Posted by Seth on April 2, 2010 under Flying, News | 
Delta Airlines has decided to go a bit crazy this afternoon with coach pricing to Tokyo, Sydney and other destinations in Asia. They’ve loaded a number of fares <$500 for trips from New York City and Cleveland to Narita. They’ve also loaded ~$900 fares from New York and Minneapolis to Sydney; from San Francisco Sydney can be had for <$700.
These fares are a great deal if you don’t mind going that far in coach and if you can spare the time off. Most of them have 3+ day minimum stays required and are only valid through the next couple weeks.
Deals have also been spotted in Denver, Houston and Los Angeles. If you’re itching to get on a plane, give your favorite airport a try and see what you come up with.
Good luck!
Posted by Seth on March 31, 2010 under News, frequent flyer |
American Airlines and jetBlue announced an agreement today that will see the carriers begin to sell flights on each other’s metal and also shift a number of landing slots around. American will cede eight slot pairs at Washington, DC’s National Airport to jetBlue in exchange for twelve slot pairs at New York City’s JFK airport. jetBlue will remain the leading carrier at JFK measured by frequencies even after this swap. At the same time, in conjunction with the five slot pairs at National that they are expected to acquire from US Airways, jetBlue will be able to build a significant operation up very quickly at the airport starting late this year.
In addition to the slot swap the two carriers have announced plans to offer interline connections to each others’ flights at JFK and in Boston. American Airlines’ customers will be able to leverage jetBlue’s position as the leading domestic carrier at both of these airports by booking single tickets through for routes where AA doesn’t offer service but jetBlue does. At the same time, jetBlue customers will be able to book connections onto AA’s international flights through the two airports. American is second only to Delta in international operations at JFK, offering connections to London, deep South America, Tokyo and a number of destinations in continental Europe. AA is also a leader in the transatlantic market in Boston.
It should be noted that, at this time, the agreement does not specify code-sharing between the two carriers or interline ticketing beyond the very specific destinations. It is a very limited partnership, at least for now. Mostly it means a single ticket can be issued for the connections and that luggage can be checked at the originating jetBlue station for outbound long-haul international travel.
Of course, any discussion such as this one leads to questions about additional tie-ups in operations and in the loyalty programs. And, this announcement still leaves plenty of opportunities and options, but no definitive answers on most of those issues. Will jetBlue be joining up with OneWorld, the global alliance that AA is a major player in? Not right now but the future is wide open? What about jetBlue’s interline agreements with partial owner Lufthansa and with Aer Lingus? Both of those will continue as they have been operating previously. Oh, and still no details on how the frequent flyer loyalty programs will integrate in terms of earning points or other benefits across the new partnership.
For American this seems to be a move to retain market share in the transatlantic market. They currently offer very few onward destinations for passengers connecting through JFK who aren’t staying in New York City. The move will allow them to increase that coverage significantly with a minimal investment. For jetBlue the ability to attract customers who are keen to travel more outside the Americas is a significant hole in their route network that they will be able to better fill now.
In many ways this partnership seems to be placing jetBlue into a role similar to that of Alaska Airlines. They provide a broad regional coverage and partner with a number of different airlines from a variety of alliances. They don’t have to declare loyalty to just one alliance and they don’t have to fully integrate their loyalty scheme with those programs. They forge alliances of convenience and partner to fill strategic gaps. Customers from both sides win and the airlines are able to grow without significant capital outlay.
At this point it probably doesn’t make too much sense for jetBlue to join one of the global alliances, particularly given their strong position at JFK and Boston and their ability to strike opportune partnerships to improve their route footprint with whichever partner presents that opportunity to them at a particular connection point.
Tags: Aer Lingus, Alaska Air, American Airlines, Delta, frequent flyer, JetBlue, London, Lufthansa, New York City, OneWorld, Tokyo, Washington DC
Posted by Seth on March 17, 2010 under News |
The American Express Fine Hotels & Resorts (FHR) program is one of those benefits that their cardholders find either incredibly valuable or an incredible waste of marketing materials. The benefits are certainly tangible but the cost to get there can be quite high. Paying extra to be in a fancy hotel just to get the free breakfast doesn’t always make sense, especially when one wouldn’t otherwise be in that level of hotel.
Still, the annual update of the properties in the program is a much anticipated event by many as the changes can change booking habits for a number of customers. In previous years the property list came as a huge glossy book with tons of photos and detailed descriptions of each property. This year the update was a matte post card with only the new properties listed. Indeed, budget cuts are deep, even in the luxury travel sector.
So, what are the new properties this year? There are over 60 new hotels joining the program, about half of which are Four Seasons properties. In addition to the 30ish Four Seasons properties there are a number of Grand Hyatt and Hyatt Regency locations joining the program (Tokyo, Goa, Shanghai and Aruba) as well as a couple Mandarin Oriental properties added (Barcelona, Las Vegas and Jakarta). There are a number of non-affiliated hotels as well such as The Pierre, Montage Beverly Hills, The Resort at Pelican Hill, Lizard Island and La Momounia Marrakech.
This year’s new additions look like a solid group of properties and represent good growth in the FHR program. Too bad that I’ll still likely not use it this year.
Posted by Seth on December 13, 2009 under News |
The negotiations of the USA-Japan open skies treaty have been ongoing for quite a while now. This latest round of talks, held last week, was actually extended by a day to allow for the final details to be ironed out since they were so close. And ultimately the deal that they struck seems to be a very fair and very good one for the airlines and for customers.
Tokyo Service
With the exception of Tokyo all destinations in Japan are now accessible with unlimited frequencies by all American and Japanese carriers. That is a significant step forward. The Tokyo market, however, is key to pretty much all service to Japan and the agreements reached on that front are quite interesting. Both airports – Haneda and Narita – will remain slot controlled due to the significant demand for service to those airports. And the number of slots that US-based carriers have at Narita will actually decrease a tiny bit. But there’s a good reason for that.
Tokyo’s Haneda airport – the more convenient and desirable destination for most passengers headed to Tokyo – is opening up to more international flights starting in 2010. Some of those flights will be potentially operated to the United States under this deal with as many as four daily flights permitted. That is going to be a very significant benefit for whichever carrier manages to secure those slots. There are a number of restrictions on the new Haneda slots, including late night departure times which aren’t particularly ideal. But it is better than nothing.
Anti-trust Immunity
There are some other interesting nuggets that came out of the agreement as well. Anti-trust immunity (ATI) will be permitted on the US-Japan routes for the first time ever. While there will still be specific applications required for such operations the ATIs will permit coordination of schedules, service and fares for partner carriers on routes between the two countries. The Star Alliance carriers of ANA, Continental and United Airlines are best position to take advantage of the ATI opportunities and they’ve already announced their intentions to do so. The three carriers expect to be able to better coordinate their offerings and streamline operations. In addition to the Star Alliance three, JAL will likely take advantage of the ATI opportunities once they figure out which suitor they’re going to dance with in the bankruptcy/bailout recovery effort. Both Delta and American Airlines are still pursuing the carrier aggressively and being able to apply ATI policies to the operations following whatever deal might be reached will be rather beneficial to whichever partnership comes out of that deal.
Extra Freedoms
Finally, both countries will be removing restrictions on fifth freedom routes. Fifth freedom flights are some of my favorites because the routes seem strange when viewed out of context. They are flights operated between two countries, neither of which the airline is based in, where the airline is permitted to sell seats only on that route. There are a number of such flight in Asia particularly, such as Air France flying between Bangkok and Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City. And there are a few in the USA, like Cathay flying from Vancouver to New York City’s JFK airport. As part of this agreement fifth freedom flights will the permitted without restriction by Japan or the United States. This is great for carriers that want to grow their route maps onward from Japan or the USA. These “add-on” segments generally help to make flights that might otherwise not be profitable happen, so there is an increase in service between markets. Plus there is the opportunity to grab the “other” flight generally rather cheap and have some fun flying on different carriers.
The loser on this bit is most likely Delta which acquired a number of route authorities ex-Tokyo when they bought Northwest Airlines recently. That purchase gave them a number of slots and authorities from Tokyo and now all the other carriers who desire such will be able to get in the game on those flights, assuming they can find the slots. Also, the third country will still need to approve the fifth freedom flights so it isn’t completely open, but there are many more opportunities now for many more carriers.
Mostly good, but potential gotchas
Overall, agreements such as this are generally a good thing for passengers. The increased opportunities for carriers to provide service generally means that where they think there is a market airlines will try, at a lower cost than if they had to buy route authorities to provide such service. The ATIs are always a bit of a toss-up as they essentially permit collusion and price-fixing between partners. As long as there are enough non-partnered carriers in a market that generally isn’t a problem but it is something that always causes a bit of apprehension as it can lead to higher prices due to less competition. Still, there’s a lot of potential good news out of this agreement. Now we just wait to see how it actually plays out.
Posted by Seth on December 4, 2009 under News |
Sure, it sometimes feels like you’re living in a terminal when you’re on the road all the time. I even did 60 hours inside security back in March on my way to Tokyo via Seattle and Baltimore a couple times. But I can’t think of anyone who’s story comes even remotely close to that of Feng Zhenghu, a Chinese citizen who has moved into Narita Airport’s international arrival concourse.
Feng has been denied entry to his native country eight times over the past month, four of them after actually arriving on the ground in China; the other four times Japanese officials denied his boarding attempt because they knew he’d be denied on arrival. Not good at all. So Feng has decided to live in the arrivals hall at Tokyo’s Narita airport, and he’s been doing so for over a month now.
He’s written a message by hand on a t-shirt and wanders the halls, explaining to folks who will listen that he’s been denied one of the most basic human rights, the ability to return to one’s home.
And he’s living wholly on the generosity of other passengers passing through the facility. Narita’s arrivals hall has no concessions facilities. That means no access to food unless it is given to him by strangers passing through the terminal. Days that he receives more than one meal or a hot meal are a special treat for the political refugee.
He’s been generating quite a buzz of late, with some passengers producing pamphlets for him to hand out and by giving interviews via his mobile phone. He’s also got a computer and camera with him in the terminal and he’s been using twitter (http://twitter.com/fzhenghu_en) quite extensively over the past month to raise awareness of his situation. Japanese officials have offered him asylum and asked him to leave the terminal but there isn’t really much they can do to force the issue. They cannot deport him to his home country because China won’t accept him and they cannot force him to immigrate. It is very much an awkward situation for them.
Truly a strange story and also a rather sad one. Not being able to go home would truly suck.
Posted by Seth on March 10, 2009 under Trip Reports |
All my flights finally posted to my frequent flier account and I can finally go in and tally up the totals. They are pretty ridiculous. Over 169 hours of travel I:
- flew 34,922 actual miles in the air over about 75 hours.
- accrued 48,699 miles in my Continental OnePass account. It would have been more but I dropped down to only silver status on March 1 so the elite bonus numbers were way lower.
- accrued 43,492 elite qualification miles. That was enough to push me well over the threshold for my gold status qualification (50K) and has me primed for platinum requalification at some point later this year.
- spent 12/15 flights in the front cabin. The vast majority of those upgrades were free; only two required spending points/cash to upgrade.
I also spent five of the seven nights sleeping on an airplane and one night sleeping in a plywood box. While on the ground in Tokyo I only spent ¥23,000, or about $230. Of that, about $100 was on sushi, $70 on transportation and only $50 on lodging. Hence the plywood box.
And I came home with a ton of stories and photos. That’s always the best part.
Posted by Seth on March 9, 2009 under Trip Reports |
About 75% of my transportation in Tokyo was on the train, so I got a pretty good feel for the local train options that they had. I didn’t get to ride any of the intercity rail lines such as the “bullet train” so no observations on those, but overall I was rather impressed by the local options that I had.
Getting from the airport to the city is surprisingly slow. Yes, the airport is ridiculously far from town (~80Km) so I wasn’t expecting it to be a 10 minute ride like from National to downtown DC, but the 60-80 minute ride on the train was pretty slow. It didn’t help that I was pretty tired from the flying and had my headphones on and missed my stop on the train, adding an extra 30 minutes to the trip. The extra bit also introduced me to an even more local train than the one I started on, so that was nice.
The trains in Tokyo are operated by three different companies, which also adds to the confusion of the system. Ultimately I chose to pay a bit extra for my rides and have the flexibility of riding any line at any time, but I’m not entirely sure that was necessary. I used a lot of the information from this site for helping plan my trip, and he’s got a bunch of useful information on there. I highly recommend it if you are planning a trip. I ended up with the Pasmo card, basically a stored-value card that works on all the systems in town. A typical ride is somewhere between ¥150-¥250 ($1.50-$2.50), on top of a ¥500 deposit for the card. Supposedly you can get the deposit refunded if you return the card but I kept mine as a souvenir. The daily unlimited cards cost around ¥700 so my two days for ¥1500 (plus the deposit) were about the same price and I didn’t have to worry about which line I was riding. If you’re riding more then a daily might be a better deal, but I was happier not worrying about which train station I had to find, as I was pretty lost throughout the trip.
A few things that struck me as particularly impressive about the train network. First is that the stations are all numbered using the Arabic Latin alphabet and numerals. That was VERY useful for me. Second, the map that they have is very busy because of the number of different routes. And it doesn’t have any landmarks on it. That’s generally not a problem, but there are also some quirks with the spacing of the stations such that some appear to be very close when they are, in reality, not. I ended up about a half mile out of the way – in the pouring rain – thanks to my inability to figure out the map so well. Oopsie. The good news is that there are street maps just about everywhere at street level – officially for evacuation purposes but they are a boon for tourists – so figuring out where you are and how to get to the next place isn’t so hard.
There are displays on every platform that list the details of the next train, including destination and when it will depart the station. I never waited more than 4 minutes for a subway in town and only about 10 minutes at either end for my airport transfers. I’m pretty happy with those timings.
My biggest gripe about the system is that it shuts down overnight. I know that most metro systems do and that New York is actually an exception more than a rule, but I’m still so used to always having it available that when it isn’t I’m surprised. It cost me a pretty penny (¥3000) for the taxi to Tsukiji as the subway wasn’t running in the early morning, and I could see it being a problem if I were out drinking late one night, but in the end that is a small complaint about an otherwise ridiculously efficient and well run system.
Posted by Seth on March 8, 2009 under Trip Reports |
I really cannot get over just how much fun I had wandering the stalls of the Tsukiji market, taking in the tuna auction and otherwise being immersed in a bit of the local culture where, even as an obvious foreigner, I was paid no mind. The folks there had work to do and my presence certainly wasn’t going to affect them getting their job done.
And what a job it is. Once the tuna are bought they rapidly travel through a series of wholesalers, making it to the retail market only an hour or two after the auction, and into my stomach shortly after that. For the frozen tuna the tool of choice is the band saw. For the fresh stuff it is a series of knives, starting with what appears to be a samurai sword that takes three men to wield and proceeding to a series of smaller knives after that.
Not wanting to waste even the slightest bit of fish (and at the prices they are paying, who can blame them??) they even go so far as to scrape the bones clean and save that last little bit to put to use somehow.
Weighing in a chunk of tuna for a customer
Yup, it is a yellow fin tuna
A bit of a shrine in the driver’s door of a delivery truck parked at the market
The market has way more than just tuna available. Just about any type of fish could be found, as well as many non-fish items in the farmers’ market offshoot around the side. I recognized some of the fish that were out on display, but many, many, many were completely foreign to me, at least in their natural state.
I think that perhaps the most interesting part of the entire auction process is that the language used is not really Japanese. Yes, the numbers from the bidding are, but the rest of the words that the auctioneer shouts are no more intelligible to a native Japanese speaker than they were to me. Second-most interesting is that it only takes about six seconds to sell a fish. With a couple hundred to sell each morning that speed is rather important. They apparently actually tried to computerize the process a couple years back, sinking USD $20MM into the effort, and realized that it was slowing them down so they scrapped the whole thing.
Also, I mentioned in my initial post about my Tsukiji visit that I took some video of the auction process. Generally I’m not a fan of video; I prefer to tell the story through still images. But I don’t think that I could do the auction justice without some videos, so here they are.
Prepping the fish for the auction:
Getting a feel for the quality of the tuna:
The auctions underway:
Just an awesome time overall. They are working on plans to overhaul the existing space, in use for ~80 years at this point, in favor of a new facility by 2014. So get there now and see the show before it is gone.
If you really wanted to, a visit could be done in just about 48 hours from most cities in the USA with non-stop service to Tokyo. Fly over on day one, see the market and head back out to the airport for the return flight. There’s even some extra time in there to see other things around town. I don’t think it is quite as compelling an experience as the Taj at sunrise, and probably wouldn’t make a special trip just for it again, but it is definitely one of the highlights of a visit to Tokyo.
A few other logistical notes about the visit. The market is up and running very early in the morning. There was activity at 4:20am when I got there. And the tuna room is only open from 5-6:15am. The first ~45 minutes of that is them getting ready and then the auctions come fast and furious. The 6:15am stop time is pretty strictly enforced, so don’t expect to arrive late and still get to see things. That being said, you do not really need to be there at 5am to catch the action. The Tokyo metro doesn’t start running until ~5am and, depending on which neighborhood you are staying in, you can be at the market by 5:30am by taking the metro without too much trouble. That is a good thing since taxis in Tokyo are pretty ridiculously expensive. I ended up spending ¥3000 (~$30) for a taxi to the market because I was awake at 4am and ready to go and didn’t realize that the metro wasn’t open yet until I found all the gates closed. So, if you are looking to save a bit of cash, time things for the first metro train and skip the taxi. There were several people at the auctions with “guides” escorting them around but I wouldn’t spend my money on them, particularly based on the info I heard them providing while there. They didn’t seem very helpful at all and it really isn’t too hard to navigate that part of the market on your own. And it is cold in there. It was also relatively cold outside while I was there so I’m not sure what it would be like in the middle of the summer, but all that frozen fish in a room keeps the temperatures pretty low in there.
If you plan on eating sushi in the market area after the show, expect to spend ¥1500-2000 per person, cash only, at the lower end places and as much as you want if you just keep ordering more at some of the other places. A breakfast can easily end up in the ¥4,000 range in a hurry, particularly if you keep ordering the o-toro. Also if you plan on going to a place where you aren’t ordering a set menu, try to learn a few words of the types of sushi you want. Salmon is the easiest since it is the same. Otherwise, copy down the Japanese words from your local sushi place (the regular stuff, not the crazy rolls) and use that as a guide. Ordering hamachi, for example, was easy to do and much better received by the chef than had I said “yellow tail.”
A couple parting photos from the tuna market. The “steam” you see rising off the fish is actually the ice melting. And it really is hard to get a grasp for just how big the room is. There were easily 200 fish sold the morning I was there, ranging in size from 20-300Kg. That’s a LOT of tuna!
Posted by Seth on March 7, 2009 under Trip Reports |
It is hard to find more contrasting areas in Tokyo than the Imperial Palace and the combination of the Shibuya and Harajuku districts. I visited them consecutively and the differences were even more striking paced on that juxtaposition. The Imperial Palace grounds are quiet, calm and relatively devoid of people. Shibuya couldn’t be more different, with hundreds of people crossing the street every sixty seconds and thousands more in the surrounding areas. In addition to the numbers of people, the type of people you run in to on the streets is very different. The palace grounds were being enjoyed mostly by older folks while the Shibuya area saw punk fun at every turn.
First up, a few pictures from the Palace grounds. They are impeccably well maintained, which should come as no surprise, and there are quite a few rather old buildings still on the grounds, including this guard house, though I think the rain gutters are likely a more recent addition.
There were several folks out on the palace grounds on this Thursday afternoon, enjoying a blue sky day and getting a bit of painting done. Some of the stuff actually looked pretty good, I’d say.
And, though it isn’t quite Cherry Blossom season yet, it is very close, and there were a number of flowers starting to bloom throughout the grounds.
A bit of meditation helps to melt away the stress.
And, headed out of the area, checking out some of the serious hardware they have for door locks. I know that there isn’t really a sense of scale in the photo, but the “bolt” there is probably about ten inches square. They weren’t messing around with that stuff.
And from that serenity I made my way to the metro and then to the Harajuku area and then the Shibuya area to watch the crowds go wandering by. Suffice it to say that there was a wide variety of options visible when it comes to the dress code. High heels and (very) short skirts are quite popular in Tokyo among young women, it seems, as were a number of less traditional options.
And then, of course, there is the famous intersection in Shibuya, right outside the train station, that sees hundreds of pedestrians with each cycle of the lights. Getting a decent photo of the crowd is harder than it might seem, especially at night. I actually ended up climbing on a traffic barricade and using a lamp post as a balance source to get some of these photos. Yes, I was stared at even more than just for being a gaijin on the street taking lots of photos. But I got the shots, so I don’t really care all that much.
One more photo that I took during the <> visit, this time of myself:
Each of the areas has its own merits, and all are worth a visit. Just plan your day to take advantage of the benefits that each area has to offer (the kids don’t really come out until after school and the Imperial Palace grounds close at night, for example) so you don’t miss out on any of the fun or the calm.
Posted by Seth on March 6, 2009 under Trip Reports |
Though it might be hard to tell from some of my earlier posts (and some later ones that I have in the works) there really is more to Tokyo than eating sushi. With some of the time I had between meals I was able to get out and see bits of the city. With only ~50 hours on the ground the total of what I saw was necessarily limited, but I made it to a few different neighborhoods and saw enough to get a feel for at least part of it.
For starters, I stayed in the Asakusa district. I actually crossed a river from the Asakusa metro station so it is entirely possible that the neighborhood had a different name, but that was the general area I was in. Like many of my recent trips I prioritized cost over quality for this hotel stay and I got exactly what I paid for at the Khaosan Hotel Annex (the main property on the other side of the water was full). It was not luxurious by any means, but there was some privacy in the “pod” bed, it was clean and it was ridiculously cheap – about $30/night – which was helpful for my travel budget. And my lodging was only 15-30 minutes from most of the tourist destinations on the metro, so overall pretty convenient. No, I didn’t drink all those beers, but I had no troubles contributing to the collection.
The other main draw of the neighborhood was the Sensoji Temple. It is one of several temples in the city and, like most, is actually still actively used on a daily basis. I know that most of the classic cathedrals in Europe are still in use, too, but the overall volume passing through the temples I saw was very impressive. Still, the temples did have their quite moments. When I first arrived on Wednesday night and wandered around the neighborhood it was quiet, almost eerily so. This is the view of the Kaminarimon Gate and the street behind it that leads to the temple. During the day the area is packed with tourists and worshipers. But at 8pm on a Wednesday night it was almost completely deserted.
Above, the Kaminarimon Gate; below, the Nakamise Avenue shopping area
That same area, a couple days later during the day, even in the pouring rain was alive and bustling with activity.
The temple was pretty impressive, and I’m glad that I got to see it, even if my shoes are still wet 20 hours later. Worshipers bathing themselves in the incense smoke (photo above) or rinsing off in the fountain nearby were quite interesting to watch. Just one of the few non-sushi things to do in Tokyo.
Posted by Seth on March 5, 2009 under Trip Reports |
With as much tuna as I’ve eaten over the past 48 hours I would not be surprised if the mercury levels in my body are just a bit high. After the auction action yesterday morning I wandered around the Tsukiji grounds until I found a sushi shop that looked decent. My parameters were pretty low – other people eating there and not too long a line – and I eventually found one that was pretty good. A nice sashimi bowl with some regular tuna and some chu-toro, a bowl of soup and I was a happy camper for the next several hours. Oh, and they made ordering very easy thanks to a large picture menu available showing the various combinations.
For breakfast this morning I wasn’t going to wake up early enough to get to Tsukiji for a repeat performance of the auction but the sushi was pretty good, and I had just enough money left on my PASMO card (Tokyo subway stored value card) for a quick round-trip back to the market area. So off I went. I found the same place as the previous day and had more tuna there. Then, as I was walking back towards the subway station, I realized that I really should try some other options as long as I’m here. I walked in to another random sushi shop in the market area, Isonoya. It was much nicer inside and most certainly not focused on gaijin as customers. I showed no fear, walked in and sat down at the counter. The sushi chef asked if I spoke Japanese and was not too excited by the response, but once he realized that I was comfortable pointing and (mis-)pronouncing the Japanese as best as I could, he started slicing fish and I settled in for a nice second breakfast.
It is hard to know if the quality of the sushi at this place was better than the other one as I had all different items, and it really was all pretty delicious, so I’m not complaining. Some sweet shrimp, scallops (I ate one before I remembered to take a photo) and yellow tail:
One nice difference was that the soup at the nicer place was also much better. It was not a typical miso soup that the other place served; this one had scallions in it and a prawn head floating on top. The flavor was definitely different and absolutely phenomenal.
After the nice sushi spread and the soup it was time for dessert, the delicious, buttery and smooth flavor of o-toro, the fattiest of the tuna options. The chef was a bit surprised when I ordered it, but I nodded and smiled and he realized that I knew what I was doing, at least on that particular topic, and served up a couple pieces of tuna heaven.
I also had one meal that, rather shockingly, did not have sushi in it. For lunch yesterday I was wandering the streets looking for something reasonably priced and remembered that many recommend the top floors of department stores for food options. I was near a store so I thought I’d give it a try. Up and up and up on 7 flights of escalators, through the toy section – which was awesome! – and then one more flight of stairs to the food floor. I walked around there, apparently lost, wondering where the great food bargains that everyone talks about were. They certainly weren’t in the department store I tried. So that plan was an unfortunate bust. But I had a Plan B ready to go: follow the crowd. Wandering around back outside I noticed a place with an awesome sign and what appeared to me to be a pretty steady flow of customers. I rolled the dice and followed the crowd down the stairs into an udon shop. It was a low-key, cafeteria-style shop and fortunately had a picture menu available. I chose the broth with noodles and an egg, picked up some tempura (the guy in front of me did and it seemed like the right idea) and then paid my several hundred yen and settled in to a seat for a meal that I am quite certain was, yen for yen, better than the department store options that I saw.
Oh, about the sign. It really was awesome. As best as I can tell it is the Japanese equivalent of “Eat, drink and be merry,” which is a style of living that I’m a big fan of.
I’m headed to the airport now and will likely get one last meal in the lounge. I’m certain I’ll get to at least play with the beer machine. And that will be the end of my dining in Japan. Not a bad meal to be found, at least not where I was looking.
