Left JFK at an 11:30 am flight. Tried to sleep, watched three movies, ate three meals – each worse than the last, read about Japan.
Arrived at 3:30 PM on Sunday. We were through immigration and customs, and had our bags by 4:00, plenty of time to take a shuttle bus to our hotel in Roppongi. This is a trendy area comprised mainly of hotels and shops from what I can tell.
By 6:30 we were in our room. Despite an overwhelming desire for sleep, we showered and went to dinner at a Yakitori restaurant. It cost $85. We drank 3 large Asahi beers which cost about $7 each here. The same beer, imported to China cost about $3 there as I recall. Yakatori means the food comes on a long stick, grilled over a small charcoal grill. In Yakatori restaurants, this is generally the main food served.
Our meal started with chinese broccoli cut small in a sesame based sauce. Next two skewers of chicken, and two skewers of basil chicken. The basil chicken appeared to be chicken rolled around basil and sliced to make a pretty circle. I didn’t like the chicken too much, but the cumin flavor was nice. There were also skewers of sliced grilled leek. I don’t think the leek was the type of leek we buy in NY, I think it was more like a giant green onion.
Also there was a gorgeous giant scallop, cooked gently and served in a light sauce with mushrooms and seaweed. It was served in a giant shell. There was some other kind of tentacle added, which was not as good but this was so lovely I should have taken a picture of it.
Chicken meat balls and pork meat balls were both delicious. Chicken and beef chunks were good. Squash, asparagus and okra were excellent.
Yakatori will become a favorite for us here. As you can imagine, once we had finished eating we feel straight into bed slept as long as we could. Awake at 6.
