Miso Sorry

Yeah, I know that I haven't posted in a while, but that doesn't mean that this crazy brain has been on stand-by. I have been busy doing my writing for Dance Magazine and they has put up my first essay at www.dancemagazine.com . I hope that you enjoy it. Keep checking back there for the rest of them. We have missed everyone we love. sayonara.

Day 3,4 maybe 5...I can't tell anymore.

So far so good. I haven't had to work yet, Rebecca hasn't had to work as much as she used to, and therefore we actually get to spend some time together here. This never happens on tour and I'm thrilled now. We have hours to kill together today and we have endless possibilities. Maybe a shrine or two, maybe the zoo. Quite possibly we'll go shopping for gift for our families. But in any case, I won't be alone.

The first time I came here, I didn't eat the entire time on tour. I can't remember where all we went, but I do remember loosing around twenty pounds and loving it. I think I wanted to look like a crack-head back then. And I did.

The second time I came to Tokyo I was dating Rebecca and tried to sample the local cuisine just to please her. Her being the crazed foodie that she is. But if you try to eat something that you don't want to and are just doing it to please, you just end up hating it more, and probably gag in the process. And I did.

This trip however, after five years of expanding my palate, has become a Japanese cuisine extravaganza. Pork katsu? Give it. Yaki Tori? Sock it to me. Sushi platter? Bring two. Miso soup? Stick it in my veins! Aside from eel and sea urchin, I will pretty much try anything. Maybe not enjoy it, but I'll try it.

Accessing this food is the challenge. Signs for a restaurant here look as though it was written by a kitten with a Sharpie pen taped to its' paw. (that's something I can't write in Dance Magazine!) Who knows what lies within when you can't read a menu outside. Also, restaurants aren't even located on street level, they're often located on the fifth to fortieth floor. So to find these restaurants one must walk down the street looking up. This kind of behavior in New York would result in someone (me) encouraging the person to "get out of my city you fucking tourist. It's called a sideWALK, not a sideSTAND !" But here, the treasure is up. And you've got to really hunt for your meal. But once you find it, damn it's good. Sometimes it's still moving on your plate, but it's good.

Miso Crazy

Guess who's guest writing for 'Dance Magazine'? Me. No shit! I hear that I might have to tone down the cursing and offensive stereotyping, but still, 'Dance Magazine'.

TOKYOh My God!

I'm on the other side of the world. I am in your future. The Sun that you see rising has set here hours before. I am in Tokyo.

A thirteen hour flight isn't nearly as enjoyable as it sounds, fortunately, Nippon Airline has a delightful Steerage section with amenities such as "all middle seats!", "Non-reclining seats", "Ground beef and rice for breakfast" and "Industrial strength air-conditioning!" But the best part is their state of the art time machine. Just enter the plane cabin and in half a day you'll be in tomorrow.

It is however a process worth going through to get here. Personally, I love everything Japanese. From their delicate cuisine to their obsession with futuristic technology, their nonsensical metro system to their sparkling, whale-free seas, I love it all.

This is my third time to Tokyo and I want to think that I know my way around a little. Which I don't. Tokyo is a city that feels as though there is no difference between inside and outside. You can walk down the sidewalk and then miraculously find yourself in the basement of a department store, having never walked through a door. There's perpetual artificial daylight, and I'm not sure if that's good or bad for jet-lag.

This morning Rebecca had the fantastic idea to venture to the fish market at 5 am since that is when the ships deliver all of their catches. Who could have imagined how amazing dead sea creatures are? I saw live octopus, giant clams, squids, huge, HUGE tuna and even some whale. It was crazy. We walked through a maze of vendors hacking away at enormous tuna with knives taller than me, all while dodging millions of fishermen on electric carts dragging fish from one dock to another. I watched in horror as Rebecca continually escaped near death as these carts flew by. It was bring a tourist to work day, only no one really cared about the safety of the tourists. If someone got hit by a cart, I'm pretty sure that they'd just throw your body on the back of the cart and then hack you up and sell your meat as dolphin meat. And I'd probably end up loving them for it. They're so much more efficient than us.