Life Without A Prescription - 処方箋無しの人生

Am I in Kyoto or China?

During my stay in Kansai,
I gave my caretaker a night off,
and went exploring Kyoto on my own.

Since I am a Kyoto novice,
when people told me to go to Ponto-cho,
I could not understand what they were saying.

Pontocho? How do you even write that?!

Well, like this: 先斗町

HUH? Where did you get the p sound from??

Anyway, I went to a restaurant my friend recommended.

I was a bit disappointed that it wasn't a Japanese restaurant.
It was rather Chinese.

I love Chinese cooking, but since I was in Kyoto,
I wanted something traditional and Japanese.

They offered a lot of dishes with yuzu,
my favorite Japanese citrus,
so I was happy, though.

The main dish.

Ramen with yuzu.

Smoking was allowed inside.
People were smoking next to me.

There is nothing sexy or attractive about smoking.
Just a sign of weakness in my eye.

I need a fresh air.

Maruyama Koen.

Getting here, I walked through Gion.
There were a lot of Chinese tourists along the way,
so much so that I thought I might have been in China.

I am not kidding, I was completely surrounded.
It was bizarre.
People dressed in expensive kimonos,
but somehow I could tell they weren't Japanese,
even before hearing them speak.

I was lucky this year.

Everywhere I went, cherry blossoms were in full bloom.

So quintessentially Japanese.

It was getting late, so I started to walk towards the station.

I was full, but I really felt like having some green tea.

I think when I was younger,
I didn't really appreciate Japanese confectionary.

But now, I get it.
The green tea was so rich and beautiful.
And I wanted to take back the tea cup.

So wabisabi

I only wish the tourists sitting next to me would close their mouths
while chewing their food...

Even my baby doesn't eat like that...

Oops, did I say too much?

今更ですが。。。目に毒な日本滞在大阪編

あ〜あ。。。

まんまとこんなに更新しないまま時は経ち。。。

ちょっと自分のブログのページも開けなかった

信じられない程高速に時が過ぎてゆく今日この頃。

折角写真が溜まってるので、これまた高速で振り返りたい。

今回の日本滞在は、関西にいく機会がありました。

久しぶりに日本の新幹線に乗って、す〜いすい。

桜が咲き乱れる大阪。

どこかは、覚えていません。

導かれるがままに案内に付いて行ったので。

それにしても見事な夜桜だった。

そして、何故か東京に比べると人が少ないから桜が楽しめて。

目が肥えたので、今度は腹の番。

あの、これも何処だか分かりません。。。

公設市場？？だった所？？

関西に居ると、知らない言葉が溢れていて。

中華料理屋さんに。

鯛のサラダ。

何か青菜の炒め物。

こういうシンプルな料理が好き。

定番の小龍包。

美味しいね〜。

そして、激辛だけど病付きになる麻婆豆腐。

ああ、こういう料理大好き。

そして、優しい味の蟹のあんかけチャーハン。

ここは天国ですか？！

３人でこんなに食べても、会計は一人２０００円。

えっ！？　

どういう事？！　

もうスイスと比較する気にもなりません。

帰り道に、「ここの串カツ美味しいんだよ！」って教えて貰って、

今度のお楽しみ

今度はいつかな？！

Afterwork Dinner Dates in Tokyo

Tokyo is such a wonderful city.
Even after 7pm, stores are still full of shoppers.

Of course, that's not the only thing that's great about it.

If you wanna get fresh sashimi of Hokkaido octopus,
it's readily available

YUM.

I met up with my friend from San Diego to go on dinner dates.
Seeing her in Tokyo is exciting but bizarre.
We used to drive around in a car to go eat Pho and what not,
but now it's us on the train, going to eat raw octopus instead.

How time changes.

A very satisfying meal to follow.

All these small bites of this and that is perfect for me
since I'm a greedy baby needy baby.

As if we didn't eat enough,
we went to Starbucks for after-meal drinks.
Now, this hasn't changed one bit

Another night, another place, another meal.
This time, in Ginza.

We were gonna go to a tonkatsu restaurant.
But 5000 yen for tonkatsu à la carte,
without any rice or miso soup?! (which would've been 1000 yen more)
that's just crazy.

I guess that's Ginza for you.

Instead, a much more sensible choice.

Grill beef tongue.

Oh they were so good

We can't seem to talk enough.
Ginza was shutting down already,
so we moved to Roppongi to go to Starbucks once again.


I ended up coming back to the hotel past midnight.

Sakura and Tokyo Tower.

An interesting contrast.
Yet a beautiful pairing.

両親と昼懐石

年を負った両僕の親とお昼に行く事にしました。　

東京駅。

ここって、最近なんか新しくしたとか何とか？　

余りにも日本のニュースから隔離されているから
ボンヤリしか分からない。。。　

予約まで時間があったので、ちょっと寄り道。

KITTE
どうやら僕達が行ったこの日に偶々オープンしたらしい。

すっごい小春日和の日差しの美しい日。

予約して個室を取ってもらいました。　
先付。

タコと春きゃべつ。
トマトが甘くて美味しい〜！

お椀もの。

ホタルイカの真丈。

あ〜、なんて落ち着く味。
日本に帰って来ました！！って叫びたくなる。

お造り。

鰹と何とか。。。　
三人とも漢字が読めなくて、「なんだろうね？？」って。

鰆。

「僕は偽日本人だからいいけど、あなた達は一体？」
って心の中で静かに両親に問う。

さわら、ですね。

どんな魚？　僕って肉派だから魚は分からない。

焼き物。また魚。

鯛。　
桜の枝か可愛い。

お母さん、「あら、かわいい、持って帰りたい！」って。

やっぱり良かった、個室で。。。
「個室だからYasも恥ずかしく無くて良いでしょ。」って、
自分でも分かってるみたいだけど

揚げ物。

旬の筍とたらの芽。

やっぱり旬物は美味しい
日本はなんて素晴らしい国なんでしょう。

鍋。

鰆と水雲。

もずくってこういう漢字なの！？
この食事は美味しいだけではなくとっても教養的

〆。

鶏と豆のご飯、漬け物、みそ汁。

「お代わりどうぞ」って言われたからみんな遠慮なくお代わり。

この後はデザートまで付く。

最中

一人一品だから、３人で別々の物を頼んで分けました。


みんな一番美味しい！って同意したのが、

きなこのティラミス。

始めから終わりまで美味しかった〜

お勧めありがとう

両親もと〜っても喜んでくれたし、親孝行出来て僕も嬉しい。
危なっかしくて天然な方々だけど、長生きして欲しいものです。

Appreciating Art All Night Long?

I missed this event the last time I was in Japan,
so I was glad to have made it this time.

My first destination: The National Art Center

During the Roppongi Art Night,
most participating venues are free to enter and stay open later than usual,
and there are shows and events throughout the day + night.

Just for one night.

When I arrived, it was rather warm.
But a couple days later, it'd become cooler.

Because I was gonna stay out all night in Roppongi,
I came fully equipped.

Foldable down jacket, big camera, scarf,
iPad mini, various adapters and chargers, etc.
My bag was so heavy...

I also enjoyed edible art

Jet-lagged and walking non-stop, I needed this break.

It was nice to catch up with an old friend.
Schedule conflict prevented our annual get-together trip,
but I'm glad that I got to see her.

Thanks to this unpredictable, bizarre weather,
the night was blessed with the cherry blossoms.

Soon, it was past 8.
I was quickly loosing steam and needed to refuel.

No, not with whiskey.

But with some Italian food.

A bit of this and a bit of that.

Pizza Margherita.

Carb 1.

Spaghetti Bolognese.

Carb 2.

Ice cream.

Carb 3.

By the end of the meal,
I was ready to go home.

My boots were killing my feet and I was about to fall asleep.
Like any sensible person, I took the train and went home

I'm not young anymore, am I!?

Being in Roppongi reminded me of the time I used to work here.
That was more than 10 years ago.

How time flies!!!