update

so I haven't blogged in awhile. thought I would drop a list of what I've been up to in recent weeks.

went to a Olafur Eliassson exhibit at the Hara Museum near Shinagawa
a beautiful exhibition that is totally devoid of any kind of understanding of art, and can be enjoyed simply for its beauty. Eilisson was responsible for making a 'sun' in the Tate Modern in London, and his studies of light in this work, along with the atmosphere of the musum, made a wonderfully surreal environment.

bought a tube of yuzu kosho
I really love the ingredients avaliable in japan (although I too often disagree with the way they are used), and yuzukosho is certainly an ingredient I love. they often serve it with grilled foods, which you then spread a little (it's pretty spicy) and eat. great stuff.

I also took a little walk around Ginza yesterday( I was going to the Softmap to have the AC adaptor for my computer fixed; but had decided to bring it to the proper mac store). In this area there is a store run by the Okinawa prefectural government to promote Okinawan products. And what a plethora there are! Not just the average goya-related stuff, but shikwasa, beni-imo, taco rice, Okinawa soba, and seriously so much more. I even found some green papaya kimchee, which I am definately going to go back and buy. The basement has an area devoted non food products like alcohol (awamori, etc.) and okinawan insturments, not to mention a travel agency.

I also bumped into a gelato resturant on my way to the mac store that had not one, but two differnt salt-flavored gelatos. I sampled them both, and they were suprisingly excellent.

While I was at Sofmap, I went upstairs to the Mujirushi Flagship store for the obligatory look around. I love walking through their food section. Muji can do everything they do quite well (except for their clothing which is almost always terrible) , and there food is no exception. Black soybean foods are quite popular right now, and I picked up some black soybean tea (100 yen!) and a black soybean rice cracker (which are my absolute favorite rice cracker)

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tokyo building

After 30 years at the Mitsubishi Electric Building, Mitsubishi Electric has moved to...the Tokyo Building! Confused?

Even more confusing is the that there is a NEW Tokyo Building. The New Tokyo Building is about 25 years old than Tokyo Building. We had a bounenkai there last night. Strangely it is next to the Yaesu Building. The Yaesu building is on the Marunouchi side of Tokyo station.

You can tell from the picture the new office is quite shexy. My department is perched above the tracks going in and out of Tokyo station. The hypnotic dance of the yamanote line train and the shinkansen is a pleasure to watch.

On the down side, the new office is further away from my subway stop, and I now have to go through a few traffic lights to get to the office. We're on the 6th floor now, when we were on the second floor, and with security gates, etc, getting in and out is a pain. I know, boo frickin hoo.

On the upside we have a great food court in the basement. We have the second tokyo location of tsurutontan, the great udon place I mentioned recently
. There's also a kuruma, a miyazaki yakitori resturant I mentioned awhile back in the gaado no shita area in yurakucho

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