oiiiisshhiii!!!

"there's something horribly efficient about you" - (quantum solace 007)

there's something wonderfully efficient out japan. EVERYTHING is thoroughly considered conceptually, thoroughly planned intuitively, thoroughly executed cohesively and thoroughly maintained stringently. if there's a right way to do things, it's the japanese way. this piously pristine way of life is bled into every facet of life from food to fashion, from chips to dips to chicks to tricks and so on into this spartan culture of efficiency that is all in all, pretty effin' cool. but while anal retentive life has little room for error, alcohol affinity reserves the right for a schizophrenic release.

everywhere you look everyone looks the same. socially engineered in a hitman uniform of black on white on black. perfectly skinny, perfectly uniform, perfectly simple, and perfectly uniform and perfectly without personality. that is until you see everyone in perfect suits with a perfect beer. everywhere you look there's beer. billboards of beer, tshirts of beer, kegs of beer, promotions of beer, and drunken men and women from beer. as much as im in love with pristine japanese cuisine, thoroughly thought out with reason for every subtle preparation, sauce and style of ingestion it's still as if it were designed only to accompany the beer.

raw chicken. liver. raw liver.




fugu (blowfish) - fish skin pickled salad style, grilled fin sake style, sashimi style, hot pot style, sperm style, deep fried style









there are chefs (if u know them well enough) who will give you a little touch of the liver so when u eat the blowfish, it numbs your mouth. (illegal and completely scary. 2 blowfish poison sacs can take out half a city)


ramen....ramen!!! (i love the idea of automated vending machine ordering, however it doesn't promote extra orders, don't know if i would have one if i had a restaurant)

once at 12.30am. with 2 beers and 2 brothers.


and once more a day later. the broth is so rich, so salty. so good.


takoyaki, okonomiyaki, yakisoba - osaka dishes. fat dishes. can't explain it. it just tastes better here.




efficiency...


I LOST MY SHRIMP!


and then...yakiniku. if u're not used to kobe, too much of it can give you a stomach ache. once all that oil is in ur stomach and the temp cools down and the fat congeals in ur tummy....make sure there's a bathroom nearby.




IZAKAYA!




japanese sweets aren't too sweet. strawberry tiramisu crepe. i could eat this every 2 or 3 days. it was that good.


i had every meal with a beer. and after the first sip of beer, which was actually half a mug, i emphatically exclaimed OIIISSHHHIII....just like everyone else. haha.