Kisoji （Shabu Shabu restaurant）

There are several very expensive dishes in Japan like Sushi, Tempura, but today let me introduce a kind of steak called "Shabu Shabu". You can have it at home too, but if you want to have a genuine one, I recommend you go to a restaurant.

This restaurant called "Kisoji" is where you can have authentic Shabu Shabu. You should pay at least 32 dollars per person.

What was good about this restaurant was I could see this very good Japanese garden while I was waiting. Luckily I didn't feel any tremors while I was here.

The main dish was of course Shabu Shabu, but as a side dish they served "Sashimi", which is slices of raw fish and shell. You can see tuna, squid, and scallop.

Another side dish was Tempura. The biggest one on the dish was a deep-fried prawn.

And these slices were the beef for Shabu Shabu. They had more fat than ordinary beef. This alone cost as much as 50 dollars.

Before you have a slice, you should stir it in hot water and then into this sauce which had a miso taste and ground sesame. The process where you stir beef in hot water is said to have the sound "Shabu Shabu".

And this is the pan with which you boil water. We put some kids of vegetables before putting in the beef. The pan is called "Nabe" in Japanese.

And as a dessert I had "Kuzu-mochi", which was made from arrowroot. It was very soft like rice cake. The black stuff you see nearside was syrup made from black sugar.

I seldom have dinner at a posh restaurant, but my brother got promoted, so we came here to celebrate. =)

Tokyo is still enjoyable!

I do understand foreign people don't want to visit Japan now, but we have fewer earthquakes than March, and radiation levels are dropping nationwide. It is still risky to visit northeastern Japan now, but at least you can enjoy shopping in Tokyo, where you wouldn't have strong tremors. 

 I was relieved to see more people walking in Akihabara than in March. The high was about 24 degrees, so I just had to have a T-shirt on. 

 I've been trying as many Ramen shops in Akihabara as I can since the last year. This shop was called "Daruma no Me", which I found on the Internet.

 This is a kind of Ramen that is called "Tonkotsu", whose broth is made from pork bones. The taste was really thick with a touch of saltiness.

 After I spent a few hours in Akihabara, I came to Shinjuku, where my favorite CD shop called "Diskunion" is. It is where they sell heavy metal cds. You can come here from the South gate of the Shinjuku station. A politician was going to give speech here who seemed to be opposed to the current ruling party DPJ.

 And this CD is what I got at the Diskunion. I'm a huge fan of Megadeth. 

 When I was on my way back home, I saw these Mexican guys playing Mexican music. What made me happy was the fact there were still some foreign people staying in Japan amidst this disaster. 

I was so tired after walking around, but my friend and I could take seats in the TX train. 

I always refer to foreign people in this blog, but it's because I'm so interested in people from overseas. I would really feel empty without seeing them in Tokyo, but fortunately I saw at least a dozen of them today. Please visit Japan!

Genzui

Since the earthquake struck Japan on March 11, I've been watching news on TV to check the latest developments. And as far as I saw, people in Tokyo didn't seem to care so much as we do about earthquakes. The worst-hit three prefectures are in northeastern Japan, and people in Tokyo would feel less strong tremors.

But I think that's a good thing 'cause if people in Tokyo refrain from doing business, that would harm our economy. I've seen a Youtube video where a Japanese liquor (sake) brewer from Iwate was advertising his "sake" so that people less affected would enjoy drinking it under cherry trees.

I was a bit unwilling to come to Tokyo to have Ramen as TX line might stop if a strong aftershock strikes. This Ramen shop is called "Genzui", which I found on the Internet.

It was about 12:00am, so we were the only customers.

Do you remember I introduced a kind of Ramen called "Tsukemen"? You should dip the noodles in the red soup before you have it. It was mildly spicy. 

I've seen the devastation on TV so many times, so I'd like to show you bright sides of current Japan. But while I was walking in Akihabara, I seldom saw foreign people...>.<