Tokyo-Version of The Price Is Right

Who wants to play the Tokyo version of the Price Is Right?
As most people know, Tokyo is not a cheap city so I figured I would give everyone a chance to understand what typical grocery items cost in this city.
Here’s how to play:
(1.) Inserted into this blog are two pictures which represent the “showcase” that you need to guess the total cost of.
(2.) Closest to the actual cost without going over wins.
(3.) In order to make a guess, you can add a comment to this specific blog or you can email me at craig@waverka.com.
(4.) All guesses must be submitted by midnight (U.S. time) on June 5th.
(5.) The winner will get a grocery item (approx $10-20) of their choice that I will carry back with me on June 11th which can include candy or a small bottle of Sake, Shōchū or Whiskey if desired.

I was able to carry these items in just two small plastic bags from the Queen Setan market which is located in

the Shinagawa Train Station.

Included in the “showcase” were:
· Cabbage (1/2 Cup)
· Eight pieces Nigirizushi (hand-formed sushi)
· Fauchon Earl Grey Tea Ice Cream - 1/2 C
· Five Green Onion Dumplings
· Haagen-Dazs Banana Chocolate Cookie - 1/2 C
· One Lime
· Pack of Gari (Pickled Ginger)
· Six slides of Maguro (Blue Fin Tuna)
· Suntory Umeshu 660ml (Plum Liquor)
· Tabasco Green Chili Sauce (60ml)
· Three Dumplings (Golf Ball Size)
· Two Bottles Schweppes Tonic Water - 8 oz

As a bonus game, see if you can guess what the most expensive item was per unit price.
Hint: It wasn’t the Liquor.

Once the contest is over, I will update the blog with the winner and the overall prices.

Size Does Matter

Tuesday night I was invited to a Departmental party for the group I am supporting in Tokyo and I came to the startling realization that I am one big mofo.
Now, you might be asking “he’s just figuring this out now?!”
Allow me to explain.
I’ve spent almost my entire life being taller and bigger than everyone else and, over time, your mind has a tendency to rationalize things, like being 6’ 4”.

You actually think you can blend in.
Occasionally, like Tuesday night, I get slapped in the face with reality.
The Department party was held at the T.Y. Harbor Brewery which makes pretty decent beer. This is the second party I’ve been to at the Brewery and both times it was held in the floating party boat docked next to the Brewery.

Quick side story: Because the party boat looks nothing like a boat, it can play a trick on your mind. As you’re drinking and another large party boat cruises by, the T.Y. boat will move only slightly which gives many people the impression that they are tipsier than they really are and they’ll stop drinking. Rookie mistake. Seasoned pros will power through the temporary disorientation to ensure true inebriation. Unfortunately to get back to my apartment I have to walk across a pedestrian bridge. Remember kids, intoxication and bridges are not a good mix.
Back to the main story.

In order to make the interior of the party boat appear bigger, the Brewery lined the back wall with a long mirror. And so it happened at one point in the night as I was talking with a group of my Japanese co-workers that I happened to glance to the back of the boat and looked in the mirror. To make matters worse I was in the center of the boat and had a good view of the people to the left and right of me. I was also wearing a gray sports coat and my first impression was that I very much looked like a giant silverback gorilla talking to a pack of Chihuahuas, in standard issue black suits mind you. Ouch. There was no blending in here. Now that’s what I call a slap in the face by reality.

Tokyo Sights (Part 1)

On Saturday I spent about 8 hours sightseeing in Tokyo.
This is Part One.

Tsukiji Fish Market
I started my day by visiting the Tsukiji (TSOO KEY GEE) Fish Market in the Ginza area of Tokyo. The Market, by itself, isn’t anything that much to look at although I’ve included a few photos in the link. The reason for going to Tsukiji is the sushi as it has some of the freshest in the world. You need to work for it a little bit as to get to the restaurants within the market, you have to dodge forklifts and trucks that criss-cross the entrance area hauling crates and boxes of just-packaged fish. I followed an elderly couple into the market and their poor reflexes almost got them whacked by two different forklifts. Imagine that moral dilemma. Be delayed from fresh sushi by providing first aid to a flattened Japanese couple or stepping over their twitching bodies to get to the maguro (blue fin)? Hmmm. You probably don’t want to know my answer. Moving on.
You might also think that the Market has the overpowering stench of fish but it wasn’t that way. By the time I got there, most of the fish from that morning’s catch was already completely packaged or being sliced and diced in the Market’s sushi restaurants. By the way, I’m using the term “restaurant” rather loosely here as most of the sushi joints were only about 6-8 feet wide that’s including the sushi table for the chef and the counter and stools for the customers. You can imagine how easily I fit into one of these places. But the misery of the seating was well worth it as it was a great meal. Most people were ordering just one lunch. Lightweights. I didn’t come all the way to Tsukiji to try one lunch. When I ordered the two meals the waitress looked at me like “who else is with you?”
So I ended up ordering the “Sazanka” (photo included) which consisted of 6 pieces of Makizushi (rolled sushi), 7 pieces of Nigirizushi (hand-formed sushi) and the fairly standard piece of Tamago (egg omelet). I’m not sure of everything that was included in the Nigirizushi but it did include maguro (blue fin), ebi (shrimp), Hotategai (scallop) and mackarel. I also ordered the Chirashizushi which is a bowl of rice with various sushi ingredients on top. In this case, the Chirashizushi included sliced maguro and diced toro (tuna belly). The fresh maguro was definitely the best part of the meal. Top all that off with some miso soup and green tea and I left Tsukiji a happy man. Total cost for lunch: $38. Maguro ain’t cheap.

Tsukiji Fish Market

Ginza
I then took a stroll East and then North through Ginza. Ginza is overloaded with stores and restaurants. I almost rented a place in Ginza but made the poor choice of staying in Shinagawa since I could walk to the one work location. I may need to relocate before this assignment is up. The apartments are smaller but way more to see and do in Ginza.
Ginza includes the Kabuki-za Theater and one of Tokyo’s busiest intersections at the corner of Harumi-Dori and Chuo-Dori. I’ve included photos of both.

Ginza Sights

Stay Tuned for Part 2

What's an "Izakaya"?

One of my favorite things about Tokyo is the contrasting, contradictory and confusing nature of this city. As an example, Tuesday night one of my co-workers took me to a friend’s “izakaya” which is primarily a drinking establishment but also serves food to accompany the drinks. You might think, “well that’s a restaurant” but it’s really not. Its primary purpose is drinking. The name “izakaya” means “i” (to remain) and “sakaya” (sake shop). So naturally one would assume if we were at a sake shop we would be sampling various sakes. Not so, we were actually drinking Shōchū. Shōchū is a distilled beverage usually made from sweet potatoes, barley or rice but I also had one last night that was made from black sugar (molasses) and obviously tasted very rum-like. Shōchū is stronger than sake and wine but weaker than whiskey and vodka. This isn’t the first time I’ve had a beverage like this as I’ve sampled a similar drink in Korea which they call Soju. Now although the Shōchū’s we were sampling were good, I wanted to describe the food that the owner provided. It was very reminiscent of a Spanish tapas bar as she constantly brought out various plates for us to sample as we threw back the Shōchū.

We started with various vegetable dishes which included cooked spinach, pickled eggplant (soy sauce marinade), cooked bean sprouts and noodles and a specialty seaweed from Okinawa called Umi Budou or Ocean Grapes. I found a photo on the web and have included in the blog.

The Umi Budou were fantastic. When you bite down on the tiny grapes they pop in your mouth and release a briny burst of flavor which was offset by a sweet sauce that they were marinated in.

The owner then brought out several meat dishes. The first was thick cut, lightly grilled chunks of bacon and potatoes. When I say thick cut bacon, I don’t mean like you buy packaged in the grocery store. The bacon was at least a half and inch thick if not more and was cut in about 2 by 2 inch slices resplendent with all that wonderful bacon fat. I guarantee your cholesterol just went up a few points by reading that. The Japanese LOVE bacon (who doesn’t) and I’m amazed at how many dishes you find it in. It’s never overcooked like the crispy bacon in the States.
The next meat dish was my favorite. The chef thinly sliced marinated pork and then cut it into strips. She then spread a thin layer of miso on the pork and then wrapped the pork around a young ginger root and stalk. Grill to perfection and serve. Outstanding. It’s key to understand that the ginger root is not like what you see in the grocery stores. A young ginger root looks more like an oversized green onion (bulb and stalk) and the flavor is very mild. They were so good I seriously debated knocking out my co-worker and taking his half-eaten portion. I think he noticed the “food rage” look in my eyes as he quickly proposed a toast and the Shōchū calmed me down.
The third meat dish was a pork dumpling that was more cylindrical like an egg roll. The dipping sauce was a simple combination of red wine vinegar and ground pepper which worked well with the dumplings.
Finally, my co-worker insisted we try “Okonomiyaki” or what is also called Japanese pizza or Japanese pancake. I’m not even sure where to begin to describe this concoction. It arrived in a small personal-pan pizza tray and cut into four wedges. I was told it was served Hiroshima-style meaning that it was layered versus mixed as is more traditional. The dish included cabbage, bacon (go figure), noodles and topped with a thin omelet. The omelet itself was topped with a sweet brown sauce and then mayonnaise was squirted on top of that. Different, definitely different. Not bad, just different.

Anyway, I know a few people were asking about some of the foods I've tried over here and I thought this was a good situation to describe to everyone.

Coming soon: My first fugu (poisonous blowfish) experience. My co-workers insist I must try it which could either mean I've pissed them off royally and this is a way to rid themselves of a nuisance or, as they describe, it's delicious.

Sengakuji (47 Ronin) Temple

This past weekend I decided to visit one of the few tourist sites in the Shinagawa area.
It's called the Sengakuji Temple which is the resting place for the 47 Ronin. Ronin are Samurai without a Lord or Master.
I'll try and summarize the story of the 47 Ronin but I'm also including some links to additional sites and information.

The story takes place from March 1701 to February 1703. The Samurais' Master was a Lord Asano. Lord Asano was continuosuly provoked and insulted by another lord called Kira. The provocation continued until one day in March 1701, Lord Asano drew his sword and struck Lord Kira but he did not kill him. Unfortunately for Lord Asano, he committed this act of violence in Shogun Tokugawa's palace where it was illegal to both draw one's sword and strike someone in anger. The Shogun ordered Asano to commit seppuku or ritual suicide by disembowelment which Lord Asano did. To further add insult, Lord Asano's family was removed from power which made the 47 Samurai Master-less or Ronin.
But althought the Ronin were Master-less, they were not without a leader. Oishi Kuranosuke Yoshio fulfilled this role and with the help of the other Ronin, they plotted their revenge against Lord Kira for a year and a half.
On 14 December 1702, they made a surprise attack on Lord Kira's mansion. I've read different versions of Lord Kira's death (Kira committed seppuku first or the Ronin killed him) but, in the end, the Ronin left with Lord Kira's head.

They returned to Sengakuji Temple and after washing the head in the Well, laid it at the grave of their Master, Lord Asano.
Their revenge complete, the Ronin were allowed to have an honorable death and all committed seppuku on 4-Feb-1703.

05.17.2009 Sengakuji Temple

The Temple grounds are a fairly somber place as would be expected. It's fairly common for visitors to purchase incense sticks before entering the gravesite and place a burning stick in a holder at each Ronin grave.

Here are a couple of other links that further explain the incident:

Forty-Seven Ronin Wikipedia Article

Website with text and photos

YouTube Video

Japanese Buildings

One of my goals of this blog was to capture what I find interesting about Tokyo. Others may find my posts completely boring which is perfectly fine but hopefully I point out some different things about Japan that you may not see elsewhere.

So here's one that continues to perplex me.
In Tokyo, land and space are at a premium. I think that is well understood by most Americans. Yet for some reason, I consistently see buildings with holes in them?!

Here are three buildings I've stumbled across in the Shinagawa area alone.

Japanese Buildings

On the one hand, I really appreciate the fact that the Japanese, from an architectural standpoint, do not feel compelled to create your typical standard rectangular office buildings. But on the other hand, when space is at a premium, the logical side of me wonders why they're not using that space to maximum advantage.

Japanese Double Rainbows

When I first arrived in my apartment, it was right after a rain shower and when I looked out the window, there was a double rainbow. I interpreted this as a fortuitous premonition.

Japanese Double Rainbows

Call me Mr. Weber?

Business cards are a very important part of doing business in Japan.
Most of the personnel I've met so far have business cards printed in Japanese on one side and English on the other.
The Japanese team, therefore, is helping me put together a bi-lingual business card.

Unfortunately they don’t use “v” in their language. They usually substitute “b” so “vitamin” becomes “bitamin” when you write it in Romaji characters and how they pronounce it.

So logically, I’m being renamed “Waberka”.

Let’s complicate things. They don’t use “?” in their language for a question. They usually end a question with “ka”. So my last name has now become a question.

And the final step, “waber” is their pronunciation for the last name Weber or Webber.

So because Japan doesn’t use v’s, I’ve been informally renamed Weber?

Views from my apartment

When I arrived Friday (May 8th) I took a few photos from the apartment.

Bureau Shinagawa Apartment Views

Day One & Two (May 7-8)

Well, the day I was dreading and looking forward to at the same time finally arrived. It was extremely difficult saying goodbye to the family Thursday morning. The youngest, Logan (19 mos.), had no clue what was going on. As I tried to give him a hug and kiss goodbye he was pushing me out of the way as he was more concerned with the fact that I was disrupting his Little Einstein video. Ungrateful punk.

I fell far short of my goal of only bringing two suitcases. I ended up with three BIG check-ins and two carry-ons. Plus I really thought the 3 check-ins were going to be over the 50 pound extra fee mark. Clothes for a 6'4" man are not light. The skycap at Philadelphia airport was about 75 years old and I thought he was going to drop from trying to lift my luggage. The final suitcase weigh-in (1 at 62 pounds and 2 just below 50).

The flights over were uneventful. I was able to sleep most of the way from Philly to Chicago and on and off from Chicago to Tokyo. United's movie selection was horrendous (Bride Wars, Frost/Nixon,
Gran Torino, InkHeart, Not Easily Broken, Seven Pounds and Underworld: Rise of the Lycans). The one I liked best (Underworld: Rise of the Lycans) was certainly no Oscar classic but you can't beat seeing a Lycan get an 8-foot crossbow bolt through the head. If I'm lucky, United will still be showing two classic movies (Paul Blart: Mall Cop & Hotel For Dogs) on their Eastbound flights when I fly back in June or July.

The funniest moment of the trip came when we landed at Narita. We weren't able to depart from the plane until a team from the Japanese Ministry of Health cleared the passengers. This included completing a health questionnaire as well as a team of three MoH employees dressed in blue HAZMAT suits scanning the passengers for fevers with thermal cameras. I say HAZMAT suits so you understand their apparel but it looked more like blue Hefty bags duck-taped together. Several of them also wore plastic goggles like the kind we were required to wear in shop class in school. Bizarre, sad and funny all at once.

Now that being said, I have to say the Japanese customs and baggage were incredibly efficient. I was through customs in 5 minutes and by the time we got to the baggage carousel, they not only unloaded the bags but had grouped your suitcases together. They might have even been alphabetized because my bags were at the end of the pack. In Philly you feel like you won the lottery if you get your bag back.

Once I left the airport, it was an hour long bus ride into downtown Tokyo and then a quick cab ride to my apartment complex. Check-in went fine and the apartment personnel (concierges) spoke perfect English.

My next update will include views from the room.