Early start, semi-early flight. 10 a.m. Took only a little over an hour to get from Suwon to Incheon airport. Left my home at a little before 6. I'm glad I had gotten there early cuz I stood in line waiting to check in for an hour. The check-in lady was nice. Get her phone number next time. After that, it was pretty smooth, all the way to Tokyo. Once in Tokyo it was like clockwork. It took at least 2 hours and maybe more to get to Joel's, but they were good directions.
Laid around on his floor, and thought about putting porn on his computer. Watched Team America instead. Drank some delicious Yebisu while waiting. That shit blows away any Korean beer. Once Joel arrived from work, I neatly tea-bagged him, and then we were off to eat at (I think) Joel's favorite style of Ramen called Tsukemen at a place in Kawaguchi called 102. That shit blew my mind. Here's how it works: They (the Japanese) give you two bowls - one for the soup and another with the cold noodles (you can also get an optional side dish with goodies on it, which we did). You take the noodles and dip it in the rich, creamy broth, and then shove it down your throat. Here's what makes it so good: the pork in the soup (and in the side dish) is this big chunk of super tender meat. So good, reminds me of the pork chops at Smitty's BBQ in Lockhart, Tejas. Even the fat was yum. On the side dish was a boiled egg, but not just any, cuz when you took a bite of that shit, the yolk just came pouring out like an over medium fried egg. Next, they had this big black rock that they would drop in your soup and it would make your soup boil! Can you believe that? A hot rock to boil your soup. Anyway, best meal I had. Thanks, Joel.
Next, we went to his friend's bar in....somewhere. It was a cool little dive bar, and the owner really likes folk music. He played some old Ry Cooder, The Band and Flying Burrito Bros., and some other stuff that made no impression on me. We drank a great little Japanese beer that I had never heard of before.....and now I can't remember the name. Really good. Joel, you gotta fill in the blanks for me in the comments. We also drank some great shochu. And then we went home, filled with overwhelming joy for humanity.
My friend's bar is Cuckoo Bird in Urawa. The hands down best bar this side of the Arakawa. We drank Heartland. A name fitting for a beer as crisp and refreshing as its Texas namesake.
ReplyDeleteAnd that music that didn't made no impression was probably some of the finest japanese folk music out there.
coming up my impression of Fishin' on Sunday by Takada Wataru, which very well may have been what we were listening to