Uni...you know who you are...

Sorry for the break from tradition...albeit a very brief tradition...but I gotta have a theme for each entry. And, "day 1", "day 2", and crap like that isn't very creative.

So, it's Sunday morning. I decided to head out on foot and see what is around the hotel. I'll be back in Tokyo so I can go see the "Statue of Liberty"...I think it is actually a replica of ours but I don't know...and Godzilla (seriously, there's a statue of Godzilla. I...or anyone...would be a fool to visit Tokyo and miss that) later. So, I walk out the front of the hotel, make a left, and away I go. I walk for about 2 miles and see nothing of interest. I'm starving when I leave the hotel, so something to eat is my first priority. I believe I saw one "ramen" place, but there was absolutely no English and one dude inside so I decided to save my noodle experience for later. After the 2 mile mark, I hit a major intersection and decide to turn left. I think this is North, but I really have no clue. I walk in this direction for another mile or so without seeing anything edible...with the exception of KFC. As Dennis Miller would say, “I don't want to get off on a rant here, but…” KFC? Seriously!?!? Asia is loaded with KFC locations. Fine. But, Japan? My myopic mind's idea of Japan deserved way more credit than believing that KFC would be on every corner. Indeed, my first experiences here were impressive and not deserving of KFC. But, there it was...in all it's glory, or lack thereof. I'm not eating KFC...not in Japan. Hell, I barely eat it in the US. Funny thing about that, though, is that when I do eat it in the US it's because Jati (you know, my ASIAN wife) wants it. What's with Asians and KFC???

Anyway, I keep walking and see an Eiffel tower. No, not the real one...unless I really got lost...but a big orange one. I don't know if it is a 100% replica, but it looks exactly like it to me. It has a huge span between the legs and everything. Now, this could be Tokyo Tower...but I don't remember if Tokyo Tower is the Eiffel tower or a building. Anyway, there seems to be nothing around and I see a subway station hidden on my left. I say hidden because it is literally only a doorway down to the subway. I decided to get on the subway and go somewhere I know there will be food. I choose...Tsujiki (sp???). This is where the famous fish market is. Maybe the world's largest, most famous, hell...I don't know. Since this is where the majority of the fish...50% of the world's consumption...comes into Japan, there have to be sushi bars. Well, that's a poor conclusion. I see nothing. So, I keep walking. I see a McDonald's sign so I head for it. There must be other resaurants around...it can't be a McD's and nothing else! Turns out, I've stumbled upon Ginza. Ginza was the original center of it all, I guess. Trendy stores and the like. Ginza St. is a very wide street that is closed to cars on the weekend. It is lined for at least 5 or 6 city blocks with trendy stores like Hugo Boss, Salvator Ferragamo, Shiseido, etc. A cool little shopping oasis, if you are into that. I'm not...and certainly not at this point. I'm hungry. Not only am I hungry, but it's sunny and 85 with about 90% humidity and I'm wearing blue jeans.

So, I head down a side street as I've seen no restaurants of interest. There's Laura Ashley...I don't think you can eat there...and then I see a sign for sushi. There is a little enrtry way with more signs...signs for other restaurants. I can go upstairs, downstairs, or through a door. I go downstairs. Why? Well, no good reason. I just recall for some reason that, in London, there was a great sushi place down in the basement of a building. Turns out, this is where the sushi joint is located.

I order a little bit of everything. A few beers...sampling Sapporo, Asahi, Suntory...chu-toro, salmon, etc. It is here that I decide I should give the uni a try. For those of you who don't know, uni is sea urchin. It may be the reproductive organs of the sea urchin, but I'm not sure if that's true or if I'm mixing up my stories. I've tried uni before in the US. Both alone and with a raw quail egg on top, and didn't particularly enjoy it. There is something that I don't like...and it isn't very clear. It doesn't immediately offend your palate, but there is no immediate satisfaction either. Sort of an indifferent dislike, I guess. Well, in Japan it sucks the same. I didn't vomit, but I didn't enjoy eating it either.

Again, this place is void of English. It turns out that a waitress speaks English and, interestingly, went to school in Perth, Australia, the same city where Jati went to school. They went to different schools, but it was interesting nonetheless. This doesn't make her fluent in English, however, which I think is important to point out. But, her struggles to translate my English into their Japanese is way better than my attempt to...well...speak English to people who don't speak English.

I end up asking if they have spicy tuna rolls. A staple of sushi bars in the US, I haven't seen it yet in Japan. They tell me that they have it so I ask for one. It comes out looking like it does in the US...rice on the outside, then seaweed, then a tuna mixture. The difference, I find, is that the inner layer is chopped up maguro (tuna) mixed with teriyaki sauce. I'm not sure who thinks this is "spicy"...but it isn't me. It was tasty, but not what I was hoping for.

So, I finish eating and head out. I'm just looking for a train station that is a little closer than a mile or two away. As I'm walking, I see the door open to a bar and only the bartender inside. I figure I'll head in, have a beer, and get directions to the train station. Well, I headed in but the rest never happened. I had 4 or 5 beers and heard about 3 words of English. Didn't even get directions to the train. It wasn't a wash, however, as the bar was very cool. It had a basically all wood decor...wood bar, wood stools, wood table, wood shelving for the booze...and more booze than I've ever seen. There were, at a minimum, 84 different bottles of Scotch. That's just the Scotch. There were multiple Wild Turkey varieties including one called reserve, or something similar, that I've never heard of. And, yes, for those of you who are wondering (Eric) there was both Knob Creek and Jaegermeister. They also have 10 or so bottles of Japanese "whiskey". I put that in quotes as I suspect their whiskey encompasses everything from Scotch to moonshine. This place has jazz/blues playing and has a relaxing atmosphere that you just don't find everywhere. I think this would be an even better place to sample Scotch than Fado's (at GVR, of course, Mike).

When I finally left, I was feeling pretty good and sought out to find a train. A phenomenon that I've found here is that there are tons...and I mean alot...of people on the street either trying to sell you something through a karaoke machine or by handing out stuff. So, I pass some of these people and decide that, since they've already annoyed me, I'll ask them for directions. Well, I don't get them. I mean, I do, but they aren't good or correct directions...just directions. So, I wander around and finally find a train station. Now, being out of my comfort zone, I can't find the station near my hotel on the map. Who's idea was it to use Japanese on these maps...seriously? So, I ask some girl in the train station if she speaks English. A little, she says, so I ask her how I get to Shinagawa. Without saying a word, she walks off. I have a serious gift with the ladies. Luckily, I walk over to another ticket machine, ask the same question, and get a girl who tells me how much to get a ticket for and which platform I need. I'm all set.