Yakiniku Gone Wrong

Well, this retro Showa-themed yakiniku place (Japanese-style Korean barbecue) looked innocent enough. Little did I know that I’d be eating raw heart and liver within a few minutes upon entering. I can definitely live happily without eating most of the stuff again, but, hey, now and then I need to push my limits. Most of the meat/organs/guts we ate were cooked at the table, by the way, but the second photo, although blurry, is of the liver meant to be eaten raw (and done that way). P.S. I definitely realize the real appeal of this place is not in shocking/grossing out Americans… it’s all about the texture of the food (very important in Japan!).

conbini run, part 3

What did I say about the technology getting better?

New Discoveries

Went on a walk today with H around Shinjuku, and then kind of randomly decided to take a train to the east side of Tokyo, where we did some more walking and then ended up in Asakusa, where we had some pretty delicious tendon (that’s tempura and sauce on top of rice, not body tissue, although both are pretty easy to come by in Tokyo). The walk, especially around Asakusa, provided a goldmine of wacky camera phone pics, the winner of which is posted above. Maybe I’ll post some of the others later, but this one deserves its own little space for sure. I’ve never really hung around in Asakusa before, but I intend to make it my new summer hangout, as there are tons of homely little izakayas (Japanese pubs) with seating areas that spill out onto the street. Finally, a place in Tokyo to enjoy a beer outdoors!

Recovery Time

Just want to say thanks for those of you who came to our H’s party last night. It was a lot of fun, and I apologize to anyone I subjected my drunken rambling to (that means anyone I spoke to after about, oh, 7PM). And by the way, if anyone wants to stop by this week, I will have that crab rangoon ready to go!

For those of you who are not in Japan, we had a quite a scary earthquake yesterday afternoon during the party preparation.

Lots of Parties

I’ve been doing way too much partying recently. This weekend alone I went out and saw Jeff Samuel DJ (was a great show, BTW), and then yesterday, whether you believe me or not, I attended a wine-tasting party. The wine-tasting was really pretty cool. I think I can get into activity that is centered around drinking (after the tasting, we did some drinking, of course). Now I need to get some stuff done!

conbini run, part 2

every month the technology gets better.

tgif

kickin off another friday.

Pizza Hut Japan Strikes Back

Every once in a while, H and I really like to trash up our bodies good with some Pizza Hut, and from the looks of their inventions, it seems like Pizza Hut Japan thinks heart disease is a some kind of joke. This is the new “cheesy roll” pizza, not to be confused with the “sausage crust” pizza H talked me into trying last year. Half of our “cheesy roll” was “gorgeous salmon”, and half was “gourmet”. I must say, the gourmet half was pretty darn tasty. For a closer look at the offerings of Pizza Hut Japan, look here.

Again

another, this time from the bathroom.

Beer With a Free Prize

There are sometimes wonderful beer promotions here which I can’t imagine interesting any beer drinker but myself. I must have more in common with the average Japanese person than I think. Last night (during the conbini run) I spotted some free miniature toys attached to the top of cans of Sapporo Draft One (a pretty nasty, not quite real beer, though), so I quickly snatched up a couple. The photo is of the winner of the bunch — it’s the torii at Itsukushima Shrine near Hiroshima. This series of toys, by the way, is themed around Chugoku, the region where Hiroshima is located.