I think Manny Pacquiao is going to lose. It's like in Rocky 3, once Rocky was the champ, he went all soft.
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It's weird, seeing the evolution (a kinder way of saying "growing old") of tatay; Before he would be called "Kuya" by various people such as vendors, dispatchers, marketpeople. This would then turn into "Manong". On the weekend however as we were going to the cemetary, a dispatcher called out to him "Tatay o sakay na kayo!". To think I will follow the same path. (cue "The Circle of Life")
The next day, I would be going to Hakone, home of the oh-so-famous Mt. Fuji! The plan would be to go there, maybe go down to Moto-Hakone, visit Lake Ashi, try to get the best possible view of Mt. Fuji, and then back to the hotel to get a traditional high cuisine dinner, a kaiseiki. However, things would not go as planned.
I thought to myself that I needed to check out some serious toy stores in Tokyo, otherwise my trip would be for naught. The nearest one being Yamashiro at Ueno. At the Ueno train station, I thought to myself that I would have to play this by ear, having no map or directions, and as soon as I walk out, I see a building that says "Yamashiro". Ah. So, in we go!
A whole plethora of curious and toys met me as I went in. Of note are these freaky little doodads, where their bobbing heads entrance and freak you out at the same time. Imaging being faced with an entire display of these miniature monstrosities, their slowly waving heads casting their spell.
On the bottom floor I found some awesome Naruto shirts, however at 4000 yen a pop, they unfortunately remained a dream. On the upper floors I saw some second-hand classic TMNT toys! It was quite a trip to see some toys from your childhood, my mind being instantly flooded with memories when we were imbibed with "Turtle Power".
Hehe, David Blaine, your secret is out!
Since today would be "visit toy stores in Tokyo" day, I decided to head over to Ginza to check out another famous toystore whose name I have forgot. However, this didnt seem too be too good of an idea, as it sported pretty much the same as what I saw at Yamashiro, with the exception of a few things that I didnt take a picture of.
A funny thing was, at the entrance of the store, they had a Lego display section. On the widescreen LCD TV, they were playing a computer animate Lego movie, where it showed a Lego construction worker trying to muster order in the Lego factory, I stood in front of the monitor and began watching. Being enthralled by his/its antics, I didn't realize the time passing by, and when I turned around to leave, I found that I was blocking the view of around 20 little Japanese kids who were trying to watch the movie, but couldn't cause some 22-year-old fruit was blocking their view. It was time to leave.
Deciding that I had wasted enough time, it was time to leave for Hakone. Heading to Tokyo Station, I reserved my seat, and this time, I would buy the right bento box. Carefully looking at the display picture for each box, I chose what looked to be a tonkatsu meal, and headed to the Kodama tracks to await the departure of my train. This time, I was able to take a picture of the bullet train from the outside.
I didnt ride that one. This was the one I rode to get to Hakone:
The shinkansen would stop at Odawara, and from there I could take the Hokane-Tonzan line to get to Hakone-Yumoto. Once on the train, I knew the procedure. I flipped down the tray, opened my bottle of Aquarius, and opened my bento box. To my satisfaction, I was correct.
Hell yeah! Never could so much joy be contained in such a small cardboard box.
The Hakone-Tonzan line was a 5 car train, that traversed slowly along tracks that had been lain at the foothills of a mountain, a far cry from the hustle and bustle of the Tokyo subway system. It was indeed good to get away from the big city once in a while.
Hakone! A sleepy mountain village town, nestled at the foothills... actually, scratch that, it was a bustling mountain village town, a tourist spot for Japanese and foreigners alike. Naturally, this meant it was crowded with Japanese tourists, and probably 1 foreigner, ie. me.
Being the intelligent person that I was, I thought I could rely on my memory to guide me to my hotel, however once there, the vision of walking past 2 bridges, across the river, and up the hill was lost when I couldnt get a proper bearing as to where I was. Luckily, right across the road from the train station was a information booth/store. A quick query and I was provided with a map, and a pen-guided-line as to where the hotel was. Yes! After being informed that there was a shuttle that takes me to the hotel, I politely declined and said I would walk. (naks!)
Walking through the slight drizzle, I encountered souvenir shop after souvenir shop. It was indeed a place that catered to tourists. Some of the sights:
I realized that the hotel I would be staying at was a medium class hotel. What sucked was that it again, catered more to Japanese tourists. With nary an english sign in site. Usually you would arrive by car or by shuttle, and then would be enthusiastically greeted by hotel staff as you got off. Having walked there, this kind of threw me off, and the receptionist was caught in a rush to have someone attend to me. Suddenly a very short middle-aged Japanese woman appeared at my side garbed in a kimono, not looking unlike Ate Ne, saying a hearty greeting in Japanese, and started leading me towards the elevator, all the while engaging me in Japanese conversation, me all the while baffled at what she was saying. I found that all the other guests recieved the same treatment, being led to their rooms in the same fashion. The lady then caught on that I didn't speak Jap, and she asked me a question, judging from her tone of voice and from grasping some of the words she said, she asked if I was Japanese and/or if I understood japanese, and when I smiled and shook my head, she nodded knowingly, but still continued to speak to me in Jap :| But she did throw in some English phrases and/or words here or there. Like slowly reading my room number. And that was it I think.
After being led to my room, which was pretty bare, but did have a nice view, she set down a cup of tea, informed me that dinner would be served at 7, and several other things I couldnt remember and/or couldnt understand. After she left, I explored my spacious yet sparse room. In the center was a table, two chairs by the window, and a TV. And, that was it. So first order of business, it was time to go to the hot springs! After deciphering the non-english map of the hotel, I discovered that in my building, they only had the shared indoor hot springs. But that's not why I went here. The outdoor hot springs were located in the annex building, and after some exploring, I found that there was a covered walkway that led to the annex building, approximately 10m away. Opening the closet, I found my robe, and five sashes next to it.
Donning my robe, and tying the sash around my waist, I headed out. No, I didn't take a picture of myself in the said robe. And no, I wasn't able to take a picture of the hot springs. Privacy and all that dontchaknow.
Wandering the halls of the hotel, I found that the sash was very long and kept getting caught up in my feet, and found that the other guests didn't seem to have the same problem. Only after finishing up at the hot springs, did I realize that they tied the sash twice around your waist, and it was tied in a bow at the back. Once back in my room, I was able to apply this technique, and lo and behold if I didn't look like your average Japanese guest. To while the time away before dinner, I watch some Japanese TV. One of the more interesting shows that I watched, was a robot competition, where people would build robots, and would battle it out with other people's creations in a series of competitions. There was something similar in the US and UK I think, where these ugly behemoths would do battle inside a closed steel area, these unwieldly creations of steel forged into simple shapes, some that resembled a shoebox, that could only perform basic functions such as ramming, or having a longer appendage used to flip over opponents. Their Japanese counterparts stood on a much higher level.
The robots on this show, where indeed robots. The different events included a race, a fight, and at the end an obstacle course. Your robot had to be able to perform in all of these events. The most impressive robot was, literally a transformer. About a foot and a half tall, for the race it took the form of a dragster, and was capable of transforming into a stand-up robot ready to fight it's opponent. It's creator even had the gall to include the ability to breakdance. In the race, one of the robots that was in the lead, stopped right in front of the finish line, turned to its opponents, waved at them, turned around, and finished the race.
Five minutes past 7 o'clock and I hear a strange wailing coming from my door, and I realize that it's the Japanese hotel lady about to serve dinner. Opening the door for her, I seat/kneel myself at the table, and bringing forth little plate after little plate from large plastic trays, she sets out dinner. Which looks like this:
She leaves, and I think she's done. I wonder what to do with some of the plates, one of which is a steel plate with a piece of raw meat on top. I know that the Japanese enjoy raw fish, but I don't think that this lack of cooking extends to meat. Underneath is what appears to be a wax candle, with no wick, but I assume needed to be lighted. Using the automatic lighter she had left behind, I touch the flame to the top, and it catches flame immediately. Ah yes, time to enjoy the sushi while the meat cooks :D
The lady comes back with a few more plates and my bowl of rice, and is delightfully surprised to find that I already have lighted the meat. With a final low bow and a smile, she leaves me to dinner.
Some of the things I had a tough time deciphering, such as the contents of whats inside that small bowl in the middle, and what the yellow thing is, and what is inside it. But most of it was beyond delicious. The salmon sushi slices literally melted in your mouth, add soy sauce w/ wasabi and a dash of saffron, it's too good. Also, raw shrimp isn't too bad either.
Also included was a small shot glass of shochu, Japanese wine, and that too was very very good. While eating dinner, you couldn't help but wonder the preparation that the chefs went through for this dinner, especially since they have to make the same thing for a few hundred guests.
Close to 830pm, she comes back, this time to clean up, and also brings along a male attendant, to lay down the bedding on the tatami mat. While they did this, I watched another contest on tv, this time where owners pitted their pet beetles against each other. One of the contests, was to see which beetle could hold the most number of helium balloons without being carried away. I think the winning beetle manageed to hold 22 balloons. Another contest was to see which beetle could carry the strongest load, and the winning load I think was 1.3kg!
The one above shows an obstacle course, where the beetles must cut through materials of increasing hardness, the first I think being a block of tofu, and then a sausage, and finally a sushi roll.
And then, sleep.
The following events are not really of any importance, so I'll summarize it. Upon waking up and checking out, I head back to Tokyo. Checking in, I head back out, and spend the rest of the day shopping for gifts for other people. This takes me to Harajuku,
Back to Akihabara, for lunch at an upscale ramen place,
Shinjuku, Shibuya, and all the other good places. Having a quick beer at the hostel bar, going to bed early, for tomorrow, I WOULD BE GOING HOME!!!
After wandering the temples, I decided to go back to the hostel for a bit before setting out again. I then realized that since it was around 330pm, and most of the temples closed at around 4-5pm, it would be too late to go out and about to go see them. I decided I would see the sights in Ponto-cho, maybe see a geisha in the streets, have dinner at the ramen place I spied the other day, or maybe the eel place, and then head back.
Because I had been misled in the fact that my bus pass covered all train lines, I decided to walk west two blocks in order to get to one of the train stations that was actually covered by my pass. A surprising discovery, as I was soon met by a giant doorway, which would lead to a larger temple.
Heading in, I found two giant structures, one giant temple, and one giant building, which I would later find out was a covering for another temple that was being rebuilt. Initially I was afraid to take a picture because I thought you weren’t allowed or that maybe you had to pay, but I would again later find out that you could take pics. Hence, here are some pics.
Since I couldn't get the entire temple in one shot, here is two shots of it. Using your imagination you can mentally join the two pictures together and then see it in one shot. :D
Going up the steps, I then realized that it was a Buddhist temple. If I could be bothered to run upstairs to get the brochure I would be able to tell you its name too. But I can't. So, um yeah. There was a guard at the door, which I am sure was there not only to prevent vandalism, but also to prevent the taking of pictures. And besides, even if I took pictures, they would not suffice, it was one of those things that you needed to be there to appreciate. Inside was a giant hall, where on the far wall where what seemed to be paintings or wood carvings depicting the story of a Buddhist, among several giant wooden pillars holding buttresses carved with other adornments. People would come in and sit on the tatami mat that covered the entire area, and would pray/meditate. I don’t pray to any Buddhist Gods, but I too sat down and simply marvelled that this structure was still standing, and even the fact that the people of their time had managed to build an ornately constructed building that would last up until now. Sure, maybe it had been restored or rebuilt, but still.
Outside was another giant structure/gateway,
And also a slice of roof showing a cross section of the other temple.
Taking the train thanks to my ill-fated bus/train pass, I decided to look at the Kyoto Imperial Palace and its surrounding garden. Again, another not-so-good decision. Sure the temple and its surrounding garden were good looking and whatever, but the area that it covered it was huuuge. I had blisters on my feet, aching muscles, and rashes on my inner thighs from them rubbing together (lol, that’s gross). I wasn’t about to wonder around this massive area just to say that I saw it. So this is the closest I got to the Imperial Palace, (and the closest my camera could zoom in on). And it was 5pm! The Imperial Palace was closed, and even so, they don’t allow general admission. You want to see it go to Japan.
Also, on the bridge on the way out, there was a bunch of carp vying for my attention, and hopefully some morsels of food. However, I spied what seemed to be a smaller, rounder carp, and upon closer inspection, I found that it was a turtle! Awesome!
In another case of not so serendipity, later that evening I decided I would try to look for the ramen shop in the shopping arcade in downtown Kyoto. Feeling very sleepy and drowsy after another day of walking around, I chanced upon a doorway in the shopping arcade for a tonkatsu restaurant. Breaded pork chops + tonkatsu sauce?? I’m in! And they have an English menu?? It’s on! It’s a tiny doorway squashed in between two stores in the crowded shopping arcade, barely noticeable if it weren’t for the menu being displayed and the table with the plastic food samples. I really should’ve taken a picture. And pictures of the restaurant’s interior would have definitely been profitable. Fatigue and hunger must’ve clouded my judgement.
Anyway, following the doorway, there was a long path along a pebbled garden which led to a really large, dimly lit restaurant which seemed to be full of people. It wasn’t so big so that it resembled a market place, but big enough to accommodate a large number of people yet still maintain a quiet ambiance. There was a large square table in the middle, presumably for those dining on their own or in pairs, and this was where I was sat down. After ordering the cheapest thing on the menu, a Katsudon boxed dinner, ie. Pork chop over rice with some vegetables and a raw egg dropped on top served with a bowl soup, which was 950 yen (!), everything else was over 1400 yen. So yeah. I saw that other people who were waiting for their meals where also given a small bowl and a grinding tool. They then spooned in a couple of spoonfuls of sesame seeds from the container on the table, and began grinding it on their own. They then spooned in what I am guessing was tonkatsu sauce, which they would probably use for their main meal when it arrived. I was not given the respective bowls, so I assumed my meal did not deserve that honour That’s what you get for being a cheap bastard.
While waiting for my meal, I noticed that two male white teens had entered the restaurant, and were also seated at the same square table. They must’ve ordered the good stuff, because they were then given the sesame seed/tonkatsu bowl. Utterly bewildered and not having the same fortune as myself to have been in there early to enough to spy the other patrons, they were then being instructed by the non-english speaking waiter, and then they were left to their own devices. I sat there thinking self-righteously to myself, well, at least being Asian I have the good fortune of not looking like an idiot, being able to blend in with the local populace, not being hindered by pondering stares or… Teka muna! I looked back at the two white guys and they were now being instructed by the two cute Japanese teen girls sitting next to them. The guy would ladel in one spoonful of sauce, and she would say “Moto” which I think means “more”, which would be followed by a small bout of giggling from the pair, and this would be repeated until the formula was complete. Ako din ako din! Hey over here, I’m a tourist too!! *sigh.
Anyway, my medium sized Katsudon box arrived along with a small bowl of soup, and man, it was too good. The one thing I have noticed about food in Japan, is that the portions may be smaller than those found in Canada, but they make up for it in taste. After eating my meal, I wasn’t necessarily full, but I was satisfied alone by its taste. In Canada at school we would order Pasta Alfredo at the school food court for 7 bucks I think, when poured into the Styrofoam container I’m sure it weighed about 1kg. Our stomachs would be bursting at the seams after eating it, sometimes not even being able to finish it. Yet here, for approximately 9 bucks, in terms of size I would get a lot less, however it was definitely more satisfying.
Good bye Kyoto, welcome back Tokyo! The next day took the Shinkansen back to Tokyo, where after checking back in at the hostel, I went out again to visit Akihabara! Oooh yeah! Now here is where my money would be spent!
Alas, this was not to be, as Mimay’s warning soon reminded me “Hindi na ako dollar earner”, and my wallet was reined in. Sure there was a lot of gadgetry on display, but most of which I could live without. One thing that I did want to check out was the anime and toy stores, so wandering off we went. I entered what seemed to be a comic/toy store, and perused the first floor and its contents, which contained your normal fare, rack after rack after rack of anime DVDs, all of which would be useless to me without knowing any Japanese, and besides, the subtitled counterparts could be easily downloaded, anime books, some toys, sometimes costumes, but not necessarily what I would be looking for. Up the stairs we go, and it seems that when looking upon the DVD racks, they seem to have a pinkish tinge to them, upon inspection of the cases, and looking at the giant posters plastered everywhere on the wall, I find that I have chanced upon the Hentai section. Ah. So. Next floor. Ascending the stairs, inspecting the posters and the same cases, it seems that this is the second floor of the Hentai section, except here there is a definite lack of clothes on the characters on the covers and on the posters. As Rufa Mae says “Ibang levelling na to!” (A joke that I would not yet think of at the time). So. Next floor. Here again I am greeted by the same tinge of pink, except that it now features smiling Japanese girls instead of winking hand-drawn anime characters. It seems I have reached the soft-core porn section. So. Next floor. I think you’re getting my drift here, and will need not to guess what I have chanced upon. That’s right, the hard-core porn section. It seems that the further you ascend the store, the higher up the porn ladder you go. Starting from the lowly comic book store, it slowly spirals to a higher level of debauchery. Maybe some English signs would’ve been helpful. And the shady types who were coming from the higher levels should’ve also been a clue. And this didn’t happen in only one store, I found that this was a common setup in most comic/toy shops.
I also visited one of the many video game stores. One think I like about the Japanese is they love the Nintendo DS. Another common scene in many of the shops in Akihabara, was a display of DS Lites with boxes showing the different colours available, and a label on top of each one declaring that they were sold out. And with the impending release of FF3 (at the time I was there) I’m sure that this played a fact in increasing the ever-increasing demand.
There was a store that I went to, after perusing the first floor which seemed to have all games and peripherals for all the systems, and I thought to myself, teka, where is the DS stuff? I then wandered to the floor above, and in an eyebrow-raising moment, I found that the entire 2nd floor (as small as “floors” are in Japan) was dedicated to the DS and its related paraphernalia.
Everyone here plays it. On the train, I spied what seemed to be a tween girl, playing an aquamarine DS on the train, with her mom looking over her shoulder. I then saw the girl explaining to her mom what she was doing, and moments later, the DS had now switched hands and was in the hands of the mother. In Kyoto on the train back from Kurama Onsen, there was a typical kikay girl, probably in her mid-twenties. She first brought out her lip gloss, touching up her lips, then her comb, brushed her hair, mirror and powder, dab her and there on the cheeks, and then finally brought out her DS to play on the journey home. On the plane, the lady on the opposite aisle had brought along her DS to while away the time. Even the Gameboy SP/Micro enjoys steady popularity in Japan. The entire time that I was there, I saw ONE person with a PSP. The inner Nintendo fanboy me in shed a tear of joy.
From Akihabara, I then moved on to visit the sights and sounds of Shinjuku. Typical of your big city in Japan, it had the similar features, tall buildings, neon lights and bustling people. I decided to visit More Amusements with directions thanks to the people at SRK. Past the 150 yen sushi place, I found More which seemed to be no different than your average Japanese arcade. Ascending the levels till I got to the level where they had the different fighters, I found, like your average Japanese arcade, there was no MvC2 cab Watching action from the other machines, I found there was this girl playing Guilty Gear, who was freaking kicking ass and taking names. You wouldn’t find this in the western world. Well, you would but not as common.
I should’ve taken a movie instead.
I wandered over to the 3rd Strike machines, where there were two available spots to play. Checking my pockets for a 50 yen piece, I pondered whether I should play or not. After the embarrassment I had suffered at a-cho in Kyoto, I was having second thoughts. But whatever, I don’t even play 3rd Strike, and when would I ever have the chance to play against the world’s best? So in the 50 yen piece went, and away we go against the Akuma player. Needless to say, I lost the match, but also won one match, and I had the feeling that I could beat this guy. 2nd match went a similar way. And the 3rd. But in Round 3 of the 4th match, after I threw him and the KO flashed on the screen, I realized I had won. I had won my first match on Japanese soil! Hell yeah! He then picked Yun and raped the hell out of me, and the next few matches as well, and I then realized that he maybe let me win so that he could change characters, but whatever, I’ll take the win. :D
Having enough of More, I walked around Shinjuku taking in the different sights and perusing the different stores, and deciding it was time for dinner, I decided to try to look for the sukiyaki restaurant pointed out in the Lonely Planet book. I think you can tell where this is going. After spending probably about an hour and a half of just walking around the similar area, I wasn’t able to find it. I also saw along the way a white middle-aged couple also holding a thick book and trying to point their way around, and thought that maybe they were trying to find the same restaurant.
Even though I didn’t find that restaurant, I did find a good Udon place. In remembrance of the restaurant that I didn’t find, I ordered the beef sukiyaki udon bowl, which looked like thus;
The black ladle would be used to spoon the soup from the big bowl to the smaller bowl, and then eaten with chopsticks and by slurping from the smaller bowl. The challenge was in getting the very long and slippery noodles into the smaller bowl. The long noodles would not fit into the shallow ladle, they’d slide out as soon as you tried to spoon them in, and using the chopsticks to carry them in helped only a little bit. I looked at the other guests who had similar meals and found that they had no trouble, and I assumed I was the (silent) laughing stock of the restaurant, even though they paid me no heed. But after persevering, I did manage to get through the noodle problem.
After paying the entrance fee, we walked along the gravel path, past some Japanese-y looking structures, such as a bell tower, what seemed to be a smaller temple, and very clean gardens, and then finally, we came upon a lake, and near the end of the lake sat the Golden Temple. Of course, there were hordes of tourists on the shore taking their pictures. Travelling as a solo tourist, I soon became easy fodder for those wanting to get their pictures taken, and most of the people, actually all of the people that asked me to do it where Japanese. I explained to them that I couldn’t speak Japanese, but I could click the shutter and count down 1-2-3 if that’s all they wanted.
I like this guy. Oh yeah, looking pretty gangsta there right in front of the Kinkakuji. Again, I was pretty late in taking this pic, his expression was way more exaggerated a few secs ago.
Heh, I saw this lady near the exit, where she was looking forlornly at her empty wallet. She wasn’t moving at all, so I took a pic. :D As Mimay would say, “Wawa naman sha”.
There was more things to see along the path, more mini-temples, shrines, immaculate gardens, overpriced souvenir shops, you know the rest. So on to the next temple!
After consulting the trusty bus map, I decided that the most accessible one would be Ginkakuji temple. When I got there, there was a long street going up a hill leading to the temple’s entrance. This street was lined with food shops, (which I took lots of free samples from, mochi is too good) and again, overpriced souvenir shops. A lot of them. And of course, the street was packed with tourists. i.e the pic above.
And at the top, there was a large tent set up where a huge crowd of people where writing something on these pieces of wood, and then where handing them to the people in the tent. I’m guessing it was for the Bon Festival, where they burn the wooden pieces in the shape of a giant character “Ten”, so big that it is visible from the township. Great timing that they do it on the night of Aug 16, and yet I was scheduled to leave Kyoto on the morning of Aug 16.
So anyway, this temple was a bit different than the first, it also had a sand sculpture, with a cylindrical shape surrounded by what seemed to be a lateral pattern. I later found out that this was to represent Mt. Fuji and the surrounding Lake Ashi. (I think. Or so they say).
Connecting from the Ginkakuji Temple, is the Path of Philosophy, where it was said that a philosopher (can't remember his name) once trod so that he could think/philosophize. Naturally, I would need to walk this path. Little did I know, that it wasn’t so easy, as it took 40 minutes to walk along, in the sweltering 38 degree heat. Maybe the lack of tourists should’ve been a sign, as no one in their right mind would willingly walk this path. Sure I did meet the odd tourist on the way or following me, but not the mass rush you found on the street leading to the Ginkakuji temple. Rightly placed along the path where vending machines, where I had to buy water/pocari sweat/aquarius (the latter two being forms of Japanese Gatorade, that happen to be quite tasty and refreshing) along the way.
The path happened to be alongside a canal, and being Filipino, there were several things that I found wrong about this.
The lack of garbage, squatters, makeshift houses built along the banks, etc was quite disconcerting. Also the fact that the water was crystal clear was quite disturbing. And to top this all off, you could smell absolutely nothing, no reek of rotten garbage, pollution, none of it. Very unsettling.
At the end, I’m not even sure if I reached the Nyakuoji Shrine, but there was a shrine that I reached, and pictures of this would suffice.
I thought I should do more exploring, but then I saw the path that lead to another part of the shrine area, and found that it was more steps/hillside/uphill climbing.
Screw that, I’m all templed out, it was now mid afternoon, the sandwich I had eaten from 7-11 this morning had now been digested and used, and it was time to find the ramen place mentioned in the Lonely Planet book. I took the bus to the Gion area, and while reading the book, it mentioned several good ramen places that were in the Ginkakuji area. Great. So trying to make the best of things, I wander down the alley which the book says it is in (I think) yet somehow I am not able to find it. No surprise there. Half the things that I tried to look for that are mentioned in the book I never find. Anyway, I keep wandering down the alleyway, which looks like your typical crowded Asian alleyway with neon signs and whatnot, till I come to the near end of it, where there are several shops/restaurants with traditional Japanese designs, and one that even displays an English menu on the outside! Okonomiyaki? Wahey, let’s give this a go.
So I duck inside, take off my shoes, and inside I find three sweating white people, presumably waiting for their seats, sitting on the floor in the tiny waiting area. The waiter then pops his head in, and I just raise my finger indicating only one person while saying "Hitori-de" which I think means just one person, he nods, says something incomprehensible in Japanese, and goes away. Turning disguise mode on, I then listen in on the white peoples conversation, where they talk about someone’s girlfriend and drama drama drama. Blah. I then get thinking as to how big this restaurant really is, cause from the outside all you see is a small doorway, with the ceiling looking hardly any taller than myself. A few minutes later, the 3 white people are called in, and a few minutes later, so am I. I am led into the main restaurant, and what I see is a small little room, with three tables, with a family seated/kneeled at one, and 2 people at each of the other 2 tables. Situated on each table is a hot plate where they seem to be getting their food from. Facing the three tables was the main kitchen, where you could see cook literally slaving over a hot oven, well, not really oven, and in front of that was a long hot plate/bench, where the three white people where situated at one end, and myself at the other end. It left about a space of a meter between us. In front of me there was a small metal bowl and a spatula. Alarm bells started ringing off, I was thinking that this was maybe a place where we had to cook our own okonomiyaki. Man, I certainly hoped not. Choosing the pork okonomiyaki and a small mug of Asahi beer (much as I was getting accoustomed to the creamy taste of Asahi, the prices kinda got to me). The waiter soon brought a small bowl with a 5cm cube of boiled tofu topped with soy sauce and shallots. Great. So taking the chopsticks, I dug in to the “entrée”. A few minutes later, the waiter then slid on to the hot plate in front of me, my pork okonomiyaki. After observing the other patrons, I realized that the hotplate in front of you was to keep the food warm, while the spatula was used to serve it in your small bowl. It all makes sense! However, the thing that got to me was, what if you were a slow eater? That meant the longer you took to eat, the higher the chance of you food being burnt right? I suppose they keep the heat low enough to prevent this from happening, but by the time that I got to my last morsel of okonomiyaki, there was already a black crust forming underneath, however still tasty.
