This year, it was small but lovely. Had a nice walk around. Got a nifty electric pepper grinder. I can finally get through that huge canister of peppercorns in the kitchen without wearing my hand out with the manual one. The streets here in Asakusa are lit with cheer.
On the outskirts of Tokyo, with a transfer in Shinjuku, rises Mt. Takao. We had a nice trip there yesterday, although it was quite crowded. In the ever enviro-conscious Japanese way, you can bring stuff there or buy stuff there … but you must take it with you to throw away at home as there are no trash cans. There is a chair lift to the mid-point which we used on the way up, but decided to hike down. It was quite long and tiring, and very slippery going in many areas. Beautiful autumn leaves lit up everywhere you looked. We topped it off with some sushi at a place with a special set dinner… all you can eat sushi + hot pot of seafood + a large platter of “taraba” crab…
The thanksgiving special set was most excellent over at the Four Seasons. The turkey and fixin’s – quite brilliant. The bread – quite a disaster. They would have been better off going to a convenience store for that. I was extremely shocked. Another surprising thing is the entrance to the hotel. I expected some grand hall, but the one in Tokyo feels more like a service entrance way around the back of the building – apparently this location has no ‘front.’ Of course, a deluge began without warning over the course of the meal, but the concierge was kind enough to provide umbrellas from the lost & found to aid us in our egress.