JAAAAPPPAAANNNNNN Part 1

It's been a week since the SO and I got back from Japan. I was Japan'ed out so I had to take a break from anything Japan related. For once in my life I didn't even want to eat any Japanese food. 

I'm getting old. My parents are getting older. This means my grandparents are really getting old. It was time for a visit. Originally the plan was to couple a Japan trip with a Vietnam trip. Return to the SO and my ancestral homelands. But, my  grandmother was in the hospital recovering so we moved up our Japan trip from the winter to February.

From JFK to Narita is about 13.5 hours. I ended up sleeping the entire time except for about 2 hours where I watched In Time. Great concept, horrible execution of a movie. 

We stayed at the Hotel New Otani in Akasaka. Not a bad hotel and the view from our room was quite nice. The orange phallic looking thing is Tokyo Tower. No great city is without a phallic tower or monument.

The concrete jungle of Tokyo. It really does remind me of New York but with more polite people. Notice I didnt say nice because the Japanese are masters of being polite to your face but shit-talking you behind your back. 

The next morning we planned to eat lunch with my cousins. We arrived at the restaurant about 45 minutes early so the SO decided it was appropriate to make use of the time to eat. Breakfast. 45 minutes before lunch. 

For some inexplicable reason I was craving Dim Sum so I told my cousin to find a good Dim Sum restaurant. He suggested soup dumplings at Jin Din Rou. Why not eat Chinese food the first day we arrived to Japan. Don't hate. 

Where the magic happens. MTV Soup Dumplings style. 

To the delight of many a non-Japanese speaking tourist in Japan, Japanese menus are full of pictures. Just point and smile. 

Taiwan beer. The Taiwanese need to work on their branding. 

Pork. Looks undercooked but it was delicious. 

Mabo tofu so hot that it almost melted my face. It melted the other half of my body the next day. Hope you're not reading this while eating lunch/dinner or chili.

The main event. I believe these were pork soup dumplings. They were so juicy inside. The juices just squirt right out when you put them in your mouth.....Juvenile humor on a roll. 

Macha flavored soup dumplings. Very gimmicky and they barely tasted like green tea. 

Mango pudding. I love mango. Meh on pudding so I only liked the dessert. 

After lunch and after visiting my grandma in the hospital we went for a walk to my old neighborhood park. They were having a Plum Tree Festival. The plum trees weren't in bloom yet but the Japanese will use any excuse for a festival. 

Our version of street food. Very orderly. Look at all those people patiently waiting in line. 

The lady explaining to me that just because I was from America didn't mean it was free. Actually she just said 400 yen pay up. We also had another snack to go along with this so that meant that within a 6 hour period, we had breakfast, lunch and a snack of okonomiyaki and red bean cake. We ate a nice 10 course dinner about 2 hours after this. The SO came back from the Japan trip with some major knee pain. I was pretty sure that because of our excessive eating it was gout. 

Our third and final day in Tokyo started off with the SO claiming victory over jet lag. Uhh I just noticed that metal handle bar looking thing. I can only think of one reason you'd put a metal bar like that on your headboard. For yoga.

The hotel grounds of the New Otani includes an amazing garden. I'm just waiting for that day when the illegitimate heir of the New Otani empire builds like 80 love hotels where that garden is.

Rock garden right outside the wedding reception ballroom. Helpful for all the grooms wanting to achieve inner peace while they sign their life away. Ommmmmmmm..

It looks cold doesn't it? It was. Just a bit above freezing. 

In the garden they had a teppan-yaki place and a tea house. How kitschy. 

The koi in the pond were some of the biggest koi I've seen in my life. Suckers are living the good life. 

Like moths to a light, they think all humans will give them food. I taunted them a bit. Karma is gonna bite me when I choke on a fish bone or something.

I asked how mad she would be if I pushed her in the lake. I needed to ask...just in case. 

For being in the middle of Tokyo this garden was really impressive. All I could think about was how much money they're losing not building a 10 story parking structure there. Nature schmature. Can nature buy that Rolex Datejust? I didn't think so. A 10 story parking structure charging 15/hour will. 

The building on the left was the teppan-yaki place and the building on the right was a Christian church. The church even had a minister. This scene is like the Japanese Hobbit. The SO would comment at this time"you'd fit right in hobbit boy".

So that carries us through Tokyo. After this we were whisked away to Hakone for some time at the hot springs. Part 2 next.  

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