Soba Noodles for Lunch

We had lunch at Kanda Yabusoba in the Awajicho neighborhood. They’ve been dishing up homemade, buckwheat soba noodles on this site since 1880. The original building was destroyed in the great 1923 earthquake and the current one built shortly after (and survived WWII bombings.) We sat on tatami mats on the floor, which was a little easier for Riley than myself. It was very good!

I just found that the NPR website has a story on the restaurant.

Pike Place Market is Amatuer Hour

...compared to the Tsukiji Fish Market. We went very early this morning. It is amazing! We didn't even see it all - it goes on forever. All sorts of of seafood, huge tuna being cut up with band saws, live eals, crazy motorized carts whipping around. A guy rode by on a bike with a a huge tuna head strapped on the front and another on the back. They even have whale meat! (I agree, not a good thing.)





We even had sushi for breakfast while we were there. Well, I did. Riley had cucumber roll.

Statue of Hachikō

(From Wikipedia) In 1924, Hachikō was brought to Tokyo by his owner, Hidesamurō Ueno (上野英三郎), a professor in the agriculture department at the University of Tokyo. During his owner's life, Hachikō saw him off from the front door and greeted him at the end of the day at the nearby Shibuya Station. Even after Ueno's death in May 1925, Hachikō returned every day to the station to wait for him. Hachikō's devotion to his lost master moved those around him, who nicknamed him "faithful dog". Others at the station initially thought he was waiting for something else or roaming around, but later realized he was waiting for his dead owner. This continued for 10 years, with Hachikō appearing only in the evening time, precisely when the train was due at the station.

Meiji Shrine

Today we braved the rain and visited the Meiji Shrine here in Tokyo. A traditional wedding was taking place while we were there.

Famous Crispy Doughnut

There is usually a line at the Krispy Kreme that's right outside the hotel door. As you see at the lower right of this picture the line is 45 minutes long. In the rain. We took a box of Krispy Kremes Tuesday to give to the people in the office of the woman we were studying. According to our translator whenever a coworker came in she would offer them a "famous crispy doughnut."

Takeshi Grillin' Dinner in the Table

Video: Takeshi Grillin

Shinjuku

Shinjuku is the district my hotel is located in. This is is few blocks away.

Sushi

With Takeshi left and Nanjo right. The sushi chef behind is the same one from "Lost in Translation" who Bill Murray asks "Why the long face?"

Shibuya Crossing

They say this is the busiest street crossing in the world. And this isn't after a ballgame or some other event. It's always like this, mainly because of a major subway station.


Video: Shibuya Crossing

Some fellow subway passengers

Shabu Shabu in Shibuya

We had shabu shabu for dinner last night in the Shibuya neighborhood. Shabu shabu is like fondue. You dip you vegetables, octopus (Clayton would like it!) and, in the picture below, beef, into a boiling mixture of water and fish broth to cook. It was very good!

In the Tokyo Chofu office

We met with our Tokyo colleagues Monday. I gave a talk about our team to their team below.



The candy Denise picked to bring as a gift was a big hit.

An American Breakfast over Tokyo

Hotel in Shinjuku

I think I drew the worst side of the building for a view, but still not bad.

Subways

I'm amazed how beautiful the subways are. Everyone is different and full of statues, mosaics and reliefs all done during the Soviet era.

Inside the Kremlin

I always thought the Kremlin was a single building like the White House. It's actually a walled fortress with beautiful grounds with several churches and chapels going back to the 14th century. The tallest tower you see is the Ivan the Great Bell Tower built in the 16th century.

Red Wings Win!

At least that's what I think it says.

Boris the Translator

It's been a real luxury to have a translator accompany us about town as we do business. Boris (not to be confused with Boris the train rocker below) has been great at translating, guiding us about Moscow and being a general Russian ambassador.

"Boris rock the train!"

We visited a location shoot for a low budget television series. The scene they were shooting takes place on a train. We had noticed a log stuck in the springs of the train wheel and wondered why it was there. Later I was in the train with our translator when the director yelled "BORIS ROCK THE TRAIN!" into a walkie talkie (in Russian of course, the translator translated) and the train started bouncing. So that's what the log was for!

Below is video of Boris and a comrade in action.


Video: rockthetrain

The Stalin Skyscrapers

In the early 1950's Joseph Stalin had seven of these "skyscrapers" built around Moscow. Some are apartment buildings, one is a goverment building, one on the campus of Moscow State University. It seems that no matter which direction you're pointed, you're looking at one of these buildings.

Navigating in Cyrillic

The signs in the subways are all in Cyrillic which seeems like somebody wrote the the station names in code. You sort of look for the first five or six letters of where you need to go. "We need to go to 4, C, B, backward N."

St. Basil's Cathedral

St. Basil's, built in 1588 was commissioned by Russian Tsar Ivan IV, also know as "Ivan the Terrible." Legend has it that once the cathedral was complete Ivan had the architect blinded so he would never build anything as beautiful again. Some graditude.

Red Square

We visited Red Square Sunday. Among the site was a visit to Lenin's Tomb to view his body which has been on public display since 1924. Sorry. No cameras allowed.


Video: Red Square

The Hotel

Though the rooms are very nice we've come to realize that it's not a very good location. It's in sort of an ugly area without anything worthwile within walking distance.