Tokyo

I guess everyone traveling in a really foreign culture is going to misunderstand the local customs, and it was inevitable that I would do that eventually. How was I to know that it was considered bad form to yell at the waiter, “Garcon! More cappuccino, s’il vous plaît, vete, vete!” Actually, that wasn’t it; I was at a standing bar run by Nepalese and pulled out what I thought was the cunning coin purse I’ve been using. The staff giggled and explained that it was actually a portable ashtray; they smoke in all the restaurants here. I kind of wondered why it was lined with what looked like aluminum foil. Oh well, Garrison Keillor once said that as a father, you should engage in conspicuous acts of folly, such as planting pumpkins in a part of your yard where they had no chance of actually growing, so your son wouldn’t get the wrong idea that you were more knowledgeable than was actually the case. I hope I did that for my son Jon. I suspect I did a good job with that because from the time he was about 7, he frequently told me, “You’re so bogus, Dad.” Still does, actually, often. Maybe I am bogus? This trip has given me much to think about. 

I tried to take it easy today. Some are walking around Shinjuku, looking into stores, and generally taking in the scene. My dinner was the sausage platter with a selection of wurst, which was a welcome change from ramen and sushi. I like Japanese food, but as Groucho Marx once quipped, “I love my cigar, but I take it out of my mouth occasionally.” One of the sausages was billed as octopus sausage. It sounded pretty strange, but I was prepared to eat it. My wife will be relieved to hear that it was some kind of normal sausage with the lower portion cross-hatched before they dump it into the fryer so that it ends up looking like 2-inch octopi.

I stopped back at the giant holographic cat sign for another look. I didn’t film it because there were at least 10,000 tourists with the same idea. But they are showing promotional shorts from Star Wars: Rebels. It was amazing; they had giant 3-dimensional flying saucers that actually launched off the screen. It may have been one of the most amazing things I ever witnessed. Its all Blade Runner up here in Shinjuku.

I also decided to try to play Pachinko. The place is deafening, and the machines are incomprehensible. I inserted my 1,000 yen note into the machine, and it started shooting ball bearings up into the front of the machine, where they hit little pins and bounced this way and that. The young man next to me tried to give me a little advice and demonstrated what to do, but I had no idea what the point of the game was. After about 5 minutes, I walked out of the parlor a poorer but wiser man.

On the way out, I passed a sake bar called Doron Sake Bar and decided to stop in. The place was amazing. Maybe 20 seats, a very comprehensive sake list, as well as a variety of souchu, a distilled beverage that is getting more popular here. It can be made from grain, potatoes, and beets. Its not as strong as vodka or whiskey, only about 40 proof. They make it with flavors such as lemon or orange. You can order it with club soda over ice, with hot or cold water, or over ice. Not particularly distinctive, but diluted, it’s close to beer strength. I had cucumbers with spicy miso and then some grilled stingray wings, which looked like pale beef jerky, but it was great.