Big Bird has some funny connections in Japan – like the former world champion of backgammon. And a pediatric orthodontist who also plays backgammon but has a good side-line in being a generally upstanding citizen of Shimokitazawa. If I were a daft travel writer, I’d spin you a good line about how he came to […]
Month: October 2010
- bar
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Ushitora, Shimo Kitazawa (うしとら)
Heading out to Shimokita to meet Big Bird, I had all sorts of clever quips planned about how Ushitora is Tokyo’s second-best beer bar. Living near Popeye, I have a specific view of these things. But y’know, I’d actually have to say this is better. That means you’re reading about Tokyo’s best beer bar right […]
- Otemachi
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Utage, Otemachi (宴)
Just got back from a business lunch at this place. I correctly diagnosed from the web site that it was not the sort of place I’d ever use my own funds to visit, but it was a bit better in practice than I expected. As a business lunch, you can’t expect to see any pictures. […]
- Asakusa
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Sushi Mimatsu, Asakusa (三松寿司)
After our blowout sushi dinner at Hashiguchi, I figured it was only fitting and proper that I should do some tour-guiding for Victorious. I thought he might like to buy a Japanese knife, and maybe see Asakusa, and Akihabara, and that’s what we did. He allowed as how he wouldn’t mind eating sushi again, and […]
- Other treats
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Sushi Hashiguchi, Akasaka (はしぐち)
Hmmm, here we go – Victorious came to Japan for his first ever visit, and this was the first time in over 10 years that we had spoken in person. What did he want to eat? Sushi, and Kobe, in that order (Americans love to call Japanese beef ‘Kobe’; I tried to delve into some […]
Kizushi, Monzennakacho (喜寿司)
Friday night, I turned down invitations from colleagues after work in order to meditate and prepare myself for Saturday. “I vant to be alone,” I thought, but a few seconds of research yields the information that, as usual, the famous quote isn’t really what Garbo said. Being in America for a few weeks, I hadn’t […]
- Kanda
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Gochiso, Kanda (ご馳走)
Hunh, I’ve never seen the traditional meal closing ‘gochiso’ (‘treats’, as in ‘that sure was a treat!’) written in kanji. Now I have. Pity the food isn’t much of a treat, more a middling way to spend lunch hour. Unfortunately this is just down an alley by the much-beloved Bistro Marsanne (and when I say […]
- bar
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Rose and Crown, Otemachi
Somehow I had planned my schedule weeks ago so as to have lunch with Zoner on this, my first day back at work. To compound the insult of being back in the office, he suggested walking or to Yaesu and trying RosandCrown and Goldmansachs Are Dead, or something to that effect. These guys run a […]
Bonefish Grill, Deptford
For Dad’s birthday, and my last night in America on this trip, we went out for a pretty nice dinner. Bonefish Grill is up by the mall, just off the highway where Chichi’s used to be (reminds me of one time when I went there with some people and one guy insisted on giving his […]
Silver Diner, Cherry Hill
Silver Diner came to my attention years ago when I lived in the Washington metro area, where I think it originated. The concept is to re-do and over-do the classic diner, making it bigger, blockier, shinier and diner-ier than it ever was in the first place. As people point out all the time when they’re […]