Japan Trip - Day 4 (May 21, 2003):

Since many of us got totally wasted the night before, we decided to take it relatively easy this day. Eiichi took us over to Taeko's parents' place where Taeko had prepared a nice breakfast for us consisting of an Omlet, bread, and some soup. It was all really good. Then, we took the bus to Fujimino station, and hopped on the train to Ikebukuro. From Ikebukuro, we caught the Yamanote to Tokyo station. Taeko wanted to show us this really cool view from one of the taller buildings in Tokyo. So, we walked over to the Marubiru building, and took the elevator up to the 36th floor where the observation deck was.


(image courtesy of Shawn)

After checking out the cool view, we took the Yamanote to Ginza to check out the "Beverley Hills" shopping district in Tokyo. First we stopped off at a really good gyoza restaurant for lunch. The gyoza were really large, and quite good. I don't think I ever had a meal that just consisted of gyoza. After getting stuffed on gyoza, we made our way to the Sony building to check out their showroom. When I walked through their TV setup, I was in heaven. I spent quite a few minutes watching one of their plasma tvs. The image was so sharp, almost as if I was viewing the scene without anything between the action, and my eyes. It was mesmerizing. Whenever I get around to buying my own house, the first major purchase is going to have to be a plasma tv. After wandering around the Sony building, we walked a couple of blocks to the Nissan building to check out their showroom. The bottom floor had a couple of rotating cars, one an old 50's/60's model, the other a modern version of that same car, though I forget which models they were. it was cool to be able to check out how much the design has changed over the years. While I'm at it, I might as well give a shoutout to the women who were working at the Nissan showroom. They were all quite attractive. So, after checking out the cars, we went upstairs and browsed through the Nissan flash pages, before taking off.

We then jumped back on the Yamanote to Ikebukuro and hopped on another train to Fujimino. We were meeting up with Taeko's family for dinner at a sushi restaurant that they go to on a regular basis. Since the weather was so nice, and we had a little time to kill, we decided to walk from the station to the restaurant. Ah, so this is what sushi is supposed to taste like. Wow. Everything was really fresh, and they gave very generous slices of fish. The food was outstanding. I think I ended up eating about 10 or 11 different plates of stuff. I just couldn't help myself, plus, Taeko kept ordering stuff for me since I was sitting next to her. I believe that Chris and Tony had raw horse meat. Tony, Chris, and Shawn also had Nato (fermented beans), but Tony couldn't finish his. I wasn't as adventurous, I pretty much stuck to my core sushi- hamachi, ebi, anago, unagi, saamon, maguro, red snapper, etc. Getting hungry just thinking about it. Taeko's parents picked up the tab (I just can't get over how well they treated us while we were over there. I must again express my thanks for their hospitality).

After dinner we chilled at Eiichi's place, played some more big 2, and finally went to bed. Day 4 proved to be a nice change of pace from the past couple of days in Tokyo. The two showrooms were really cool, and the lunch and dinner were excellent. Day 5 should be posted soon.


Posted 1:18 PM by MZ

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