We Will Never Eat Sushi in LA Part Duex

Boro Kimono at Amuse Museum

Senso-ji Temple

Beef at $ 450.00 a pound!

Grilled Mackerel

Red Snapper

Tuna (Toro)

Uni (Sea Urchin)

Sea Eel Sushi with Sweet Miso Sauce

Corner View From Our Room at Four Seasons

We awakened to a non-rainy day! We decided to walk outside for a bit, then returned to our room for breakfast followed by our last visit to the hot springs, soaking up the hot volcanic water. We sadly checked out of Gora Kaden and were driven down the mountain to catch the Shinkansen train for the short ride to Tokyo. We had reservations at the Four Seasons Hotel. A representative from the Four Seasons met us at the station, gathered up our luggage and walked us the short distance to the Hotel. No taxi, no car just a short walk.

Our room overlooks the tracks at Tokyo Station. That might sound weird but it is wonderful. It is like looking down on a giant toy train set. Every minute or so, multiple trains come zooming in and out of the station. This is one of the busiest train stations in the world. It is fun to watch (especially after you have had a couple of glasses of wine).

We headed out to Asakusa area of Tokyo taking the Ginza Line Subway. I really enjoy figuring out how to navigate the Subway. I only wish we had such a comprehensive transportation system in Los Angeles.

Asakusa is an area of Tokyo that still reflects the old city. It is dominated by the incredible Senso-ji Temple which is giant Pagoda. The reason we were headed to that neighborhood was to visit a new museum: The Amuse Museum. It wasn’t about appetizers, but rather the show was about Boro. Boro is a textile tradition in Japan where old clothing is constantly repaired by patchwork. Nothing is thrown away, the poor, mostly farmer families would constantly repair garments they wore by recycling and attaching small pieces of other garments. Nothing was ever discarded. It is the ultimate recycling. Surprisingly, these old patched garments, look like current fashion items. The documentation of the textiles was in English and Japanese and was outstanding. The collector of over 20,000 garments, Chuzaburo Tanaka, has meticulously documented his collection of Boro and in addition has written extremely emotional descriptions of the women who labored to create these garments. It is an excellent show.

We then headed by subway back to our hotel, but had to make a stop at our favorite department store anywhere: Mitsukoshi. Unlike American Department stores, not only do they sell clothing and house wares but they have a combination of both groceries and takeout food that are unbelievable and extremely expensive. You can’t help wondering who can afford to but all these delicious items. We love walking through the store.

Once again, Tokyo overwhelms. We have a corner suite and I could stay up all night watching the trains and looking at the incredible architecture. I don’t think any city has more interesting architecture than Tokyo. The city is incredibly wealthy. It reminds me in a lot of respects of the movie Blade Runner. It is like stepping into the future. The downside of course is no one can find anything. We got in our cab to go to dinner, we handed a map to the restaurant, in Kanji to our driver and he proceeded to get lost finding the restaurant. It is typical. With all of their GPS and technology, he eventually called the restaurant and then dropped us off on a small street and pointed in a general direction. Of course ALL of the signs are in Japanese, and we could have been directly in front of the restaurant and wouldn’t have known if we were there or not. Suddenly a woman ran up to us and said “Mr. Meyer?”. The restaurant sent her out to look for us.

We were going back to Tomoki Sushi. We ate there at the beginning of our trip, and we knew we would never get Sushi like this in Los Angeles. The Husband and Wife owners are adorable and the sushi was great. We didn’t order anything; they just brought out course after course. Highlights were the Salmon Roe, Red Snapper, Sea Urchin, Sea Eel Sashimi with sweet Miso.  In reality, all courses were great. When we left the restaurant we needed to hail a taxi. The wife came out stood in the middle of the street in our chef whites and halted a cab for us. She told the taxi driver to take us to the Four Seasons and I handed him a hotel card with a map and the address in Japanese. As he approached the Hotel, he continued past it. I said the hotel was behind us now about 50 yards. He pulled over, let us out and refused any payment. This time the taxi gods were with us.