The barbatobox travel section reveals documentation and artifacts collected from different parts of the world. Whether it be volunteering on farms in Portugal to rock'n'bowl tournaments in Sweden, this section is dedicated to sharing stories and entertaining anecdotes to any aspiring travelers.

t.scott does tokyo

by guest writer t.scott collier

Friday, November 21 2003

The TSC back from the JOP, Japan that is... Tokyo to be exact. I was supposed to be back next Tuesday, but in Lieu of the part operating correctly, and a replacement part ready for testing here, I'm back early. What really blows is the fact that I have to work two Fridays... I left Tokyo at 3:30pm Friday, and arrived here at 7:50am today, Friday... interesting.

I just had a large-ass mocha and I'm considering getting another when I head out for lunch in two minutes... once you get locked in to this sort of thing, the tendency is to push it as far as you can. Its not that I didn't get any sleep on the plane last night, it's just that I didn't get any good sleep on the plane last night. Subtle differences in this world can bring down leagues of truth. Japan was so busy, that I once again neglected to take many pictures, least of all a picture of myself somewhere cool...I worked, then ate, then slept... mostly that's how it went. When I wasn't doing those things, I was probably on a train or subway going somewhere. I took the 340km/h bullet train down to Osaka and back for Thursday... it was a pretty cool thing.

I played an interesting game at dinner by myself on Wednesday... its called... "see if he'll eat it just because its deep fried." It was a tempura restaurant, where they have interesting eating challenges for westerners. Since I wasn't able to read the ala carte menu, I had to settle for the dinner set... which, of course, is a set-course dinner. The staff and I then communicated through broken English and some pictures as to what I was about to enjoy... tempura-style. The nice thing is that they bring out these otherwise disgusting items of food for you to purvey BEFORE they turn them into delicious delectables of deep fried debauchery. I didn't know this... so they bring out this steam-basket of the freshly-dead seafood items to show me... am I supposed to approve them? Is this my chance to say, "No, I think I'd like to choose another sea eel... this one's a bit too eely for me!"

First of all - a disclaimer is necessary - as a rule, I generally don't indulge in seafood, least of all in foreign countries where they tend to think that raw seafood is a delicacy, and a poisonous fish is coup de gras. Anyway - I'm up to the challenge, so I approve the basket of dead things for deep frying and away they go. They come back one or two at a time, the first being some king prawn... pretty nice starter for someone who's a bit tepid to begin with. Next is the whitefish (with the skin on). I ask if there are bones inside... why wouldn't there be... they say, No, but do they understand my question? I point to my wrist bone, and elbow - being the most accessible bones I've got, and again I get the negativo response... ok, but the skin? Yeesh, I'm going to have to smile-gag my way through this one... the waitress has taken a shining to my strange ways and is intently watching for my reaction. Not so bad... I manage a weak smile, I dip it heavily in the radish-infused soy sauce... really it's not bad... but I'm honestly not enamored with the skin... it could go away and I'd be happier for it. With it, is the cuttlefish (that's squid for those of you playing at home). This is tough like taffy... kind of like if someone stewed white rubber for a month on end...it might be softer and edible, but probably not the kind of thing I'm going to seek out on my next adventure.

With both items, the saving grace is definitely the Tempura style of cooking... I've remarked before and I'll reiterate that I would probably eat a fork if someone deep-fried it for me. The next plate comes with mushrooms on it - finally something I can enjoy outright and not have to be concerned about making bad faces at. I'm not a world-traveled aficionado, but I'm pretty sure that making bad faces at food is rude across the world, except for maybe that South-American country in "Romancing the Stone" where everyone looks mad all the time anyway. After the normalcy of the mushrooms, I'm at a bit of a loss to get started on the next course... eel... The meat itself doesn't look that much different from that of the whitefish - that's to say that it also has skin remaining on it... but the kicker is that they take the spine of the eel out, tie it in a little pretzel-like knot, and deep fry it along with the meat. "Nice presentation!" I say to myself as I swallow the remaining gulp of my 2nd large beer.

Up to this point, "I fear nothing!!!" has been ringing through my head, but I'm glad I've put two 22oz Japanese beers down rather quickly to give me that extra edge of liquid courage... although I have to admit I'm almost wishing I had tried the sake by this point - every little bit helps. I eat the meat, and inquire as to the status of the bone... I fear that the Japanese - being the efficient people they are, have not put this spine on my plate for pure decoration. Alas, they haven't, I'm informed that I'm to eat the spine. "Calcium" is given as the reason... this coming from the same waitress with whom I'd had a hard time explaining which beer I wanted. How the hell did she know what "Calcium" was when I couldn't get her to understand "Kirin Lager"? I ask again, just to make sure, that I understand it correctly. I even pull another waitress over to ask her... I'm probably already the butt of their jokes by now, but I'm not eating an eel spine (at least not without $50 cash in one hand) just to be the butt of somebody's foreign-language jokes... no sir. The other waitress's reply mirrors the first one's, "Calcium." Ok, well these people aren't getting osteoporosis anytime soon... and neither am I. I try the thing, heavily dipped in salt of course, and it's crunchy to say the least... not just crunchy, but like the crispiest of crispy things... like eating... um, well, deep-fried spine I guess. Exactly.

The next course is a good-old-fashioned bowl of rice with shrimp tempura on top... easy-peasy. Meal is followed up with sweet-potato ice cream... interesting, and assorted fruit. I thank the waitresses for their help with the picture depictions of the crispy-fried-sea-critters I'd just engulfed and headed on my weary way back to the hotel... picking spine-bits out of my teeth along the way.

t.scott collier enginerds in southern california...and enjoys eating donuts on the beach