I’ve always thought Shinagawa is an odd place – the station is big, and a little confusing, and it’s really just anchored by hotels. If you’re not there for a wedding, why are you there? In this case we were planning to go to the aquarium, but being a cheap bastard in many ways I […]
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Wall Street, Kayabacho
There isn’t much of interest to say about Wall Street except that…well, it’s in Kayabacho. When I worked in Roppongi it was my usual transfer point, so I used to transfer there all the time, and would sometimes just get off and walk home, looking for a place to eat along the way. Wall Street […]
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Jazz Bar Gugan, Kanda
I wasn’t overjoyed about how I came to know Gugan – a colleague I was drinking with insisted that we had to hit another spot after I thought we were finished dinner and drinking, and his favorite was right around the corner. It’s straightforward and a nice enough place (which I don’t mean in a […]
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Citrus, Aoyama
Happy hour is something I’ve never been aware of in Japan, but the Peafowl are adept at finding them. In this case we were walking randomly through Aoyama and same the sign for Citrus. There’s nothing particular in the way of food at happy-hour time (including a distinct lack of mixed nuts; we had to […]
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Good One, Kanda
Good one indeed. Woody and I were set to re-visit Hanakago (yeah, it’s that good, especially if you reserve so you can get sashimi from the shop next door). I had reserved for 7 but it turned out we could both get there earlier, and that left us standing outside with 30 minutes of freedom (except […]
Carne, Monzen Nakacho
If you count the previous two posts, this was the third place in Monnaka that I’ve been thinking of going to for years and finally made it to all on the same evening. Like the other two, it was pretty disappointing. As a self-appointed restaurant-picking expert and all-around Monnaka booster, I don’t feel good about […]
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Nashville, Ginza
After more visits than I care to admit to Rocky Top for live bluegrass, it was finally time to try one of the other Ginza country music live venues. Nashville is the obvious contender (there’s also one near Yurakucho called, enticingly enough, Banjo, but I’m not sure if they hav bands or not), but I had […]
WW, Marunouchi
Funny, I knew I’d been to WW before (World Wine, the bar side of Luke Mangan’s Salt branch (saltfork?) in Shin Maru) and had to go back to make sure I didn’t post it. Turns out it was all the way back in January 09, years ago, when I met the Curmudgeonly Old Bastard for […]
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Sound Bar Lip, Shibuya
Have you ever noticed how there are all sorts of funky places hiding out in plane sight in the middle of Tokyo? You have? Everyone knows that? OK, never mind. After leaving Betterave, we flocked around for a bit. This bridal salon was next door, and they were still working on things even at 10:30 […]
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Por Tin Tin, Yoyogi Uehara
We all know the stereotype of Japanese people who do something really well, to excess. If you didn’t know, that applies to all classes of endeavor – including smoky jazz bars. Just up the hill on the north side of Yoyogi Uehara (I think it’s ‘Uehara Ginza’), you’ll see a small street on the right, […]