Japandra

White Day.

On Valentine’s day in Japan, department stores have exquisite chocolate exhibitions that put New York’s annual Chocolate Show to shame. But there are no $25 admission tickets or lines around the block - just waves of women young and old in business black nibbling at tiny but plentiful samples as they pick up armloads of beautifully wrapped boxes to give to male co-workers as “obligation chocolate.” There’s also “honmei” chocolate that you give to your “favorite” (though I also see the word in this context translated as “prospective winner.” Hm.)

Anyway, the point is that as Hallmark imported bloody St. Valentine, wrapped him in a red ribbon and made us feel guilty about not buying in his name things adorned with either cupids, hearts or thorns, Japan imported Valentine’s day, spun it around backwards and then ran with it straight into the middle of March. There, in the late seventies, according to no less venerable a source than Wikipedia itself, a candy company decreed March 14th White Day, a day when dutiful men across the land could return the gifts of obligation and love with marshmallows and white chocolate, and later, more expensive lovey presents.  (Why not? If you make up a holiday, you get to make up the rules.)

Which brings us to Brasserie Aux Amis, a French bistro in Tokyo with, perhaps, a chalk-wielding waiter who was dead last in a game of Telephone and ended up advertising their March 14 Chocolate and Flowers prix fixe meal as a celebration of jolly old St. Whiteday.

Tokyo’s own Little Red Hook. Stem to stern nautical themed little bar tucked under the railroad tracks in Yurakucho, near Ginza. Aside from rusty old Red Hook, Brooklyn, I can’t think of any part of any city that this candlelit nook filled with antique lanterns, brass navigational gauges and old maps wouldn’t come as a surprise. But nowhere moreso than at the end of a dark alley that doesn’t seem to offer anything more than a few ramen shops and a place to stash a dead body.

This is where I am now, Tas Yard. It is my new favorite cafe. Partly because it is as close as can be to my new apartment, and partly because it is lovely on its own merits - great food, delicious coffee, friendly staff, and minimalist but cozy interior. And, free internet. Which I am probably pushing the limits on at the moment. But they’re not coming to hook up our internet for another week. So hopefully Tas won’t mind me overstaying my welcome for a few days.

This is a delightful bed!  Granted, sleeping on a pile of dry newspapers would be more delightful than a leaky air mattress, but this mattress really is great. And, it was the only mattress in Tokyo that was available for taking home the same day. Everything else had a two-week delivery delay. Two weeks!

We’ve had a bunch of scanning, saving, printing and international faxing to take care of here. I was expecting blank stares from the staff, and a few embarassing rounds of charades from me before we could hope to maybe get our stack of papers turned into PDFs, saved to a thumb drive, and emailed.

Even with my deficient Japanese vocabulary, getting everything we needed done was more efficient than at Kinkos in New York or Seattle. Cheaper, too.  And in a land where ATMs shut off at night and on weekends, the shop is open 24-7. 

Hats off and thank you to FedEx Kinkos Japan!

Following the lead of hardworking salary men across Japan. There were rows of them conked out. It seemed a little unfair to take pictures of the unwitting massage chair sleepers, but this guy was fair game.