Cha-Cha: noun. A fast, rythmic ballroom dance of Latin-American origin with a basic pattern of three steps and a shuffle.
In Tagajo, a small suburb of the million population city of Sendai in northern Japan, there is a very special snack bar called Cha-Cha’s. It is one of my favorite places to go when visiting this area. When one walks down the street from Tagajo station during the day time, you can find Cha-Cha’s if you look very closely as a very non-descript, somewhat old, small two story building. What strikes you when you see it is that there are large metal shutters that are pulled down that completely hide what lies inside. It is frankly not a very appealing site. In fact, one look at it at this time of the day and you would probably never want to go there when it was open. Thanks to the knowledge of some of my very astute co-workers, I was taken to Cha-Cha’s during the night time after dinner, to relax and have a few drinks. I was amazed at what this placed looked like after dark. The shutters are rolled up to reveal a very nice, clean brightly lit bar with tables that is very appealing to the eye.
Inside you quickly find out what makes Cha-Cha’s so special. They have a Master (pictured above along with his son) and a Mama-san who have known my co-workers for many years. The result is a hospitality that is extremely nice and welcoming. Aside from the assorted drink and snacks available, Cha-Cha’s also has a Karaoke system for those who want to use it. They have a regular clientele from the neighborhood that loves to have a good time, and have been typically very engaging each time I have visited. The Master at Cha-Cha’s also has another wonderful talent – he is an artist. Many of his original paintings can be found on the walls and I hear that his work studio for this hobby can be found upstairs. I have had many a good time at Cha-Cha’s thanks to the friendliness of the staff as well as my friends. I would strongly recommend a visit if you ever find yourself in the Tagajo area!
Well it has been quite a long time since my last Blog post, and I am a bit sorry for the large gap. No excuses, just priorities and some kind of strange lack of fundamental motivation. The beauty of the Blog though is it is still here, ready to be added to at any time. No time constraints, no problems. That’s nice.
So I would like to use this first new post to say a little something about the (relatively) new picture that I have inserted into the title bar of my Blog. It is a beautiful painting of Old Satchmo, otherwise known as Louis Armstrong, along with his well known trumpet. Aside from the fact that I think it is a really cool painting and one that fits in so perfectly with my Blog title, it was actually painted by an old University dorm mate, a guy by the name of John McCloy. I have not seen John since that one year we lived in a UCLA dorm together (on the same floor) over 30 years ago (yikes!), but through the powers of the modern day computer social networking sites I have re-established communication with him through e-mail. We all knew in the dorm that John was a very talented artist and musician. It is really neat to see that over 30 years later he is still utilizing these talents. Aside from his painting of Louis Armstrong (which he gratefully allowed me to use on this site), John has many other paintings of famous musicians, along with some examples of his songwriting and musical skills on his web-site which can be found at http://www.johnmccloy.com. One small world thing I found out about John upon reconnecting with him was that he came to UCLA that fateful year after spending his four years of High School at the American School of Japan in Tokyo!!! Now that is kind of an interesting coincidence don’t you think? Here is one other painting that John did of the famous U.S. musician from the 1960’s Jimi Hendrix. Very cool stuff – thanks John!!!!
During a recent trip to Denver, Colorado, I decided for the first time in my life to use Frontier Airlines, a small regional U.S. air carrier. One of the nice benefits of flying Frontier, is that they have small T.V.’s in the seat backs of every seat, and you can watch live television from many, many different channels. As fate would have it, exactly during my flight time Japan’s World Cup soccer team was facing off against Denmark in pool play. What a stroke of luck I thought, as I watched intently this very important match for Japan. And then BOOM!!!!! - Lightning struck in the form of this:
And then BOOM!!!!! – Lightning struck again!!!!
I will never forget that Frontier flight. Of course Japan went on to win 3-1 and thus qualified for the knockout stage. Well done Japan!!!
In the U.S., there is kind of a famous saying that goes, “It tastes like chicken”. You use this saying when you encounter any type of meat that has a neutral taste and you cannot describe it any other way. The reason is the taste of plain chicken, without any sauces or spicing is a neutral tasting meat. It doesn’t really have too much of any specific flavor. Do you get it?
So the background of this post is this. I do not watch much T.V., with the exception of sports of course! However, one T.V. show that I like is “Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations”. It is a 1 hour show where Mr. Bourdain goes to various places in the world to describe some key elements of a country or regions cuisine. He always has the assistance of a local, who helps him find the “cool spots”! He did one most excellent show on Osaka, and another fantastic one on Tokyo. It was in the Tokyo show, where there was a segment of him visiting a small local restaurant that specialized in chicken. The restaurant was appropriately called “Toriki”, which in Japanese means chicken. So I watched this show and thought hey I like chicken and that looks like a cool place to go to. I want to find it and try it!!! Here is a video on the Toriki segment on “No Reservations”.
During a conversation with a couple of our Tokyo office staff, I asked them about this place. To my shock, they said they know it, and in fact they go there somewhat frequently. So we made plans to visit on my next trip to Japan.
So we made it over to Toriki, which I must say would be a bit challenging for me to reach on my own, as it is not on one of the main line trains. That being said, it is still a very short hop from Shinagawa station if you know the train system well enough. Toriki is a small place, and we had a really nice dinner there with many different parts of the chicken. I even tried the “chicken sashimi” which in the U.S. would probably cause a restaurant to be shut down by health inspectors! It was fantastic, but my most favorite dish was the “house special” chicken called "Tataki" which came with a piquant, green colored sauce that you pour over the chicken. It can be seen in the video above. Wonderful stuff, and I want to go back to this place again!!!
Years ago I was lucky to visit the Japanese city of Nikko for some sightseeing. Nikko is a city approximately 90 miles to the north of Tokyo, but it is really much more than that. Initially built around temples during the 8th century, Nikko today is most famous for the shrine “Nikko-Tosho-gu” which was completed in 1617. This shrine is dedicated to the founder of the famous Tokugawa Shogunate – Tokugawa Ieyasu, and his remains are kept here. This makes this place very special in the history of Japan, as it represents a very spiritual place for the Edo period of Tokugawa rule.
There are incredible buildings at Nikko, with extremely detailed hand carvings that are painted in bright colors. I can’t imagine the time it must have taken to make all of these carvings. Unfortunately our time at Nikko was limited, and we did not get to walk up to the grave of Ieyasu. Maybe some other time!?
Nikko-Tosho-gu is a very special place, and I recommend visiting it if you get the chance. It can be reached by train (of course!).
While I do not consider myself to be a “whiskey man”, on rare occasions I do find it nice at the end of the evening to sit down and relax with a glass of Scotch (or other type of brown liquid). There is no better place in the world to do this than Japan, as typically in their nicer bars (many of which can be found in their better hotels) the presentation they use is first class. Specifically I am talking about their use of ice balls. Aside from the scientific reasons for using a large ice ball (or block) of ice which creates less melting and thus dilution of your drink, the use of a ball, especially if it is hand carved is unsurpassed. Having someone take this type of care and time to make your drink will inevitably make it taste better. Here is a video of this impressive act, which comes in two parts. The first can be found here:
The second part of the process can be found here, which completes the total construction:
Now if you are in a desperate thirst, it is certainly reasonable to say that you simply cannot tolerate such a long lead-time to get your drink. However, if you are patient, you will be rewarded. This is a very simple thing, but something I believe is a fantastic example of the Japanese culture itself – that is, their attention to detail and presentation. I find this extremely appealing, and think this is one of the many reasons I happen to love Japan!
In regards to the above, I remain deeply indebted to my Japanese friend Ken, who gifted to me a round ice ball mold. While using the mold is certainly not as good as the real thing, it is certainly much more convenient, and far better than the smaller ice cubes that my refrigerator manufactures!!
After a number of years of going to the Yatai-Mura (described in my second post), one night they (the staff) heard me talking about Karaoke. My Japanese friends who were with me at the time spoke to the owners about how much I enjoyed a good Karaoke session. They told us that they owned a Karaoke bar that was just a 10 minute walk from the restaurant and wanted to know if we wanted to go sing. We said sure, that would be fun!! About 15 minutes later one of the staff motioned for us to come outside (we had already paid our bill) where we found he had driven his car up and would take us over himself (now that’s customer service!). A blink of the eye later and we were entering “Haikara-tei”, over on the Tokaido road in Kita-Shinagawa not far from Shimbaba station. Haikara-tei was a casual bar that also served very nice snacks. They had a couple of electronic dart boards, and it was kind of a neighborhood hangout. On the second floor, there were around 6 - 8 Karaoke boxes of varying sizes. We had a great session that first night, and it was the beginning of a fun, albeit relatively brief relationship.
One night on a future trip to Haikara-tei I happened to notice that one of the staff spoke beautiful English. This was an absolute shock to me. She was a woman, and her name was Mako. I asked Mako if she ever worked at the Yatai-Mura, and she said that yes, on occasion she actually did. This was an incredibly powerful moment for me, for in my years of going to the Yatai-Mura, despite my Japanese co-worker friends occasional efforts to translate for me, there were SO many things I wanted to say to the people over there, and now Mako was the key to open up this world.
So I stated to hang out more at Haikara-tei, and in the process, had a number of fun Karaoke sessions there. On one memorable occasion, Mako was actually bringing up the drinks to our group on the second floor. While she was in our room, I asked her if she liked to sing. She said yes. So then I asked her to sing a song with our group. She declined (as she was working), but I insisted, and after further twisting of her arm she finally agreed. She sat down (we had a group of around 8 at that session), and proceeded to sing (and I hope my memory is correct here) “The Rose” by Bette Midler. Our group sat in stunned silence as Mako delivered an incredible rendition of this song, her voice an absolute thing of beauty. When she was done we all looked at each other in shock. Wow! Now who wants to follow that??? Come to find out that aside from working at Haikara-tei, Mako also was some kind of professional singer. Well that explains it!!! We made her come back and sing some more songs that night, and it was another incredibly memorable time.
Through further stops at Haikara-tei I also came to find out how it was that Mako spoke such good English. She was married to an American, from New Jersey no less. I came to know him – Peter – from further visits, and enjoyed his wicked sense of humor and western view of life living in Japan. Thanks to Peter and the beauty of YouTube, you can see and listen to Mako-san sing. For further clips of Mako-sans beautiful voice, type in “Makovaz” into the YouTube search bar. As you can see, she can put on quite a show, and is incredibly versatile, singing in both English and Japanese.
As a customer of Haikara-tei, I also came to become friends with the manager there, a man named Kenji. Unfortunately, Kenji could speak no English, but with Mako and Peter around as well as my Japanese co-workers, I could always communicate with him. Before too long, Mako-san and Kenji left Haikara-tei. Kenji, who was also a very accomplished chef, decided to open his own Iza-kaya over in Oimachi. It was named Conne. Mako-san went with him as his assistant. I will write a separate post later about Kenji and Conne. After a while Mako moved on again, this time to a restaurant called Hibiki in Odaiba. Here is a picture taken with her over there a couple of years ago, along with my friend Rick from Alabama.
Sadly, Haikara-tei closed one day a few years ago. It obviously wasn’t related to my efforts to keep them in business. Truth be told though when Mako-san and Kenji left it was not as fun anymore. I hope to see Mako-san and Peter during my next trip over to Japan. Maybe I can convince her to meet us for a Karaoke session. I know just the right place . . . .
In honor of my Blog receiving its first comment, from none other than my good friend Federico, all the way from Italia, I would like to dedicate this post to him – for his friendship that started years ago and continues to this day. We have shared many good times, on three different continents, and as he states in his comment below on the “Fish in the Morning” post, some of the best times I just cannot publish.
So I should start off by saying my first trip to the Tsukiji “outer market” (as it is called) was indeed with Federico. We perused the various small shops one morning, and when we finished, we went for a coffee (ok actually a double espresso for F) at a local shop. I took the picture up above at that shop into a mirror, and as you can see Federico should have an identical one in his collection.
So on to the important part of this story. One of my Japanese colleagues who I respect greatly as a gourmand extraordinaire is named Tak, and he currently resides in Singapore (do you know him?). Anyway, Tak gave me a hint that there was a very nice sushi restaurant over in the Tsukiji area, and I should give it a try. It is called “Sushi Dai”. Now come to find out Sushi Dai has a couple of locations around Tsukiji, but the one we targeted was on the main road that surrounds the outer market on the northeastern side (if my internal compass is correct) just short of the Harumi Dori Bashi. It was difficult to find as it was tiny and had absolutely no English anywhere, but it stood on the corner of the street and I took a picture of it here (which for reasons below is now a valuable picture). If my memory is correct, there was a sushi bar on the first floor where we ate, but also another one up a narrow set of stairs on the second floor. So Federico and I enjoyed a fantastic sushi lunch that included what I still consider to be one of the single most enjoyable pieces of fish I have ever had. It was a piece of Toro (I think it was Oh-Toro actually) and its meat was barely held together by its own fibrous connecting tissue (fat?). No soy sauce required here, no teeth either, as it just melted in our mouths. It actually tasted like a piece of the most tender filet mignon you could possible imagine! I will never forget the beautiful taste of that single piece of fish. At that moment, I realized the great heights that prized pieces of raw fish could reach. It was unbelievable and I wish I had taken a picture of it!
Since that fateful encounter I have returned to this same Sushi Dai restaurant with my brother Greg, pictured here at their upstairs counter. In addition, I have had a few other very memorable sushi experiences at a different Sushi Dai facility that is about 6 blocks from this one (away from the Tsukiji market) that I must, and will, write about in a different post.
Sadly, when I returned most recently to Sushi Dai, the original restaurant I went to on the corner is no longer there. It seems they have moved it across the street and down a little ways. You need to stay on your toes to keep up with the goings on at Sushi Dai! There is good sushi to be found there, and I highly recommend it. Thank you Tak, and thank you Federico!!!!!
Have you seen the movie “Lost in Translation”? I would recommend it to anyone who loves Japan. It is not a great story for sure, so don’t expect any special plot. What it does do extremely well though is capture the sights and sounds of Japan, particularly Tokyo. I don’t think that is really an easy thing to do, so I applaud Director Sophia Coppola for giving the viewer a real good feeling of what it is like to actually be in Japan.
So being a big fan of the movie (I actually own a copy), I thought it might be fun to take a tour of some of the actual filming locations in Tokyo one day. A few quick searches on the internet and 15 minutes later I had all the material I would need. Armed with a willing expeditionary party, one late Saturday afternoon we headed off from Shinagawa to our first stop – Shabuzen Restaurant in Shibuya. Shabuzen is a Shabu – Shabu place, and is located in the basement of the Creston Hotel in a residential section of Shibuya. Despite it being a mere 10 minute walk from the main madness of modern day Shibuya, it is not an easy place to find. It really amazes me how you can walk just a short distance from a very crowded, hip and ultra-popular place in Tokyo and be in a very quiet area like this. Some day I need to stay at this hotel, although it is a little pricey compared to my usual dormitory in Shinagawa.
This restaurant is from the scene in the movie where Bill (Bill Murray) and Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson) have their little fight in a booth while ordering lunch. The lunch menu pictures all looked the same to Charlotte and Bill uttered his famous line after ordering a coke (or was it tea?) – “I’m switching to beer”. Since they filmed the movie the restaurant has been extensively remodeled, and the booth seats have been replaced with chairs. The picture above is what the same booth looks like today (yes we sat in EXACTLY the same place which was part of the plan! Notice the same rail on the wall. Sorry for the grainy photo!). The food here is good and the atmosphere is relaxed. We all enjoyed our meal and then moved on to our next tour stop –Karaoke Kan (also in Shibuya).
Karaoke Kan is a chain of Karaoke boxes, and the one used in the movie is just a short 10 minute walk from Shabuzen back towards Shibuya Station. It is in a crowded commercial area, and while the check in is on the ground floor just off the street, the actual boxes are on upper floors and you need to take an elevator to get there. The targeted box, room 601 is a corner “party room” with a very cool circular window that gives a great view of the street down below. The picture above is of Scarlett Johansson singing The Pretenders “Brass in Pocket”. Notice the room number at the top of the door. The next picture is from our session there. The room can hold around 10 people and is a great place to take a group and have fun!
Our final stop on the tour was the famous New York Bar, located on the top floor of the Park Hyatt Hotel in Shinjuku. The Park Hyatt is one of the most beautiful hotels in Tokyo. It is a very expensive and classy place. It is modern in every aspect, as it actually occupies the top 14 floors of the Shinjuku Park Tower skyscraper. The check in desk is on the 41st floor and the New York Bar is near the top – on the 52nd floor. It offers nightly jazz, and some of the best views of Tokyo.
This hotel was actually the main location used for the movie “Lost in Translation”. Not only did the main characters stay at this hotel, but the New York Bar was a key place from many of the scenes. We went up there with the same intention Bill Murray did in the movie – to have a glass of whiskey (Suntory Hibiki of course!) and relax and listen to the music. What a great place, but don’t forget to bring your wallet as it, like the rest of this hotel, is not cheap!!!
What a wonderful way to spend an evening in Tokyo. Maybe next time I will seek out some of the other interesting film locations! "For exciting times, make it Suntory times!!!"
We all know that there is a huge difference between Japanese and American cuisine. However, I must say that I found one difference between the two quite interesting. It involves breakfast. In the U.S., you could safely say that the “All-American Breakfast” would be eggs, bacon, and possibly hashed browned potatoes and toast. This is not what most Americans typically eat for breakfast – that would probably be cold cereal, with coffee and juice. In Japan, my best guess is that the “All-Japanese Breakfast” would be a bowl of rice, some miso soup, natto (in the East only), a small piece of cooked fish (most typically salmon) and a cup of tea. Now I can’t say that this is what is eaten in most Japanese homes each morning – that I don’t know.
So what stands out to me is the piece of fish. I don’t believe I have ever seen or heard of an American eating fish for breakfast. However in Japan, it is very normal. This should not come as a big surprise as the island nation’s cuisine is very centered around seafood.
So while we are on the subject of fish, I would like to write about another amazing place in Japan – the Tokyo Central Fish Market, better known as Tsukiji. The Tsukiji Market is the size of a very large city block (or maybe 2, 3 or 4 of them actually). It is an old looking place, filled with a maze of narrow walkways that take you past hundreds of shops, mostly small, and many little restaurants (anything from a Yatai to a full size sushi bar). Of course the main theme of all of these businesses is fish. It is a fascinating place. I love to walk up and down the aisles, taking in the smells and sights of this typically crowded and busy place.
I have seen many types of fish that I had never seen before. There was one shop that I remember walking past in the interior of the whole complex and all they did was make Tamago. I watched in amazement as the experts cooked their Tamago, which at that time I had no idea of how it was actually made. My good friend Ken once told me that you can tell the quality of any sushi shop by their Tamago. I have never forgotten this very wise advice.
Anyway, I have wandered this beautiful place a few times during my travels to Japan, and it never gets boring. However what I have NOT done (yet) is to visit the actual seafood auction which takes place at 5:00 a.m. in the morning in a building next to the area I describe above. This is high on my list of things I want to do in Japan.
In the past, getting up at 4:00 a.m. on a Saturday in Tokyo has been very challenging for me, as I typically like to take advantage of any Friday night I spend in this great city. However, I have recently realized that due to the early time of this activity, it would be easily possible for me to go to the auction during the week, and still make it into the office on time in the morning. So that being said, I want to tip off my Tokyo co-workers right now by saying if I come into the office one day and walk past you and leave in my wake the smell of raw fish, you will know why! I would like to do this sooner rather than later too. The reason is I heard they may be relocating the Tsukiji Market further away from the city center - out towards Tokyo Disneyland someday soon. I am sure that place will end up being very new and beautiful, but it will certainly lose some of the old style charm that exists at Tsukiji today.
In Japan there is a famous list of the three most beautiful sights in the country. Mastushima can be found there, and for good reason. Matsushima is famous for its 260 tiny pine covered islands (Matsu = pine, Shima = island). It reminds me somewhat of the beautiful pine trees found near PebbleBeach and Monterey in California. I have been lucky to have visited Matsushima a couple of times over the years, thanks to its close proximity to our Sendai factory.
There are a number of really nice (and rather large) hotels along the coast that cater to visiting Japanese. Some of these include hot springs type baths. The views from these hillside fortresses are stunning. Here is one I took from inside one of them which includes their very nice gardens.
You can take a boat ride through many of the islands from Shiogama which I highly recommend. There are oyster beds all around, and various types of birds. The town of Matsushima itself is very sleepy and quaint. It is a cool place to walk around. I hope to get back to Matsushima again to enjoy its incredible beauty!
