There are several hotel chains that we’ve stayed at so far in our trips to Japan that have been reliable, affordable, located in good areas, and have nice amenities that I’ve enjoyed like free breakfast or a public bath. Toyoko Inn is one of those hotel chains that meets our needs and that I regularly recommend to people as it’s a business hotel which includes a nice morning breakfast.
I was only focused on its proximity to a subway station, price, and availability. What I did not realize is that we had to walk through one of the most prominent red light districts in Tokyo. It was a little awkward walking several block with my in-laws and not addressing the brightly lit up billboards that we had to walk past to get to the hotel. I’m sure they started to question if they trusted me as a trip planner after we arrived into Tokyo.
There’s a restaurant called Tsujihan that my cousin Become has been to several times before that I’ve had on my list of places to eat at but because Joanna doesn’t really appreciate raw fish, I’ve just been patiently waiting for the next time he and I were in Tokyo together. Today was that day! Basically it’s a bowl of rice topped with raw fish, shrimp, crab, sea urchin, and salmon eggs (my favorite). Once you’re 2/3rds of the way done with the bowl, the chef tops it with a very rich fish broth and additional rice. WOW was this good and only for $16 dollars which is unheard of back home. We took Joanna’s parents and they were really impressed with the meal and kept looking at me and saying “This is so fresh!”
I really wanted to impress Joanna’s family on this trip considering we’ve been to Japan so many times before but I think I’m putting too much pressure on myself to delver a mind blowing experience. The first three dinners that I’ve led us to have been lukewarm experiences. The first night I wanted to go to Yakitori Torikizoku, my gps was off and we went in the wrong building. The hostess at the restaurant was way too nice and was leading us to a table before I realized we were at the wrong restaurant. The Minnesotan in me felt too awkward to leave so we just ordered random izakaya food from there. The second night we wanted to check out a higher end rotating sushi restaurant but they stopped accepting seating 5 minutes before we arrived. Everyone was so hungry we went to the nearest Kura sushi chain and ended up having to wait 40 min for a table and the sushi wasn’t great.
Tonight I wanted to give them a great grilled wagyu beef experience so I was recommended a restaurant called Wagyu Beef Kitchen Yakuniku and made a reservation for 8pm. We got there and I ordered the set menu for everyone. The waiter said “beef raw?” and I said yes thinking he was double checking that we knew this was a Japanese bbq restaurant where we grill the meat at the table. Nope, they started the meal with raw beef sushi and beef tartare. If it were just me eating, I’d be ok with that but I don’t think that kind of experience is for everyone so I started sweating and thinking “what have I done?”
I looked at the menu again and saw that one of the courses was grilled beef tongue US IOWA PREMIUM BEEF. I said to myself “We have tongue at home, why do I need to come to Japan for Iowa beef?”
The meal started to turn positively as more dishes came and the slice of wagyu was very delicious and buttery but I think I really need to just put less pressure on myself to deliver a world class experience for the family and just do the “normal” stuff that Joanna and I would go to going forward.
I think you’re setting yourself a pretty high bar between putting them up in a red light district hotel and serving the finest Iowa beef. How are you ever going to top that? 🤣