Looking Down on the Prime Minister of Japan

One Cantaloupe $ 210.00!

4 Matsutake Mushrooms - $ 680.00!

Perfect Tonkatsu 

Our guide: Keiko outside of the Tonkatsu Restaurant

Tea Time, 2 minutes per tablespoon of water

My favorite new Toilette!

(Click to Play)

Our hotel room overlooks the Government Center. From our room we actually look down on the house where the Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzō Abe lives. It would be the equivalent if we were staying in Washington DC and from our hotel room we would be looking down onto the White House and the surrounding grounds. Although there are police around, and some streets are blocked, there is none of the overwhelming sense of security you see in America.

This was our first full day in Tokyo.  We got up in the morning after a very bad night sleep and met our guide - Keiko in the lobby. We first went to the Tsukiji Fish Market. This is by far the largest fish market in the world. They’re going to be closing it down and building a new one to reclaim the land it’s located on. It is a shame because this place has such history. Tons of pounds of fish go through here every day, feeding the insatiable appetite the Japanese have for fish of all species. Because the fish is so fresh, Tokyo is the best city in the world to get sushi. Tonight, maybe, will be eating some of the fish that we saw today when we go out for Sushi!

From the fish market we took a taxi to the Ginza where we went to several different large department stores.  In Japan the department stores in the basement levels have absolutely the best food to go of any place in the world. They sell both prepared food and grocery items like vegetables, meat and fish -the prices are astronomical.

We then took a taxi ride to go to lunch to eat Tonkatsu (Fried Breaded Pork Cutlet) in a small restaurant that specializes only in Tonkatsu. You choose the type of pork that you want: lean or fatty and it comes with soup, cabbage, pickles and rice. It was delicious, and not the slightest bit greasy. I got my pork fix.

After lunch we went to the Omoto-Sando and Ayoma areas of Tokyo. These are shopping areas. Every designer you can think of: Yoji, Issey Miyake, Armani, etc. is represented in huge stores that are architectural marvels. The money spent in Tokyo on fashion must be enormous.

We stopped to have some green tea at a beautiful restaurant – designed by Sugimoto. Each one of us brewed six servings of tea, each serving was about 1 tablespoon of water. Apparently this is how it’s done. It takes two minutes to brew each tablespoon of water - you wind up spending almost a half hour drinking 6 tablespoons of tea. It does slow you down.

We return to her hotel, went to the bar and had a martini and a glass of wine with our wonderful guide - Keiko. We were encouraged to hear that the world economy didn’t fall apart today, that would have put a damper on our vacation.

Tonight we go to Keiko’s favorite Sushi restaurant in all of Tokyo.