Tokyo: I love this town. It’s always exciting, and a good time. I had 3 points on my agenda here over the past 4 days:
1. See friends
2. Eat Ramen
3. Go to Bar Tram
I’ll get to the friends part later, as that is probably less exciting for most readers.
The ramen part, however, was epic. I mean, it was freakin’ ridiculous. I had heard via the internets about Ramen Jiro, a small chain of Tokyo ramen shops with an almost religious following for its tonkotsu-style (that’s pork bone broth) ramen. I had to try it.
I should have gotten the small. The blog TOLD me to get the small. It said to take it easy at first, but I followed the lead of the guy next to me, and ordered it with everything. That was also a mistake. See, this is probably the most enormous bowl of noodles I’ve ever seen — and I’ve seen a LOT of noodles in my day. Add to that some huge chunks of stewed pork, and a broth of extremely velvety pork fat, and well, you get the idea. But it was sooooo good. The way you can recognize a Ramen Jiro shop is by the big yellow sign (most of which I can’t read), and the long line of men waiting to get in. There is always a line at Ramen Jiro. It’s that good. Once you get in and get served at the counter, there is absolutely no talking. This place is serious business. It’s also well worth the trip, though I think that my stomach will thank me not to go back again.
Then it was on to point three: Bar Tram. Basically, last November I was in my local pub, The Gate, when this Japanese guy walked in, ordered a beer, and promptly fell asleep in his stool. So, I couldn’t resist walking up to him, and using some of my limited Japanese on him. Most people don’t expect to hear Japanese outside Japan. We got chatting. He’s a bar owner in Ebisu, Tokyo. So, he gave me his card, and I said I’d drop by. Using the minor details of the address on the card, I weaved my way through the narrow alleyways of Ebisu and finally found it. And damn, is it a fine bar. It now rates in my unofficial (and actually not-yet-enumerated) Top Ten List of bars. Great atmosphere, great music, cool people, and something very hard to find – a great single malt list. I met a local guy who had randomly run into Patty Smith that morning… in the fish market. Apparently he was buying his daily fish, and there she was! I got invited to some gallery openings. It was pretty cool.
And then, the mode switch happened: my trip is over. Well, sorta. See, for 6 months I’ve been travelling, seeing new places and meeting new people. When I hit Tokyo, it’s now time to see old friends. I’ve met up with my old coworkers David, Ayako, and Yukiko, as well as some former students, Kaori and Takehiko. Today I head up to my old stomping grounds of Mito to see heaps of friends up there, and to go the the Rock in Japan Festival. Woohoo! (for a fun time, check out some of the names of bands that are playing, such as “The Chef Cooks Me” or “Overground Acoustic Underground”)
Wednesday, I fly to LA to see friends there, and then it’s back to New York on Friday. Whew!
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