The Sake Box

I wake with Tokyo

My family prepares beds

Wind will bring me home

Tokyo has the largest fish market in the world, and  it would be a sin to go to Japan and not have sushi. Sasamoto-san took us to a small dive very close to the office and almost across the street from my hotel. The room was small, and it was very tight. Most of the Japanaese restaurants we have been two only seat 10-15 people at a time, but the patrons tend to eat high dollar items and spend a lot of time there. I ordered

sake masu. Which is sake served in a small bamboo box. The sake is poured into a glass until it overflows into the masu. You drink the shot of sake from the glass, then you drink the sake from the box. .

Sake Masu

 Our order of sashimi (sushi without rice) was colorful and very well presented. The fish was amazingly colored and a small white flower completed the presentation. The tuna was a darker red than I had seen in the states, and there was a good variety of fish, muscles and other beast of the sea. Although most of the sashima was augmented with the regular wasabi and soy, some pieces were well complimented by a light dusting of salt accentuating the taste of the fish

Sashimi plate

 Hands down, this was the best sake and sashima I've had.I tried two different cold sakes. Sasamoto-san mention that the first sake is very rare. I didn't write the name of it down (Sasamoto-san gave me the name this morning Koshinokanbai), but it was a delightfully smooth tasking drink with a hint of sweetness. The sake glass was a little more dry, but equally as smooth.

Japanese subway car

Today was my first experience riding the subways in Tokyo. We wanted to go from Otemachi to Shibuya. Luckily the subway has a map in Japanese and English, but the subways are very crowded, and the hot rail cars are packed with people packed like sardines pushed into their can. We got off at Hashiko station. It is named after a dog, who waited at the station everyday for his master to return. His master had passed away, but the dog had grown accustomed to waiting for him that he continued to do so after his masters death for 9 years. There is a statue of Hashiko just outside Hashiko station, and it is a common meeting point in Shibuya.

Shibuya reminds me of Times Sqaure in New York. It was very crowded and there were swarms of your Japanese businessmen and teenagers packing the sidewalks and walkways. Stephen took us to see some of the electronic stores and shopping life of Tokyo. The people on the streets moved like  zigzagging school of fish. Stephen mentioned that you have to learn to move like Neo did in the matrix.  When Neo is first reinserted into the computer generated world, he bumps in to everyone. After a while he learned to navigate his way throught the crowds. When the cross walk gave the green signal, Ryan and I started veering left and Stephen started veering right. The people coming the opposite direction vectored themselves like a defensive line on a foot ball field. Ryan and I were running backs looking for a seam.

Shibuya

Shibuya is a great place to people watch, and and interesting place to see the local fashion scene. The Japanese taste in fashion is very interesting. Some girls wear extremely short shorts, but them have on tights while others look like they are right out of an Anime cartoon.

We finished our visit in Shibuya after looking at some electronics stores and hopped a train to Shijuku station, the busiest rail station in the world. Tonight was not a busy one in Shijuku, so I can't imagine trying to navigate it during a busy hour.

It was key to know the stations. Getting on a train is pretty easy, but getting off can be tricky since the cars are loaded so tightly. The trick is not to be rude but push you way out before the tidal wave of people comes rushing in.