General Update

I haven't written here in a while. Life has been too busy to update this old thing. I am thinking of updating the thing altogether and making it more than just a blog, but that will have to wait until year end perhaps.

I haven't been to a good restaurant all week! I have been eating at home recently and I need to get out. There are so many restaurants and so little time. There are several new restaurants I want to go to, but haven't been able to yet. Most of them I know will be crap, but there are a few Italian restaurants that warrant my attention. Reviews will be available once I get off my ass and go.

Been going to Fureika a few times. It is Shanghai crab season, and they do a good soup. It costs $35 but it is worth it. I also happen to like the dumplings there. Awesome. Best in Tokyo.

I did manage to pick up a PS3 and a Wii over the past few weeks. The PS3 sits where the PS2 was. I am shipping the PS2 to the US. The PS3 is a beautiful machine, but I don't think I will be playing it all that often. It is much like the PSP. Nice machine, but no play value.

The Wii, on the other hand I have been playing. This is an awesome machine. Very cheap too. It comes with WiFi for under $300! I like the games on this machine.

Toy-wise it has been quiet. Haven't picked up any vintage in a while. Picked up the pink Votoms bot and the 1/60 YF-19. Built a few Zoids, picked up the 1/20 motorcycle toy and a 1/72 Layzner figure. Picked up someother random things but can't recall what I bought. Need to buy some more vintage to keep up appearances. Maybe next year....

Have a few parties this week and next week, but all in all quiet.

That's about it. Life outside of work is a bit slow now, but I hope it will pick up soon.

Day in the life

I have actually received some feedback asking me what sort of life I lead. My blog here is mostly toys or restaurants, with an ocassional sidetrack into cigars or something else. I guess some have thought it a strange dichotomy or a weird juxtaposition of interests. some may think that your typical toy geek is some fat, unhygienic social idiot without much interest in much else (a la the comic geek from Simpsons). I actually don't know people like that at all. Most are actually well adjusted. The least well adjusted toy geek I know is Leonardo Decaprio.

So allow me to relate a day in my life (this one is a bit more busy than most, but by no means is it crazy). If this entry sounds a little boastful, I am sorry. I don't mean to be. I just want to depict a somewhat typical evening for me.

I will skip the work part as work is work. No one wants to hear what I do, and most of it is proprietary anyway.

So, finish work at 5, as is usual. Go home and check on maid (she usually comes Mondays, but had to come on a Thursday this week). Play with cat. Cat drops my toys off shelf (new Yamato Dog and RAH Stormtrooper). Make cat stop playing with toys. Play with new remote controlled airplane (the Tomy one that flies indoors- cool!). Cat attacks plane. Make cat stop attacking plane.

Shower. Put on decent threads (as I dress like crap for work), new black blazer, dress shirt, 13 designs custom cufflinks, black slacks. Favorite Lobb monkstraps.

Off to Nihonbashi at 6:45. Arrive Sant Pao (3 star Michelin restaurant next to Coredo Bldg. Tonight is the party for Cuban ambassador and the Habanos cigar company. I like my cigars, so I get invited to a lot of these things. General mingling, meet and hang with said ambassador. Meet Antonio Inoki, the pro-wrestler turned politician. Nice guy. Hang with presidnet of Cigar Club. Eat good food ( I always like the food at Sant Pao, one day will write up a review)- excellent ham BTW.

Soon after off to the Spanish Embassy in Kamiya-cho. Party with the ambassador- charity dinner. Buffet style, but the food is OK. There is some gallery of art done by six eyar olds. I feel that most art can be done by six year olds so it is with a sigh of relief that I am right this time. Catch up with friends, eat more (ugh)!, Smoke more stogies.

Off to the Kokusai Bunka Kaikan in Roppongi for another party. Meet Musashimaru. Catch up with friends. Smoke even more stogies.

Off to the Oak Door for a night cap. See Eddie (the manager) drink my customary Grey Goose and soda (great for dieting). No more stogies (smoked all the ones I got from first party).

Home at 1AM.

Not crazy, but a decent night out.
If this seems pretentious I will delete it later (after I re-read it).

Next week: fashion show and shop opening parties galor! I am already booked solid for next week.

Now, a focus for this blog

For a while I have been ranting and raving about random stuff in Tokyo. This has been for the benefit of me, and me only. My readership is zero. I take pride in that fact. Now, however, I have decided that I need focus. Otherwise I will not write on anything. I have decided to take an old idea I had and provide a forum for it.
I will focus on the high life in Tokyo. Focus on what is hip and trendy, with a strong focus on restaurants. I spend gobs of cash on food; my physique shows it. Why not allow someone else to gain some knowledge from my culinary exploits. Sometimes it might save them money.

Food, wine, cigars, booze. What is hot and what is not is available here.

But what the hell, I will rant about other stuff too....

Blogging&the 400 dollar steak

So I have been rather quiet recently. Part of it is because I had to digest a 400 dollar steak I had and in part because I am 400 bucks in the hole. No cow is worth 400 bucks. I am flabbergasted by the price. A friend and I went to this place close to where I live on Kotto dori. Small place run by a father and son, and the food was excellent, but the cost was extra-terrestrial. What does one do to make a steak that costs $400? I guess you feed it gold or something.

Recently I have been commenting on other people's blogs. One I found recently was this blog done by a hostess in Ginza. She is sort of a minor celebrity in Japan. She and her twin sister own this place in Ginza that is quite popular apparently. Anyway when you surf the net you come across some pretty esoteric stuff. There is nothing notable about her blog, seems she travels a bit and has interests most women seem to have. Pretty cool though.