Day 19 - One (Last) Night in Tokyo

Lisa’s note: One of the reasons I love travel is the diversity of peoples, events, experiences, etc. you can have outside your norm. But there's also something to be said for universal experiences. For instance, today we were at the Onitsuka Tiger, a shoe store, and every encounter I had with everyone. Here is the same as you find in any shoe store around the world; complimenting people on their choice or talking them out of something. In doing so I found out a group of them are from Richfield! Small world on the Ginza.

Onward: Today was a light day for us of final shopping at the Tsukiji Market, the aforementioned shoe shopping on the Ginza, and one last trip to Kappabashi for final souvenirs. We wanted to make sure to get everything while there was time and not rush on our last day. 

The highlight of our day was our omakase dinner. As we sat at the counter drinking beer and hot tea, our personal Sushi chef prepared individual pieces of nigiri ranging from horse mackerel, red tail, sea bream, bonito smoked under glass, and GoldenEye red snapper. Perhaps the highlight of the evening was blowfish two way, fried (Lisa says it tastes like alligator) and shirako or milt or male fish's sperm - which was excellent! We also had side dishes of foie gras with pickled watermelon, clam soup, chawanmushi with shaved truffle over smoked gouda, and miso soup made with fish stock. Engaging with our chef was delightful. He’s learning Portuguese in anticipation of moving to Portugal and doesn’t like the way some of his fellow country folk eat with their mouths open. Upon departure, he suggested a place for us to have lunch tomorrow.

A return to the hotel time means packing up (that’s why this note is so late today). It’s going to take all of our bags (and possibly prayer) to get everything home. Still we don’t want to leave. We spent the better part of dinner planning our return trip!

Would you visit Japan?