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Week Nine : Test Your Might

I found a great yakitori place tucked away in an alley off a side street by the tracks just beyond Yurakucho Station. Great atmosphere, great food, and cheap. It doesn't get much better than grilled meat on a stick and a cold beer.

The house special is tsukune, or meatballs. There's the regular version and the geki-kara (super spicy) version and, like all yakitori, you get your choice of salt or sauce on top. It was freakin cold outside, so I thought I'd take on the geki-kara version to warm myself back up. In Japan, "spicy" food tends to be pretty mild, so I wasn't overly concerned. I usually prefer salt for my yakitori, but asked the waitress for her recommendation. She said salt just made it spicier. Feeling up for a challenge, I went ahead and ordered it with salt. The wicked grin that lit up her face should have been sufficient warning.

The tsukune come three to a skewer and don't look all that dangerous on first glance. You are being deceived: these are nothing short of little fireballs. Bite into one and, in the half second before your mouth bursts into a mini inferno, you'll see that the meat is a bold red color on the inside. They taste delicious and are super juicy, but your mouth will feel like a war zone. I fought my way through the first two and decided to take a picture to commemorate the battle before waging war on the last one.

After that, the cold outside didn't feel so bad at all.

Camera Info: Canon 7D | 35mm | f/ 2.5 | ISO 1600 | 1/30 s

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Week Eight : Uma Uma Yay

This week came with some great news for my future, but also means that my Great Japan Adventure will only last for a few more months. I really want to make the most of that time and squeeze in some really great experiences while I can.


In that spirit, I found myself on a lunch date at Nakae. Located just north-east of Ueno in the Minowa neighborhood since 1905, the building has been declared a cultural treasure by the city of Tokyo. It's incredibly rare to find original wooden buildings that survived the many fires that have ravished Tokyo over the years, much less the fire bombings in World War II, so it really is something special.

Nakae specializes in a dish called Sakura-Nabe that you won't find too often, even here in Japan. "Sakura" is the Japanese word for cherry blossoms and "Nabe" is Japanese-style hotpot, but if you come expecting cutesy flower garnished dishes you're in for a surprise. You see, sakura-niku ("niku" means meat) is another name for horse meat.

Nakae's specialty is, therefore, horse meat and it is some seriously good stuff. Throw away your prejudices and try it - you won't regret it.



The lunch course kicks off with small side dishes of horse sashimi and horse tartar. Half of you are probably squirming in your seats as you read this thinking "Is he really going to eat that?!" and I can assure you I most certainly did. The horse sashimi, served with thin-sliced onions and ginger soy sauce is as delicate as any fish and yet incredibly satisfying. The tartar, mixed with a quail egg and a little soy sauce and sesame oil, is silky smooth.




But the real star of the show is the sakura-nabe, which is actually more like sukiyaki than nabe. The broth starts off a slightly disturbing dark shade of red a little reminiscent of blood, but quickly takes on a much more pleasing color once heat is applied and a little bit of red miso gets mixed in. You let this boil away happily until everything has just cooked through and then dip the contents into a raw scrambled egg to eat. This is the kind of hearty warm food that I love during Japanese winters. Warms your soul a bit really.



Once you've eaten most of the contents, the dish is "closed" with the left over raw egg. We added an extra egg, which had a gorgeous orange yolk. That egg gets cook just enough to firm up a bit, during which it sucks up all that delicious broth, and is eaten over rice.

Horse meat is by no means a typical food here in Japan, but I've gotta say I wouldn't mind eating more of it. Apparently horse actually has less calories and fat than beef but more protein, so it's not a bad choice from a health perspective either. Finding a butcher that carries it might prove something of a challenge though...

**"Uma" is the Japanese word for "Horse", hence the title of this post**

Camera Info: Canon 7D | 35mm | f/ 3.2 | ISO 1600 | 1/20 s

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Week Seven : I [HEART] Chocolate

I've been doing a bit of baking recently and have been using Meiji chocolate (the Japanese equivalent of Hershey's) as it's the cheapest and most readily available option. Eating these delicious cherry-flavored chocolates served as a stark reminder of just how shitty the stuff sold in supermarkets is. It's easy to forget how amazing good food can be when you start getting used to the lowest-common-denominator junk that is so prevalent.

Next time you get the chance, buy a smaller amount, but splurge a bit on the good stuff. I'd bet you won't regret it.

Camera Info: Canon 7D | 100mm | f/ 5.6 | ISO 1250 | 1/15 s

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Week Six : A.P.C.

A.P.C. is the brand of jeans I've been wearing for the past few years. Tucked away just off the main strip in Daikanyama, I've always thought the store's design is super cool. The tree-lined entrance way is a particular favorite of mine.

I was there this weekend to pick up my older pair of jeans, which I'd sent in to get a hole fixed up, and thought it would be a nice change from the pictures of things that I've posted for the project thus far. One of these days I'm going to have a go at shooting people...

Camera Info: Canon 7D | 18mm | f/ 4.5 | ISO 800 | 1/5 s

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Week Five : Tied Up

Getting ready for a couple of MBA interviews coming up this week kept me distracted from taking my weekly picture until the last minute. Fortunately, a macro lens is very handy for making things more interesting.

The middle tie is just a plain old tie I bought before moving to Japan. I like simple ties. They make me feel sharp.

The tie on the right was a gift from my grandma. Unless you look at it from really close, you can't tell that it's covered with pelicans. Something about that always makes me smile. Like it's my own little not-so-secret secret.

The tie on the left belonged to my grandpa. It's a little bit short and a bit rough around the edges, so I don't wear it all that often. I have a few ties from my grandpa and I always feel a bit more powerful whenever I have one on. Maybe I'll wear one for the interviews. I could certainly use a little help.

Camera Info: Canon 7D | 100mm | f/ 6.3 | ISO 1250 | 1/6 s

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Week Four : Who is Drinking Who?

Last night, Peter T. and I decided to have a Double Peter Party at 元気 (Genki) in Akihabara. Genki is a great little yakiton (grilled pork) place tucked away on the backstreets of the quieter side of Akihabara. I will try to put together a full post about the awesomeness of Genki in the near future.

This was our second time having a Double Peter Party there and last time we were introduced to what they call the "Mega". Perhaps the most massive beer you will ever come across, it's probably closer to a pitcher than a mug. As you can see, it's hard to tell whether Peter is drinking the beer or the mug is drinking his face...

Camera Info: Canon 7D | 35mm | f/ 2.8 | ISO 800 | 1/25 s

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Week Three : Before & After

In a world full of "distressed" denim, where jeans are broken in and ripped up to look like they've been worn for years, raw denim is beautifully simple. The whole idea is that the denim is never washed during the manufacturing process and the color fades naturally as you wear them. I bought my first pair of raw denim jeans back in November 2009, petit new standards from APC (I'm a skinny guy), and they are pretty much the only jeans I have worn since.

There was an interview in a GQ many years ago with eccentric designer, who mentioned that he only ever washed his jeans by wearing them into the ocean. I remember reading that interview with my sister and agreeing that that was super badass. I decided I wanted to do the same with these jeans, so brought them along with me on my trip to Vietnam last year and gave them their first wash in the Gulf of Thailand off the coast of Phu Quoc island. Did it make a difference? I have no idea, but whatever. I think it's super awesome.

I've washed them another two times since then and the color has faded quite a bit. There are clear lines on the back pockets where my wallet goes and where I always put my cell phone in my front pocket.

Sadly, all the wear and tear of the past two years has taken it's toll and a little whole is opening up. I'm taking them in to get it fixed up tomorrow and hopefully they'll be alright. I decided I'd start on a new pair too and thought it would be interesting to compare them side-by-side. It's hard to believe how different they are!

Camera Info: Canon 7D | 35mm | f/ 3.2 | ISO 1250 | 1/30 s