FINAL THOUGHTS ABOUT OCEANIA AND THE ORIENT

This was a satisfying, and maybe even fabulous, trip through New Zealand and parts of the Orient.  However, a year and a half ago I completed My Ultimate Global Adventure, and here are further details if you want to follow up on that initial link.  Click on this latter site if you want details on why I show this Gold Koi as my one most eventful experience.

Then, in the Spring of this year I had My Ultimate Fantasy Adventure (MUFA 2014), which was not as elaborate, but still incredible.  I guess the highlight of this trip was my Crystal Symphony cruise from Tokyo to Honolulu:

My Fall Circle Pacific Adventure 2014 was very similar to MUFA 2014, both being about a month long, but in reverse.

What I learned most on this trip was a bit more about Japan:

• My sense is that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will easily win re-election because there is no opposition.
• It is like President Barack Obama calling a "snap election" for a new president, and there is no Republican Party.  It would be like Obama, or Hillary Clinton, running against  candidates from the Green, Libertarian and Constitution Parties.

• There are 11 parties in the national Diet (same as Congress), and for Abe to gain a controlling majority, he needed to form a coalition with the fourth largest party, Komeito, which is a Buddhist organization.
• Doesn't sound like it, but Abe's Liberal Democratic Party is conservative, just like the U.S. Republican Party.  The equivalent of Democrats in Japan is just about everybody else--except for the Communist Party--and is in almost total disarray.  

• After Abe gains a mandate on December 14, he will:
• continue to tick off the Chinese and Koreans, the latter, particularly over the Comfort Women issue (his administration has coerced the local newspapers to help him convince the nation and world that these sexual slaves mostly were camp followers and were paid, anyway)

• increase military spending to better posture for those disputed island
• continue to dance around the Fukushima nuclear debacle
• do everything possible to get most of the 50 nuclear power stations to operate (only two are currently generating electricity)
• further watch the Japanese economy sink in recession

• By the time of the final 2% sales tax hike to 10% in April 17 he will be so unpopular he will call another election to kick  him out, if he lasts that long, and he won't, for  after topping 70% a year and a half ago, the latest poll shows his popularity at 44%.  Since 1994, there have been 13 Prime Ministers.  That's about 1.5 years/PM, so, actually, he is hanging in there quite well.

Well, so much for politics.  About my Fall Circle Pacific Adventure:

• I spent nine days--or was that eight, because I lost a day crossing the International Dateline--on what could be the finest cruise ship there is, the Crystal Symphony.  Nothing much happened on board, except that I almost lost my life attempting to take my daily walk on the 7th deck track.  I also noticed early on that my blood pressure was abnormally high.  Could have been from too much alcohol or salt or both, so I cut back on both, spent an hour a day walking on deck and using the spa, and my pressure returned to almost normal.  As dismal as this all sounds, how can one not enjoy the Crystal Symphony.  My regular dinner companions were Myrna/Richard to the left and Joyce/David above, who are all from Honolulu.

• Can't say much about Auckland, for I only spent one night there.  It was in July of 2012 I had long stay, so click on this for my short summary.
• What I remember most about Seoul was my the Sheraton D-Cube City.  I also posted on how Seoul might well be the coolest city on Planet Earth.
• In Bangkok, I went to the best progressive Indian restaurant in the world, Gaggan, who is to my left.

• I visited with Yu-chan (above) at the Osaka Aquarium.
• Had a truly fabulous meal at Hajime's in Osaka.  Here I am with Chef Hajime.
• My tonkatsu at Hamamatsu in Nagasaki was exceptional.
• Everyone should visit the Peace Parks at Nagasaki and Hiroshima, especially in the Spring for the Cherry Blossoms and Fall for the change in colors.  Yet, and maybe not sufficiently appalling or horrific, are the symbolic remembrances.  Here at Hiroshima, now known at the Atomic Dome:

• In Osaka, I also learned that Kinki University had closed the growth cycle of Blue Fin tuna, and had worked out a marketing program with Toyota.  Can you believe that Mitsubishi controls the world Blue Fin tuna market?  However, all tunas feed high on the trophic level, so what would be ideal is a fish that eats plankton, and the Whale Shark could well be the ideal future protein source for humanity.  While the following photo, from China, is difficult to stomach, that could be our future:

• I'm not into visiting castles, but Nagoya (top) and Matsumoto Castles were certainly venerable, and the first to greet me as I walked up was Pearl's Gold Koi at the latter:

• My final night in Japan I had a four course Shirako Fugu dinner:

You need to click on that Shirako Fugu  link to find out what are in that bowl.

I saw Mount Fuji a whole lot of times, including the morning of my final day in Tokyo:

Then later that day I visited Korakuen Garden for my first time.  Beautiful.

Not my greatest trip, but one my very best, considering that I'm headed for 3 million miles on Star Alliance.

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Well, this is boring, but, I guess still good...the Dow Jones Industrial Average again broke an all-time high, up 33 to 17,912.  I can't explain why.  I thought it would crash by now.

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Oh my gosh, out of nowhere pops up Super Typhoon Hagupit at 180 MPH, and the expectation is that the strength will largely be maintained as the track seems to head straight for MANILA by early Saturday morning:

Here we are in December, and we have the strongest typhoon of the year!  Global warming?

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FALL CIRCLE PACIFIC ADVENTURE: Day #31-- Korakuen Garden and Back to Honolulu

On my final day in Japan, I awoke to Mount Fujii:

My farewell breakfast:

It was such a beautiful day that I asked the concierge what would be her recommendation for a quick visit to anywhere in Tokyo that was at peak Fall colors.  On I went to Koishikawa Korakuen Gardens, put together in 1629 and later developed with somewhat of a Chinese theme:  "Worry before all worries in the world, and enjoy after all enjoyments in the world."  More recently, Tokyo Dome, a 55,000-seat baseball home of the Tokyo Giants and an entertainment center were built on an adjacent property.  However, the first major performance in the 1988 opening  of the stadium was the Rolling Stones.

The Garden was indeed at peak:

As I was flying first class home, my plans were to leave the hotel early enough to spend at least an hour  each at the ANA and United first class lounges.  Unfortunately, the garden trip took longer than expected, so I only had a taste of both.  United's First Class Lounge is quite good, gentrified and a lot better than the Red Carpet Club.  Even then, ANA's made United's look second rate.  ANA has a noodle kitchen which also provided curry options and soups, plus an elaborate array of a wide variety of dishes and drinks.  In a way, this was like comparing a top first class lounge with a mediocre business class lounge.  Then there would be the Red Carpet Club, which would be like economy.  First ANA:

Then United:

I was purposefully eating light, for soon following was a first class dinner on board.  A quick 6 hours later:

One of the benefits of living at 15 Craigside is that a whole host of friends and staff greeted me back like they genuinely missed me.   Then my apartment sunset view from 15 Craigside later in the day:

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FALL CIRCLE PACIFIC ADVENTURE: Day #30--My Experience with the Deadly Fugu

I was planning to wait until I returned to Honolulu to post this report on my second fugu experience, but I have some time at Narita Airport, so at least you know by reading this that I'm alive.  It was 1991 when I had my first fugu meal, as did Homer Simpson that same year in the highest rated Fox network show for the week, One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish.  It was typical Homer, but here he is now in Season 26 and still going strong.  Happy to say that after my second experience, I found the ordeal exciting and enjoyable.  

Torafugu-Tei says:

Click on it to read the details.  The first course was boiled fugu skin salad, which I had with a beer.

By the way, the skin, which had a crunchy texture, is said to be poisonous, so they must have a way to extract out the tetrodotoxin.  You have to look closely, but next came the sashimi, very thinly sliced:

This is said to be the most popular fugu dish.  At this point, it might have been my imagination, but I felt a slight numbness in the back of my tongue.  They say that the mark of a great fugu chef is to leave just the right amount of toxin to slightly numb your lips and back of your head, but not kill you.  Next, tempura fugu:

Reminded me of frog's legs, both the texture and taste.  Then came the highlight, and you can call it Shirako, Milt, sperm sacs or "white children", but to be so crude, testicles.  Three of them:

Imagine a squashed golf ball, almost crisp on the outside and a high viscosity liquid inside.  Mine was grilled and, while you dip them in a soy/lime sauce, the interior remains almost scalding hot, and has the consistency of heavy cream with a salty taste...after all, this is mostly...gasp...sperms.  Three balls.  At this point I think the top of my mouth felt tingly.  Next was a hot pot, and the waitress did the cooking:

Interesting concept, actually.  A water-proofed paper pot sits in a wicker basket placed on an induction stove.  In a few short minutes the whole thing comes to a boil and she placed the fish, mushrooms and vegetables into the pot:

I then ladled the contents into a bowl, as above.  At the end, a large amount of rice and an egg are placed in the remaining broth:

The porridge is then spooned into a bowl, which you have with tsukemono (Japanese pickles):

By this point I had also ordered a sochu in soda.  See that basket?  It's made of bamboo or something similar and, amazingly enough, nothing gets burned.  When the meal was over, the waitress simply carried the whole assemblage out, with a bare hand at the bottom, which must have been somewhat warm, but apparently manageable.  The dessert, a kinako ice cream sandwich, was served with Japanese roasted tea:

Remember my mentioning that one gonad 23 years ago cost $75?  Well, the costs have dropped., significantly.  The whole meal with three of them (the white children in a sac, that is), plus beer and sochu, now cost only $85.  The drop has been a factor of five or so.  More so, two people could have shared my one meal.

Yes, you might be taking a risk, but the odds of a fugu death in a licensed restaurant these days must not be much different from driving some distance.  You might know that in your lifetime. there is a one in 98 chance you will die from an auto accident, but only one in 7,178 for air travel.  But, I guess there is more travel in cars than planes.

More importantly, if you order the Shirako (testicle) special, just maybe your creativity might get enhanced.  Follow my blog to detect any improvements and let me know what you think.

Back to the Tokyo Westin, I finished the night at Compass Rose with some 20-Year Old Yoichi scotch and a Ghurka cognac infused cigar while viewing Tokyo Tower.  My final night in Japan.  Tomorrow, back to Honolulu.  What a trip!

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FALL CIRCLE PACIFIC ADVENTURE: Day #29A--Why People Eat a Poisonous Fish

I hope there will be a Day #30--My Dinner at Torafugu-Tei.  As my end is nearing--I'm getting old--I've more and more fantasized on Heaven, Purgatory and Death in general.  Last week my stay at the Ritz-Carlton was especially descriptive:

A few months ago I posted on "Could 15 Craigside be Purgatory?"  Last year I effused "Craigside is Close to Heaven."  Well, I might have just found heaven in the form of the Tokyo Ritz-Carlton Club Lounge.

Let me begin with the final paragraph from yesterday:

Well, I'm back at the Tokyo Westin, and the staff at the Executive Club arranged for me to have a fugu dinner tomorrow night.  It is also known as blowfish, puffer and tetrodon.  In the 1930's a thousand people died after eating this delicacy, for the liver and ovaries are deadly poisonous.  Tetrodotoxin is 100 times more potent than potassium cyanide. In 1958 when chefs were first licensed, 176 died that year.  However, as recently as 2007, only three passed away, and those who succumb tended to be fishermen who catch the fish and cook it at home.  However, here is a news article of 7 falling ill in a Hokkaido restaurant by consuming the testicles.  There is a testicle story I'll re-tell tomorrow, for that is the item I especially requested.

So let me begin this testicle tale, which is only too true.  It was in the early 1990's that Professor Takeo Kondo  (with me at an Italian restaurant) of Nihon University invited an American colleague from the federal government in DC and I to dinner in a Kita-Kyushu fugu restaurant hosted by an industrial representative.  The first course, which cost $75 each, was a dish of fugu testicle.  The amount of one gonad, considering the diminutive size of the fish (above), was larger than you would expect, perhaps a squashed sphere the diameter of a quarter.  As my friend from DC refused to eat his, I had two and don't remember the taste nor texture.  We, of course, survived the ordeal.  However, for two subsequent years or more I was at my creative best:

• The concept of the Blue Revolution came alive.
• I then chaired the Hydrogen Technical Advisory Panel of the Secretary of Energy, and we developed a program that in a decade grew a budget greater than solar technology.  The Japan Times this morning indicated that two of the three major car manufacturers in Japan will be marketing hydrogen fuel cells vehicles next year.

• I  helped initiate a cultured pearl farm, and additionally came up with a new concept of RAINBOW pearls--instead of only white and black, what about Chinese Red and Kelly Green, etc.  Plus, in a controlled land-based tank, the whole system matures in half the time.

• With  local architectural and engineering firms, we explored the concept of Hawaiian Onsens on the Big Island as an ecotourism adventure.  We got very close with a design of a geo-spa for a new golf resort in the Puna region, and actually found an investor.  But the Japan economy burst.  I did take various trips to Japan to visit onsens, and stayed one winter at one in Kyushu that two weeks after I left was totally destroyed when Mt. Unzen erupted.  Hmm...Pahoa, lava...

• The Hubble Telescope had recently been launched and exosolar planets had not yet been detected.  So I resurrected my Planetary Abstracting Trinterferometer (PAT) concept, which not only showed promise for finding planets around other stars, but also predict the atmospheric composition.

Clearly, I'm going for a fugu dinner not to commit suicide, but to enhance my creativity and, maybe too, brilliance.  Perhaps I'll complete my novel on THE VENUS SYNDROME or an e-photo album on PEARL'S ASHES.  I've now dropped her ashes off at 50 or so sites around the world, and some of those escapades are worthy of sharing.  This is a photo of the first ceremony, behind me at Rainbow Falls, Hilo.  If nothing else, the IRS approved my travel expenditures and must be awaiting for the arrival of those publications.

On the hand, about death, you wonder why the toxin from fugu is not used to execute condemned criminals.  Electric chairs, the guillotine, hanging and shooting squads are said to be barbaric, and lethal injections are not working.  I've always thought nitrogen gas would be ideal, but just one liver from a blowfish and the tetrodotoxin (right) should do the job.  It is said that a Japanese chef whose customer dies from fugu commits ritual suicide.  Probably apocryphal, but that would be a source from which various states can employ an executioner.

That compound, which is not produced by the fish, but by the bacteria from other seafood consumed by the blowfish, where the fugu has evolved to be immune, is 1200 times more toxic than cyanide.  Here is what happens, from Wikipedia:

The symptoms from ingesting a lethal dose of tetrodotoxin may include dizziness, exhaustion, headache, nausea, or difficulty breathing. The victim remains conscious but cannot speak or move. Breathing stops and asphyxiation follows.

There is no known antidote, and treatment consists of emptying the stomach, feeding the victim activated charcoal to bind the toxin, and putting the victim on life support until the poison has worn off. Japanese toxicologists in several medical research centers are now working on developing an antidote for tetrodotoxin.

The Chinese are said to have been eating fugu since 400 BC, and the Japanese for more than 2000 years, and there remain thriving populations in both countries.  However, the shoguns from 1603 prohibited consumption of this delicacy, and this ban continued through the Meiji Era (1867-1912).  

It takes up to three years to train to be a fugu chef.  Only 35% of entrants attain that ranking.

Scientists at Nagasaki University developed a non-toxic variety of torafugu (right) by restricting the fish's diet.  These are now commercially sold.  I wonder if the testicles of this variety have the right chemical balance for creativity?

For those in the USA, there are 17 fugu restaurants, twelve in New York.  The fugu comes prepared in Japan.  There are no fugu restaurants in Europe.

So why do people eat poisonous fish?  Perhaps a sense of adventure.  For me, I hope to again catalyze my neurons.

Well, I'm off to Torafugu-Tei, a chain with 50 restaurants.  Torafugu means tiger fugu, which is said to be the most prestigious and most poisonous.  

Return tomorrow for the results.  If I stop posting, there can be only one reason why.

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