Last night in Tokyo

My friend Anne suggested a Hokkaido style restaurant for my last night in Tokyo, telling all of us that we would not regret it. She was right, as usual.

The restaurant was in Nakano, a very short subway ride away from Waseda on the Tozai line and was called Okajoki.

This is a shot of the view right outside of Nakano Station. The cathedral like arch is essentially a long mall, lined with shops and restaurants,















And that archway led us eventually to Okajoki.















The restaurant was in a beautiful old building with nicely aged and exposed wooden beams. The centerpiece was the grill, where a charcoal and wood fire burned and where everything was cooked.















This is a closer shot where you can see some fish heads and some sort of filet cooking


























And one of the few shots where I used the flash. Our waiter was the guy on the right.
















The meal started off with a very tasty salad. Since it was Japan, it had noodles in it.


























One of these lobsters was ours, and it was still twitching a bit as it was salted, spitted and cooked. I, for one, found this to be awesome. Some others did not.















Here is our fish head. There was a surprising amount of meat on it.















And since I was the guest of honor, I got the best part. Yes, the eyeball.















After fish head (which was surprisingly good) came crab:















Lobster:


























And we finished off dinner with a large platter of sashimi:


























And here is a picture of my friends who shared this fantastic meal with me

From left to right: Sharon, Meredith, Sang Beom, Anne, me.















We visited one of the bakeries in the mall, planning to grab a few things for breakfast. As it happened they were taking some maple syrup glazed buns out of the oven as we walked in. We all got one and they were fabulous.

After some coffee and great conversation we called it a night. I had to pack, and everyone else had to get prepared to wrap up the semester.

To Sharon, Meredith, Sang Beom and Anne; my thanks for a great night and a fantastic five months in Japan. Your friendship helped make my time there all the more rewarding. My door is open to all of you if you ever find yourself in Boston.