Shima does Steak

Cathy at Video Installation 

Round US Bomb created ponds

Lit up Ginza at night

Crab Appetizer  

Shima preparing the Steak for us

Perfection

Steak Sandwich to go for plane

Trees leading up to Ritz Carlton

The rain varied today from a light drizzle to a stronger rain. The Japanese are not bothered by it. They all carry umbrellas (Approximate half are translucent – allowing them to see where they are going). In the rain, we saw joggers and cyclists balancing their bikes while holding an umbrella over their head. Did you know there was an umbrella cover museum in Maine? You can visit it on your next trip to New England. Here is the link: Umbrella Cover Museum.

I was kept totally dry due to the Issy Miyaki Rain Coat I purchased yesterday and especially the Asolo Trail Shoes Cathy researched and found. We both have them they are totally water proof and have an excellent sole for gripping the wet stone pavement. I am very glad she got me to buy them!

The stores are equipped for their umbrella toting customers. Some have umbrella racks where you place your umbrella and then remove a key from the latch holding the umbrella. Others have combination locks to secure the umbrellas. At some stores, they have a device that is narrow and you slide your closed wet umbrella through it and it extracts any water so it won’t drip. Others dispense plastic umbrella covers rather like a long thin comdom. To answer the question I believe you are all wondering at this point: Who invented the Folding Umbrella, one site says: Swava Horwitz, Click her name to read about the discovery. Remember not everything you read on Internet is true, save this blog.

We reached the fantastic Nihombashi Mitsukoshi department store. It has everything that is the best. Like most high-end Department stores it has two levels of basement selling prepared food and groceries, meats, fish. All are fantastically expensive and beautiful. Boy the Japanese are rich and like food! Cathy found another Jergen Lehl boutique and found a few items. We then crossed the street to the Correro complex, a complex of several large buildings that have been converted into boutiques. We didn’t buy, but it was fun to look.


The show we saw was entitled: SUNSHOWER: Contemporary Art from Southeast Asia 1980s to Now. It celebrated the 50th Anniversary of ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations). It was surprising how many of these 9 nations we have visited: Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, etc.

Some art shows can bore us, or we don’t engage properly. This one sucked us in. We spent hours there. There were videos, constructions, ceramic, photography, sound, every possible medium. They were very well documented as to what the artists intentions were. Themes were the transformation of these societies, by politics, religion, technology, etc. One especially appealing one was a long video shot by a Thai Artist, about seeking the Naga (Snake). The Video room had a large metal snake encircling it and reaching down from the ceiling. Here is a link about the artist Korakrit Arunanondchai, you should look for his works. He lives and works in both New York City and Bangkok. Another interesting set of pictures was of round ponds in Cambodia. Nature doesn’t make round ponds. These were un-natural round ponds created all over Southeast Asia by the cratering of US Bombs.

Since it was raining we decided to go to the Mori Art Museum. This museum given to the people of Japan by Mori Minoru an extremely wealthy real estate developer.

We returned to our hotel to prepare for dinner. First cocktails and wine in the Club Room. By the way, We have stayed in many fine hotels in Japan, The Ritz-Carlton is by far the best. Excellent in every way.

For dinner, we were returning to one of our favorite Tokyo restaurants: Shima. Japan is renowned for its beef. This out of the way place is our favorite.

We had the typical experience the hotel prepared a map in Japanese with all of the streets marked and the Restaurant Address. We gave it to our taxi driver and he dropped us off and pointed down an Alley. We walked to the end and there was no Shima. We returned back up the street and asked a person in a Sushi restaurant, she said waiving her hands in the general direction next street. We walked to the next street, and there were two business men, in suits talking. I went up to them and pointed to the map. They both immediately started to assist us. They kept turning the map around. They simultaneously pointed in opposite directions, they laughed, they looked again at the map. Then they both walked us down the street to Shima. The Japanese people are amazingly helpful.

Shima gets the best meats. It also has a great wine list. You sit at the Sushi-like counter and watch Shima select and weigh your meat in front of you. He has several different cuts you can select from. We started with fresh crab. They also serve great rolls. With the meat, they serve both mustard and soy sauce with wasabi, mashed potatoes, carrots, string beans and onions. We had a fantastic bottle of wine with our meat: Domaine Roger Perrine Chateauneuf-Du-pap 2007. Because you are seated at a Sushi Bar one can talk to your neighbors. The gentlemen to my right after eating a large dinner then ordered something I was unaware of. They will make a bento box of a steak sandwich to take with you on the plane or train. The put the sliced steak on thick piece of toast lathered with tomato puree and pack it all in a wooden bento box. I have no idea what it costs, and how good it would be eating it the next day. I need to do some research on this. It sure as hell would be the best airplane food ever! The gentlemen said you can’t just order a steak sandwich, you only can if you eat dinner there. I will have to find out.

There was a good-looking couple sitting next to him, and after he left we started talking to them. He was born in Mexico City, and now lives in Texas. He is involved in NAFTA as a politician of some sort. As a politician, he wouldn’t be pinned down about anything. It was a strange conversation to be having in a Japanese Steak Restaurant.

Just like last time we ate at Shima as we departed they gave us a whole Cheese Cake. It sits in our refrigerator. Not sure what we will do with it.

We are heading to Hoshinoya in Kyoto by Shinkansen the Japanese high-speed train. I assume they will have wifi but who knows? I do know they will have massages! We are having most of our luggage shipped ahead separately to the Ritz in Kyoto where we will be re-united with it.