Say goodbye to Tokyo!

We are stuck here behind the Great Firewall of China!! No facebook, no blogspot, and no valid internet links to any negative/questionable information about the People's Republic of China. But Brittany's mother has taken on the task of updating our blog (via emailed content)...THANKS!! We can also still read your comments, so keep them coming! Our shutterfly account is still accessible, so look at our photos: honeyserviceyear.shutterfly.com (password "travel").

DECEMBER 22,2009

Tokyo - you were so good to us! Our good fortunes and luck this whole journey will have been blessed by the send off on the night before we left. 

Arriving in Oyamadai neighborhood, (a Come on Up house on the other side of Tokyo from where we had been staying in Sumiyoshi), we were running late. We were determined to get to the NOMAT’s Craft Arts Museum (for the exhibit titled: “A Power of Decoration - A Viewpoint on Contemporary Kogei“), and weren’t especially successful at navigating the subway….we ended up much further away from the museum than expected. On the way to the Museum, we stumbled upon, the National Gardens, a beautiful Shrine, and Nippon Budokan, where thousands of Tokyo young people were patiently lined up early to see ACIDMAN on his beautiful greed Tour. The Power of Decoration craft exhibit was AMAZING!!! Never before had we seen such Contemporary ‘craft work’ - especially the detailed intricacies in the ceramic sculptures.

So we arrived, late but happy….ready to rock it, Iron Chef style. Our race to prepare dinner’s main course OYSTERS and CLAMS, was momentarily hindered, however, by a realization that there was almost nothing to cook with: a saute pan, a pot, two knives and two cutting boards, and three small bowls. So we stirred and sautéed with chopsticks, used our pots in sequential order, and a tiny broiler (12cmx24cm). We made a creole version of Stuffed Quahogs (large clams)- broiled open-face in the tiniest little oven we had ever used.  The Oyster soup was a hit!! Only expecting ten guests at the “Come On Up” New Years party we still made a full eight quarts. Maybe fifteen people attended, if you include Brittany and me, but our glorious pot was finished quite early in the evening. The clams were also delicious.

One of the guests at the party brought Black Dragon Sake, the Emperor of Japan’s favorite sake and which is the only sake ever served to official State Guests of the Imperial Family!! Amazing. N has had the good fortune of tasting a 1933 Madeira, a 1986 Rothschild Bordeaux, a forty year old Blanton’s bourbon, fifty year old scotches, rums and tequilas; a 250 year old balsamic vinegar Black Dragon sake is as good as any of them.

To leave Tokyo we got up early and made Oyster Omelettes for our host’s executive assistant, our constant companion, Hoshi, (as well as a new found friend Mr. Ten ‘Fei‘, a young man from China attending school in Kyoto, commuting from Nara, having lived and gone to college in Toronto; and now in Tokyo to interview with such notable names as Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and UBS. Fei spent a couple nights indulging us in Chinese lessons: writing a cheat sheet - characters, their anglophonic translations and correct pronunciation. He left us with a page of key words and phrases, plus another of immediate technical concerns, (address of hotel and embassies in Shanghai, phrases to negotiate taxi transport etc).

We left in high spirits three hours before our flight.

It took a lot longer to get to Narita airport than we had remembered. But, thanks to the kind JAL staff, we were whisked through customs and escorted to our gate; where the staff took the time to arrange for us to sit together in the only seats left on a full plane. Again we marveled at the courtesy, efficiency, and friendliness of Japan!

Thank you Tokyo!! We love you! Special thanks to Yasuko and Hoshi for introducing us to daily life, neighborhoods, and community in Japan. The Come On Up shared houses were inspiration to us on so many levels. They inspire, they build community, they nurture cultural resiliency, and they are living proof that, given the opportunity, Japanese and expats will choose to learn and appreciate each other.