Okaerinasai!

Okay ragazzi, I made it to Tokyo, and stayed up until 10 pm and now am officially knackered.  Notwithstanding, I said I was going to blog, so I must fulfil my promise and do that before I crash!

I'm surely not the first who has posted a picture of the above sign, and will not be the last.  This sign, that greets you as you descend to baggage claim at Narita airport, says おかえりなさい (Okaerinasai) in Japanese, and Welcome to Japan in English.  There is a slight nuance, because the Japanese version translates "Welcome back," meaning that if you are reading that, you most likely have been to Japan before and are being welcomed home, whereas the English version is meant for first timers.  Anyway, it was a nice familiar sight to see upon my arrival.

After a quick shower and change of clothes at the hotel, I headed out for some yakitori.  Steven had a work dinner tonight, and we won't meet up until tomorrow so I was on my own.

I opted to go to a little divey place near my old office, where this guy has been grilling meats for over 30 years, and was gracious enough to let me snap a photo of him in action.

You can tell that this is a man who knows what he is doing and is comfortable with flame.  And it certainly showed, as the meat was fantastic.

Shown above is もも肉 (momo niku) chicken thigh, ぎんなん (ginnan) ginkgo nuts, ピマン (piman) green bell pepper and シシト (shishito) padron peppers.  These were all lightly seasoned with salt, and washed down with a Kirin draft.

Following that came a barrage of タレ (tare) sauce yakitori, which included つくね (tsukune) ground chicken, some more もも肉 thigh meat and also レバー (reba) liver, which was actually pork and not chicken.  Shown below was a delicious 手羽 (teba) chicken wing with some spices.  All grilled to perfection and delicious!

After dinner, I cruised around the old workplace neighborhood, which was a bit nostalgic, especially when passing this cafe where I would get my morning coffee and sometimes have clandestine meetings with my girlfriend at the time, who worked at the same company.

Okay ragazzi, going on about 24 hours here without sleep, so I will leave you with this last pic of the remote control toilet flusher in my hotel, with varying washing, blowing, drying capabilities depicted.  Enjoy!