Last year, at the age of 33, I got my first passport and then used it once.
This year, I thought I might use it again. When I arrived at Narita airport
at 9 am, I could feel every hour of the economy flight. I hugged Satoko
awkwardly. We'd shared a flat together in London for six months, and now she
was going to show me Tokyo. We headed back to her place in Edogawabashi so I
could drop my bags off before we had lunch.
Satako replies (in italics throughout): Tokyo is quite a westernised
city, in terms of the functional "spec" of the city. A whole range
of western-style restaurants and pubs, cafes serving fairy good coffee and
tea, huge shopping malls. Tokyo has more than 12 million people (London -
about 7m). There are a growing number of foreign tourists and residents.
They make the city cosmopolitan, even though it is less ethnic mix of people
than London.
Lunch was sashimi and beef broth with green tea on the 50th floor of
a building in the Shinjuku district. It had rained on the hour-long bus ride
from the airport, and now as we sat at the window Tokyo stretched out to the
grey horizon. Even from high up, Tokyo does not end. Satoko was particular
about ordering the food: the sashimi, precise squares of raw fish,
was disturbing, and the beef broth was thin and ugly. Both tasted good and
with green tea. After lunch I was shepherded around Harajuku, Shibuya and
Shinjuku; the rain stopped, the city had a twinkle in its eye.
You don't know how good lunch was - you couldn't tell the difference
between that and the one at any cheap, greasy restaurant. Where we had
lunch, Nishi (west)-Shinjuku and Tocho-mae (civic-centre area), are areas
set in Sophia Coppola's film, Lost in Translation (the luxury hotel
in the film is the Park Hyatt Tokyo). The high-rise buildings there include
Tokyo government offices, major hotels and offices. Some have restaurant and
shopping malls and observatories, where you can enjoy a great night view as
well (actually I've been there several times on dinner date. Predictably,
the night view worked). Anyway, that was the first meal in Japan for you and
you were totally spaced out because of jet lag.
That evening we ate at a traditional Japanese pub, sat at a low bar lined with
big bottles of shochu, a flat tasting liquor made from sweet potato
or grain. Perhaps the food is more suited to low altitude, but this time I
had a much better time with it: tuna sashimi which we seared ourselves on a
hotplate, golden and flaky on the outside, creamy, cold and sweet inside.
Most dishes are accompanied by soy sauce and minced radish. Each dish has
it's own particular soy sauce - go to a supermarket and you'll see them all
- endless varieties, from yellow and tan to treacly black.
My first impression of shochu was 10 years ago. I remember it was
an un-trendy liquor for a young woman under 20, which is the legal age of
alcohol exposure in Japan. It was more for middle-aged business folks, not
young trendy pub hoppers. On the other hand, shochu cocktails were
typically cheap at any pub, especially for young university students like
me. Now almost all of the Japanese-style pubs (izakaya) have a
large stock of "traditional" "exclusive" and "specially
made" shochu, which is carefully and diligently distilled by
old shochu makers mainly in Kyushu. Some of the Japanese pubs, which serve a
great number of shochu, boast their fashionable and stylish
decoration, which attracts young business people. Shochu is usually
distilled from sweet potato, rice, barley, buckwheat, brown sugar, and even
made from milk, green pepper, carrot, seaweed, enoki-mushroom, sesame, etc
etc…seems like everything can be shochu, actually.
The Japanese take food more seriously than the French, and are less
sentimental. Satoko would often, when describing another branch of Japanese
cuisine, say something like "this was Korean," (or Chinese or
Indian or whatever), "but it's very Japanese now". The Japanese
share some of that French cultural defensiveness too, which in the French
seems like chippiness.
Well, yes, Japanese people can be quite patriotic about their food. Most
of the Japanese believe without any doubt that Japanese cuisine is the
finest in the world (I'm pretty sure that the French, the Italian and the
Chinese do too, the British…well, some are cynical about British food
because of its unfavourable reputation). However, some of the "Japanese
dishes" are obviously from Korea, China, Holland, Portugal, and Britain
as well. Japanese curry is totally different from the original: it was
brought to Japan only about 140 years ago and came from India via Britain.
Some would say, "curry has became Japanese food because it is developed
in accordance to the Japanese way!" I personally would say, however, "this
was originally Indian but translated into the Japanese style," with
some respect to the different food culture brought from the world. Some say
that food is the most delicate and offensive issue when you talk to someone
else from a different country. It is really offensive to criticise his/her
soul food. It is somewhat funny everybody including liberalists can be
defensive about their food, even the British.
There is a distinct pleasure to wandering in winding neighbourhoods. Tokyo
does not go in for chains in a big way. The chains are all there, if you
look, but none of them are everywhere. What you get instead are lots of
independent stores, and by lots I mean countless. There is pleasure in the
tides of people waiting at busy crossings, and, when the lights change, how
they flow around the taxis unlucky enough to be stuck in their way. There
are vending machines everywhere. Every restaurant has hand-crafted plastic
counterfeits of the food they serve, which are displayed outside the door,
so you can see what you are getting in to.
This is really tricky. Muji and Uniqlo are everywhere. Starbucks has been
established for 10 years. Big chain convenience stores, which usually open
all day all year, are located at every block in Tokyo. It seems like they
dominate people's lives. Magazines have special featured articles about
upcoming/new lunch box menus and desserts at convenience stores. People are
quite happy with committing to the big brand shopping and glowing number of
chains. Meanwhile, chains, such as cloth retailers and restaurants have a
variety of small shops, which pretend to be independent, targeting those who
are not satisfied with the high street big names. I sometimes feel a bit
disappointing when I find my favourite pub is actually owned by a big chain
company. The fact that there are still a lot of small or middle-sized
operations of shops, restaurants, cafes and bars in every high street should
be appreciated.
Ramen places serve noodles in broth, generally with some pickled veg and a
few slices of roast meat, or a piece of fish. The traditional pub places are
where you get sake, shochu and sushi. These are the best
places. Remember that sushi is a whole range of stuff, normally
small dishes consisting of meat or fish, and a sauce. Sashimi is sushi
which has not been cooked - most westerners seem to think that all sushi
is raw, but that's not so. Sashimi is raw. I tried tuna, salmon,
shrimp and bonito sashimi and they were all great. The sashimi
that gave me the most trepidation was horse. Thin strips of meat from three
different cuts on the horse presented with radish, soy sauce, and small baby
cubes of shiny fat. It tasted good, if a little chewy.
Horse meat is called sakura (cherry-blossom)-niku (meat) as it
has a vivid pinky-red colour. Horse sashimi has been eaten in some
regions over the nation but now is particularly famous in Kumamoto
prefecture in Kyushu, can be eaten with some garnish - ground ginger,
garlic, and some soy source. I had not tried horse sashimi until I
grew up. It's something special, not a daily food. Good one doesn't smell
and has sweetish, rich, mellow taste because of its fat stripes.
Barbeque places have hotplates or barbeques in the middle of your table where
either you or a chef will cook seafood or small cuts of meat. One place we
went was a Kobe beef place where you sat in groups of about ten around a
table where a chef expertly cut and dressed sea food. Other waiters
occasionally brought smaller dishes, eg., rice or miso soup. This happens a
lot. At first I thought this was in response to some secret signal from
Satoko, but even when I was on my own things would occasionally appear. It's
how things are done there. We didn't try Kobe beef at the Kobe beef place,
because it cost about £70-£80 a head. The beef we did try (at about £40 per
head) was veined with fat and was the tenderest and most tasty beef I've
ever tasted. Satoko tells me that the beef is comfortably suspended,
massaged and fed on beer. This stuff was fantastic.
Yes, this is true. Massage and beer can produce fatty and tender beef,
they say. I think some British men could be too, although they might be too
soft.
Most bars seemed to offer food of some sort. In most of them you can have a
range of small dishes, which you graze on while you're drinking. Everything
costs a little bit more than you would expect to pay in, say, London, but
the difference in the quality of what you're brought when you order
something would make you weep if you thought about it too hard. I don't
worry much about how friendly service is, as long as it's not slow, but in
Japan it's hard not to notice how absolutely courteous people in restaurants
and shops are: formal, smiling, helpful. It's hard not to think that they'd
have to be frightened of something to be so nice so consistently, too. And
sometime the service in restaurants is slow, too. Creepy too.
It is sometimes said that the concept of service in Japan is different
from the one in Britain. Basically there's no tipping system in Japan, so
service totally depends on the innate politeness of the shop clerk,
waiter/waitress and the employee training system of each shop and
restaurant. Service can be slow at times. The most typical service slogan is "customers
are God", which obviously means customers should be always treated
nicely by shop staff in every situation. People are very polite and nice at
shops and restaurants, but not always as communicative as in Britain. It is
possible to shop at the supermarket without saying anything, even hello,
please, and thank you, because you'll be treated as God.
At a restaurant, for example:
Staff: Hello, how are you/ how can I help you?
Me: Hai (yes).
Staff: May I take your coat?
Me: Hai.
Staff: Here's your table, please.
Me: Hai.
Staff: Would you like something to drink first?
Me: For me, a glass of white wine.
Staff: Certainly.
Me: Hai.
This is a possible conversation at any restaurant. I personally try to ask
people politely as much as I can with some expectation of better service,
but many of the customers just say "coffee!" at a café, or "a
pint of beer!" at a restaurant. When I was in London, I saw some of my
Japanese friends act this way in bars or restaurants. They just said, "fish
burger and coke!" Probably the staff there felt bad, but my friends
didn't have any bad intention. First time I went to San Francisco (that was
my first trip abroad), I was amazed when cashiers said, "Hello, how are
you?". It felt like such a personal question. I didn't expect people
speak to me whilst I was paying money. Eventually as I was getting used to
living in London, I felt quite comfortable with the communication culture in
English.
Satoko was careful in planning our trips and taking me round. I put this down
to the following: we're good friends and she's a nice person; she's Japanese
and rightly proud of the city where she lives; it's not an easy city to
negotiate (there is only one other city that's bigger on the planet, and I
bet they don't all speak Japanese there); and Japanese people aren't necessarily ready for Welsh tourists. (Sati did appear to believe she was
herding a large, good natured but unpredictable ruminant, as if taking a
hippo to Waitrose).
Tourism is a surreal escape. I could have taken you to more typical
tourist attractions such as observing wrestlers at a sumo stable, climbing
Mt. Fuji, visiting Kyoto to meet geisha girls, and so on. Despite the myths
about Japan, which foreign tourists tend to expect, I don't have any geisha
friends, and none of my friends do. To be honest, I've seen sumo wrestlers
fighting on telly, but I'm ashamed to say that I've never watched the bouts
at the ringside. (Ok, how many Londoners have been to Ascot?) Probably,
those myths are just an introduction to Japan. Tourism for some people is
like tracing reproduction of images, but sometimes they've been already
banal, having been worn by tourists. Say, let's forget about geisha and Mt.
Fuji (and Sony) this time..
EATING OUT
www.cafedoll.com/Tokyo
A themed café, first of a kind now very popular. All the staff dress in
French maid outfits, and call patrons 'My Lord' and 'My Lady'. Cream teas
Tokyo style.
Prime Café, 6-15-9 Jinguamae Sibuya, Tokyo (03 3486 8255)
Relaxed café in the backstreets of Shibuya. "Party – yes. Dogs –
yes. Parking – no."
Rich Tasty Terrace and Pub (03 3941-7557)
Very traditional (in the non-touristy sense) bar. Great grilled fish with
beer. Where Charlie Watts used to drop in when the Stones were staying at
the Four Seasons up the road.
Buri Stand Bar and Restaurant 1-14-1 Ebisu Nishi Shibuya-ku (03 3496
7744)
Good eats. Good shochu.
3rd Stone Café, www.015.upp.so-net.ne.jp/web3sc
Very laid back. Happy to mix good martinis.
Mother's of Kamakura
0467 25 0805 - Enoshima. This is by the seaside.
03 3887 2901 - Tokyo. This is not.
Fantastic food. Cooked literally in front of you (see gallery for proof).
Tasu Ichi, www.tasuichi.co.jp
European football, cheapest beer in Tokyo, in relaxed and pleasant atmosphere.
Somehow manages not to be sad. Few Europeans. Many Japanese. A smattering of
Antipodeans.
Pile Café, www..renovationplanning.co.jp
Posh. Classy. Unfortunately named.
Aud Café, www.asia-kitchen.co.jp
Can't remember, but have spirit-stained card with a star scrawled on it, so
must have been good. May not be a good idea to mention bald Welsh man if you
go in. But who knows.
Sky Restaurant, 50th Floor, Sumitomo Building, Shinjuku District
Where I went on my first day. Absolutely astonishing views. Very Japanese
food. For some reason felt a bit like being James Bond in the Seventies.
