A Second Round of Heart

pig

So Im in Osaka and I cant find the apostrophe on the keyboard so just go with it.  I will tell you a quick story before we start our day here.

It was our first night in Japan. Tokyo. Fourteen fucking hour plane ride. We find the hotel, which is of course a story itself, quickly pull ourselves together and walk around our tiny section of  Shinjuko. Its a maze of restaurants and bars with very little English signage.

We circle the area about six times, too scared to walk in anywhere. There are no other tourists in this area. We have not heard a lick of English. But we smell deliciousness all around and are ready to wash away the processed plane food.

We walk into a long narrow place with about 15 tables. The 20-something-year-old cooks greet us with wide smiles and something in Japanese. We smile. Show two fingers (as in there are two of us) and we are brought to a high-top.

When the waitress arrives the best we can do is bring our hands, in a cup shape to our mouth, and pretend we are drinking. We say beer. It works. We are brought out two drafts and are given menus. Everything is in Japanese.  I look and laugh. 80 laughs.

We try to order and Im not even sure what we say. We just kinda giggle and our 20-something waitress with thick fake eyelashes and a scrounge in her hair giggles back. She walks away and 80 and I are like – what the fuck do we do. Fuck.

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Chicken in the Raw

OhMyGod – Guess What?!?!

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80P and I are going to Japan and South Korea!

We’re doing a week in/around Tokyo and a week in/around Seoul. We’re looking for travel suggestions, especially where to eat. We’re also interested in taking an over-night trip from both cities. I would like to know where I can buy an entire new wardrobe and 80 would like to know where he can drink sake while I clothes shop.

Last night I went to a press dinner at Kushi, a Japanese style sushi, raw bar and grill. The owners there are really nice and knowledgeable about Japan and I tried to learn as much as possible so I don’t look like a total asshole when I’m in Asia. Oh and the food is kick-ass, especially the crispy duck thigh, the heritage breed chicken wing, the miso marinated fish and pretty much any of the sashimi.

Things I’ve Learned Pre-Japan

Patrons are given a warm, damp cloth at the beginning of meal to cleanse their hands and then use as napkin.

Robata is a grill.

Never drink sake with a rice dish. Sake is made from rice so it’d be a double starch. Imagine adding potatoes to pasta. However, sushi is fine to drink with sake, the rule is more geared to a bowl of rice.

Shoji is like vodka. If I remembered that correctly.  An anti-hangover drink combines ukon, a turmeric tea, mixed with shoji.

Chicken is eaten raw in Japan. Chicken can be served sashimi style and eaten with wasbi and soy, like fish.