The World's Greatest Steak Sandwich

Bento Box on Plane

We had a few hours before we were to picked up at the hotel to be taken to Narita Airport for our flight home. Tokyo was sunny! We walked to Takashima in the Ginza and bought some rice and gifts to take back with us.

We walked back to the Four Seasons, completed our packing. We had planned to ship a box of books and other things that couldn’t fit in our suitcases back to the States. The hotel sent someone up with an assortment of heavy weight cardboard shipping boxes. I filled one and they suggested to us that we might just want to take the box with us and check it in as luggage. I was a little dubious but decided to give it a try. They took the box and eventually returned it all sealed up, strapped and with a great carrying handle. No one know how to wrap things as well as the Japanese. We did check it in, and when we picked it up in Los Angeles, it was in perfect condition.

The previous night, for the second time this trip, we had dinner at Shima. The purpose of going back was to order what is supposed to be the world’s greatest Steak Sandwich to go. The sandwich is prepared on thick slices of toasted bread, smeared with mustard and then a homemade tomato relish, then piled high with Kobe Steak. The crusts are cut off and the sandwich is cut into 3 pieces that exactly fit in a bento box. We brought the Steak Sandwich back to our hotel room. They also gave us a cheese cake. We placed both in the refrigerator in the hotel room overnight. My intention was to take the sandwich with us and eat it on the plane, instead of airline food.

If the middle of the night I woke up, in terror. What if I got all the way through customs and as I passed through security they confiscated the sandwich? After all the commitment to return to the restaurant and schlep the sandwich back to the hotel and then to the airport, I still might not get to eat it. In my mind, I started creating backup plans. If they confiscated it at security, I would eat it right there in front of them. I could take the sandwich out of the bento box and hide it in my computer case. There had to be way to get it on the plane. Long story short, they didn’t care, and I had worried for nothing.

On the flight, when dinner was served, I pulled out my bento box and had one of the three sandwiches. Cathy had some of the 2^nd sandwich, and I wound up bringing the rest home. We shared it for lunch the next day here in Los Angeles. Was this the greatest steak sandwich in the world? You will have to go to Japan and get one, to decide for yourself. For me it was an experience well worth the stress.

Keiko, Museums and Ando

Inside the Brush Store

Brush Store Name in Japanese

Tempura and Noodle Soup

Nabeyaki Udon

Cathy and Keiko

Inside Church of the Light

Hidden Buddha, Sapporo 

Asparagus and Crab Cake

Fillet

Bread with Tomato Relish and Mustard for Steak Sandwich

Bento Box, the world's best Steak Sandwich to go!

Cathy and Shima Hostess

Tokyo at night

It was raining on our last full day in Kyoto. After breakfast at the hotel we met our guide: Keiko Kamei. We have been with Keiko before and it is a joy to spend time with her. She is extremely knowledgeable about art, ceramics and Japanese culture. She has boundless energy, ready to show us just the things we would be interested in. We think of her as an enthusiastic friend who just can’t wait to show us Tokyo.

We first went to a brush store. It doesn’t have an English name, but I put a picture of its sign on the blog above. It has been in the same family for almost 300 years. They have every type of specialized brush you can think of. We saw special brushes for applying sauce to fish, brushes made to dust just the corner of windows, brushes to remove the makeup of kabuki actors,all kinds of hair brushes. This is definitely one of those only in Japan stores. We bought several of one kind of brush: Tooth Brushes. They bristles are made from horse hair each hair inserted by hand!

We went to The National Museum of Modern Art Ceramics Gallery across from the Royal Palace to see the work of Tsuji Seimei. The show consists of around 150 of Tsuji's finest works, including calligraphy and items from his private collection. It also incorporates pieces from ancient Peru and works produced by Western-style painter Takeo Yamaguchi, American ceramic sculptor Peter Voulkos and artists at Tsuji’s studio.

We then went shopping! We went to the Tokyo branch of Arts & Science clothing and design store, we had been to the store in Kyoto across from the Ritz Carlton. This store sells beautiful clothing and unique home furnishings. They had the breadknife of my dreams. 

On to another Gallery: Bizen Galary Aoyama, located in a small apartment, this gallery obviously specializes in Bizen Pottery.

A cold rainy day in Tokyo demands hot noodles! We returned to Honmura An. Kieko had first taken us to this restaurant several years ago. We shared a salad (they peel the figs), and Chicken Meatballs as an appetizer, Tempura with noodles, Cathy her favorite: Nabeyaki  Udon. The food at this restaurant is excellent, perfect for the Tokyo weather!

This has been a tour dominated by Naoshima Art Island, even though we didn’t go there this time. It was on Naoshima that we first saw and experienced the architecture of Tadao Ando. He designed many of the buildings on the island. His unique use of concrete, the interplay of vistas with nature and light, the craftsmanship and above all the elegance of his designs, makes his work instantly recognizable. Currently, there is  a major retrospective of his architecture at The National Art Center in Tokyo. It is a huge exhibit, with models, slides, multi-media presentations, etc. There was one work in particular that is iconic. The Church of the Light, in Osaka. We have never been to the church, but because I have seen so many pictures of it, I feel I actually have been. The simple concrete box of a building has a gap in the concrete in the form of a large cross at one end, which allows light to stream inside. I was amazed to discover they recreated the entire Church outside of the museum. I can say I have been in the building! The actual church is probably one of the most unwelcoming churches in the world. The small church in Osaka would be overrun by people only interested in the architecture. Read their restrictions here: Church of the Light.

They had a time-lapse video of the construction of the mammoth Hidden Buddha in Sapporo Hokkaido. Along with his Church on the Water in Hokkaido, it would almost be worth the trip to that Northern Japanese Island! We spent a lot of time at this great show!

We then went to Musee Como a small nearby museum dedicated to ceramics. Keiko is friends with the gallery director and she greeted us. The exhibition was the work of two potters who each breathed fresh life into the ceramic world in Kyoto after World War II: Yagi Kazuo and Kiyomizu Kyubey.

We made one last stop at a huge book store to buy a Japanese Architectural Magazine Brutus. Its current issue is about the fantastic Enoura Observatory we just visited in Odawara.

We sadly said goodbye to Keiko and returned to our hotel. We leave Japan tomorrow, so we did a preliminary pack, then headed to the bar for cocktails.

File this under: "I would have had regrets". I most assuredly would have had regrets to have left Japan and not eaten the steak sandwich from Shima. The only way to get the steak sandwich, was to go to Shima, have a steak dinner and then order a steak sandwich to go. You can’t just order one without ordering dinner! It is obviously intended to be eaten the next day. This was a regret I was not going to allow to happen. We returned to Shima, and this time ordered the filet mignon. We don’t usually order filet, but I am glad we did. It was unbelievably tender. At the end of the dinner I picked up our bento box of steak sandwiches to take back to the hotel. As of this writing they are waiting for us. Ah the anticipation! 

Is Fish Sperm Kosher?

Stonehenge like area

Sea and Mountain view from Observatory 

Sugimoto photograph gallery overlooking the sea

Tunnel and Performance Stage

Stone Tori Gates

View of Sky from Tunnel 

Kimono Store Y.&Sons

Ikura (Salmon Eggs)

Perfect Shrimp Sushi 

Fish Sperm!

We made it through the dinner!

We checked out of Asaba Ryokon after breakfast and took a Taxi for an hour and half ride to visit a new art museum: The Enoura Observatory. I loved the ride to get to the museum, basically you drive around Mt. Fuji seeing it from 3 sides. You then take a very steep downhill drive and finally arrive at the coastline of Japan – Sagami Bay. The main city is Odawara. The coast line reminds me of Santa Monica Bay, but instead of  a sandy beach it has steep mountains.

On our first trip to Tokyo years ago, we went to a museum show at The Mori Art Museum that featured giant photographs by Hiroshi Sugimoto. The photographs were ethereal. They were of the ocean blending into the sky. We loved the photography. There was also a small version of a Shinto Shrine he had created. That was our introduction to Sugimoto. We then went to Naoshima Art Island. There we saw more of Sugimoto’s photographs and the actual shrine he had built from his model. There was a special tunnel beneath the shrine that offered a unique view out to the Pacific Ocean. It was clear Sugimoto was much more than a photographer – he was also an architect with a deep spiritual background.

Sugimato has now opened The Enoura Observatory. It is an incredible architectural masterpiece. It overlooks the Sagami Bay. As a child he grew up in Ordawara. The vistas of the water and sky are the obvious inspiration of his photographs. But this complex, built high up in the mountains overlooking the bay is so much more. It needs to be experienced. Sugimato has collected massive stones, small rocks, old temple gates, and reassembled them in this landscape, each purposely placed to give vistas over the grey ocean. Each visitor is given an excellent guide book. It is best to read it in the reception area before wondering around the Observatory. There is, by design, no designated route to view the installation and nothing is labeled or numbered. You just wonder around take in the vistas and observe. I can’t conceive of being here on a rainy day. I would think the stones would be much to slippery to walk upon. There are several performance areas for Noh Plays and other works.

Unlike any museum we have ever been to, this is about viewing both the art and the nature. To accomplish this, they strictly limit the number of visitors at any one time. This allows one to take in the vistas without always having someone else blocking your view or crowding you. Some of the outdoor areas are massive stone stages for performances, others are benches made from old rocks to view the ocean. The architectural details of the buildings are incredible. This is all due to the vision of this one artist: Hiroshi Sugimoto. You can easily visit The Enoura Observatory in a half day from Tokyo. The train ride on the Shinkansen takes less than half an hour and then it is only a 15 minute or so taxi ride to Enoura.

The transportation Gods were with us, we had retained our taxi driver for the hour or so it took to visit the museum and requested he take us to the train station to catch the Shinkansen to Tokyo. When we reached the train station and went to the correct platform our train magically appeared. We didn’t have to wait at all, our timing by accident was perfect.

Aboard the train, I phoned the Four Seasons Hotel where we would be staying and informed them of the train number, train car we were in and our seat number. When we arrived at Tokyo Station and our train came to a stop, a person from the Four Seasons was waiting for us to take our luggage us and escorted us to the Hotel. Nice service.

It was then about 3pm and we decided to sneak in a quick shopping break. We had read about a Kimono Store called Y.&Sons. The designer, Michael, is amazing and Cathy has a raincoat from Norwegian Rain, that she loves. We have no idea what the relationship is between a Tokyo bespoke Kimono store and a Norwegian rain coat maker is, but clearly, they liked working together. I didn’t expect there to be any finished items at Y.&Sons, but they did have some great Japanese influenced coats.

We returned to the Four Seasons, cleaned up and had cocktails in the bar before heading out for dinner. Once again, the hotel had printed up a map of how to get to the restaurant in Japanese and then explicitly explained to the driver where to drop us off.  No surprise, we had transportation problems. The taxi driver drove to the designated place on the map and dropped us off. I felt the ride took too long and since we had previously been to the restaurant, the location looked off to me. Since all of the street signs are in Japanese, and the map was in Japanese, all I could do was ask locals where was the restaurant by showing them the map. We were literally going in circles around several blocks.  In desperation, I finally called the Four Seasons and they recognized they had printed off a map to a different restaurant with a similar sounding name. They knew it was their mistake. We jumped into a new Taxi (ours was long gone) and the Hotel guided to them to the correct restaurant.

We have been to Sushi Tomoki many times on our trips to Tokyo. This small restaurant is owned by an extremely young, talented and sweet couple. This is the Sushi Restaurant of your dreams. If you are going to have one sushi dinner in Japan go Tomoki Sushi. Make sure your map is correct before you hand it to a taxi driver.

There were three boisterous business people at the sushi bar. One of them said I absolutely had to order of Fish Sperm. This was a new one for me. I never had it before and he kept insisting I try it. It was not my favorite dish of the night, but what the Hell, if we could live through a Typhoon in Japan, why not try it. We asked and couldn’t get an answer of how they get the sperm, but I assume there are a lot of happy fish in Tokyo Bay.

I can obviously eat much more than Cathy. They kept serving us course after course of sushi. Cathy was eventually satiated and stopped eating, I continued for a few more courses. We had had 2 pitchers of sake and they comped us a 3^rd. They finally presented us with a bill – just a total no itemization. I have no idea if I had stopped earlier, the bill would have been less, or if I had eaten more, the bill would have been larger. I trusted them to be honest and I am sure they were.

After dinner, we hailed a taxi and showed the driver our hotel card written in Japanese saying “Drive to the Four Season’s Hotel next to Tokyo Station”. Tokyo station is the heart of Tokyo. Sort of like Time Square to New Yorkers every single person in Tokyo knows where it – except our Taxi Driver. The taxi driver starts driving, and I eventually realize we have been driving way too long. He, of course, speaks no English. We eventually call the hotel to explain how to get there. It amazes us, that with all the futuristic technology employed in Japan, taxis keep getting lost!

We eventually got back to the hotel and the driver tried to charge me for his meandering of the streets of Tokyo. I refused to pay him what he wanted to charge and he apologized and accepted my lesser payment. When we entered the hotel the manager and staff approached us and profusely apologized for printing the wrong map. As amends, they offered us free drinks in the bar. We accepted their apology and offer of drinks: 18-year-old Scotch for me cognac for Cathy.

Tomorrow is our last full day in Tokyo.