TOKYO TO AMSTERDAM

After the agony of 12March2012, it is, indeed, an ultra luxury to board the limousine bus at the Tokyo Westin, and be dropped off at Narita.  Then, the executive club fed you:

With the beef/potato soup, onigiri and hot soba I had three alcoholic drinks:  Bloody Mary, new Hakushu single malt scotch and beer.  But I'm wiser now, unlike the time when I flew from Honolulu to Bangkok and had 24 drinks, just about drinking them all.  I now just taste them.

It took around 12 hours to fly from Tokyo to Munich, arriving at 6PM, which is 6AM Hawaii time.  The flight was enjoyably uneventful.

Interesting that the customs/immigration process in Europe does not involve any forms.  You just show your passport, and that’s it!  This sort of makes sense for why should the government tax you for items you buy out of the country when have already paid their tax.  I've never bothered to collect the VAT tax possible from some countries.  Also, which smuggler will indicate on those forms that he is sneaking in something illegal, and which criminal will admit to being one.  The European Community has vastly simplified this process, saving a lot of time and money.

The Munich Airport is very generous.  Free expresso/coffee/tea machines everywhere, next to free newspapers from around the world.  I read my first USA Today in years.

The Lufthansa Senator Lounge is an oasis.  My meal:

 Note the Germanic theme.  The connection to Amsterdam was easy and I only had a five minute walk to the Sheraton at Schipol.

Tomorrow, on to the tulips!

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ULTIMATE MEALS

There is a real battle going on between Kansai (Kyoto/Osaka) and Kanto (Tokyo/Yokohama) in yet another category:  3-Star Michelin restaurants.  Last year, Kansai had more.  This year, 2012, Kanto has 17 to 15 for Kansai.  Japan has more of these restaurants than France, 32 to 26, with the USA #3 at 10. Tokyo (including Yokohama) also has more than Paris, 16-10.  There are 106 of these eating establishments in the world.

Interesting that South America is not mentioned because my experience with four exceptional restaurants in Sao Paulo (Brazil) and Lima (Peru) was uniformly outstanding, and better than anywhere I've been in the U.S.   Here to the left in Sao Paulo with Chef Atala of D.O.M., the #7 best restaurant in the world. The Top 100 San Pellegrino list includes all these restaurants.  The top three SPs are Noma of Denmark and El Celler de Can Roca and Mugaritz, both of Spain.  The 2012 awards are to be announced on 30April2012.

You ask, how can tire and water companies become the gourmet bibles?  Well, Michelin has long published travel guides, and it is natural that they know something about food.  In the case of San Pellegrino, they managed to monopolize the World's Best 50 Restaurants Academy which determines the ranking.  

Yesterday I reported on a good (and free) Kaiseki meal I had with Xenesys.  I might add that my dinner the previous night was a satisfying Burger King Double Whopper with french fries, onion rings, beer (free from the Executive Club--by the way the Burger King I went to serves Yebisu beer) and red wine (free from the hotel):

  Today I start by comparing the breakfasts at the Tokyo Westin:

with the Ginza Seiyo:

The Westin has an elaborate buffet with a cooking station, while Seiyo's breakfast comes delivered to you on a tray.  They both were part of the room charge, but would normally cost in the range of $35.  I give a solid edge to the Westin.

So far, then, all the above were at no (well, the Burger King feast cost about $10) expense to me.  For lunch, the Seiyo arranged for me to dine at the famous Michelin 3-Star Jiro's (yes, that sushi bar in the Ginza Subway Station of the movie--which is still playing in the Honolulu Kahala Theater).

I got very accurate directions from the hotel staff.  I could not find the place.  It is not exactly in the station, and I had to ask at least five people on the street about Jiro's.  Finally, I came upon this unobvious door, but entered.  There were no signs, so I took the elevator down to B2 and stumbled into something that looked promising.  This was Jiro's.

I got eighteen sushis (two were crustaceans, so they just deleted those) with a large bottle of beer for about $350:

 
Here is a chu-toro, followed by an oo-toro:

An ikura above. They did not understand much English and I did not understand any Japanese.  It took me half an hour to devour the meal, including a muskmelon:

The rice was close to the one I made, slightly al dente.  The vinegar concentration was higher than the norm, the wasabi taste was almost negligible and the sushi size smaller than average.  This was a good thing because I have a possible highlight dinner only five hours away.  I devoured everything in half an hour, took a photo with Jiro:

and Jiro and his son, Yoshikazu, bidding me farewell:

While I enjoyed the experience, I would not go back again.  Too expensive and somewhat stressful.  But on next to Japan's newest 3-Star Michelin restaurant.

I wanted to change my 6PM reservation at Ryu Gin to 8PM, but this is now about the most popular place in Tokyo, having just received three Michelin stars.  Best as I could determine, Ryu Gin has something to do with dragons:

You can choose your sake cup:

I had some hot sake, cold beer and room temperature red wine (Tsugane Merlot from Japan).  I thought this wine was stale so asked for the Vosne Romanee Burgandy, which was served in a Riedel glass.  Each glass held around 3 to 4 ounces, so this means that the total was about one-fourth a bottle.  Wait till you hear what this cost.

Chef Seiji Yamamoto is a relatively young newcomer who reminds me of Noma's Chef Rene before he became the #1 chef in the world.  Yamamoto's particular singularity steeple is custard.  The first of eleven courses was grilled horse clam and icefish with plum flavor:

There was an ideal combination of crispiness and chewiness with just the right shellfish flavor.  Simmered abalone with Spring vegetable followed:

It came with a spot of abalone soup.  Next was white asparagus with corn and tofu dressing accompanied by a tempura sea urchin sushi.  Another ideal hot and cold mixture, with the sea urchin being particularly interesting:

Thus the latter deserving a focused photo.  Another soup of Greenling fish, fried tofu and fragrance of miyoga:

A medley of poke-type sashimi followed:

Very creative and different.  Then a fabulous hot custard with Hotaru squid from Toyama:

As I said, Chef Yamamoto is a master of the custard.  Truly excellent.  One and a half hour into my repast, course #7 arrived, perhaps my favorite:  an upside down sushi with charcoal grilled perch on the bottom and roasted rice with black vinegar on top.  There was the slight hint of burnt rice:

That is just a sunomono amusement to the right.  The Kuroga wagyu beef sirloin came in sukiyaki style with a french fried poached egg flavored with Sanshyo flower:

This dish has to be personally experienced to appreciate the delicacy and balance.  At this point my stomach reached peak volumetric expansion, so I could only dabble with the untraditional rice (fantastic egg over easy with abalone on the rice), imaginative tsukemono and miso soup,:

Next was Seiji's signature dessert:  99 degree C strawberry jam over -96 degree C candy strawberry:

I can't imagine how he did this, no doubt using the techniques of El Bulli.  I had to beg off on his RyuGin Signature Dish, a Roppongi pudding, so he packed it up for me in ice and warned me to consume this in a few hours.  Here is this paradisiacal custard pudding, the best I've ever had:

At the restaurant I was served a macha (Japanese tea ceremony version):

Ayako Terai was wonderful as my primary interface:

Chef Seiji Yamamoto saw me off at the end:

And gave me an umbrella to take because it was raining.  Nihonryori Ryugin (San Pellegrino #20), which just earned 3 Michelin stars this year, will be the best restaurant I will experience on this trip.  It would have made my all time top three, perhaps, were it not for their wine prices.  Remember those two glasses I had, one which was stale and undrinkable, and the second only passable?  They charged me $90.  A huge plus was that I was born in the year of the dragon (this is my year), and there were dragons all over the place.  Finally, the total price with two red wines, sake and beer with the memorable eleven course dinner, was about the same as Jiro's with one beer.  I was out of Jiro's in half an hour.  My Ryu Gin meal took about 2.5 hours...leisurely, pleasurable and memorable.  Get a seat here if you can.

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XENESYS AND OTEC

I had planned to have dinner at Kitcho tonight, but was asked by Yasu Ikegami of Saga University to meet with officials of Xenesys, the leading OTEC company in Japan.

This noteworthy restaurant is located in the Ginza Seiyo Hotel.  I spent several nights here when it opened a quarter century ago.  The place looks the same and the staff still calls you by name.  The hospitality is, indeed, fabulous.  Everything is gold plated, as for example, below:

On check-in I boldly asked if I could get a seat in Jiro's sushi restaurant for lunch tomorrow, and, incredibly, they succeeded in gaining me a reservation.  I then sheepishly added that I might need to adjust the seating at their Kitcho for tonight from one to five, and they said, fine.  Then, at 5PM I was asked by Shin Okamura of Xenesys if they could move our dinner to their restaurant.  As difficult as it was to secure a table for ONE at Kitcho (remember, you need a special invitation just to get a reservation), I asked the hotel if they would forgive me for canceling, and the response was of course, we hope to see you the next chance you have.

So five of us went to Kitaohji.  It was kaiseki and Kyoto and excellent.  How many of you know that the "food" most distinctive of Tokyo is....sushi.  Most of them started with beer, which is the traditional first drink for dinner in Japan.  Ever the contrarian, I had cold sake.  The table then enjoyed two kinds of cold and one bottle of hot sake, which is today a novelty in the country.  The individual in the middle above is Sadayuki Jitsuhara, President of Xenysys, with Yasu Ikenaga in the background.  Michi Takeda is to the left and Shin Okamura on the right.  Here I am below, as usual, eating and pontificating:

The group indicated that they hope to be producing 100 kW of OTEC power at Kumejima in Okinawa by March of next year, when they will be hosting an international gathering.

Tomorrow, I report on my experience at Jiro's (go to Jiro Dreams of Sushi) and Ryugin, both 3-Star Michelin restaurants.

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RETURN TO JINDAIJI

Three years ago, Tokyo Electric Power chief engineer, Fumio Ito (he is on the left--this is part of the "Search for Kenjiro" team having dinner at the New York Grill of the Hyatt in Tokyo), insisted that he had to take Pearl and I to his favorite Sakura site, Jindaiji Botanical Park.  I did not realize that he practically escaped from his  hospital and took a taxi to the Park Hyatt to pick us up.

To make a terrible story short, two weeks later he passed away and two months subsequently, Pearl went.

If you are a regular reader, or Pearl's friend, today was supposed to represent closure, for I had hoped to discover who was the model for the photo I took at Jindaiji Botanical Park (JBP) two years ago:

I learned that the artist creating the statue was Yasuo Bussi, at least as researched by the staff of the Jindaiji Botanical Park.  However, after a careful search, the four staff members there could not identify the person.  I left my business card and they promised to send me any information they might yet uncover, although they were not optimistic.  For those interested in someday visiting this park:

  -  from Shinjuku Station
  -  take the Keio line to Chofu
  -  go to stop #14 and board bus #34 to Jindaiji Botanical Park
  - when you enter the park, make an immediate right turn and walk to the rose garden
  -  "Pearl's" statue is located as follows:

On the back is engraved, 1961, Y. BUSSHi.  I enjoyed one of my better picnics (not really a hanami because there were no cherry blossoms):

Note that this is a 6% ethanol Chofu beer.  Thus, like my Search for Kenjiro's Grandmothers, there is not quite the closure for who is the subject of the statue.  I'll need to return at last one more time.

Tomorrow, my dinner at Kitcho (and, how's this for exclusiveness:  THEY DON'T TAKE RESERVATIONS WITHOUT AN INTRODUCTION!!!) in the Hotel Seiyo Ginza.

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COUNTRY #202: Niger

Welcome country #202:


NIGER POPULATION: 16,468,886

 Background

Niger became independent from France in 1960 and experienced single-party and military rule until 1991, when Gen. Ali SAIBOU was forced by public pressure to allow multiparty elections, which resulted in a democratic government in 1993. Political infighting brought the government to a standstill and in 1996 led to a coup by Col. Ibrahim BARE. In 1999, BARE was killed in a counter coup by military officers who restored democratic rule and held elections that brought Mamadou TANDJA to power in December of that year. TANDJA was reelected in 2004 and in 2009 spearheaded a constitutional amendment that would allow him to extend his term as president. In February 2010, a military coup deposed TANDJA, immediately suspended the constitution and dissolved the Cabinet, and promised that elections would be held following a transitional period of unspecified duration. Niger is one of the poorest countries in the world with minimal government services and insufficient funds to develop its resource base. The largely agrarian and subsistence-based economy is frequently disrupted by extended droughts common to the Sahel region of Africa. A predominately Tuareg ethnic group emerged in February 2007, the Nigerien Movement for Justice, and attacked several military targets in Niger's northern region throughout 2007 and 2008. Successful government offensives in 2009 limited the rebels' operational capabilities.

Niger has a sex scandal involving the owner of Sea Petroleum and Gas Company, who is now Aviation minister...Stella Oduah Ogiemwonyin:

Remember Valerie Plame?  Yes, Niger was the venue.  There is yet "another" Niger scandal involving 150,000 starving children.

Oh, by the way, don't visit Niger.  Niger girls?  Don't:

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