Sunday, December 04, 2005

Japan: Tokyo 13 - Subway and Food


Subway:
The subway in Tokyo is amazing. First, the are 13 Metro lines and 2 JR lines. There's also streetcars and the Shinkansen line. You can preview a map here: http://www.tokyometro.jp/rosen/rosenzu/pdf/rosen_eng.pdf
There are also English subway maps available at each station and when in doubt the station desk can always help. Rates start at $1.60, depending where you want to go. There is also an English rate table above the ticket machines.

Food:
The cuisine was so delicious in Tokyo!!!! There are alot of American restaurants - including KFC, Subway, Domino's, TGIF, Hard Rock and of course McDonald's. Of course that's not the good stuff. There are Indian curries, Spanish tapas, Chinese, Irish bars, Italian, Japanese and more! The first night Lance and I had dinner at an awesome tiny yakitori restaurant in Roppongi. I will be forever thinking about it from now on. We had the most delicious radish salad w/ginger dressing and tomotoe salad sprinkled w/fresh grated peppercorns. Followed up with grilled yakitori skewers of steak and chicken. It had the best sauce on them. And asparagus in butter and lemon and grilled mushrooms. That was about $85. Thru the weekend we had tapas including a phenomal one of Japanese beef w/minced olives and some spicy sauce, amazing Chinese food, and strawberry cake at a bakery. They have yummy bakeries all over Japan! There's always fake plastic food outside restaurants so you can see what they serve. One of the nights we were walking we saw a line of people around the corner, only to find out this is what the long line was for....