Food

This fish can kill you.
So why do people eat it?
It's not for the taste...

This was a busy two days as far as food goes. Yesterday a friend of mine from DC came to visit, he's here until Sunday. Before I had even left, my uncle recommended to me this authentic Neopolitan pizzeria found in Tokyo; it's supposed to be the best in all of Japan, and pretty close to what you can get in Naples. So we made a sort of pilgrimage there. It's in Roppongi Hills, a very high-rent district of Tokyo, home to all the designer stores. We were with a group of about eight, and when we got there they had no room for us inside. Some of the group wanted to try a different spot, but I could not be deterred. A friend who was with us speaks Japanese (thankfully; she's been kind enough to lead us around most of the trip), and she told the waiter that we would eat our pizza outside on some benches nearby. They only had two options, margherita or marinara, both done in a wood-fire oven. Apparently the chef/owner had studied for years in Naples to perfect the art. The pizza was in fact very good. Almost on the level of Di Matteo's. The portion definitely was not Italian, you get about 3/4 of the pizza for 1500 yen, about $15. One welcomed change was that there was some salt under the pizza in addition to the flour to keep it from sticking to the plate. I'm very glad I went, a nice pizza was a welcomed change of pace. And the company was excellent.

During the day today Steven and I went to Tokyo Tower. It's 333 meters high and modeled after the Eiffel Tower. We went up and got an amazing view of the city, despite the fact that it was a bit overcast.

Then tonight was the big night. My friend Steven and I went to try fugu, the poisonous blowfish. All fugu chefs have to be specially licensed, since eating a piece that was not properly cut can lead to paralysis and eventually death. We wanted to see what all the fuss was about. We went to a place that came highly recommended by a classmate. They had live blowfish in a tank and everything. When we sat down we were happy to find that they had an English menu, but the translation was so terrible it didn't do us any good. We ordered two things. The first was basically a blowfish carpaccio (raw), and the second was like a risotto with boiled blowfish mixed in. The only catch was that there was also a raw egg mixed in, making the whole thing all slimy. Both were moderately tasty. Based on the taste alone, I don't see why anybody would want to risk their life eating something that isn't exceptionally good. Well, it's all part of the experience, anyway. For a second I thought I felt light-headed or my mouth felt numb, but I'm pretty sure it was all in my head.

As we were paying at the register, we heard a loud thud behind us. The chef had just hacked the head off of a blowfish and was filleting it alive. It was pretty disgusting/awesome to watch. I hope I didn't distract him with the flash and make him cut the fish the wrong way...