Sheila's Stories and Stitches: New Places in Tokyo

Family, lunch, drink, boat, sights...good afternoon!

With new guests, we continue to check out new places! Mom and Dad aren't too tired of boats yet, so we take a Symphony lunch cruise on Tokyo Bay. Unfortunately, our bad luck with the rain continues, so even though we go during the day so we can see the city, it's too foggy for great views.

There's a city in here somewhere!

At least we're all dry!

The ship company is obviously prepared for this situation - we're handed large umbrellas to make our way to/from the boat and the pier. Very nice! The meal turns out to be great, too. We opt for the buffet, and there's plenty of well cooked food. In fact, I think it's the best meal I've had while on a sightseeing cruise. Another plus for Japan!

No BUIs (boating under the influence) here!

At one point, we have a mini escort along with us. This is the first time I've gotten to see the Japan Coast Guard. Why is it's name in English letters, I wonder?? Yes, I know the location of the life jackets, so I'm all set. Even with the bad weather, we don't need any rescue services - it's pretty calm in the Bay.

The best yakitori, according to my parents

The food of Japan is a very important part of any visit! We send my parents on our favorite walking food tour, through the Tokyo Foodrink - Sunamachi Street tour. It's a fantastic example of what shopping streets used to look like in Tokyo, before all the big grocery stores came in. A lot of the vendors have been cooking and preparing food here for generations, with lots of secret family recipes. It's also on the far outskirts of Tokyo, and prices are about half of what we spend in central Tokyo on food and at the market. The tours are wonderful, with English speaking local guides. Steve and I originally took the tour when we visited in 2015. Anyway, my parents enjoy it so much they want us to go back so they can eat there again. They can't stop talking about the tempura and yakitori!

Of course, Steve finds a Japanese mascot - I think it's for the new pachinko parlor.

While on the tour, Mom gets to try making green tea (not the ceremony, though).

We have no idea what this statue represents.

We also take a stroll through Ameya Yokocho. This street originally started as a black market area after WWII, but now it's more like walking through an established flea market. Purses and bags seem to be the thing to buy - both of our mothers purchased them here! Mom also gets some quahogs (clams) and makes stuffed quahogs when we return home. Yummy!

My favorite

Another day we go to visit the Omiya Bonsai, a bonsai museum about an hour train ride away. It's delightful, but small (I think we end up spending 30 minutes there). I do learn some interesting facts - there are five different styles of bonsai. They can be made with just about any type of tree, though the maples are my favorite. And if you have them in your house, certain styles of bonsai should be in certain styles of room. No mixing!

The bonsai is older than all of us!

A bird's eye view of the bonsai garden.

This entire neighborhood is known as a bonsai village, so you can make stops at various places, but we decide the museum and one shop is enough for us. We'd love to buy one, but we can't justify the money since we can't bring it back to the US....but it would look so cute on our balcony!

Bonsai can even have fruit! Good use of perspective here - if Mom really were
about to pick it, I think she'd be tackled.

The official certificate statue

We have another special meal, at Kobe Beef Kaiseki 511. Kobe beef is extremely specialized - it can only come from one small region of Japan. There must be good fences, because if the cows take one step outside the area they can no longer be classified as Kobe. If you think you've had Kobe beef in the US, you're probably mistaken - only about 10 restaurants serve the real thing (I think they're all located in New York and Las Vegas). Each restaurant authorized to serve Kobe receives a statue. And yes, they all have barcodes and pictures, which the restaurant is happy to show you. And no, the cows are not given beer and massaged all day long (or at all).

The sushi...Steve's mother is now worried we'll be sick from the raw beef!

We have Kobe beef prepared several different ways during the meal. One course involves kobe sushi! Yes, raw beef. It's very good.

Kobe beef rolled by lettuce - much prettier than it's name!

We learn part of the reason why Kobe beef tastes so good is the fat melting temperature is below 98 degrees, so it literally will melt in your mouth (or in your hand, as demonstrated by a helpful assistant). It's also supposed to have some of the same chemical makeup as chocolate. Hmmm....chocolate and beef....