38th and Yakiniku

We've just returned from the 38th floor of a 39-story building called Yebisu Garden Place. Hidden away in a dark corner of that 38th floor is a Yakiniku restaurant called Jojoen. (Yakiniku is known to us in the west as "Korean barbecue.") This restaurant has just delivered to me one of the standout culinary experiences of my life.

First off, this is the view surrounding you in floor-to-ceiling windows as you eat.


Secondly, this is the food you get delivered with machine-like constancy by waiters so obsessively attentive that you feel like they've mistaken you for royalty:


And this is the expression on a poor naive Icelandic boy's face when he realizes he's not at Nonnabiti anymore:


Not that I have anything against Nonnabiti; it just doesn't quite occupy the same plane of existence as this food does. Nor, for that matter, does anything else, aside from possibly a good Ban Thai green curry.

For tomorrow, the Hodemonster and his wife have secured us tickets to an amusement park called Fuji Q. Since I'm a bit of a weakling when it comes to gravity-defying scariness (pre-packaged or not), I asked him how hardcore the rides were. His reply: "Well, they hold thirteen Guinness records..."

If you ever felt like you could write someone a really kick-ass obituary, now is a good time to get crackin'.