Deep Fried and Disorientated

We landed in Tokyo Narita Airport at around 4 pm yesterday afternoon (A word on “yesterday”. We left San Francisco on Monday around 1:30 pm and, after crossing the International dateline, lost a day, literally. Try to get your jet-lagged head around that one). Once in Japan, we were escorted by a liberal -and almost one escort shy of gratuitous- amount of greeters, each holding signs for the JFMF. What a reception!

On the bus, we were handed a 27,0000 yen monetary allotment for evening meals for which we are on our own. It was odd being handed cash by someone, but as I arrived to the country cash-free, I was more than grateful. At the hotel, we had 45 minutes to rinse the plane funk off ourselves prior to our meet and greet with a Japanese college English student who would dine with us during our first meal in Japan.

Once in my room, I felt like an illiterate kid in a high tech toy store, as the room is LOADED with gadgetry and what nots. Even the toilet was high tech and, dare I say, intimidating. After having read that a fellow JFMF’er had accidentally hosed his entire bathroom down with his toilet, I had reason to worry. Talk about lost in translation.

Chaiharu, our volunteer, was delightful, open and incredible host. She took us to a tempura restaurant where we plied her with questions about etiquette and food and watched her carefully as she went about the routine of eating. What struck me was # 1.) how IGNORANT I felt about not just ordering (the menu was only in Japanese) but also dining procedures and #2.) how great it is not to be in control of a dining situation. What a liberating feeling. Here’s the meal and the tempura chef.