Asia Bound

I find myself in what I consider to be a very special time in life- between jobs. I am typing this on Japan airlines heading from Honolulu to Tokyo. I will have a 6 hour layover and will then fly to Hong Kong. My plan was hatched and executed pretty quickly. I am set to begin work in Boston in mid May and decided to use my time of wisely- traveling. I had such a great time in Japan earlier this year and so I decided to go there again. Also have wanted to go to Hong Kong so I made some calls and found out that I could fly pretty cheap to HK then back to Tokyo. Also found out that I could get a 2 week Japan railways pass for cheap so it was a no brainer. I will be spending 6 days in Hong Kong then fly back to Tokyo. Kuniko will be arriving in Tokyo on the same day I arrive and we will stay at her parent’s house. She will stay for 6 days and then head back to Honolulu. At that point I will start my 2 week railway pass- I haven’t planned my itinerary but want to go to Osaka, Kobe, Hiroshima and probably back to Kyoto.

Flying on a Japanese carrier is infinitely better than an American. First off in Japan flight attendants still have some status in Japan so they actually take pride in their jobs and provide great service- none of that attitude that is so common on US carriers. Secondly the food is actually good- I had a pork curry dish with rice that was quite good.

Kurobuta pork tonkatsu! and fried fish private parts

It has been a Japanese food weekend...which naturally I love. On Friday we went to our local sushi restaurant (by local I mean 1 block away). In addition to some great sushi we had a tempura dish which Kuniko ordered. When it arrived it didn't look like other tempura I had tasted before. I asked what it was and was informed I could find out after I ate it (this is definately a good policy). It tasted good but the texture bordered on slimy- I would rate it as a B. I later found out it is "a reproductive organ, but I can't remember whether male or female." Who the hell would think to fry up fish reproductive organs? The Japanese of course.



Last night we went to Bairin (meaning plum forest in Japanese):

http://www.pj-world.com/bairin/

They also have another restaurant in Ginza in Tokyo. It specializes in Tonkatsu which is breaded/fried pork. This restaurant also has the option of getting Kurobata pork which is supposedly the Kobe beef of pork (if that makes sense). Basically what it means is it is very fatty and flavorful and when deep fried it is freaking amazing. In this restaurant they give a bowl of sesame seeds that you grind up and then put a sweet brown sauce (Tonkatsu sauce) and then dip the pork in that. Naturally it is quite expensive, however, is absolutely worth it. Also they had Sapporo reserve which I haven't seen before- it is excellent.