Mako Singing at Blues Alley in Meguro June 19th

You have seen my past posts about my friend Mako-san in this Blog.  She is quite a singer, and can belt it out in both Japanese as well as English.  She will be singing on Sunday, June 19th at the Blues Alley Japan Club in Meguro.  If you like Jazz and the Blues, and would like a relaxing thing to do this night, why don't you head on down to Meguro and catch one of her shows.  Here is video clip of one of her more recent performances.

She looks great and I hope some of my Japanese friends can go see her show.  If you do, please make sure to introduce yourself to her (and to her American husband Peter if you see him), and let them know that Charlie said hello!!!!  One of these days I hope to catch her show in Japan.  Here are the details on the upcoming performance that I took from the Blues Alley Japan web-site.

The Blues Alley Japan web-site can be found here:  www.bluesalley.co.jp

Nov. 2010 Trip - Post #3: "The Perfect Day/Night"

So here it is.  Probably the one single day/night I was most looking forward to on this entire Japan trip.  Day 3.  Yes, it was all lined up.  Work during the day, and then a night - a Friday night, that included stops at my most favorite Tokyo places.  With my wife.  For the first time ever.  A historic night (and morning).  This post should take up about 3 or 4 pages, for the entire night was at least that long.  However I will condense it for you, as to not bore you.  It was perhaps the most enjoyable night I have ever spent in Japan.  So where do we start?  At the Yatai-mura for dinner of course!!  We met some friends there, including the previously posted about Fujii-san who brought his son (who was not even born yet the first time I met him) and sister along.  His sisters (who is apparently a famous Japan screenwriter for television) presence was key as she would be his sons baby sitter for later when we went "deeper" into the wonderful Kita-Shinagawa evening.

We had a great time at dinner.  The Yatai-mura never disappoints.  Mary met all the great people there, including Mutsumi-san and Suzuki-san, and we really had a wonderful time.  So much fun that we got behind my own personal timetable for the evening.  Here is a picture of Mary with Fujii-sans son, who really liked cars (and brought his own box full of toy cars).

The Yatai-mura is such a great place to sit down with friends and enjoy a casual conversation while eating some nice food.  This is a very special place for me.  Kind of like a neighborhood hang out.  I wish I had a place like this close to my home.

After a wonderful time at the Yatai-mura, we headed over to Hoju for a couple of games of pool.  This was the first time ever in my life that I was able to shoot some pool with my wife.  Can you believe that?  How special!!!!

Of course we ended up staying later at Hoju than my original plan.  So much so that we received a call from Tampopo asking where we were!!  Were we going to make it to Tampopo?  Yes of course!!  But one more game of pool first!!!

We finally closed up our pool game at Hoju, and headed over to our final (?) destination - Tampopo.  I must first say though that I was very impressed with Mary's pool game.  Aside from the fact that it took her forever to line up her shots, she was really good!!!  So we staggered down the steep Hoju steps over to Tampopo, to finish the night off with a rocking Karaoke session!  At Tampopo, it didn't take Mary, who promised she would NOT sing, to take the mic and join in on a song.

This is a great picture of Fujii-san.  Why?  Because this is the exact same position he was in when we first walked into the door of Tampopo years earlier and found him in there with his wife.  Classic.

The Tampopo session went on and on.  Well into the late night, and in fact the early morning.  Before it was too late though, I sang a special song to Mary.  Nat King Cole's "When I Fall in Love".  She was a bit reluctant to get up and dance with me, but upon being pushed by the rest of our friends, she had no choice.

It was a marathon Tampopo session, and I was surprised Mary hung on all the way to the end.  There was craziness, and of course I cannot describe all of it in this post.

To keep with tradition, Fujii-san and I sang the final song, Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World".  How true.

So at about 2:00 a.m., the Tampopo staff said it was time to close.  We complied with their request, and were sent off into the dark of night of the "Tokaido Road".  We were all tired, and needed sleep.  So what did we do?  After some small amount of deliberation, we decided to continue our session at "Big Echo".  Why you ask?  Well, because Big Echo is open 24 hours and because Momo-san had a coupon!!!  So we walked the mile or so to the Big Echo near Shinagawa Station, and continued our evening of singing.

Now I will not post any of the few photos I have from Big Echo.  Some of them are not so pretty, and are therefore considered "classified".  Some members of the party "hit the wall" and missed certain parts of this session.  Not Mary of course, who was still going strong!!!

The Big Echo session ended at 4:00 a.m.  We had certainly got in our fill of singing this night.  At the end, when some of the best music was sung, the audience was the smallest regrettably.  So it was finally time to head back to our hotels and call it a night.

What!!!  No, it was not time.  Ramen!!!  We needed Ramen!!!!  Does anyone know a local Ramen shop that is open at 4:00 a.m.???  Of course!!!  This is Tokyo!!!!  Not more than 100 meters away and perhaps a 10 minute walk, and we were bellied up to a Ramen bar, and ordering more beer along with bowl fulls of Japan's finest noodles.  There is NO BETTER WAY to end an all night Karaoke session than with a bowl of early morning Ramen.  We slurped down our bowls of noodle nectar, and then did we call it a night????

Yes, this time we did.  It was close to 5:00 a.m., and it was one of the most fun filled Japan Friday nights I have ever had.  I was so proud of my wife Mary for not only making it, but being strong throughout all the way to the end.  I will never forget this night in Tokyo.  Thank you to all who participated!

Great Dinners in Japan - Roppongi Hills

I think I need to start of series of posts that commemorate great dinners I have had in Japan.  There are certainly many of them, and they all contain wonderful memories of friendships as well as moments of getting to understand and appreciate Japanese cuisine.  Some of these dinners have already been written about, like at Sushi Dai, or the small guts place in Shinagawa.  So I will try and focus this new series on large group dinners that stand out in my mind.  The first will be on a nice relaxing evening we had back in June of 2003.  A number of staffers decided to go out to a restaurant in Roppongi Hills.  At the time, Roppongi Hills was a brand new complex that was generating a lot of buzz around Tokyo.  My memory is lots of escalators that took you this way and that, and a relative maze of shops and restaurants on multiple floors.  I think we might have had a little trouble finding the place to begin with.

Once there, we had a great meal and wonderful conversation.  As you can see, we cooked our own food at this place.  It was a classy restaurant.  Here is a picture of Terry.  He was (and is) a popular guy.  But where are all these ladies today?  Did he drive them away?

I am not sure what this picture was about.  Was an award given on this night to Miki-san?  What I find funny though is the wonderful wink from Iwako!  Too funny. 

Anyway, a great night out with friends, and a nice memory thanks to these pictures.

Fujii-san

One late night many years ago, my goods friends Sam, Rick and I were walking back to our Shinagawa area hotel after working during the day at Shinagawa "Seaside" and then taking a dinner somewhere in that area.  It was around 11:30 p.m., and we had already made a couple of stops for "refreshments" on the way back.  We were tired, full, and drunk.  The road we were walking down was the famous "Tokaido Road", one of my favorite walking and running roads in Tokyo.  Almost all of the shops were closed at this hour, and the road was dark.  Suddenly up ahead I spotted a small light stuck out in the road, which as we came a little closer turned out to be an Asahi beer sign.  Seeing that it was on, I said to the group that we must stop and check this place out for a "final final".  Sam and Rick were not too thrilled with my plan, but they could not resist the spirit of adventure.  There were no windows on this establishment, so Sam went first, his language skill being the bow of our ship.  We had arrived at the first time at the snack bar "Tampopo".

Besides the Master and the Mama-san, there were only two customers at Tampopo at that late hour that night.  A youngish, middle aged man was bent over a floor standing karaoke machine.  Behind him at the counter was a woman, his wife I suspected, who had a look on her face that said to me I hate karaoke but I am here to just support my husband.  The man was singing in almost perfect English a rock song from the 80's (I think it was either a David Bowie song or a Boz Scaggs song).  We jumped right in.  Two and a half hours later, we were on our way back to our hotel, with no stops in between (this time).

What happened that night was very memorable.  Aside from having another great karaoke session, we made two new friends in Fujii-san and his wife.  Neither of theme spoke any English, so Sam was the all important translator that helped make this mission a success.  Fujii-san likes to sing, and is quite good at it.  To this day I remain perplexed as to how he sings perfectly in English despite not knowing the language.  Does he have the songs/words memorized?  I'm not sure, but he is quite fun to be with at a karaoke session.

Since that fateful night, we have met again on a number of subsequent trips to Japan.  His wife has had one child during the process, and I am sure she has had her second by now as when I was last in Japan in November she was expecting.  She truly does not like karaoke, so my first impression that night was spot on.

Meeting Fujii-san and his wife that night was a very fortunate thing.  It is always a great thing when new friendships are made.  I would like to thank the Asahi sign for making it all possible.

What Does This Mean???!!!

Don't ask me how, but I came across a post about this Blog in Japan.  I think it might be famous over there and maybe you have heard about it.  It is a Blog from a guy who posts a picture of the same vending machine - every single day (or at least every day that he works).  He is on his 6th year in a row now I think, and lives up in Hokkaido.  Are you aware of this?  Do you know what it means???  Some may write this guy off as crazy or bored.  I think there is more to it than that.  I think this says something about Japan.  What, I am not sure.  I am still contemplating it all and seeking meaning.  Maybe my friends can help me.  Here is a picture of the machine in it's current state.

Of course on almost all days, the picture stays the same, as the contents of vending machines rarely change.  However, he also posts pictures of the same machine on the same day of the year for the past 4-5 years!  But on the rare day when something is moved or replaced, in addition to the picture of the machine like above, there is another picture below which shows the changes like this one.

Five years.  Every work day without fail.  So to my deep thinking Japanese friends (and you know who you are), please tell me what this all means.  There is something special here I believe.  Attention to detail, which the Japanese are very famous for of course comes to mind.  I think this is a great Blog.  I don't know why.

Oh, in case you do NOT know about this Blog, it can be found here:  http://jihan.sblo.jp/

Nov. 2010 Trip - Post #2: "Arrival and Day 1"

It was with great anticipation that I ventured out to Narita to pick up my wife from her inbound flight from Los Angeles.

After a safe trip over, we went back to our Shinagawa Hotel for an early evening.  The next day while I worked, my wife was lucky to be in the very capable hands of my friends Kayo and Momo who took her to dinner.  They made an excellent choice to ease her into the world of Japanese cuisine - the T.Y. Harbor Brewery on Tennoz Isle.  This "gastropub" is a very nice restaurant and microbrewery located on one of the inlets of Tokyo Bay.  It can be seen here, in a very early photo I took in December of 2001.

On this night, Momo and Kayo made my wife feel very welcome to Japan, and they enjoyed a nice dinner together, along with one or two of the house beers.

After dinner, we joined up for a game of bowling in the infamous Shinagawa Prince Lanes.  While the bowling was not the best, the company certainly was and we enjoyed it immensely.

To cap off the night, we had a drink at the top of the Shinagawa Prince Hotel.  All in all a very good first day for this very special trip.

"Country Home" Post Earthquake/Tsunami Update

I have been told that all the employees of Country Home up in Tagajo, along with their families are all ok.  In fact, it seems Country Home will OPEN temporarily THIS WEEK!!!  This is great news!!!  I will hopefully get a picture soon and share it.  In the meantime, best of luck to the Master and Ken-chan to get up and running again.

Oh and one more thing, the restaurant's name is Furusato.

"Every Picture Tells a Story"

This is the title of a famous song by Rod Stewart, and oh how true it is.  They also say a picture tells a thousand words.  So it is with this theme in mind that I share with you the so very important picture below which I received just yesterday.  This is not just a picture, but rather it is a story, a story about living, about recovering, and about the need to share conversation and good times with friends.

This picture was taken recently inside of Cha-Cha's, the snack bar in Tagajo that suffered severe damage from the earthquake and tsunami.  As previously stated, the Cha-Cha's Master plans to rebuild his shop.  Before he undergoes this serious endeavor which will take a number of months to complete, he invited some friends into his damaged shop to enjoy some food and drink and conversion.  It warmed my heart greatly to see this picture, and to know that life goes on, and rebuilding is happening.  I very much look forward to being in this shop again, and to thanking the Master and his family for having the courage and strength to carry on, and to rebuild.

One of the Craziest Sushi Nights Ever

Some time ago (December of 2003 actually!), there was a memorable sushi dinner held at one of the Sushi Dai restaurants near Tsukiji that I would like to share with you.  It was probably the craziest sushi dinner that I can ever remember.  We had a group of around 10 co-workers that night, and it turned into a virtuoso performance of comedy by one of my good friends Federico.  To set the stage, our friend Tak had made a reservation for this private sushi room.  Tak was friends with one of Sushi Dai's chefs,  Nara-san.  We were to have Nara-san prepare the meal in our private room, and here he is ready for us that night.

The sushi at Sushi Dai is always first rate in terms of quality, and that night was no exception.  In addition, the skills of Nara-san were very evident, as he prepared our meal in exquisite fashion.

Everything proceeded along quite normally until right near the end, when my friend Federico suddenly got up and disappeared out of the room.  Moments later, there he was BEHIND the sushi counter, trying to communicate with Nara-san despite the obvious language barrier.

I think Nara-san was stunned by this sudden intrusion into his private space.  He probably never received this kind of treatment from his normal Japanese customers.  Then, Federico became more animated, and took Nara-sans hat and started handling some of his tools.

I think we made some jokes that Federico was crazy "mafia", and thus Nara-san needed to be careful.  We couldn't stop laughing with each more bold move by this wonderful Italian man.

Just when you think it couldn't get any crazier, it did.  In this next picture, you can see Federico wrapping up Nara-sans face like he was a piece of tomorrows Toro.

In the end, I think it is amazing that we didn't get in any kind of trouble.

This was a fantastic evening and another incredible memory from Japan.  It came thanks to the brilliance of Federico, the skill, patience and good sport of Nara-san, the gastronomic smarts and connections of Tak, and the great company of all of my co-worker friends.  I will never forget that night at Sushi Dai, and I doubt anyone else who was there will forget it either.

Understanding Ramen

Back in September of 2004, my good friend Yoshi took me to down to Shin-Yokohama to visit the Ramen Museum there.  Yoshi knows I am a very big fan of ramen, and therefore thought this would be a great place to visit the day I arrived in from the States.  It was also a memorable excursion for me because the day happened to be my birthday.

There are many things to know about Ramen.  I couldn't possibly begin to fully understand all of the subtle differences and regional twists.  What does stick out, is the Chinese origin, and the fact that Instant Ramen, developed in 1958 by  Momofuku Ando of Nissin Foods was chosen as the invention of the century in a poll of Japanese.

The museum itself is quite an impressive design, and in fact it is just as much a work of art as it is a museum.  It is themed after Japan in the 40's or 50's, and the ambiance of the inside structures (as seen in the pictures) along with the audio background they play over and over gives one a sense of going back in time for sure.

Scattered throughout the entire design are various Ramen shops from all over Japan.  They are changing all of the time so there is typically always something new.  It is quite difficult to try them all, or even some of them, so I would suggest buying the half portion bowls that are available.  In another life, wouldn't it be fun to own your own Raman cart, and to have a dashi that is sought out all over Japan?  What a nice dream that would be!  Thank you Yoshi for taking all of the great pictures!!!

Understanding Edo

Not too long ago, I had the pleasure of spending a Saturday in Tokyo.  One of the activities chosen on this particular day was to visit the Edo Museum in Tokyo.  The contemporary architecture of this impressive building near the Ryogoku Station is in contrast to the exhibits of years past held within.  Upon entering, you have to cross an incredible life size recreation of an old wooden bridge.

The interior is incredibly spacious with a very high ceiling allowing the museum to hold huge exhibits within.  We rented for a nominal fee an English language recorder that guided you through most of the sections.  It was very helpful.  It is really incredible to see how a great city like Tokyo originates.  Aren't you curious?  I still can't believe Tokyo can actually work it seems so complex.  How they run all the electric lines, sewer lines, water lines is beyond me.

Anyway, I would recommend to anyone interested that they should visit this museum.  Learn about this great city!

Stories from Tampopo - "Mrs. Green"

I have posted in the past about one of my favorite little snack bars in Kita-Shinagawa named Tampopo.  Tampopo is a place where things happen.  Fun things.  Interesting people converge to sing songs and enjoy the company and atmosphere.  Today, in honor of the Japanese National Holiday "Midori no Hi" or "Greenery Day", I would like to share with you just one of the beautiful people who I have met at Tampopo.  Her name is appropriately enough, "Mrs. Green".

I met Mrs. Green a number of years ago during one of our infamous late night sessions at Tampopo.  She was a regular there.  A middle aged woman who came alone, she obviously enjoyed singing a song or two, taking a drink or two, and maybe in between it all, dancing with some of her friends.  What's not to like about that?!

During subsequent visits to Tampopo, I would see Mrs. Green (who does not speak English), and we would share a hug, and maybe after the right number of drinks, a dance.  It was all good fun, and Mrs. Green certainly enjoyed it all.

My favorite story about Mrs. Green was on a certain trip on my last night in Japan, I decided to go to Tampopo with a friend for a final night of fun.  We got there late - maybe 11:30 p.m., but the place had it's small number of participants there and the mood was good.  We put in a few songs, and had a few drinks, and I was starting to get a little tired.  Then, in walks Mrs. Green, who promptly sits down at the counter bar, orders a drink, fires up a cigarette and proceeds to tell those around her that she just came from a dance contest (which she won).  I looked up at the clock on the wall.  It was 12:30 a.m., and Mrs. Green was just getting started.

We extended our own party to accommodate Mrs. Green of course, and I had another great final night in Tokyo.  What a wonderful world, with wonderful people!

Another Tagajo Gem

In Tagajo, nearly right across the street from the famous "Cha-Cha's", sits another very small restaurant that deserves its own post.  The English translation of this restaurant (whose Japanese name escapes me) is "Country Home".  Country Home sits in a small alley which contains various other businesses, some of whom through the years have come and gone.  The infamous "Orange" bar is one of them (that sadly is gone).  This alley in my minds eye resembles a NASCAR garage of sorts, where the various racing teams might keep their cars.

Country Home like Cha-Cha's, is known for it's very kind Master, as well as it's casual setting.  It is comprised of a small counter bar, and just two dining tables where you cook your own food on a grill (Korean BBQ style).  Over each grill hangs do it yourself looking suction fans that never seem to be able to accommodate the serious amount of smoke that invariably results at the peak of cooking.  The walls (as well as the exterior front) are a very interesting faux log cabin wood design, which I guess gives you the feeling of being in the country.

We have had a number of memorable and very enjoyable times/meals at this cozy place.  It is a classic "local" hangout, that a tourist would likely never find or even if they did, venture into. The food is good, the drinks are cool and refreshing, and the company is always the best.  My kind of place.

Sadly, I am sure the Earthquake/Tsunami spent their time at this great restaurant.  I am seeking updates on the status of Country Home, and will report back when I get this information.