Dinner and a Show in Tokyo

We got into Tokyo Harbor about 3:30 pm and were greeted by two Tokyo Fire Department boats with a water arch salute. Very nice indeed. Then all the Around the World cruisers had to hurry and board buses for the Hotel Gajoen for dinner and a Japanese cultural music and dance performance.

This is only the start of Tokyo for me. I will be here tomorrow with the ship and then spend the night Sunday after the ship leaves. Monday, ironically April Fool's Day I board a train for Hirosima. However, tonight the party was on! 

At the Hotel Gajden the food and drinks were both traditional and endless.  The sake was weak until I politely asked, and recieved, the good stuff.  The food was amazing: Salmon Piccia and Cavier, Five appetizers none of which I could neither pronounce or recognize, Wan Dish (clear soup), Fried Flounder with Semolina, Sea Brea with Tempura and Sea Salt on the side, Beef Sukiyaki Style (which apparently means with a raw egg on the side you dip the meat in with chop sticks - not for amatures), and last but not least Pistachio Parfait Glasces Fruits Rouge. And more Sake.

The shape and textures were a challenge with chop sticks, especially the meat which is dipped into the raw egg in the bowl to the left. Hard not to drip it all over the place. My friend Bob Brown ate NONE of the courses. Says he's a meat and potatoes man. He missed out.  

Maybe it was the alcohol but, two of the ladies at my table remarked that, "Some men don't know how to dress but, you really pulled it off." How about that, my fashion critics?

These next four photos are of floor to ceiling 3-D pictures along the entry to the hotel. There were fountains, fresh cherry blossoms arrangements, art and statues.  The last one the little boy appears to be playing a dulcimer because he is fretting it from above the strings instead of from under it like a guitar.

Dulcimer Boy. That must be an early McSpadden Dulcimer.