Well, we made it to Tokyo a couple of days ago and it has been great so far! There is something about the Asian culture that I absolutely respect. The service, cleanliness, and hospitality is something that I have never experienced. After the bullet train, we took a taxi to the Park Hyatt. WOW!! This hotel room is AMAZING. We are staying in the Park Suite, and we are loving all of the space. Our hotel room overlooks Mt. Fuji, and it is so beautiful. Justin said that we will probably never stay in a hotel room this nice again, so I better enjoy it……let me assure you, I am LOVING it. Everything about this hotel is incredible. Apparently, this is the same hotel that the movie Lost in Translation was set in. I never saw it (because I don’t like most movies), but Justin seems pretty excited about it.
We had a few glasses of wine at the New York Bar on the 52nd floor before our first Tokyo dinner at Yoro Niku. This restaurant uses a cooking method called Shabu-Shabu. Basically, they brought out raw meat and cooked it for us on a fire grate built into the table. Everything was delicious. We ate heart for the first time!! The idea of this kind of grossed me out, but I did it anyway. It was good but sort of chewy. We also had tenderloin, shoulder, tongue, thigh, and a few other things. Most of it just melted in our mouths. We also tried a few different ice creams at the end.
Quick sidebar on our taxi ride to the restaurant: The taxi driver was having a hard time finding exactly where the restaurant is located (most of them are small and set off the street). So, he pulled to the side of the street, stopped the meter, and got out and looked for the restaurant. Once he found it, he left the taxi running while he escorted us to the door (just to make sure that we got to the right place). WOW. Oh and I don’t know if I mentioned this before, but they do not take tips. These are the types of people who deserve tips. We tried to tip the girl who brought are luggage up to the room…..and she refused. Amazing.
The following day, we walked all around Tokyo. It is a much bigger and busier city than Kyoto!! There are people everywhere! There is also alot of high-end shopping. A few of the streets reminded me of Michigan Ave in Chicago. People watching is great in Tokyo…I’m loving all of the interesting fashion.
Yesterday, we had a sushi lunch in the Ginza area. Holy Moley…..it was amazing. We chose a certain price point and the chef gave us a tasting of a wonderful variety of sushi and sashimi. The chef spoke much better English than the sushi chef in Kyoto, and he was able to tell us what we were eating.
This is a few of the things we had: baby shrimp, fatty tuna, swordfish, tuna cheek, mackerel, yellow tail, and abalone. Everything was so fresh! Again, it was great to watch the chef work. They keep the cooking area immaculate. We loved every minute of that meal.
After lunch, we walked around the city a little more. We walked around the Harajuku area. This was an extremely busy area with tons of shops and young people.
When we got back to the hotel, we went to the New York Bar and watched the sun go down over the Tokyo skyline (see previous post).
Today we are going to watch some Sumo wrestling!! That should be interesting!
Being a sushi and sashimi lover, I’m so jealous! We have become very good friends with our sushi chef who has shared his stories about growing up and their respect for his elders and their traditions! Your travels are much better than watching the Amazing Race:)! Have fun and keep up your wonderful blogs!
Thanks Tiki! We are having a great time! The sushi chefs are so amazing to watch. It’s as if you get a performance and dinner at the same time. Justin told me that the sushi chefs in Japan have to cook rice for about 3 years before they even get to touch the fish!!
WOW the sushi even looks good to me and I don’t like sushi!!! Take some pictures of your hotel room….dying to see what it looks like!! Love waking up and having my coffee and reading your blog!!!
XXOO
We should get some hotel pics up soon. It’s hard to get a feeling for how big it is without being here. Maybe Justin could arrange that for y’all 🙂
Hey guys,
OK, I am definitively(is that spelled correctly?) passing on the heart. GROSS!!! And for that matter the tongue, thigh, and other things also. I’m thinking in Japan I’d be up for a nice Kobe steak. Have you seem that on any menus? Can you read anything on the menus? Is everything as expensive as I have heard? Gotta go pack.Going to work tomorrow.
DAD
We can’t read any of the menus, but Justin thinks that most of the meat we have been eating is Kobe. Yeah, everything is pretty expensive. Good thing Thailand is cheap, we need to even things out a bit!
Wow I would have died and gone to heaven eating that sushi. How delicious! Tokyo sounds awesome too. Every country sounds better than the first. And please take pictures of hotel room. I want to see it. ca’t wait to hear your next adventure. Love you, Mom
Mom, you would have loved it. You are pretty adventurous like us 🙂
Missed reading your blog over the weekend. Your pictures are very nice. Love to one of the 2 of you. I love Sushi but, not to sure about heart and toung. Gross! I am with Leigh Pictures of your room and these Hotels you arer staying at. Remeber, We are living though you! ”XOX
I’m like everyone else waiting to see that beautiful room!! The blogs are awesome. We are traveling through y’all. I drink my coffee also and read all your information!! Glad to see that y’all are having a very interesting vacation.
Be safe!!
Love to both of you..
Wow! I doubt that American-style sushi will ever measure up now that you’ve had the most authentic version there is!!!
It is so delicious and fresh! However, when I get a sushi craving, I’ll quickly lower my standards!!
Hi there,
Do you remember how far by taxi would Yoroi-Niku (the yakiniku place you tried) be from Central places like Shinjuku, Ginza, Roppongi? Can you give me an idea of the price that the taxi charged you as well as from where you picked it . I’ll try to reach it by taxi but I am afraid the cost would be exorbitant. Thanks
Hi Madeleine…From the Park Hyatt in Shinjuku, the cab ride to Yoroi-Niku was not too expensive. I think it cost something like $20 (US) each way from what I remember.