Some years ago I was taken to a tiny sushi restaurant (maybe only places for 12) in Tokyo by a good friend, fluent in Japanese and the culture of the country. It remains one of my finest dining experiences.
Most memorable was watching the mesmeric skills of the chef. Over numerous courses while happily chatting, the chef wielded his short knife with the skills of a conductor skilfully sliced paper thin gleaming slices of fish, prepared a stellar tasting sample from the fat of the fish, carefully shaped pieces of eel and whipped up wasabi (horseradish) using the roughened skin of a shark.
The variety of seafood, the delicate flavours balanced across the courses, the ritual and the experience will stay with me forever. Eating at a sushi/sashimi restaurant in Japan is an experience worth chasing and savouring.
This article is written for Blog Action Day and the theme for 2011 is food.
Note: The photo is a generic photo and not from the evening.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
The Mesmerising Skills of a Sushi Chef (Japan)
Monday, March 23, 2009
Pretty in Pink (Tokyo, Japan)
From late March every year, for little more than two weeks, the Japanese cherry trees blossom in seas of whites and pinks across Japan. Visiting Tokyo briefly for work, I managed to squeeze in a quick walk down the alleyways of Tokyo's Yanaka Cemetery towards the end of the short blossom season - the path and ground littered with the elegant pink flowers.
Celebrated as the arrival of spring, the Japanese adore this time of year as families populate parks and shrines full of these spectacular trees for picnics, quiet strolls and family gatherings. Similar to the kaleidoscopic fall colours so popular in North America, the local inhabitants have favourite vantage points to celebrate hirami and sight the magnificent oceans of colour. 
In parks, boats can be hired to row gently along the streams to enjoy the tree-lines banks, the blossom-laden branches leaning towards the water weighed down by their rampant blooms.
Other Asian Posts
Symphony of Lights (Hong Kong)
Happy Birthday, Peak Train (Hong Kong)
It’s All in the Stars (Jaipur, India)
A Royal Facade (Jaipur, India)
A Monument to Love (Taj Mahal, India)
From Dead Duck to Bird Heaven (Bharatpur, India)
Notes
Source: Boat Photo
