$1,040 a night (but that includes breakfast)

cool hunting covers alila villas uluwat, a sustainable luxury "green resort" along the southern coastline of bali on the bukit peninsula (special internet rates are available.)

south korea's having a bad day

now that we’ve left south korea and we’re back in happy japan i can say it: korea is grumpy mc-two-shoes. wow.

when we returned to manhattan last year from our first trip to japan, i could be heard around town telling friends how kind the japanese people are. “in two months no one pushed me or shoved me and i was never in anyone’s way. it was great!” first impressions are sometimes a bit skewed (i used to sort of like lou dobbs until i realized what a blowhard he is) and upon returning to nihon this year, i realized it is not quite as clean, as friendly, or as polite as i’d remembered. don’t get me wrong, it’s ten times friendlier than pretty much anywhere i’ve been in the states (including columbus.) but the rosy picture i painted of “never being in anyone’s way?” perhaps a touch too rosy.

and then we went to korea.

let me backtrack and say i’ve reconsidered my earlier remarks: japan is by far the cleanest, friendliest, most polite place i’ve ever been. seriously.

now. korea.

have i mentioned how polite the japanese are?

within five minutes of arriving in seoul, south korea i was pushed, shoved, and bumped into more times than i have been pushed or shoved in three years of living in manhattan. if you live in manhattan, you know what kind of pushing and shoving i’m talking about. now maybe i sound like a woose here. “oh, someone pushed you did they? it wasn’t all nice, and cute like you wanted, little baby american person?” go ahead and mock. the next time you’re climbing up the side of a mountain and someone seriously nudges you out of the way when there’s about a half an inch of trail between you and no trail…well. you’ll be a woose too.

and can you say “korean stank-eye?" walking down the street in seoul i often felt like i was a hobo intruding on a private dinner party. like i had just personally offended the mother of every fourth person i passed. “what are you doing here?” they said with their eyes. “i don’t trust you for a minute.” “that hairstyle is so 80’s." "i bet you don't even like pig intestine."

that said, the theater we played – the sejong center – was stunning, the korean audiences were wildly enthusiastic (unlike the very polite, and sometimes very quiet japanese audiences) and the lotte hotel was the best i’ve ever stayed in (you really can’t beat remote control curtains.) and at the top of that mountain, at the end of the trail was a very sweet, very dear man who not only offered to take my picture, but gave me a gigantic korean apple, and struck up a bright little conversation.

of course, he was japanese.

shiney happy

hyangwon-jeong pavilion, on the gyeongbok palace grounds. built in 1867, seoul, south korea. gyeongbok is korean for shining happiness.

deliria in elyria

it's about a fourteen hour drive from manhattan to milwaukee. tonight, i made it about halfway -- as far as elyria, ohio. anyone who does a lot of traveling for a living knows how difficult it is to find a good hot meal on the road.

lost in translation, pt. 5

and i so wanted some butterscotch.

what did you like most about japan?

i've tried to answer this question about a half dozen times in the past couple of days. through my jet-lag haze (it is SO much worse coming back) i don't know how coherent i've been.

but this recent post on ann althouse's blog got me thinking.

no matter where i went in japan -- big city tokyo, small town masuda, temples, shrines, airports, train stations, restaurants, post offices, hotels, the seven-eleven -- every person i came into contact with was kind, courteous, and helpful. every person. the teenage girl working at the convenience store takes such pride in her job. imagine that. (and p.s. the japanese don't accept tips. many japanese people consider tipping to be rude.)

"...every person i came into contact with was kind, courteous and helpful."

we all did better than most with the language. but when we couldn't speak enough japanese to get by? no one mocked us. no one treated us differently.

okay, wait. that's not true. they did treat us differently...

when we were trying to make arrangements for ten of us to have dinner at a small restaurant in tokyo and no one on the staff spoke enough english to actually help us, a waiter called his english-speaking friend on his cell phone to translate.

when blake and tobi were lost, looking for a specific local eatery, they stopped an older man riding by on a bicycle to ask for directions. the man didn't speak english, so he phoned a friend. the friend didn't know the restaurant, so the man on the bike took blake and tobi to a nearby police station and explained to the policeman where blake and tobi wanted to go. the policeman then drew a detailed map.

contrast those experiences with this one: at JFK last sunday, our cabbie looked at our five huge suitcases, looked to the back of his taxi, and pointed -- as if to say "i ain't pickin' those up." and at the end of the ride home the driver announced angrily, "that'll be $49.50...PLUS TIP!"

lost in translation, pt. 4

do i have to worry about second-hand smork?

airport sushi

before this trip, i’d never eaten sushi.

sure, i’d had an avocado roll, or a shrimp tempura roll. but no raw fish. it all goes back to a warning i'd heard years ago, about runny eggs, raw fish, and immune systems.

well. when you’re in japan, and you visit the tsukiji fish market, i’m not sure you have a choice, really. it’s probably the freshest fish in the world – why wouldn’t you eat it? and as a friend said to me, “isn’t that just like you?! you don’t eat sushi until you’re in the best place in the world for it”. yeah. that’s just like me.

so on our layover at tokyo’s narita airport today, we had time enough for a “last meal” in japan. what else would i have?

it got me thinking about the other interesting foods i’d eaten in japan, that i’d never eaten before. like…

1. ramen/soba noodles. ramen – wheat noodles. soba – buckwheat. simple. easy. served in fish or pork broth. not very adventurous. but good.
2. eel pie. crispy, sweet, cookie like. made with ground up eel. i’m bringing some home.
3. eel. delicious. one of the best meals i had in japan.
4. eel liver. in soup. eh.
5. yuzu. a citris fruit about the size of a tangerine and very tart. i enjoyed it as yuzu-cha, or yuzu tea. the rind is chopped and mixed with honey to create a syrup. about a teaspoon of the syrup in a cup, mixed with hot water, makes for a delicious, comforting treat that brings to mind the holidays.
6. katsu-kare. a breaded, deep-fried pork cutlet served with rice and japanese curry sauce. yum-diddley-yum-dum. blake ginther’s fav.
7. octopus. as the japanese would say, “maa maa”. which means “so so”. not bad, but sort of what you’d expect. raw, rubbery, chewy. not a lot of flavor.
8. sushi/sashimi. most of the sushi we ate in japan was quite different from what you find in the states. not a lot of typical rolls (makizushi) that you might order on 93rd and amsterdam. a small hand-formed clump of vinegared rice is topped with a bit of wasabi and a good size piece of raw fish – tuna, salmon, amberjack, snapper, mackerel. this is not sashimi (slices of raw fish served without rice) which we ate as well. some of my favorite was from conveyor belt sushi. small plates with one piece of sushi each travel around a diner-like restaurant on a conveyor belt. as they pass your booth, you pick up what you want, and pay at the end according to the plates you have left. sort of genius, actually. and often cheap.
   
   
   
   
9. natto. this is something every japanese person wants you to try because, i think, most americans react badly to natto (fermented soybeans which, when stirred, create an incredibly sticky, semi-sweet paste with spider-web like strings.) i can’t say i’m craving it, but i didn’t hate it either.
10. bean paste. none of the sweets in japan are as sweet as an american palette expects. the cinnamon rolls are not cinna-bun-ee. they are light and…ah…gentle. but i was surprised to find donuts i expected to be raspberry or strawberry filled, to be filled instead with bean paste. it is exactly what it sounds like – a sweet paste made of beans. i grew to…like is not the word…i grew to not be disappointed to find bean paste used in many ways.
11. cold kidney beans. speaking of beans, dessert last thursday night was a dish of local sweet potato ice cream, chewy rice balls and kidney beans in a light syrup. cold, kidney beans. yummmm.
12. pig’s ear. this is not what i give my dog as a treat (or is it?) it is the cartilage of a pig’s ear (in okinawa the saying is “we eat every part of the pig but the oink”.) it is almost like small, somewhat crunchy noodles served in a peanut sauce. again, not craving it. but it wasn’t bad.

okin-aaahh-wa

japan just got beachier.

dewa mata tokyo

the view from our window at the tokyo dome hotel this morning was somehow more colorful and vibrant and bittersweet than it has been over the last two months. it also included a stunning view of mt. fuji -- strong, quiet, and enormous -- bidding us farewell.

it was our last morning in tokyo. as i write this we are flying to okinawa for a couple of days off. on saturday we have two concerts. sunday it’s back to the u.s.

i think we were all a little more nervous than usual for last night’s performance at suntory hall. the crowd included not only important execs from disney, but several audience members wiping away tears. that surprised us (the tears, not the disney folk) and it’s easy to be flip about it, but people were clearly moved.

this morning, the weather forecast for okinawa was 68 and sunny, a welcome change from the blizzard we left in aomori on monday.

our time in japan is nearly over.

you got that lamb stink on ya!

after the show tonight, back at the hotel, a young couple got in the elevator who stunk like smoke and meat. "sapporo brewery," we all said.

we recognized that smell. last night we joined some of the d.o.c. orchestra and crew for dinner in the sapporo brewery biergarten -- a "genghis kahn style" barbecue of all the fresh lamb you could cook, and all the sapporo beer you could drink.

you're given plastic bags for coats and sweaters, and encouraged to wear clothes you are not fond of, as the smell of smokey, barbecued lamb stays with you for days (and in more ways than one.)

as dinner ended our japanese friends looked out the window and said "yuki! yuki!" it was snowing. we ran outside, and some of us tried to eat the snowflakes, but i never eat december snowflakes. i always wait until january.

normal

anyone who travels as part of their job must feel the same way i do today.

every so often, you need to have a normal day. a day when you do laundry, or stay in your hotel room most of the day. a day when you just can't feel guilty for not having an adventure. a day when, even though you're in a foreign country, thousands of miles from home, you have to stop being a tourist and just do nothing.

besides the fact that i feel a little cruddy.

kanpai!

last night was the annual disney on classic yamachan party.

the entire company -- crew, musicians, staff, singers (70 or so people) -- meet to enjoy lots of drinks, each other's company, and, of course, yamachan (chicken wings cooked with a spicy dry rub and a drizzle of sweet seasoning -- we've eaten yamachan dinners four times now.)

the evening started with a single toast. i imagined i would clink glasses with the few people seated around me, or at most with the people at my long table. nope. everyone got up from the floor, walked around the room yelling "kanpai!" and clinked glasses with every person present. every person.

we singers did a silly little skit (singing "it's a small world" using the only japanese phrases we know) the chicken wings kept coming and coming, and we ate and laughed and spent the evening like a big, crazy family.

the official end of the party was marked by the entire room standing and waving both index fingers in the air. then, quietly tapping a simple rhythm on only those fingers. the same rhythm is repeated with two fingers from each hand. then three fingers. four. and finally clapping the rhythm full out. i'm not sure if it was the culmination of the whole evening, or just the clapping ritual, but it was a truly magical moment that i'll never forget.

giving thanks

i had one of the most joyous experiences of my life tonight. it involved chicken wings called yamachan, and a room full of amazing japanese men and women clapping with one finger, then two, then three...

more when i've gotten some sleep. i wish you all could have been there.

happy thanksgiving.

konbanwa eel

hamamatsu is known as the home of yamaha and kawai musical instruments. i know a little something about yamaha musical instruments, having sold them for quite a few years at billings pianos and organs in another lifetime.

hamamatsu is also known for japan's best unagi (freshwater eel) caught daily from lake hamana. our visit to hamamatsu would not have been complete without a dinner of unagi, or "kabayaki" - eel dipped in a sweet soy sauce and then cooked on a grill. i looooved the sichuan pepper seasoning. blake seemed to think it tasted like mr. clean disinfectant.

ohayo gozaimasu fuji

a stunning sight from the train as we traveled from tokyo to hamamatsu on tuesday. a beautiful, clear day offered a great view of mt. fuji.

the japanese saying goes, "a wise man climbs fuji-san once; only a fool does it twice." that makes me feel somewhat better about not climbing fuji during our stay in japan.

this, from japan-guide.com, also makes the decision easier: "from october to around mid june, climbing to the summit is highly perilous due to extreme wind and weather conditions, snow, ice and a high risk of avalanches."

harumph.
maybe next time.

lost in translation, pt. 3

well, they are the magical fruit.

i doubt the tomoguchi company is referring to that kind of talking, however.

lost in translation, pt. 2

'nuff said.

nikko pt. 3: backwoods onigiri

where better to eat some mushroom onigiri than in the middle of the woods?

nikko pt. 2: monkey wa doko desu ka?

he was on my hike to ryuzu falls. he and his whole monkey family, actually. to answer your question: yes, their butts are as bright red as their faces. he's a macaque, by the way.

UPDATE / 11.18.07 --
i wonder if former senator george allen has been to nikko?