I’m writing this in the Tokyo train station waiting to for the bullet train to Kyoto. We just spent the last hour at an amazing food court which was vast and filled with incredible food. There are actually five levels of stores and restaurants under the Tokyo train station. And, unlike most other station business, sell goods of excellent quality. The food court would be among the best in any city above ground. I ended up focusing on baked goods–melon breads, bean buns, etc–and a dumpling collection of pork, shrimp, and some other filling I don’t recognize but can’t wait to taste.
A word about coffee. Tokyo has amazing coffee. Like everything else, quality matters, even in the most lowly coffee shops. Actually, Japan discovered good coffee, via Europe, at least a decade before the US. The beans are fresh and the ice coffee is pre-brewed (not cooled with ice which waters down the taste).
I’m now on the bullet train and it is remarkably fast, yet quiet. Luke got a movie of it coming in the station with its futuristic, bullet-nose. Prior to boarding, however, three women dressed in pink uniforms entered the train and quickly dusted and cleaned everything up for us. There is also someone handing out packages of moist towels. Amazing.
More on food. Back in Tokyo we went to an Okonomiyaki restaurant where you sit around a grill and cook your food. The waiter brings a bowl filled with the ingredients in order of cooking: meat at the top, veggies underneath, and a dough-like substance that holds it all together. Luke took some great shots.
The restaurant was in a marketplace:
Which had a beautiful temple at the back. The smoke is incense which you inhale for good health:
I entered the temple and listened and watched a group of monks chanting. The sound was a low drone–very powerful and meditative.
