Sukiyaki, misplaced Irish, and the Zen of theatre etiquette
Today was a very good day.
It started with Adam and I trying to wake Dave up for breakfast. We went down to his room and rang the bell... no answer. Adam knocked... no answer. Adam started beating his door like a drum... no answer. He got a bit louder and then grabbed a housekeeping cart that was near the door, rolled it in front of the door to block it off as a joke, and rang the bell a bunch of times. We heard rustling. The door opened. A very confused tiny Japanese women in glasses peered out from her room over the housekeeping cart - Adam had the wrong room number!!!!
We apologized profusely while poorly stifling the raging laughter that burst forth as soon as the door was closed. We went to Dave's correct room, but Adam was afraid to do more than ring the bell once so we went to breakfast without him. We ate at a french restaurant in the lobby of a hotel Adam had been at in a prior visit which he liked... pretty good french toast.
From there we walked to Roppongi Hills, a very upscale rich area of Tokyo with some beautiful modern architecture. We walked around a bit, took some pics, and Adam wanted to watch a movie. Not exactly the sort of thing I wanted to do in a foreign land, but he assured me it was worth it just to hear the announcement film before the feature began. I was at least curious, knowing how awesome, say, the intermission films are at the drive in so we went to see Aeon Flux. He was SO right. To sum it up I can only describe it as Big Brother and the Zen of theater etiquette. It starts with this calming male voice and a dark screen talking to you - talking about how he has watched you all your life. He then begins going into almost haiku like statements along the lines of, "She sat in the dark, a shining beacon unwanted, and as the wick of a firecracker her fire ended her visit", while showing the dark hints of a woman's lap smoking a cigarette in the dark, and then it shows a sign for NO SMOKING. It went on for like 10 minutes talking about no cellphones, no talking, eat our tasty refreshments - all in this creepy I'm watching you and imparting my observations in Zen wisdom style. The movie was good, though didn't follow the series much at all (like it could).
So after that we took a cab to meet up with Dave and found out he had stumbled upon the Tokyo St. Patrick's Day parade. *blink* Irish celebration done Japanese style!! This was phenomenally funny to watch and I have pictures here:
http://homepage.mac.com/jeremyhammer/PhotoAlbum2.html
After that madness we went to eat at a place they were raving about... and rightfully so. So far I had found the food here to be tolerable mostly, sometimes pretty wretched, but certainly not wildly tasty, but Sukiyaki is PHENOMENAL. Essentially imagine paper thin beef slices raw on the plate before you. In the center of the table is a gas burner, upon which is placed a thin pot of broth to boil. You take the meat, with your chopsticks slice by slice, stick one in the broth for a few seconds to cook it, pluck it out and dip it in raw egg, and then eat it. I'm not sure how much the egg helps or detracts, but I couldn't get enough of the meat. They also give you these awesome slimy noodles to put in the broth, some veggies, some uncooked sausage pressed into a bamboo stick, and of course rice. You just take what you want to eat, cook it right there, and eat it fresh and hot. I'm SO doing this regularly when I get home, somehow Sushi is wildly popular in the States, but this is unheard of - at least I'd never heard of it - probably because of safety, we are too suehappy to have a boiling vat of broth at the center of each table.
Pics of the Sukiyaki and architecture and other misc touristy pics are here:
http://homepage.mac.com/jeremyhammer/PhotoAlbum3.html
It started with Adam and I trying to wake Dave up for breakfast. We went down to his room and rang the bell... no answer. Adam knocked... no answer. Adam started beating his door like a drum... no answer. He got a bit louder and then grabbed a housekeeping cart that was near the door, rolled it in front of the door to block it off as a joke, and rang the bell a bunch of times. We heard rustling. The door opened. A very confused tiny Japanese women in glasses peered out from her room over the housekeeping cart - Adam had the wrong room number!!!!
We apologized profusely while poorly stifling the raging laughter that burst forth as soon as the door was closed. We went to Dave's correct room, but Adam was afraid to do more than ring the bell once so we went to breakfast without him. We ate at a french restaurant in the lobby of a hotel Adam had been at in a prior visit which he liked... pretty good french toast.
From there we walked to Roppongi Hills, a very upscale rich area of Tokyo with some beautiful modern architecture. We walked around a bit, took some pics, and Adam wanted to watch a movie. Not exactly the sort of thing I wanted to do in a foreign land, but he assured me it was worth it just to hear the announcement film before the feature began. I was at least curious, knowing how awesome, say, the intermission films are at the drive in so we went to see Aeon Flux. He was SO right. To sum it up I can only describe it as Big Brother and the Zen of theater etiquette. It starts with this calming male voice and a dark screen talking to you - talking about how he has watched you all your life. He then begins going into almost haiku like statements along the lines of, "She sat in the dark, a shining beacon unwanted, and as the wick of a firecracker her fire ended her visit", while showing the dark hints of a woman's lap smoking a cigarette in the dark, and then it shows a sign for NO SMOKING. It went on for like 10 minutes talking about no cellphones, no talking, eat our tasty refreshments - all in this creepy I'm watching you and imparting my observations in Zen wisdom style. The movie was good, though didn't follow the series much at all (like it could).
So after that we took a cab to meet up with Dave and found out he had stumbled upon the Tokyo St. Patrick's Day parade. *blink* Irish celebration done Japanese style!! This was phenomenally funny to watch and I have pictures here:
http://homepage.mac.com/jeremyhammer/PhotoAlbum2.html
After that madness we went to eat at a place they were raving about... and rightfully so. So far I had found the food here to be tolerable mostly, sometimes pretty wretched, but certainly not wildly tasty, but Sukiyaki is PHENOMENAL. Essentially imagine paper thin beef slices raw on the plate before you. In the center of the table is a gas burner, upon which is placed a thin pot of broth to boil. You take the meat, with your chopsticks slice by slice, stick one in the broth for a few seconds to cook it, pluck it out and dip it in raw egg, and then eat it. I'm not sure how much the egg helps or detracts, but I couldn't get enough of the meat. They also give you these awesome slimy noodles to put in the broth, some veggies, some uncooked sausage pressed into a bamboo stick, and of course rice. You just take what you want to eat, cook it right there, and eat it fresh and hot. I'm SO doing this regularly when I get home, somehow Sushi is wildly popular in the States, but this is unheard of - at least I'd never heard of it - probably because of safety, we are too suehappy to have a boiling vat of broth at the center of each table.
Pics of the Sukiyaki and architecture and other misc touristy pics are here:
http://homepage.mac.com/jeremyhammer/PhotoAlbum3.html