Team Dinner

We have had a busy week at working getting ready for our workshops with Sony. To insure I'm getting some exercise every day, I decided I would walk from the Hotel to the Tokyo Station about 1.5 miles away. From Tokyo Station, I took the Maranuchi line to Shinagawa. I haven't found a good way to counteract the heat and humidity. Most mornings, I'm sweating before I am a block from the hotel, and my undershirt is normally soaked by the time I am to the office. On Thursday, Knut wlked into the office and he looked like he just walked in from the rain. Sheri asked him if the rain had stopped, and Knut said it hasn't been raining.  Tokyo doesn't deliver the searing heat that can end a football practice in the August sun, but the humidity is amazing. Residence of Tokyo use fans and carry small towels to keep themselves dry. I think I need to bring a change of clothes.

Our team had an amazing meal last night, and it's the first real meal we've had as a team outside the Sony cafeteria. Most of our Japanese co-workers brought their families to dinner with us giving an atmosphere of home with children  coloring sheets of paper at the table or playing hide and seek around the table.

The children were a real hit at dinner, and the provided a sense of family for a table of travelers. Bobby packed me pictures of the girls and Cole that I've kept in my backpack to share. It was a good time to show off the family.

We had a very traditional Japanese meal.  Filtered, unfiltered, hot and cold saki filled the glasses while a palette of seafood based dishes dotted the table. Smoked salmon, sushi, tempura and rice porage with fish were among the delicacies enjoyed family style around the table like a dinner at the Dillard house. 

 I'm not a fan of rice porage, but I was a fan of the smoked salmon and unfiltered Saki. The salmon reminded me of my grandmother smoking salmon in her electric smoker after a trip to the northwest. In the pictures above, you can see the soupy rice porage in all it's gooey goodness. Another exotic item on the menu next to the smoked salmon is salmon skin. It was deep fried like a pork rind, and reminded me of it's swine cousin. Crunchy, salty and a slight fish taste about sums up salmon skin.

With the hard work on preparing for the workshop nearing completion, Kevin raised a glass of Saki in a toast to Sasamoto-san and the team for their dedication. Most of all, I knew Kevin wanted to be in my blog. I guess he can marked this off his bucket list.  After dinner, I grabbed a taxi from Shinagawa to the hotel. The majority of the team decided we would go to Kamakura in the morning, and I wanted a little rest before our trip.