the road back to tokyo

so on the way back up i...

returned to kyoto to kick it with these guys at the local izakaya (johannes, the izakaya manager and taro)...

johannes, taro & izakaya manager
Originally uploaded by s_ritoper

visited kobe and ate korean bbq in koreatown in osaka with the tsuzukis, keiko-san and akira-san, my kaizuka host parents from back in middle school...

ready to eat Originally uploaded by s_ritoper

crashed my aunt's mah jong party...

DSCF1439 Originally uploaded by s_ritoper

went with my host sister ikue to the yokohama ramen museum (and theme park) for hokkaido style ramen (miso, butter chives... mmm)...

DSCF1452 Originally uploaded by s_ritoper

enjoyed keiko's fried chicken with her friends, noriko and hisae...

keiko and cool friends Originally uploaded by s_ritoper

along with, uh.. these guys..
(jack, clinton, leslie, lauren and your local mix of rockabillies)

IMG_1971.JPG Originally uploaded by jackjinlio

and embarked on random adventures with tammy in tokyo. a good companion even though she hums the japanese national anthem in her sleep. just kidding. gentlemen, any takers...?

tammy and me Originally uploaded by s_ritoper

tokyo, no goodbyes yet... i'll be back for more soon.

sugoi, na!

i'm going to start off by bringing you all up to speed. here's some stuff from my first 10 days in tokyo.

tsukiji fish market
...jet lagged and out of synch i woke up early saturday morning to wander through the tsukiji fish market, the 24 hour market where all the fish arrives when it gets to the city. i meandered in circles through piles of fresh tuna, salmon, urchin, octopus and anything else fish related you could possibly imagine-- dried fish, barrels of shaved bonito. and then a ton of other things, like little pickled veggies of all colors, candy, teas. the perimeter was lined with little ramen and kare-raisu stands where you could pick up a cheap meal...

the london bus
...last night rie and i went to a party on a london bus. it felt very absurd (maybe typically tokyo?) and was a lot of fun. some friends of hers rented out this big red double decker bus to drive around the city for a joint birthday thing, and we arrived on the second story of this bus to find little packaged meals and a slew of japanese young folks who were mostly linked in some way to fashion or design, all dressed up in sparkly, brightly colored or wacky clothing. we joy-rode around the city with mixed drinks in hand for a couple of hours and then got dropped off in the same place we were picked up...

family, friends & japanese hospitality
...my mom's cousin, yuko-san, is a sophisticated and stylish woman in her sixties, who speaks fluent english and has a great taste for food, wine and international travel. she has totally taken me in and brought me all over the city. in fact we just got back from going to a really nice sushi restaurant at the top of the tokyo press club and i am totally stuffed. one of the highlights was ika/squid with shiso leaf and ume..

...aika is a hella cool girl. she's a skate dancer and approaches life with a vivid and free spirit (as jenny likes to say). we kicked in asakusa, drank it up at an izakaya, and danced the night away at a soul club here in tokyo...

...i met keiko on the plane to japan and we ended up kicking it in tokyo. she just got back from living in nyc and is down with the fugees too. we wandered around harajuku and then met up with yuko-san for a luxurious rooftop hanabi (fireworks) party. the metros were packed with folks in yukata, and we almost got stuck inside...