MUFA Day#20: A Nostalgic Dinner at the New York Grill of the Park Hyatt Hotel

New York Grill is very popular in Tokyo.  I was fortunate to get a table tonight, a Saturday.  The restaurant is on the 52nd floor of the Park Hyatt Hotel, one of my favorites, which was the setting for Lost in Translation, with Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson.  The film, released a little more than decade ago, gained a 95% reviewer's rating in Rotten Tomatoes, an Oscar for Sofia Coppola for Original Screenplay.  She was also director.

I started in the New York Bar (this is where Murray picked up the entertainer) with a gin martini on a large chunk of ice with olives.  Note the three kinds;

The view and food combination at the New York Grill is unmatched:

Even with a late reservation, I got the best table in the restaurant.  In honor of Sofia Coppola's father, I had a glass of Francis Coppola Syrah Diamond Collection Green Label Syrah-Shiraz:

I started with an excellent Caesar Salad:

This room has drastically changed.  Here now:

That bright spot in the background is the setting sun.

It was twenty years ago, I was staying at the Park Hyatt Hotel, and New York Grill first opened.  This whole area above was a grill/work area, and I sat right at the grill only a few feet away from my table today.  Here is their steak list:

I had a 0.4 pound piece of Kobe Prime Cut for around $155:

It was spectacular...and cheap, when you consider the following photo in the basement of Mitsukoshi next door:

The price to the right is a bit more than $230/pound.  I took a final look at my view:

According to Trip Advisor, New York Grill is the 5th best restaurant of nearly 5,000 in Shinjuku, where the Park Hyatt is located.  #1 is Ishikawa.  Never heard of it.  #1 in Tokyo, of 44,506 restaurants, is Shimoneseki Shunpanro.  Never heard of it.

I ended my evening at Compass Rose, where I had my Yoichi 20-year old on one rock, which, actually, was not semi-spherical, but spherical:

I shown by Yoji to my favorite seat with a view of Tokyo Tower:

And a Montecristo, prepared by Yoji:

Another great day in Japan.  I might end by indicating that the cost of my room tonight and that steak dinner is more, maybe much more, than four days of of everything on my trip to Sendai and Aomori.

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MUFA Day#19: Gran Class on the Bullet Train from Aomori to Tokyo

There is a new class on the Shinkansen, only on the Hayabusa (the fastest bullet train at 200 miles/hour) to and from Aomori/Tokyo:  GRAN CLASS.  As this is my final train ride on my two-week Japan Rail Pass, I thought I'd splurge by paying an extra $170 for this is My Ultimate Fantasy Adventure, Day#19.  To summarize, on the Shinkansen there is coach class, Green Car and, now, Gran Class, sort of equivalent to economy, business and international first class on airlines.  In fact, the seating area looks like a first class section on a plane:

But no seat belts.  By the time we departed, the seats were nearly filled.  

The food and drinks were free.  It all started with a large, hot wet towel.  We were then served the daintiest bento box I've ever seen.  It is not that the bottle of Aomori cider was that large, in fact, it was small...the lunch was tiny:

Worse, I couldn't figure out if it was clam or chicken. Of course, it could have been a crustacean, and had I known, I would have had to order the Western lunch, which was mini-sandwiches.  Everything was very bland.  The second course involved snacks with sake:

I guess they do things in reverse here.  The rice crackers were the freshest I've tasted.  Then some Aomori apple chips with red wine:

As a once in a lifetime experience, I enjoyed the ride, which took 3.5 hours, and service.  Was this worth an extra $50/hour.  No.

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WHO AM I?

I'm an American born in Hawaii of Japanese parents.  I've lived for periods in Southern and Northern California, Louisiana and Washington, D.C.   Sometimes I wonder why I regularly catch the Shinkansen to every corner of Japan, as I'm now doing. 

This has something to do with searching for my roots, as I've done, several times.  I've particularly focused on my father's father, Kenjiro, my namesake, for I"m Patrick Kenji Takahashi.  Kenjiro's parents are from Akita in Northern Honshu, where I've spent the past couple of days.  They were early pioneers sent to Hokkaido in the later 1800's, and Kenjiro was born in Otaru, then the family moved on to Sapporo and, finally, Utashinai, which is way up north.

It is my speculation--and I've been to the City Office of Utashinai, where I found some credible information about Kenjiro's family--that coal was found, the first company to mine for this resource was formed in 1890, and Kenjiro was sent to America to learn about coal, especially, I think, how to mine for it.  In 1900 he stopped by Kilauea, Kauai on his way home, was involved in the first hydroelectric power plant as a supervisor, got married, sired my father, and in 1906, two months before the facility was made operational, fell at the site and died.  This system produced 3 megawatts then, and today, 108 years later, is still producing 3 MW.

Last night, I had an epiphany, a revelation, about who I was.  A few days ago, one of my postings had to do with the enigma that is Prime Minister Shintaro Abe.  I think I can now better explain why the Japanese are so enigmatic, with Abe epitomizing the nature of the people. 

To begin with, I'm an American liberal Democrat, attempting to explain a Japanese Liberal Democrat, Abe, who is the equivalent of a conservative American Republican.  From my viewpoint he is doing everything wrong--pro-nuclear, pro-coal, wishy-washy on the renewables, pro-miitary spending, will double the sales tax by next year to 10%--but seemingly successful in propping up the economy.  He is vey popular, unlike President Barack Obama, who too like me is a liberal Democrat from Hawaii, and by most measures successful:  the USA is the only Supreme Power left, our economy is close to again breaking an all-time stock market high, we are pulling out of the Middle East, where wars, started by Republicans, have cost us up to $3 trillion, and we are the envy of the world.

So why is Abe popular and Obama not?  First, the Obama part has something to do with the success of the Republican propaganda machine.  The American way of politics does that to people and reputations.  Amazingly enough, the people fall for it.

Japan has overcome Hiroshima, Nagasaki, the devastation of World War II (and most don't realize that cities such as Tokyo, Sendai and Aomori, my three most recent stops, were leveled by American air raids) and is now trying to cope with Fukushima.  Yet, the Japanese don't hate us.  In fact, there is high respect, if not a sense of continued dependency.  And Hawaii, they go into paroxysms of wonderment and envy when I mention I'm from Hawaii.  Remember Pearl Harbor?  This has to do with their culture.

Prime Minister Abe is popular because the Japanese have the will to survive--Fukushima was devastating--and Abe is their best hope for success today.  It is a kind of fantasy that their economy is doing well.  Consider that the all-time high for the Nikkei was the equivalent of 73,000 in 1989, and they are in the range of 15,000 today, but almost double what it was after that Great Tohoku Earthquake, Tsunami and Nuclear Cataclysm on 11March2011.  Thus, to a person, people I talk to say their economy is sound and getting better.  The attitude is positive and they could be well on their way to further progress.

So who am I?  I'm just a lucky soul who is Japanese, born in Hawaii, went on to Stanford, somehow became an engineering professor, maintained good health, traveled the world a dozen times and on the eve of entering a seniors community, realizing my good fortune.  I've done the best I could, planted the seeds for the Blue Revolution, and close now to five years of daily blogging, fulfilled my destiny, which has everything to do with my name, Takahashi, which means high bridge.  I've served as the link between nations and cultures desiring to take the higher road to cooperation, here in color showing the essence of my family mon, a rainbow bridge connecting countries across the ocean:

These are the front and and back covers of SIMPLE SOLUTIONS for Planet Earth.

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THE BEST $35 JAPANESE MEAL I'VE EVER HAD

It was two days since my last sit-down restaurant meal, that awful cow tongue surprise in Sendai, so I asked my hotel advisor what was the best place to eat in Aomori.  She recommended Mitsuishi, located just a few steps away.  This was the best $35 Japanese meal I've ever had, the price including beer.  

The decor was typical Japanese, with people mostly in groups in separate rooms.  There is a large sake bar where diners also sit.  I got the only available seat left.

The feast started with a cold seafood assortment:

As the average price of my Westin (Tokyo, Kyoto and Sendai) breakfast buffets was $35, I thought this was all I was going to be served.  Nope.  First salmon and marinated onions.

Then some sort of tempura tofu, I think:

Followed by a giant bowl of teriyaki-type fish with boiled radish and asparagus:

There was so much, I couldn't finish it.  Then came the rice with ikura (salmon eggs), miso soup and tsukemono:

Finally a dessert dish:

If you're ever in Aomori, go to Mitsuishi for dinner.

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MUFA Day#18: Hirosaki and Akita

It is 21 miles from Aomori City to Hirosaki, which is the city that produces the most Fuji Apples.  Hirosaki has a population of 181,000.  Amazingly, the flag of Hirosaki is shown to the left, derived from the Tsugaru Clan, which predated Hitler by more than 300 years with their various flags:

That's Tamenobu Tsugaru, circa 1600.

I walked to the Aomori Station and had not had breakfast yet, so went to the process of having some noodles.  First you decide what you want:

Then place the cost in a machine to get a ticket:

You pass this ticket to the server, and I ate this standing up:

The whole thing took 15 minutes.

There is still a lot of snow around:

The Hirosaki Sakura Matsuri (Festival) began two days ago and goes on until May 6.  Today was by far the most spectacular Sakura blossoming for me on this trip.  If you're anywhere close, I highly recommend that you come over the next few days.  This weekend will almost surely experience an overflow crowd with train seats difficult to secure, but the absolute peak should occur then, and extend through early next week.

This is one of those once in lifetime experiences worthy of your effort.  Let me just show what I saw:

I had a minimal hanami because of my noodles at the train station for breakfast.  Here it is getting close to May and there is still snow on the ground at this park:

I then caught the train to Akita, where my great grandparents began their journey to Hokkaido, perhaps 150 years ago.

Then I caught the Shinkansen from Akita to Morioka, and then to Shin-Aomori.  That's the latest bullet train above.  There is something provocative about this design.  I had an Akita apple cider with a special mochi concoction:

Each station has some kind of art work:

A very memorable day, taking me back to my ancestors.

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