Poor Service Yakiniku place in Akasaka (赤坂大関 （アカサカオオゼキ）)

• Restaurant Name: 赤坂大関 （アカサカオオゼキ）


• Tabelog link: It gets a 3.74 / 5 stars.


• Food: Overpriced. Good ventilation. The charcoal grill works well, with an adjustable mini-furnace door to control the oxygen flow.


• Service: 1/5. Besides slow service, listen to this: Bill comes to 26K, which is way above our expectations. We calculate it to 17K and tell the waitress. 10 minutes pass and no waitress. We go downstairs to discuss. She's there, and hands us the adjusted bill to 17K. No apology is given. I hand her 20K. She hands me a few coins.I extend my hand to her for more. She asks, "Oh, you want a receipt"? I say, "NO - 2,000 Yen!" She unapologetically gives the 2,000 yen.

Paprika

Soundtrack from a great anime (Paprika) I just watched:
Sountrack by Susumu Hirasawa
(Click here for Movie trailer)

Flight problems

A bit discomforting when I took my flight to Taiwan, and the emergency breathing supplies kept popping down from above a passenger's seat. Japan was impressive in gettin 4-5 technicians on the plane in about 10 minutes, but it took about 15 for them to fix it...

Expensive Mushrooms

Here are yet some more expensive mushrooms, from Tokyo, Japan. JPY 25,000, or about USD 250... but you do get 5 large ones.

Krispy Kreme @ Shibuya, Tokyo

I finally had an opportune moment to get some Krispy Kreme donuts in Japan, after having been here for almost a year. While buying some movie tickets at Toho Cinemas on a Sunday afternoon, I noticed the line was quite reasonable at the Shibuya Krispy Kreme (about 10 deep, vs. the usual ~40+). It was definitely worth it. They do it right in Japan, keeping the fresh, warm donuts coming off the production line. Plus, they give you free glazed donuts (warm ones) while waiting in line! Here's a video from someone random online.

The photos above say it all. Check out the glaze pouring down... mmmm, donuts.
FYI - in Hong Kong, Krispy Kreme pulled out last year after just 2 years there. I can say, from first-hand experience, that they did not know how to do it. The donuts there were always cold, room temperature, never warm. I once asked, "do you have any warm ones?". The clerk responded, "what is that?". 'Nuff said.

"Pleasure Map"

A regular Pool Hall & Darts Bar, with an interesting name on the directory map.

Japanese Beer Branding

Got to love the Beer Brand names in Japan

Unidentified volcano-looking sponge

This thing moves around the Live Rock, with no apparent mouth or eyes... but it's survived for months...

Clown at home

Survey says....he likes it!

Mantis Shrimp / Shako (蝦蛄) / Lai Liu Ha (攋尿蝦)

Since I don't have a quarantine tank, I drop my Live Rock directly into my tank, after drip acclimation. The LFS in Tokyo I go to told me that that was fine. So far it hasn't been too much of an issue, in terms of zero deaths-caused-by-LR-nitrate-stank-pollution. However, I have had a couple of interesting hitchhikers.

This one here is a Mantis Shrimp, about an inch long. I didn't know what these were til I did some research... weeks after I bought my LR, I noticed some googly things moving in the dark. The reason why it was so compelling was probably because of this:

• "Mantis shrimp possess hyperspectral colour vision, allowing up to 12 colour channels extending in the ultraviolet[10]. Their eyes (both mounted on mobile stalks and constantly moving about independently of each other) are similarly variably coloured, and are considered to be the most complex eyes in the animal kingdom.[11][12]"
  (Source: see below) The independent eye movement was definitely interesting, and weird.

I couldn't get a pic, but this sucker was peeping out of his hideout in the LR. After id'g it on this out online, at TalkingReef, I quickly found that this species is a deadly one, which kills other things in your tank. What sealed the deal for me was this video, of a pet Mantis Shrimp (a huge one), killing a crab.

Nicknames: Thumb Splitters, Sea Locusts, Prawn Killers



Also interesting, is that Japanese eat this as Sashimi (Shako 蝦蛄), and the Cantonese eat this stir fried (affectionately called, Lai-Liu-Ha, "pissing shrimp" (攋尿蝦) due to the fact that they spray water when taken out of the tanks live). I remember the stir fry, these suckers have sharp shells, and can easily cut your fingers.

(Right: This is what I call "Mantis-Style")

(Left: Mantis-Style 2. Right: Playing Dead - these critters are smart. I think it was doing that so it could bolt if I gave it a chance).

How to catch a Mantis Shrimp:
I grabbed the Live Rock it was in, put it in the sink, and used a hypodermic-type thing I bought in the 100 Yen shop (in the makeup section) to spray room-temperature water at the hole. It slithered out, like a millipede, into another hole. Sprayed again, and it fell onto the sink. That was it.

The fish store agreed to take it back (no credit of course :)). They were like, "Shakko...!"

Source: Wikipedia

Tokyo Ramen Show 2009

We decided to check out the Tokyo Ramen Show 2009...West of Shibuya on the Hanzomon Line, about 4 stops. First, you wait in line for about 25 minutes to buy your tickets (pic with the guy in the purple shirt) from machines, like the ones outside Ramen shops. Each ticket is 750 and gets you a bowl of ramen. You can buy multiple.

Next, you have to wait in line again for each different vendor, so you need to wait another 20-few hours, depending on the popularity of the vendor.

I chose R-14, which had Tonkatsu ramen, and a moderate line.

• Soup base was tasty. It was probably pork fat, judging from the foaming layer of grease on top, and the amount of burnage my face experienced when collaterally caught by flying drops of it while slurping noodles
• 2-3 slices of fatty pork was of good quality, good balance of pork and fat
• Noodles had good bounce
• The egg was the most disappointing ingredient. In fact, it was the most disappointing egg I've had in Japan to date. Mainly due to it being hard boiled - I've gotten used to eating soft boiled eggs here...
  

A "Cool" idea that just wasn't...

As I ran out of contact lens solution late one evening in Tokyo, I was forced to settle for what the local Konbini (Convenience store) had. They actually carried a well-regarded lens care brand, "Rohto". I'd used their eye drops for a few years while I was in Hong Kong.

However, the only type of lens solution they had was called "Soft one Cool". I knew it was probably different than regular solution, but had no choice. After soaking the lenses for the night, putting them in my eyes was anything but Cool. It BURNED!!! Maybe my eyes weren't used to this sensation, but I'm a bit too paranoid to leave them in my eyes for a few minutes to "see how it goes". Therefore, I just wore glasses the whole day and bought my normal Renu/ Optifree solution later.

Motanaiyi!!
Here it is for sale online.

Delicate wrapping in Japan

Although Japan prides itself on its almost burdensome recycling policy (involves separating your trash into about 10 categories), it spares no trees (or plastic) when it comes to wrapping. Check out my eggs and tomatos, which were delivered as part of my entire groceries (free over USD $50).
Dozen Eggs:
Bubble wrap on the outside:

Plastic bag inside of the bubble wrap:
Plastic container on the inside of the plastic bag (with a once-use plastic seal strip):
Tomatoes:

Styrofoam wrapping taped to outside:

Plastic wrap with styrofoam tray inside of styrofoam wrapping:

Japan in Taiwan

Taiwanese have an affection for all things Japan, probably due to their close "history" (Japan occupying Taiwan). Here you see a Baskin Robbins inside a Matsusei supermarket (large enough to have its own parking lot) - note the Japanese writing below "Baskin Robbins".

Beer Girl in Japan

I attended this year's Japanese pro basketball league finals (termed the "BJ Finals"). Below are some shots of a girl selling draft beer to fans. You can see that she's actually carrying the keg on her back!