A Week in Tokyo 15

As always, you have the best week!!!
Real nice...
Making me hungry!!!

Looks like a pretty nice week of readjustment (and tasty food).

Sushi isn't too hard to find in Taibei, but I've learned that Taiwanese people seem to have difficulty executing Japanese food. (You'd think that having been occupied by Japan for fifty-odd years, they'd have good Japanese food... But I haven't found it yet.) Sushi's not too expensive in most places, but not too good either. The locals have a terrible habit of putting rou song (肉鬆) – dried meat floss – into sushi, which I can attest is just wrong. Moreover Taiwanese sushi chefs often leave bigger maki sushi wrapped in cellophane, even after cutting and serving it, so you have to pick the wrapping off yourself!

If you know what to avoid, though, there's a decent robo-sushi chain called Sushi Express. Each plate is 30 NT, about $1 US.

There are also some fancier places, but being on a budget, I haven't explored them much.

Danny, avoid the Wendy's at Ikebukuro too LOL it is = yuck!

I miss melon soda! Can't get it here ^^; Love the Mikuru XD

I never realized it before, but in the train picture, those doors look small!

I almost feel like I'd have to bend forward a bit to get in without hitting my head.

About how high is the doorway anyways Danny?

Keep up the Week in Tokyo, it's still some of my favorite posts because I get to see the area.

Mmm... Kaiten sushi...

There's actually a place in my neck of the woods in the US (North New Jersey) that's a hop, skip, and jump away (a 20 minute walk) that does almost exactly that. They have sushi on a conveyor belt and count how many plates and what color they are to tally up your bill. Only difference is, the conveyor belt only has sushi and a few pieces of desert. Folks are able to order directly from waiters/waitresses if they have a craving for tonkatsu or udon, etc. Prices for the sushi are the same for my place, too.

Brought a Japanese friend there and she practically melted because she hadn't been to a kaiten sushi place since she left some years back.

hows the mini treatin you? decided time to replace the old tower and might as well lean towards a mac desktop since imma dabble in CG work later on. any opinions on it? already have sweet laptop but want Mac desktop since i hear its more user friendly when it comes to editing images and what not

Isn't the phone before the video the one Konata shows in one episode of Lucky Star? And seeing all these kinds of foods make me hungry. x_x

too many water bottles, those guys must REALLY hate cats.

i have a pre-paid phone Motorola (i've dropped it a lot of times & it's still working ^^) & i'd say i pay around 50 to 60 bucks a month sometimes i pay less

Nice week, and like usual you seem to eat out quite often.
As you take photos to your meals, haven´t anyone maybe thought you are a food critic?

Oooh, so much foodstuffs, Danny! Makes me sad at how we don't have ten sushi places competing in one place... Most sushi places here are a little far. You're also lucky to find 2-D girl t-shirts in your size.

The cell phone which allows you to watch television seems awesome. It's amazing how the Rolly can dance to multiple beats in music...

My mobile phone bill is 100 USD. I have the unlimited blackberry service with 2000+ minutes. It would be about $80 but the government has now tossed on $20 of tax. For me it's not big deal because my work pays for my phone, but I'm on call 24-7 because of it.

Sushi prices vary from place to place around here. If I order Maguro or Sake it could be $4 for two pieces or $5 for one piece. If I get a mango tuna roll(6 pieces) its $11.

Danny how do you like your Ipod Touch?

What did you use to make an image? 'd like to make an image of my mini in addition to have a backup from Time Machine

The sushi laces in my area just have counters and tables, although my favorite places has a stream with boats instead of conveyor belt. So would that make it ボート sushi? Sorry, couldn't resist but the boats are a nice touch

Very nice, I also feel hungry now ^^

Very nice, I also feel hungry now ^^

Mmm, the food pics always make me hungry, but nevertheless they rock.

I bought my current mobile about 4 years ago and have no plans of changing it unless it actually stops working. And as for my phone bill, it's usually less than 5 euros a month.

What keitai do you use Danny?

I liked the Germany pics, but it's nice being back to Japan again. I mean, it's nice that Danny is back to Japan again, since I won't be back to Japan so soon... T_T

Anyways, sushi is on the expensive side here in Brazil. Though like I said before, in Brazil, food is pretty cheap if compared to other countries.

I made a post about a meal I had a month ago.. sushi... here:
http://xspblog.com/2008/04/16/my-dinner-today/

my mobile phone bill is usually 30 - 50. my company pays for it. ('~'')

This morning i saw the bottles to prevent the cats but in that case they were actually IN the garden ... i.e leaving no room for the cat at all .... unless if he were to walk on top of them ... so i guess on that occasion they do work.

I realized Danny likes to eat the vegge dish in the last picture... or is it a overly common dish so that I always see Danny ordering it? hehe

...I'm stuck on a 3-year cellphone contract. Still have another 6 months to go.

Cellphone service prices here in Canada are absolutely ridiculous - especially when it comes to Internet access. We're like a step behind everyone else. I use my phone only as a phone because I'm on a basic plan and can't even text without paying extra. It's costing me $25 CDN/month too - most plans are far better than this now, but I'm stuck in my contract because the cancellation fees are exorbitant.

(I haven't even seen that phone you're holding. And Canada still doesn't have the iPhone until later this year. Even then, only one carrier will have it because no-one else has the technology for it)

aren't you going to wait for the iphone? at least then you won't have to carry your touch and keitai around ^^

Tried the Neko Yoke before, after reading your first post. didn't work though. folks would have a better chance of scaring a cat with it if they threw the bottle right at the cat. ^^

Definitely not signing with AU when I get over there. I was planning on Softbank from the start, mainly because I like their phones, annnnd their adverts too haha.
Was also thinking of docomo.

So sunny at 6AM O_O! 6am here is still as dark as nighttime.

Wow, looking at all those foods make me hungry..

Usually I would just sms my friends and families since I have about 1000 free smses.. Calls are only used for emergencies or if very urgent..

Spend around $30 AUD credit on my mobile. Don't know about my phone bill as I don't pay for it and I hardly uses it.

Most of the time, I use my company phone. ^^

I'm a proud cellphone-less person and I have a happy life, thank you :3

I do not eat sushi. I prefer my food be cooked, please.
But I have just learned of a supposedly-better reason to *not* eat sushi here in the U.S.A. Supposedly, the Rev. Sun Yung Moon's "church" owns the corporation which distributes about 96% of the fish served at sushi restaurants. And that is where it makes most of its money.
The fried egg with the crab meat on the ramen noodles sounds much better, especially for only ¥800. How deep was the bowl, Danny?
The teritama also sounds delicious. How do they make a half-boiled egg?
Does that MOS Burger meal have a combination number, because I would order that also? How come the "fries" look like onion rings? Did it include both?
Mobile telephone? Huh? Is that the gouge where you get charged $30 a month for 24-to-36 months; plus extra for the sound your phone makes, extra for when someone else calls you - whether you know that caller or not, extra for *not* answering the call and letting it go to voice mail, extra for calling during a specific time of day, extra for using the phone outside of your 'home' area, extra for an "inactivity" fee; and a *massive* extra amount for discontinuing service?
Nobody needs to contact you (or me) that urgently. An outside answering service would be less costly. 3=)}

nice work now i have a craving for mos burger now...

Danny, try this:
1st, learn what other rate plans are offered by other carriers that are ideal for your phone usage. Make note of them, and even include the new rate for your AU carrier. Next, talk to a customer rep of your current phone carrier, and sternly but politely explain that you have been using their service for a long time. Briefly detail what other options are avaliable from other carriers, indicating you are open to changing carriers. Ask for a better rate for your current service that is comparable to the competitors rates. Since I doubt you are on contract since you've had your phone for awhile, your rate should be easily adjustable. Most cell carriers will give you a better rate to keep you as a customer as your area has many competitors, or they should at least offer you the new rate given to new members.

You got nothing to lose by doing this as you'll either get a better rate or pay what you are paying now. Also, you are free to leave your carrier if you see fit if they do not bend to your jedi mind trick. Have at it...

Maaan, that mos burger pic is making me drool! Im starving at the moment, and we quite often went to MOS burger for brekkers. Nice meron soda too - i had that in a maid cafe with ice cream on top once.

Azabujuban? Wasnt that from a Harry potter film? Looks like a nice lil area. Im really surprised that Japan hasnt got the iphone yet... Im happy enough with my super slim nokia 6300.

Spend about 10 USD a month for prepaid mobile service in my region =) .. What's more, the telcos here are pretty competitive so they offer stuff like free text messages and so on.

those phone design are very nice(at least compare to my country), wish to have one...

I haven't changed my phone in nearly 6 years now. Its an ancient Nokia 3210 I think, gonna have to make the swap soon as the 6 key has nearly stopped working all together and its battery life is about 2 hours -.-;
The TV phone looks awesome, but expensive and the robot phone is just plain cool.

Danny:

Is the place where they're burying the train line in West Tokyo? I think I passed it while travelling on the Odakyu Odawara line from Odawara to Shinjuku.

Tasty food we have right there, right now the only way I can eat Japanese food is through Tokyo Tokyo, since it's affordable. And I really don't have time to look for "real" Japanese restaurants.

I wonder how Mikuru tastes though..

Yum very tasty food there!
Here, when we want to eat something Japanese, my friends an I go to Tokyo Tokyo, because it's rather affordable. It may not be the best, but it somehow pulls through.

here no melon soda in Mos burger!! ;_;

and I hate rice burgers.

Using a Sony Ericsson m600i.. Military camps in Singapore ban the usage of handphones/cellphones/keitais with a camera function, for obvious reasons and some not-so-obvious reasons..

tonikaku... I'll be getting the 3G iPhone when it eventually comes out, though I'd have to ORD(a term all Singaporean males who don't plan a career in the military loves the most) first if i don't want to be switching between 2 phones just to stay on the right side of military directives

Awesome week as always, getting pretty hungry too. ^^;

I think I pay about 15$ a month for my cellphone, though I'm gonna cancel the subscription and throw away it, never use it anyway.

Looks like you had a pretty relaxing week to get back in the groove of things, Danny, great to see!

Coincidentally, we just had a kaiten sushi or sushi train as it's rather known here open just near where I live. Will have to go visit to see what the food and prices are like. Generally, sushi trains are like what you've described, the waitress count the different coloured dishes when you go pay the bill. From memory, dishes start from $5 and go in increments like $10, $15, $20 and $25. There are a few place that have $2/3 ones, too. Never seen chips on one though.

Fried egg filled with crab meat ramen looks very yummy!~ Me want to try. Same goes for Teritama. I generally think the portions of Japanese meals aren't big enough but the more I think about it, it's probably a healthier approach and that I eat too much as it is!

Man, that seafood Mos rice burger and nuggets combo looks so delicious. Mmmm melon soda, too. My favourite combo to get at Maccas is to get a fillet-o-fish and a 6 pack of nuggets with honey mustard sauce!!

I used to think Japanese keitai are the bomb but that was before the trend of making it into a multimedia gadget and packing everything into a thick thing. Both the Softbank models did look quite nice though. The folded keyboard one is nice but so is the rotating one. In Iron Man, Tony Starks uses one of those rotating ones as well. I think his was either an LG or Sharp model though.

That robot phone gave me a Transformers movie flashback...

I'm on a cap plan with 3mobile. Since I've yet to break the cap limit I'm paying a flat AUD$30 per month... though I usually go through about $90-100 worth of calls and text.

A relaxing week so to see Danny, also necessary once in a while. I love all those uber-gizmo Japanese phones, but since I'm not a frequent caller, I guess I'll stick with my Motorola KRZR for the time being. BTW I want a 2D-girl shirt like that =3

Awesome pictures and I'm sorry to hear about your MacBook Pro dying on you. :(

I spent only RM30(~USD10) per month for my prepaid phone number and usually the air time runs out way before I used all of my credit. ^^;;

Time for me to change my phone as well... my Moto E2 served me well for two years. Might get an import phone from Japan and slap a hypersim on it to make it work here...

wish they sold melon soda in the uk!!!! Any chance you could send some over here????

i spend less than US$10 on my mobile phone usage ^___^

I'm not into sushi, personally, I prefer maki rolls. I should note the prices as I go past the Japanese restaurants placed on the itinerary I use when I go volunteering then tell you after.
As for the sushi restaurants with conveyor belts, I'd have fun looking at the parading food and never order... Just kidding. I prefer not too much to waste time on silly stuff anymore.
Mobile fees you ask? Ah yes...It's free for me since I don't have one. ^^

Wauw, that made me sooo hungry...
I miss sushi so much.
I went to some nice Sushi places when I lived in Hong Kong but here in Shenzhen they are more spread out it seems.
I envy your life mr. Choo..
Can I have it please?

I don't spend any money on handphone bills, woo! I don't own a handphone, woo...
I don't own a handphone... *Sits in a corner*

like the new tabs ^^

I spend about $50 dollars a month on my phone and it's totally not worth it ^~^
Looks like you had a lot more fun this week than I did ^o^
I really like the new header ^_^

I've never eaten at a conveyer belt sushi place. That is one of the top places to go when visiting Japan, if I ever have the chance to.

Sushi = makes me happy!

Nice view, Nice food (I HATE SUSHI!!!) Nice cellphones and nice 2D girl T-shirts. I WANT THAT ALL...........

my holidays in japan was really wonderful and made a lots funny food's experiences, some great and others ....
really appreciates the japanese, the mix of old and new buidlings ! visits a lots, enjoy a lot and loose us sometime ^^

and really laugh till i cried viweing on the big screen in Shijuku near Yodobashi "the caramel song on it ... so funny !
that's make me wonder : i saw a man with 2 pc running this song on it and there were a anim' girl who was dancing on it (like an add on), so if some one know where i can find it, it will be nice ^^

Stopped using my mobile phone so no fees to pay!
And great photos, it really looks nice over there.

Was at Saizeriya just yesterday, ordered the same spinach bacon dish you did, but that fried shrimp dish is an absolute ripoff, the actual dish is way smaller than the picture in the menu.

my phone bill is bout US$40 each month.

as for sushi, i luv it! sometimes i like to treat myself to the omakase meal. the chef's special. that would usually (with sake) be almost US$100 each visit. Just a little guilty pleasure. ^^;

I pay $70 USD because I have an iPhone. $40 for the 400 minutes and 2000 for night and weekend plus $20 for the iPhone services that include 200 text messages. The other $10 are taxes:( Hey Danny check this out, hope it isn't bad news.
http://www.macnewsworld.com/rsstory/60855.html

phone bill costs less than 10 USD per month. and we have choice of changing operators too by just changing the sim.

i haven't tasted sushi yet, since i dont know any sushi restaurant in my city.
ok - searched google and saw about 4 sushi restaurants. but average meal price is about 6000 yen for two people :S oO

Those chips look awfully nice, can you get chips like they make in England or not?

I'm with Softbank on the Double White plan. Calls to other Softbank customers are free until 9pm. The trick is to get all your friends to go with Softbank, too.

DoCoMo is an absolute rip-off, though; Still doing business the traditional Japanese way: Give the customers as little as possible while charging as much as possible. As long as they give you the famous Japanese customer service, what the hell, right?

Danny, have you looked into E-Mobile? Heard some interesting things, but I haven't checked them out, myself.

Swaped all my service from Nextel to verison last year. Pink razr for her black razr maxx for me. I would like a cloud black panisonic from advent children, but they are so old by todays standards. I did get its excusive phone strap from the squarenix store ^^

Alright, I can't take it anymore. I NEED that Mikuru frog figure. No if or butts, I will find it!

Dear Danny, 15K yen bill is huge compared to my 40PLZ=2K yen, but on the other hand I think that you use your phone a lot more often than me ;). I can't really complain, for equivalent of 2000 yen I've got 60 minutes of talking exchangeable to SMS/MMS/WAP kilobytes and 50 minutes of talking only included. What I really want is a japanese mobile phone, they are way more hi-tech than any of the phones sold in Europe. Personally I'm crazy about the newest SonyEricsson Cybershot model (905iCS) with 5MPixel camera and huuuge display. Of course it is available only in Japan sob sob...
As for IPhone I'm not an Apple fan by any means, IPhone will be available in Poland in this year under Orange brand but I won't buy, I just don't like it.

Every time I see your "A week in Tokyo", makes me really really want to go to Japan!! XD

nice nice nice!

safe journey back from Germany, Danny! we somehow know you missed Tokyo since there was no post abt it last week, and also the fact you found it hard to adjust to the local time in Japan again!

just had my Wendy's recently, since a new branch was opened here recently. man, the burger was huge, and the food was delicious!

cool phone you had a look there. but why hate your iPhone? looks a cool gadget, imho. i wished i had one as well, but too bad. i heard japan's phones are kinda cool. comparing it with the ones here, it's nothing!

Man, I wish I could get some Mikuru when I order food. Also, I would worry about living in that new house made of wood only. Hate to be stuck in a typhoon(hurricane, cyclone, etc.) while in a house designed to be destroyed easily.

I pay $55-$70 a month, depending on my usage.

Danny, you should totally get the one that flips to reveal a full keyboard. Mine is like that and I LOVE it.

I think the one of the things I will dislike about traveling to Japan is the smoking craze. The US is finally getting smart and most places are smoke free. Gonna miss that, but so many other things to distract me : )

I really want to go to a Kaiten Sushi, it seems more simple. Rolly! Haven't seen him in a while, I might buy one. Why must you post much food Danny? You're making me hungry...

Nice keita, Danny.

i could use a melon soda about now...

the iphone is overrated imo...get something else...the htc diamond looks nice

For some mysterious reason I suddenly got the munchies ^^;

￥15,000 is an insane amount of money to spend on your cell, at least for me. My expenses vary, but I always spend less than $20 a month, unless I'm abroad. I don't use my cell too much, luckily ^^

The river with the overpass looks like one of the scene from You're Under Arrest-Live Action. ^.^ Maybe there are many such scene that looks like this.

Why is the house made of wood? That's funny. Would like to know more of it. It's interesting. ^.^

I long for the day when I have a nice digital camera and am living or travelling somewhere where I can go about the city and take pictures of random, yet interesting things. You seem to have fairly eventful days. I'm jealous.

Amazing week again. I'd like to try out those sushi places there. I just love sushi.

As for the fee on mobile phones, I usually spend $5 dollars a month. the most being $10 and that's when I mostly do calls.

The price of sushi in Singapore is exactly as Danny himself described. For two pieces of tasty chow that I could eat in as many mouthfuls, they cost a bomb. But fires on the conveyor belt... that's new.

Plate-counting... I remember worrying if anyone had added to my stack secretly when I wasn't looking... Gah! All this talk about food is killing me!

Say hi to your Mac for me when he/she's healed ^_^ And it was a super-cool job using the Rolly as a speaker; had no idea it could be used as such.

... Melon Soda?! I'm really getting hungry... this post seems to have more morsel pictures than usual... or maybe it's because it's the dead of night as I type this.

hey isnt that girl in the 2d t shirt chihaya kisaragi from idolm@ster? anyways udong looks soooo delicious @....@

What a nice post! Looking at all those photos and reading all their captions makes me feel homesick!! (OK so I was born an raised in Chicago-- STILL) I hope I can manage to relocate to Japan within the next couple of years. There's no place I like better. Hopefully I'll be going there for another visit soon!

Think you could put up a wallpaper version of that river/overpass image? I would admire you even more than I do now.

Are there many spots in Tokyo like that? I know that they are probably all over Japan, but a cemented-in river like that is completely unheard of around Vancouver. And with the buildings to the side and the overpass following it somewhat...

I have no idea why, but I feel that I could just grab a book or something to read and sit there for hours.

Hey, that phone with the flipping screen looks just like the one Tony Stark uses in the Iron Man movie!

Oops, I just spoiled your Iron Man!

hey ... about the guy unloading things at 6am ...

ITs so bring at 6am in japan?? i never knew

sun rise here in singapore will be about 7.15

sooo gaijin
but when i was in tokyo last week
i couldnt find chicken tempura

its in america but not japan
its probaly americanizd japanese food

You just went at less than 3 minutes from my work place (azabu juban). There is a really great ramenya in the same street of the picture, with a delicious grilled tendon ramen, if you have some times just go to take a look one day, There is a big 力 in the front door.

Whoa nice danny seems like you get eat a lot of nice foods. Hmmm busy schedule huh sucks that your mac pro went kaput.

It´s pretty cool, one week in Tokyo.
First of all, I do not eat sushi so I don´t know what sort of price it is on sushi here in Sweden. Second, the usual cost of calling in mobile phone is a half SEK/minute.

bad phone bad

I don't have a mobile phone.
So I guess that means my bill would be $0 :D.

WANT THAT SHIRT!!!!

Wait... made entirely out of wood? Do you mean torn down or BURNED down, lol. Hopefully it has some sort of fire retardant.

my phone bill every month is 1000yen per month..it never changed since i started using keitai O_o

The Rolly's something that's really caught my eye - is it worth the price though? I'm gutted that Sony stopped the AIBO range, so the Rolly is kind of the next closest thing...

Hmmm, the park where you play badminton looks like it's near Mitaka - is that right?

As for the cigarette vending machines, I seriously didn't recall seeing any in Shinjuku. They must have been there though. Oddly enough, in Japan smoking in the street is discouraged, but back in the UK you HAVE to go out on the street to smoke as smoking in pubs and bars is banned now. It's wierd how the world works.

Oh, and I saw Keitai Sousakan on the TV over there - it looked really good, I'd love to see an officially subbed version (>u<)

Dang, im gonna hit the chow hall now thanx.. HAHAHA
These images will win the war on Hunger LOL

Those pictures made me hungry.:P Dinnertime!:D:P Some of that food looks really appealing actually, must make udon and Tempura tonight!:P

i pay about 200 for three phones with full internet and text so i think i pay a fair amount

Japan is so cool.

Those pictures are sooo yummy. I think I want sushi! ^^ and UDON or ramen, maybe?

man that pic of the phone with the dog on it looks so cool i want one now