When we were in Tokyo, some colleagues were kind enough to take me out for a traditional Japanese dinner which included Sushi and Shabu Shabu.

It is fairly typical for nice restaurants in Tokyo to have segregated sections for each table so that your party can dine in private.  This restaurant was no different, and we in fact had our own room with sliding doors for complete privacy.  In Japan it is traditional (‘protocol’ would actually be a better description) for the guest to sit furthest away from the room entrance.  The guest is also the first one to be served each course.  Since I did not know this protocol (and my colleagues were too polite to correct me), I sat near to the door when entering the room and as a result one of my colleagues who was my host actually received all of the courses first.

Shabu Shabu is Japanese fondue style meal where thinly sliced meat (beef in our case) is served with vegetables and dipping sauces.  The first stage of the process involves submerging thin slices of meat in to boiling water for between 5 and 13 (ish) seconds (depending on how well you like it cooked), then dipping it in one of two sauces (soy sauce, and another which I cannot remember the name of) before eating it.

I was a little worried that I was not cooking the meat enough, particularly since the part which I had pinched with the chop sticks often came out a little pink But I was not ill afterwards, so I guess I didn’t do too bad a job.  And I must say, that it was tasty! I experimented and decided that 7.5 seconds was my preference for the time to leave the meat in the water

I did get ‘told off’ for placing my chop sticks on the table, rather than resting them on the small ceramic stands provided, I won’t make that mistake again…

On my last day in Tokyo I decided to head over to Odaiba (on the monorail) to see the giant Gundam exhibition.  To be honest, I had no idea what Gundam was before I went to Japan, but the exhibit was popular so I thought I would give it a try.

I did not do a lot of research before my trip, and Odaiba was a lot bigger than I had expected.  When I arrived I was not sure which one of the 6 or so monorail stations to get off at, so I ended up getting off in the middle and walking around for a while trying to find a 30 foot robot.

In the end, I was glad that I got a little lost since I had the chance to look around the cool and slightly retro (in a Disney Land of Tomorrow kind of way) futuristic Odaiba architecture . . .

When I finally arrived at the Gundam site, I was very surprised at how busy it was!  There were literally hundreds of people queuing for access to a gift shop selling related merchandise.  There were even more people queuing for a chance to walk underneath the enormous mettle model and get the chance to touch it’s foot.  The real life robot based on a popular Japanese cartoon was the main attraction, although there were also lots of food and drink stalls around it catering for thousands of fans/spectators.  It was very surprising how long everyone seemed be staring at the giant, waiting for it’s head to move (which it did every few minutes). 

I was not as fascinated by the giant real life cartoon character as the rest of the crowd, but did decide to get some shots for a PhotoSynth, so here it is . . .

I recommend zooming in on the right foot for a close up (that was the only part I could get really close to)…

Last night we went to a traditional Japanese restaurant called Toriyoshi, in Shinjuku.  Although we did not need to sit on the floor like in many local places, we were required to take off our shoes and place them in a personal shoe locker until we had finished eating (see the photo on the right).

We had a mixture of dishes to start including vegetables, tofu and some other bits, although main course was apparently the restaurant speciality – chicken skewers.  The difference between these chicken skewers and those which we may see in the west was that each one contained different parts of the chicken.  The body parts I can remember included cartilage, heart and thigh.  There was also a rather easier to eat minced chicken package (of which I ate quite a few).

I am proud to say that I did try the cartilage, which was unsurprisingly VERY hard to eat, I won’t be in a rush to try again, here is a video of Ryo taking it off the skewer…

I also had the chicken heart (which was a little chewy, but not too bad).  Here is the photo to prove it, which also showcases my newly improved chop stick skills (thanks to Chieko’s tuition )…

Here is a little intro about the restaurant from Chieko…

And as we drunk Saki, Wine and Beer, here is a little round table video clip of everyone enjoying their food…

In contrast to the Chinese metro system, the Japanese trains are full of polite people who kindly wait for people to disembark the train before entering, and give way to fellow commuters way more regularly than average. 

But are the Japanese TOO polite?  After our meal last night I noticed these TWO guys with megaphones warning passers by of a 2 meter stretch of metal which was hiding some cables laying across the pavement.  Necessary?  Probably not!  Entertaining? Most definitely …

My hotel is located in a fantastic area of Tokyo called Shinjuku.  The streets are so bright from the hundreds of neon signs, and they seem to be constantly hectic.  We went out for dinner with some interesting (and delicious) food, I will do a separate post with pics and vids when I get the chance, but in the mean time here are some videos of the streets outside the restaurant…