't get tix

Ghibli beer tastes how you would think Ghibli beer tastes.  Rounded corners and inoffensive.

No photography allowed so these are all the photos you get.  Its maybe my 7th time going and it is still amazing.

on the way to a gyoza place in Kichijoji

New year's rake hanging in the corner

Next up was a Shimokitazawa tour.  It's a cool little neighborhood.  Ushitora brewery.  It's craft beer and it's Asia so it's expensive.  Good stuff, they would get 5 out of 5 stars except they don't allow tasting before you commit to a pint, so they still have that hurdle to get over.

what a great idea, this onion was simmered in something and topped with pork and green onions.

high end bar snacks

stumbled upon this bar

shibuya crossing

shibuya crossing rain from Jason Raish on Vimeo.

nonbei yokocho, micro bars

just like Foo, Debbie, Salih, and Jennifer's last night in Tokyo we ended our last night at Tight bar.  By coincidence it's the place John and Masako like.  They guy was playing 

Masako's large collection of various umeshu (plum wine) that she made.  impressive.

Well that's it for Tokyo this time around.  Thanks to all my buddies who hung out.  Thanks to John and Masako for hosting us for all those days.  Tokyo stay cool!

A Honeymoon in Asia - Tokyo - Days 3 and 4

Soon we would all be drunk little tanukis

we went straight from the airport to Yakitori time.  Even Jeff Yeh was there on a business trip.  Kinue's husband Kenji too.  

a long karaoke session

Zima is still alive and well in Japan

one more drink under the tracks

this was our Harajuku and Shibuya day, but first breakfast at Bread and Tapas near John and Masako's house.  Everything was delicious.

Blue Brick Lounge in Minami Aoyama

Warhammer is one of the nerdiest things you can do

Beers at Big Love record shop in lesser trafficked Harajuku

we met up with Chika in Shibuya and embarked on a super spicy ramen adventure.  Usually Japanese stuff is not spicy at all because they can't/don't really eat spicy food so well.  This ramen however was SPICY.  We got level 5 and 6 and 6 was starting to be on the unenjoyable end, so for Japanese people it must be torture.

I can eat some pretty spicy stuff but I would recommend only going as high as level 5 because you want to actually taste your food.  It was good stuff though.

Mouko Tanmen Nakamoto is the name of the joint.

Just 3 girlfriends hanging out on a Sunday night

Nintendo lost their lawsuit against this go cart rental service because they call it MariCar and not Mario Kart.  I don't see how they could lose, they are dressed up like Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, etc...  You just need a driver's license or international license to drive these things.  I don't see how it's safe or how it can stay around that much longer.  People are annoyed by it but honestly it looks pretty f'ing fun to me.

A Honeymoon in Asia - Tokyo - Day 2

I guess when you're on vacation in Japan hangovers are masked by your excitement of being in Japan.

I set my alarm and woke up something like 3 hours later so we wouldn't miss the brunch we were supposed to go to.  Turns out everyone was running several hours late and I could have slept more.  The is the view from John and Masako's swanky Minami Azabu apartment.

we went to brunch at Garden House Crafts in this new little area in Ebisu they developed since I lived there.  There's even a brewery there, Spring Valley Brewery

oh Jonny, it's been 18 years, we could have a kid graduation from highschool by now.

Meguro river and the crush of tourists and tokyoites out to soak in the flowers.

Afuri Ramen is now a chain but they're yuzu shio and yuzu shoyu ramen is the bomb.

the view from Ai and James' huge swank apartment in Motoazabu

JP, a korean guy from my Japanese class was in town for business so he came over.  He pulled these out of his bag and everyone was in love with them.

looks like a good time at Roppongi Hills.

We had Kaiten zushi at Pintokona in Roppongi Hills

At Narita airport, I use a Wacom tablet to draw with digitally and here they have it to sign your credit card signature!

with few options left we went with McDonalds, which is better in Japan.  Look at this fried chicken McMuffin for breakfast!  Ok Korea here we come. (but not before we caught our Far'Fetched Asia exclusive pokemon as we were boarding the plane Yes!).