Category: En route

Last day in Tokyo: morning at the Tsuji Fish Market, where one third of the world’s fish passes through. Absolutely an incredible sight! Then amazingly we found Sushi
Dai, a famed sushi purveyer. I really wished that I knew Japanese,
because the three guys behind the counter not only put together the best
sushi ever (hey, even the bad sushi places can’t go wrong if they have
access to fish this fresh) but they banter with the customers like they
were bartenders. The most interesting one was a snapper nigiri flavored
with lime juice and rose rock salt. Incredible!

Checked out the Sony Center, where they demoed incredibly great and
expensive home entertainment systems. Met up with P’s friend M and his
girlfriend SC again in Ginza. We went to the Toyota showroom center,
where we got to ride in self guided electric cars, I crashed a GT at the
Fuji Raceway simulator (not simulated: I took a turn hard and crashed
into the guiderail, the simulator jerked me back, there was a popping
sound and the entire steering wheel ripped out of the console. I thought
that the airbags had deployed). Saw the most expensive thing I’ve
touched in Japan: a sports car with a sticker price of 6,300,000 Yen
(drop 2 zeroes for the $US price).

Had Japanese Okonomi-yaki pancakes on Harumi island for dinner —
absolutely fantastic. Many of the traditional Japanese foods were
originally designed to stretch limited meat with lots of rice, broth or
starch. Of course if they are delicious, that helps too.

Finally had dessert at some place in Harajiku that had an American
Indian/Italian motif. Very funky. SC was trying out her English, and she
was doing very well. Off to try to see the department store opening production and to the
airport. Will make reflections on the trip on the plane. See you back on
your side.

P and I on line at American to check in to the Tokyo flight. We’ll be in Nagoya on Sunday, and Taipei on Wednesday. My mom is ok; folks at the school are sending her flowers. We’ll see you on the other side.

A woman with airline baggage sits across from me on the Metro. She reads "The Great Gatsby". Looking at the top edge, I see it is stamped "Brookline Public Library", an imposter of the library I grew up with.

Just arrived. Had the hardest time finding the bridge to the metro. The signage is all confused with the ground transport signs.

Crossing the Potamac is much like crossing over the Spyuten Dyvil.

I have about 10 minutes to make it to the red train and the conference site.

Everyone’s cutting each other on the bqe on the way to LaGuardia. P’s driving.

P and I got the chance to see Sideways yesterday. She spent most of the movie yelling "pigs" or "gross" (drinking from the wine spitoon). I thought that the movie was basically Seinfeld in Wine Country. It was a whole lot about nothing.

Midnight freezing cold
many more pages to go
avoid blizzard bold