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Friday, November 30, 2007

JL771 - Tokyo Narita to Sydney

The one thing we did do when we checked in was to request a seat downstairs and one not in the first row. The reasoning behind this request was to try to ensure as much airflow as possible and enough legroom for Paalo, thus giving us a more cooler and comfortable trip.

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Upon finding our seat our logic seemed to be paying off - it's considerably cooler and I certainly don't feel like I'm in a sauna and for Paalo, he is able to stretch out his legs.

We are feed a late dinner and you are given a choice of Western or Japanese Style. As always we choose one of each.

The Western Menu:

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Bottom Left Hand Side: Terrine of Foie Gras and Fig Escoffier
Top Right Hand Side: Cold Chestnut Cream Soup

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Main Dish: Fillet of Beef Steak with Parsley Mustard Butter, Red Wine Sauce

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Fresh Salad

The Japanese Menu:

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Zensai: Grilled Shrimp with Sea Urchin Paste, Marinated Trout Oshi Sushi, Salmon Roe in Citrus Cup, Fried Ginkgo Nut and Shimeji Mushroom, Egg Cake, Sweet Chestnut and Mariated Vegetables

Mukouzuke: Poached Top Shell with Miso Vinegar Sauce

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Kobachi: Braised Garland Chrysanthemum & Enoki Mushroom in Light Soy

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Dainomono: Baked Salmon with Egg Yolk Mousse

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Steamed Rice, Japanese Pickles, Miso Soup.

Desserts:

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Champagne Mousse

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Paris Brest

Try as I might I wasn't really sleepy and after watching Ratatouille and No Reservations I tried watching Hairspray in the hope that it would put me to sleep. Unfortunately it didn't so it was time to bring out the Sigur Ros. Although my sleep wasn't really deep I did get some shut eye.

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I gave up trying to sleep around about here

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It's too light outside and we're almost near the end of our journey.

Breakfast was served less than 2 hours from Sydney and it is possible the worst example of airline food we're ever had

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This bun was kinda warm and contained a slice of salami and tomato sauce and it was served with an evil ball of pasta salad.

The only edible component was the fruit salad

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As it happens when trying to land in Sydney our flight was put in an holding pattern and we eventually got off the plane close to 45 minutes late.

Tokyo - Day 3

We're off early this morning to head back to the Outer Markets to stock up on some Japanese plates. Most of our packing has been done and we know how much space we have in our existing bags to absorb our shopping.

I won't go into detail about our haul but I did get a nice assortment of serving dishes, along with interesting bamboo skewers and various decorated paper place mats.

On the way back we spied this most interesting car!

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On the way back we stopped for coffee and something sweet at one of the coffee shops

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There wasn't a great rush at the hotel as we don't need to check out until 12pm and we can leave our bags in storage there until our bus leaves around 3pm

For lunch we headed to one of the large department stores nearby and although
Teppanyaki had been on our mind, we decided to try a tempura place. With no English menu, we ordered by pointing at the plastic display food in the window.

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I can't say that what we ordered came out looking exactly like this.


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pickles

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part of Paalo's plate - the tempura batter incorporated the dipping sauce

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this was part of my plate - on the left is a tempura oyster still in its shell, the oyster has been chopped up and mushrooms added to the mix. There is also lotus root and baby squid.

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As time seemed to be moving really slowly (and our plane doesn't leave until 9pm) we decided to treat ourselves to an afternoon tea at the hotel.

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savoury roll filled with lettuce, bacon, tomato and wasabi mayo

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scones with jam and cream

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green tea macaroons, redbean tart and scones

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caramel and pear tarts, cheesecakes and chestnut cake


By the time the bus arrived at the hotel it was fairly full, luckily we did manage to find two seats next to each other.

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It does look really dark but it's only just after 4.30pm - it does get really dark early.

I'm not going to bore you with the details of check-in as nothing unusual happened. We waiting out our flight in the JAL lounge which is most impressive. They have dedicated rooms where you can use massage chairs as well as an upstairs restaurant.

The smell of curry drifted down and we resisted as long as possible but the lure proved too strong.

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Served with a good sticky rice it definitely proved most satisfying.

It was then time to head back downstairs with a couple of drinks and just relax

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and watch our planes being prepared.

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Thursday, November 29, 2007

Tokyo - Day 2

I feel asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow and I pretty much had a very deep sleep. We had provisionally planned to visit Tsukiji Fish Market this morning - provisional as we didn't know what state we would be in after the flight. As it turned out we felt fine and were up early up to make the visit worthwhile.

The sun isn't even up yet

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as we walk the short distance to the market. Paalo has been here before and he has warned me about the conditions so I'll be doing my best to stay out of the way and stick right behind him.

Tsukiji Market is the name given to the Tokyo Metropolitan Central Wholesale Market and is home to the biggest fish and seafood market in the world.

Before we get to the seafood section of the market we go through part of the fruit and vegetable section

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Finally we come upon the start of the seafood section

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There's one thing I'm not going to be able to show and that is the size of this market. These narrow paths seem to go on forever and they are intersected by larger paths that see those notorious motorised trolleys zipping past. They are the real danger as the drivers are focused on delivering their products.

You're in a dilemma here, you want to stop to take photos but you really can't as you'll be holding up people and you certainly don't stop on those larger paths.

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there seemed to be heaps of these boxes full of the largest oysters I've ever seen

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tools of the trade

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Our reason in coming here is to visit the frozen tuna auction but to our surprise the fresh tuna auction had their doors open so we could observe these amazing fish

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What you can see here is probably just a quarter of the fresh tuna that is up for auction today.

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A short distance away is the frozen tuna auction room - this one allows for tourists to observe the auction itself. You need to stay within a small marked walkway in the middle of the room.

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frozen tuna to the left of me

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frozen tuna to the right of me.

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It is interesting to observe the different way the tuna has been prepared compared to the fresh

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the buyers are also surprisingly rough with the tuna - here one has dug in his hook into the tail section to get a better look at the meat

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he then shines his torch onto the flesh

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and then it's on to the next one

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this particular man would rub his palm onto the exposed piece of flesh, the heat melting a little of the ice

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he then would press the flesh

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these sections certainly do get mangled in the process of inspection

Bells ring out to mark the start of the auction and you notice the buyers put on their identifying baseball caps - only these people are allowed to bid.

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the auctioneer in full flight - the tuna are sold almost immediately, it's pointless trying to work out the signals used

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as soon as they are sold, they are marked with the buyers information

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another auctioneer at work

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with this lot sold, the door is opened and they ready to be taken away

We take it as our cue to leave as well. As we pass by the fresh tuna auction the fresh here are being taken away as well.

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We decide to follow one and see where it is headed

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this is the tuna we decide to follow, it's taken all these men to pull it onto the cart

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He delivers the fish to one of the stalls within the market but they already have another 3 tuna's to process before this one.

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so even if this isn't our tuna we decide to watch anyway

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the next part involves the use of this extremely long knife called Oroshi hocho - it is used to fillet the tuna in one stroke

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now to remove the second fillet

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you might be able to make out that a second person has their hand around the tip of the Oroshi hocho (the blade is covered in cloth) to help guide the blade through the tuna

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that's half the tuna done

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someone is already working on the first fillet

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by way of contrast

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the frozen tuna are cut using band-saws

Time to move on and see a little more of the market

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mmm, tuna

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pickles

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these people have a lot of tuna to get through

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By now we were sort of "fished out" so decided to make our way to the outer market via the fruit and vegetable sections

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isn't this lovely looking wasabi?

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These melons are for sale in the shops for around $60 each!

It was still fairly early and the outer market shops were in the process of opening.

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dumpling stall

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this stall is making fresh bonito shavings - the smell here is just fantastic

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While wandering through the many outside stalls we finally came upon Sugimoto Knives.

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When Paalo visited he didn't buy a chef's knife as he believes that I should really be the one that chooses it since I'll be using it, which is fair enough. After much searching and trying out of the knives I finally settled on two which you can read all about here.

Happy with our purchases we return to the hotel. As it's just after 8am some brain food is in order so we head out to Tully's for coffee and a little something

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I wouldn't step foot in these types of coffee chain-stores back home but here there isn't that many options. The pastries are very nice and while the coffee is a little on the hot side, it's not too bad.

The rest of the morning is spent visiting various stores - Apple, Sony and Bic Camera as we make our way to Daimaru. Daimaru used to have a store here in Melbourne but it closed a while back which was a real pity. One of the more notable aspects of Daimaru was its association with Paul Bocuse. Then the light-bulbs went off in our heads - we wondered if Paul Bocuse had a restaurant here. Indeed he did!

Up to the 12th floor we went and on checking the menu we managed to get a seat for lunch.

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We start with glasses of Champagne

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For starters

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Paalo's Terrine in Aspic

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Duck, Foie Gras, Pistachio Pâté served with Gherkins

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For the mains:

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Paalo's Prawn Risotto

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I have the Pork with dauphinoise potatoes

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For dessert we both have Crème brûlée

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I can't believe how high that walkway is

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After a great lunch we decided to take it easy and took a taxi back to the hotel. It takes a bit to get used to those automatically opening and closing doors.


Before dinner we stroll the streets admiring the Christmas lighting

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We can't help but return for a sushi hit

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prawns

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Spanish mackerel

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crab and shredded vegetables with Japanese mayo

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salmon

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scallops

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squid

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sweet prawns

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crab and avocado

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baby octopus

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tuna