Hiromi’s Blog

I had a good time hanging out with Harper. I felt like I tried to catch up the time I couldn’t get to spend time with him. We did many things in many places, but our schedule wasn’t that crazy. In fact, we didn’t miss the last train or didn’t have to take the last train. I am glad that he met some of my friends here in Tokyo and my hometown, Yamanashi.

Because he already thought Japan was a weird country in terms of pop culture, I decided to show him the heart of Tokyo with traditional kick at first and comtemporary parts later. Actually it ended up mixing both up, because that’s how tokyo is. I was thinking about going to Kyoto/ an old capital, but instead, I took him to another old capital, Kamakura where you can see a big buddha statue. It is only one hour away from tokyo and you can enjoy nice traditional temples and shrines. We had converyer belt sushi in Kamakura after visiting the big buddha place. It was tasty and had some seasonal and rare kinds of fish which I truly enjoyed.

After the big buddha trip, we met up with my friend, Kumi and her husband, Dai. They both work for a music magazine company, and they are really fun to hang out. Ohhh I meant to keep this entry general and add details later, but I started, huh? Well, we had a great sumo wrestler dish called Chanko (chunko–harper would like to call) by a sumor ring, they took us to Kabuki cho, which is a red light district. We just walked through because it is a dangerous area where people got shot and died once a while. I know!! I thought we can’t have a gun, but I guess some people have those apparently. It was a really fun night and Harper and I had a great time with them.

On his b-day we went to Ikebukuro to have Elvis noodle for lunch. It was fun and I could find something for me too. It was very good, but we had no idea why it is called Elvis. I forgot to ask them…well, next time for sure. We went to Tokyo station underground shopping street and had scalp and shoulder massage. The therapist didn’t speak any English, so I helped her a little bit, but poor Harper, he couldn’t relax much. After that, we hang out in Ginza which is a fancy disctric with many fancy shops.

We had a dinner at a small Italian restaurant in Ginza. Harper’s b-day is a national holiday in Japan. It is a vernal equinox day, so many restaurants were closed, but this one had good reputations and someone said it was very private, and it was. We had a great dinner with a couple glasses of red wine. No one was at the restaurant, so it was like a private party, haha. My sardine pasta was excellent and his broiled fillet with balsamic vinegrette looked great. He had smoked baby yellow tail with aioli sause. it looked yummy. too bad with mayo..not for me… The dinner course came with 4 dishes!! small portions, and very fresh ingredients. It is called Via Nuova Rondo and located in Ginza. sooo yummy and it was easy for me to eat without meat, dairy, and egg.

Well, we ate well everyday. I cooked only once, just because we had to try many places! Harper liked most of the food we tried. We didn’t challenge though, except once my frined made him try marinated/farmented squid, which I liked it, but he didn’t.

ok..here is what we ate: I have to do this, this is my department…
Friday: Night: my cooking! grilled tuna with garlic flavor, green green salad (many greens), brown rice (from my parents’ rice paddy), and miso soup with homemade broth.

Saturday: lunch: Onigiri (rice triangle= Harper’s new favorite 7/11 food)
Dinner: Sashimi and other seafood at a seafood restaurant in Azabujuban (close to Roppongi) Harper was on liquid diet and the waitress was surprised that we ordered many drinks.haha…

Sunday: lunch: Onigiri again! at Marunouchi building
Dinner: Japanese diner/ family restaurant (we call it this way or fami-res) I had a pasta and Harper had beef stew with fatty meat which he hated…but after the dinner he had a great time in Bic Camera and the crazy intersection in Shibuya. I am sure he will talk about it soon.

Monday: lunch: Soba noodle at Yabusoba (beautiful building) near Akihabara which is an electronics district. funny…contrast.. and japanese sweets at Takamura. Harper didn’t like it though.
Dinner: Mos burger (Japanese hamburger shop they use organic stuff) pretty good. I had a rice burger with seafood. ohh we went to a small darts bar called triple twenty. we didn’t know it was a darts bar, and everyone played darts except us…ahhh..it was a nice and short stop after the dinner on my way home.

Tuesday: lunch: Elvis noodle/ ramen noodle
dinner: Itanlian course as I mentioned before.

Wednesday: lunch: conveyer belt sushi
Dinner: Chunko(sumo wrestler dish)/ hot pot on the table.

Thursday: lunch: Mos burger again!
Dinner: Goth?? Italian-ish dinner with yoyo-champion, Black. very good…he was super nice and such a gentle man. The restaurant was soooo goth, but not in a trashy way, more fancy way. it was very dark and decorative with goth waiters and waitresses who were extremely nice! Black surprised Harper with a b-day cake. That was sooooo nice!
Friday: lunch: Harper had Kamameshi (steamed rice with crab) and I had fried oyster. We had lunch with my parents in my hometown.

at my favorite, DOux cafe, he had cheese cake with Orangina, and I had caramel flavored tea. Yurie joined us and the owner, Shiho was very very kind!!

dinner: Onigiri (rice triangle)…I wanted to have a nice dinner, but we had to catch a bus to come back to tokyo, so Japanese fastfood, Onigiri, but it is Harper’s favorite.

ohhh…we ate a lot, probably because of me…we did a lot of gadget shopping, Japanese deathmetal CD store which sucked my energy out, hahah…and crazy street walking, crazy shops and a parasite museum, haha soooo gross but I am glad I went. I am sure that Harper will take care of this part in his entry. I had gotten to go to many places because of his visit. However, the best part of this vacation is hanging out with Harper a lot!! I miss him already, but I am hoping to see him sometime soon…