July 17th: Dinner at Gonpachi with Hiroko and Mayumi

We went back to the Roppongi area for dinner with Hiroko and Mayumi, who work in the Tokyo office. I met up with everyone at the office and we took a cab to Nishi-Azabu, which is either near or in Roppongi. I first met Mayumi, who was waiting for me in the lobby- a little concerned because I was a few minutes late (not as late as the rest!) and thought perhaps I had gotten lost. Mayumi has lived in the States, in various cities, and so it was nice to talk to her- a little bit of home. She has lived in Dallas, LA, Atlanta...and her brother currently lives in Boston. And we talked a bit about our upcoming trip to Kyoto. Mayumi's mother is from there, so she goes there about once a year.

For dinner, we went to Gonpachi, which is rather famous- both for being an insipiration for the movie "Kill Bill" and for being the place where Prime Minister Koizumi took President Bush to dinner on his visit. S and I had our picture taken RIGHT where they stood!

The restaurant is set up to look like a feudal castle from the outside and (I think) a village square from the inside. Whenever new people arrive for dinner, the entire wait staff shouts out a greeting- at first, it makes you look to see who it is every time!

The food was excellent- we had so many little dishes to start, like delicious chilled tofu and something that is like a large edamame pod that you first peel to get the beans, then you have to peel the individual beans themselves! We also had little skewers of duck, fatty tuna and foie gras with strawberries- all of that was phenomenal. My favorite was the fatty tuna and Stefan's was the duck. We also had something- beef, I think- but all I can recall was the yummy, vinegary spicy sauce on it! We finished up with cold soba noodles. When you come in, you can peek through a window to the kitchen and see the noodle chef cutting up the delicate soba noodles. I've just about mastered (as much as I can) eating noodles with chopsticks but I keep forgetting to use the chopstick holder and rest them on my plate instead. I have to remember not to do that because if you leave your chopsticks in your noodles or rice, it has a meaning in Buddhism, something to do with death!


Hiroko told us two funny stories at dinner- one about a friend and one about herself. The first was about an American friend who had visited her recently. She took the friend to Gonpachi as well, and her friend had eaten nothing but Japanese food the entire time she was here! Japanese food is much lighter than American food. Her friend apparently had a dream one night and woke up craving cheeseburgers! Hiroko said, "Really? You want a cheeseburger for breakfast?" and, like a good friend, sent her husband off to pick one up...but before he left, the friend said, "Two! Two Cheeseburgers!". And so, despite that her friend usually eats fairly light, even in the states, she started off her day in Tokyo with two cheeseburgers.

Hiroko has also lived in the States for a year during high school with an American family. She said that, at first, everything was too sweet for her- like brownies- but after a few weeks, she was eating it all up. She said she gained 20 lbs in three months- which is kind of hilarious because Hiroko is so small and petite- she's nothing but little bird bones! She was so funny- she ticked off the culprits on her fingers, "Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas". I had never thought of it that way before but it is a three month marathon of eating! She said she couldn't send pictures home because her face had changed so and it would shock her parents! Who is that? Hiroko?

After dinner, we walked up to Roppongi Hills, a fancy housing complex designed to be a mini-city with everything you need inside! The Roppongi Hills complex also brings some luxury and sophistication to Roppongi, which is the wild nightlife spot for Tokyo (Nishi-Azabu is the more tame, sophisticated spot in Roppongi). As you climb the escalators to the complex, there is a lush garden area, a full two stories above the city street, and we had our picture taken in front of Louis Bourgeois's Spider Statute, which was both elegant and creepy.

Then it was up to the fifty second floor "Tokyo City View" which houses a 360 degree view of the city, as well as the Mori Art Museum (which I will revisit later).

The views were breath taking- you could see the Tokyo Tower, an Eiffel Tower replica that is actually larger than the real thing, as well as many other landmark buildings that Hiroko and Mayumi pointed out to us. Unfortunately, the pictures don't quite do it justice, but I will post the best ones so you can get an idea! The city just goes on and on, in every direction, for as far as the eye can see! It twinkled and pulsed, and you could make out cars moving along the main streets, and some of the large neon and TV displays!

We had freshly made juices at the "Watta Juice"- I had a tomato mango concoction that, yes, sounds totally foul, but somehow it worked! It was refreshing, not too sweet, and supposedly a "beauty enhancer". I'll let you all be the judge of that (ha).



Lastly, before we left, Mayumi asked us if we would like to all go to a restaurant called Ninja. Apparently, the restaurant is set to look like an ancient castle and the waiters are all dressed as Ninja and sneak up with your menus and food. Mayumi said that she has always wanted to go there, but feels like it is really for tourists and not for locals...and of course we agreed to go! I can't wait to go, and yes, I will take pictures.

Look! The moon over Tokyo....I still can't believe I am here!