2011 has been scandalously busy, with work and projects both secret and non-secret.

One project I’ve been grinding on is my Japanese.  I’ve earned my third badge now, recently, after completing my “Adjectival Expressions 95 Within 10 Minutes” on 22April.  Wheee

Singapore Airlines whacked fares to Japan recently.  We scored three tickets for $398each, so we’ll be going up on 15May and staying through Saturday.  Got a decent rate at the Peninsula.  We’re all set.   It’s going to be great for me, because I’ll get a lot of extra real-world Jap practice, I’ll get to work daily with Kitani Sensei face-to-face, rather than Skype, and then coincidentally I’ll be their for the Tokyo Lingual “school barbecue” at a koen near Shinjuku.   Will be nice to get out of Singapore for a few days.

Spent most of the hot afternoon doing back-dated paperwork.  This evening I decided to re-remember my katakana.  It always drives me nuts to not read it well when I am in Japan (lots of signage is in it).  It only took me about an hour with flashcards to memorize it (there are how many? 45?). It seems quite quick, so I guess some of the neurons I taught long ago didn’t fully-forget after-all.  Sort of like when I use morse code, it somehow comes back through the muck in my head.

I also bought #quakebook for Ling’s Kindle.  (So should everyone else!)

Morning Udon near Tsukiji

It seems that Macchinesti Coffee is dead, or at least no longer has a storefront. That’s a bummer. It was a nice cafe to eat at. Zoka is still kicking, although I was unlucky that they were out of stock of Espresso Paladino. Althoough their Sumatra and Sulawesi blends make nice brewed coffee, they don’t generate the thick, creamy crema of Espresso Paladino. I have to really push it through a fine grind to get a reasonable pull.

Blue Lug has changed locations. The new shop is huge, including a workshop garage, and an annex where they are manufacturing their in-house bags. The prices are still sticker-shockers. I didn’t buy anything except a Selle Anatomica saddle.

Dark tempura at Dote no Iseya

Dote no Iseya (1-9-2 Nihon-Zutsumi, Taito-ku) is still serving incredible dark tempura.

Horaiya near Ueno is still serving perfectly-cooked tonkatsu.

Since we stayed nearby in Ginza/Hibiya, we made it to Daiwa Sushi-ya at Tsukiji for sushi breakfast twice.

Chef at Tunahachi

The light tempura everyone thinks of for tempura we enjoyed again at Tunahachi in Shinjuku. Last time we were here, Luke was one or two years old and kept trying to drive his finger through the paper walls.

Eel, Prawn, Scallop, Mussels made exquisite tempura at Tunahachi (Tsunahachi)

We found an outlet of Grom, our favorite gelato store from Firenze, Italy

…yes, we had a good time during my three months’ gardening leave and one month holiday to Pittsburgh/NYC/Tokyo.

Now I’m trying to readjust to having to earn a living again.

The four milliseconds during which the finicky anatomic man statue stayed together.

What is it about Tokyo’s Hotel Okura?

It’s got a worse location than the Peninsula. Rooms almost spartan compared to the Ritz-Carlton. Far more dated than the Grand Hyatt.

But I still love it. I think because it’s so spare and pure. It’s a top 1965 Tokyo Hotel preserved and maintained immaculately. When I’m sitting in the lobby it feels like Frank Sinatra’s entourage could pull up to the front door at any minute. The interior design of the hotel is totally consistent and totally classy. I spend almost no time in the hotel room, so I don’t do much beside appreciate the bed. And I certainly appreciate the hotel costing may one-half what I’d spent at any of the other three. (though maybe this will change — Ginza was a ghost-town for several of the bars and restaurants we visited there — the economy does not feel strong.)

My first trip to arguably (or not!) Japan’s best sushi restaurant, Kyubey, was great. But my second trip, last friday night was better, as a Japanese friend who’s been eating at this Ginza restaurant for the last thirty-five or so years came along with us. This was a passport to having our chef, Toyama, make up some more adventurous fare. In addition to all the standard sushi restaurant fare, highlights included

• Whale Sperm. It’s the same color, but a slightly more dry (chalky?) consistency of tofu.
• Abalone Liver. Extremely rich, extremely green abalone liver served in-shell. It was actually too rich for me. I was satisfied halfway through, and the second half became a bit of a chore
• But Toyama palate-cleansed us next with a refreshing sandwich of thin daikon slices holding a shisho leaf, sesame seeds, and plum paste (ume)
• Aji tartare



• I also could have done without Sea Cucumber, freshly killed, in brine.
• Enormously sweet rockmelon, the spilled juices and husk remnants scraped into a tumbler of ice and brandy, making a beautiful after-dinner cocktail.

If I’m lucky, Ling and I will manage a way to get back up to Tokyo in late February to celebrate our friend’s 50th birthday here. To date she’s still never been able to accompany me here.

Last day in Tokyo. Laying in bed this morning and hear commotion in the hall. Sounds like a room service cart is careening through the hallway. Then I realize I’m vaguely giddy. Then I hear my bathroom door slamming back-and-forth. Then I realize, “oooh, an earthquake.”

I hung around the room for a while. I was on the 49th floor of the Ritz Carlton — a thoroughly modern building, so it is well-built against these things. After a while though, I thought, “screw this; just walk outside and get a coffee anyway.”

I packed up my newspaper and sunglasses and went out to the lift. An American women joined me. She had the look of serious grippedness. As the lift goes down I small-talker her, “were you shaken awake too?” “Yes,” she said, “what’s going on?” “It’s an earthquake,” I answered, and at this point the filial son in me broke out, and I started laughing hysterically. What the hell did she think it was? I don’t think my eye-watering laughter made her feel especially comforted, but I couldn’t help myself. She says, “why are you laughing?” All I could say was, “nothing to be done about it–go downstairs and have a coffee.”

This is my second noticeable earthquake in Tokyo. Each time I am surprised by how it lasts much longer than I’d expect, and it’s much more of a vague swaying/falling feeling than any kind of industrial shaking or vibration.

UPDATE:  Here’s a brief and bad capture I took with my camera.  For a moment when i pan to the window, you can sort of make out the swaying.   I have no idea what the terrible noise on the audio is.

Strong earthquake hits Japan

6 minutes ago

TOKYO (AFP) — A powerful earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale struck northern Japan Saturday, the meteorological agency said.

The earthquake hit in Iwate prefecture, some 500 kilometres (300 miles) north of Tokyo, and rattled buildings in the capital.

Television footage showed buildings also shaking in northern cities of Japan. Bullet trains were automatically shut down as a precaution.

The quake had a depth of 10 kilometres (six miles), the agency said.

There was no immediate word on potential damage or casualties, and the agency did not issue a tsunami warning.

A new earthquake warning system kicked in for the quake, with public broadcaster NHK flashing an alert moments before it struck.

Japan endures some 20 percent of the world’s powerful earthquakes. It has built an infrastructure intended to withstand tremors.

Ron Carter

Originally uploaded by fstop45.

…assuming no mass-murderers or suicide bombers attack the Tokyo Blue Note, I’ll be enjoying a night of Ron Carter, master bassist.

The Truck

Originally uploaded by karavshin.
This afternoon went to Akihabara ‘Electric Town’ in Tokyo, looking for an amateur radio store I’d been to years ago (Rocket Radio — defunct as far as I can tell).

Anyway, there had been some sort of traffic accident, but the police cordon was massive, there were dozens of investigators and detectives, and there was apparently evidence all over the street.

Had no idea what had happened till I checked Google News and found out that a lunatic had gone on a killing rampage an hour before I arrived. (I had spent the morning buying art supplies at Tokyo Hands and Seikaido). He rented a truck (shown here), drove it down a street, plowing into people, before coming to stop, jumping out, and stabbing a lot of other people before being subdued!

One good way to find cool stuff in Tokyo is to set off on meaningless missions. So this morning I found the location for the flagship Muji store and browsed what was playing on the arts scene. Nothing grabbed me by the throat for attention, so I semi-arbitrarily chose the Boroboro Dorodoro Exhibition – The Return of Japanese Subculture at the Watari-Museum of Contemporary art.  There were two artists showing there,

Misaki Kawai, Taylor McKimens 

American McKimens had one 3-d display that looked like water leaking from the roof, falling and puddling on the floor. It looked nice and was clever.  He uses primitive materials (they look like cheap, strong tempra paints) but paints in a very heavy, simple, bright style, so it works.  I didn’t care for his paintings, they didn’t click with me.  Strange pictures of blobs and of hairy male torsos in underwear.

Kawai had a really cool 3-d display too. Even Luke enjoyed. it was an exceptionally large 3d diorama (is that a contradiction of terms?) of some sort of fantasy space house.  It was made, also, of terribly primitive materials, but painfully detailed.  Her use of lighting and sound gave the display a warmth and life and reality it would have otherwise been lacking.  I wonder what they’ll do with it once the display is over? It’s huge and brittle.
Venue: Watari-um, The Watari Museum of Contemporary Art
Schedule: From 2006-10-14 To 2007-01-28
Address: 3-7-6 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0001
Phone: 03-3402-3001 Fax: 03-3405-7714

From here we bumbled through side streets to Harujuku. It was nice to go through Harujuku from the side because we got to see a lot more of the tiny little fashion places I’ve always hear about, not just the big retail stuff  running into the main intersection.

Next week I will be working in Tokyo. Stealing some fun out of it, so on Friday night Ling, Luke and I fly up and then will fly back the following Sunday night. I’ll have to work during the week, but at least it will be a break. It’ll be an exercise in schedule flexibility for Luke, too, something we haven’t tinkered with much.