Romping through Roppongi

Around 2:30am this morning, I was woken up, or shaken up rather, by a not-so-pleasant surprise. A 5.3 magnitude earthquake hit Fukushima and subsequently made it's way up to Tokyo to scare the living crap out of me. While I envisioned myself waking up to the sunset in my apartment in Shinjuku, I was now sitting straight up in bed praying that the pictures on the wall didn't fall off, or worse the whole building didn't crumble underneath me. Luckily, neither of those things happened, and after taking a few deep breaths, counting to ten, and confirming with the Twitter world that it indeed was an earthquake, I managed to fall back asleep. 

Not too terribly long after, I was woken up by the sun peaking through my shades. Much like I did in Santa Barbara, I quickly assembled my camera and made my way out to the balcony to capture the sunrise. It was a sign that I should put thoughts of my shaky morning in the past, and continue on to the beautiful day that lay ahead.

After breakfast, I journeyed towards Roppongi. Roppongi is known to be the least Japanese part of Tokyo, where most of the expats reside, but it is also home to the Tokyo Tower (technically in Minato, but right on the boarder) and some of the best sushi in town. After getting off at Roppongi Station, it is a bit of a walk to Tokyo Tower. You pass a lot of consulates along the way, heavily guarded by police men. Although in uniform, they always offered a nod and a smile. After about a 15 minute walk, I made it to Tokyo Tower. It was 820 yen to go to the main observation deck, where you could see just about everything.

For lunch, I headed back towards the center of Roppongi to Fukuzushi, which is situated in an alley off of Gaien-higashi-dor. It was around 2,600 yen for a set nigiri lunch. Not too bad for the area. I sat at the bar and had a pleasant conversation with the Itamae-san. Between my sub-par Japanese and his broken English, I think we did a pretty good job. 

The sushi was divine. This being my first official sushi in Japan, I had high expectations, and they were surpassed. I have never had unagi (eel) that melts in your mouth like it did. The tako (octopus) was so tender, and the ebi (shrimp) was the sweetest I have ever tasted. And not to be forgotten, the akami (lean tuna) was by far my favorite.

Afterwards, they lead you to a separate part of the restaurant for dessert and tea. The best way I can describe the dessert is something like 'coffee-jello' topped with a dab of chocolate sauce. I sat there and drank my tea and read for about an hour before heading back to Shinjuku to get ready for my first Friday night in Japan.

Sunglasses: Kate Spade

Tonight, I am planning on heading back to Omotesando to have a drink or two at Den Aquaroom. Here's to hoping there are no earthquakes that wake me up tomorrow morning. xoxo