Blue Note Brunch

Ok, so I haven't exactly been diligent in keeping up the blog. Oh well. We had a lot of fun in the summer splitting our time between Tokyo, New York, and Atlanta. Now that we're back in New York for the school year I'll try to post a little more.

Hatsumi's mom is in town for a week and so we (mainly they) are doing some touristy things. On Sunday we went to the Blue Note Jazz Club for a jazz brunch. The Blue Note is a famous jazz club right in the heart of Greenwich Village. I've never actually been there, so I was looking forward to checking it out. I was unsure of what to expect for the brunch crowd at such a club but it turned out to be mainly tourists! It's actually a fairly small club with split level seating around the stage. We had a great table right at the edge of the 2nd level railing, but anywhere in the club is very close the stage.

We got there around 12pm and the set started about 12:40pm. On stage was jazz old-timer Don Friedman on piano backed by a group of NYU musicians (a string quartet, jazz drummer, and upright bass), as well as an NYU professor on saxophone and harmonica who I believe organized the session. All in all a passable brunch and some excellent jazz music. The price is $25/person and includes brunch and the show.

Yokohama

Saturday we went down to Yokohama with another couple. I guess what you'd call the downtown area of Yokohama is full of shopping centers, parks, and amusement parks. This year it's the 150th anniversary of Japan opening the port of Yokohama. This was, of course, after Commodore Perry's "black ships" visited Japan and opened the doors for trade with the United States.

For the anniversary Yokohama has converted some local parks and warehouses into exhibit space. One of the more interesting exhibits is a 12m (40ft) tall mechanical spider that was brought from France. About 10 operators climb up on the spider and perform a show where the spider "walks" around the park, raises it's limbs over the crowd, and blows steam out of it's head and abdomen.

One of the world's largest Ferris Wheels also resides in Yokohama. Built in 1989 with a height of 112m (370ft) it was the tallest Ferris Wheel in the world when it was built. The ride takes approximately 15 minutes and provides excellent views of Yokohama.

The parks and exhibits were not really that crowded (by Japan standards), but there was an outdoor concert with a local pop idol being held around 5:30pm so there were throngs of people converging on the area for the concert. We were able to see the concert in full force from up on the Ferris Wheel.

Even without the anniversary exhibits I can see why Yokohama is a popular destination for the weekends. There is a lots to see and do for couples, kids, and families.

Touan

We went to an old favorite in the neighborhood tonight for dinner. It's called Touan and it's kind of an upscale Izakaya type restaurant. An Izakaya is a style of drinking establishment where there are a large variety of appetizer like items on the menu. Rather than ordering an entree you order lots of individual smaller dishes. Izakaya's are popular for social events as it's easy to order drinks and lots of finger foods for people to dig into.

Anyhow, Touan is an upscale izakaya with lots of smaller specialty dishes as well as a excellent selection of plum wines and sake. I have not explored the entire restaurant, but every time we've been there we've been seated in our own small private section - big enough for 4-5 people. There is a nice bar (pictured) that is usually full of customers, but besides that I think there are only private rooms throughout the place, ranging from smaller ones (like ours) to larger ones that could accomodate 8-12 people.

We had a few drinks, sampling the recommended plum wines and sake, and then ordered some of their recommended dishes including warm home-made tofu, gyoza stuffed with tofu (amazing!), and various chicken dishes. I love this place because you get great service, top quality food, and the bill isn't all that bad. After stuffing ourselves it ended up running about $100. That included several drinks and plenty of top quality dishes.

Touan will definitely be included on our list everytime we stay in the Aoyama area.

Tinun Aoyama

The other day I mentioned I had Thai Ramen in Omotesando. Well, the name of that place is Tinun Aoyama. Tinun is apparently a Thai chain restaurant in Tokyo and they have a branch at the Omotesando crossing intersection. I haven't actually tried any of the cuisine at this restaurant other than the Thai ramen. In case you are wondering, Thai ramen is basically your basic ramen with a spicy tom-yum thai soup base. If you like ramen, and you like thai food, then this is a perfect blend of two great styles. One day I'll have to branch out and try some of what I am sure is great Thai food here, but until that day comes I'll highly recommend the spicy Thai ramen at Tinun Aoyama.

Taxi Fare Comparison

Taxi cabs in Tokyo are expensive. Living in New York City I'm used to the whole taxi cab thing, but Tokyo makes the NYC cab rates look cheap by comparison. Here's the breakdown.

In NYC the taxi fare starts at $2.50 and is $0.40 for every 1/4 mile thereafter.

In Tokyo the taxi fare starts at $7.10 for the first 2km and then is $1.00 for every 1/2 km thereafter.

The below chart illustrates how the Tokyo taxi rates are almost double that of NYC taxi rates. I've taken the simplest case here and don't include special fares (for rush hour or late night) and also don't take into account the rates for time spent waiting in traffic.

Miles	New York	Tokyo
0	$ 2.50	$ 7.10
1	$ 4.10	$ 7.10
2	$ 5.70	$ 9.10
3	$ 7.30	$ 11.10
4	$ 8.90	$ 15.10
5	$ 10.50	$ 19.10
6	$ 12.10	$ 21.10

* I've used 100 yen = $1 for the above calculations.

Restaurant Update

So as you may have guessed by now, one of our main purposes in visiting Tokyo is to eat at all the great restaurants. We've done most of the touristy stuff, so we now relegate ourselves to relaxing, hanging out with friends, and enjoying the fine cuisine Tokyo has to offer.

Last night we went to Hama Steak House in Roppongi. I've posted about this before. It's a great Teppanyaki restaurant near Nogizaka station. Whereas Keyakizaka is more nouveau type of teppan, Hama is a very traditional teppan restaurant. Still expensive, but at about 1/2 to 2/3 the price of Keyakizaka the other night we got a meal that was just as good. They also have great lunch specials if you want to minimize the cost, but the dinner is spectacular. Worth a trip.

Earlier in the week we hit a great Ramen shop in Roppongi. Ramen shop menus are some of the more cryptic ones out there as they are usually written in old-school hand brushed styles. This one was particulary cryptic and so I just ordered the niku-ramen (meat ramen). What came back must have contained every animal on earth in the bowl. Chicken, beef, pork, and some things I couldn't identify (I'm pretty sure those crispy looking thins on top are pork rinds). There were even chunks of pork fat in the bowl that were surely not meant to be eaten - more of a flavor enhancer. All in all an excellent bowl of ramen.

On Tuesday afternoon we met some old friends at a place called Gotham Grill right near Ebisu station. This place specializes in dry aged beef and for lunch we had an excellent (and very large) hamburger made from what I can only surmise is some of this top quality beef. An excellent burger and my friend highly recommended coming back for the steak one night. Perhaps another trip for us as we've definitely had some primo steak at both of the teppan restaurants.

So the restaurant tour continues. We are starting to compile our "final" list of places we have to visit before we leave next Monday. Top choices currently include Ramen, Indian, and German. Wish us luck!

Maisen

Hatsumi and her family got in from Hokkaido yesterday afternoon and we all headed to Maisen for dinner. Maisen is a famous tonkatsu restaurant in Omotesando housed in an old bath house. It's been a constant favorite of mine over the years and it's just a few minutes walk from our apartment.

Tonkatsu is a breaded and fried pork cutlet that can be served ala carte or on a bed of eggs and rice. If you sit at the bar you can watch the chefs at Maisen cut, bread, and fry top quality pork. On the menu you can choose from different types of pork, the top being the Kurobuta (black pig) which is Berkshire Pork. The Kurobuta is a the pork equivalent of kobe beef, marbled with fat and having a darker color and richer flavor. It melts in your mouth.

I'm actually doing pretty good this trip and not over-indulging on the fabulous cuisine. Still eating good stuff, but just keeping things under control. I had some great Thai Ramen Sunday for lunch which I'll have to post about once I get a picture of the place. Tokyo is definitely the city to dine out. A friend in the industry told me that greater Tokyo has over 100,000 restaurants. I believe it. Many streets are just lined with restaurants and bars. Definitely not a great place for a diet.