Food and Drink

On a hot summer’s day, it’s hard to beat the very simple pleasure of a chilled cucumber dipped in some salty miso. Or for those with a preference for something sweeter, a generous dollop of mayonnaise instead of the miso. Both of which, at least on this particular occasion, came with the added extra of a cold hard stare.

On the topic of summer, a rest and some travelling is very much in order, so from today, the usual 3 posts a week will be reduced to a far more manageable 1 every Monday. Then, from September 2nd, the regular Monday, Wednesday and Friday updates will resume as normal.

Many of Tokyo’s little old bars are a complete mystery from the outside. One can hope that inside it’s what you are looking for, but until the door is slid open, it’s simply impossible to say.

Sometimes things work out, sometimes they don’t, but when it’s got bags of character like this place, and has been run by same lovely old woman for the last 43 years, you know you are on to a winner.

The interiors of more than a few Tokyo bars are truly timeless, and in this particular case, the blurring of the decades was nicely aided by some wonderfully old school headwear.

Rainy season is rubbish. It rains a lot, obviously, and the humidity very noticeably starts to increase. Then even when it’s over things aren’t any better, as the scorching heat of summer kicks in and the stickiness gets truly uncomfortable.

But moaning aside, one definite benefit of all that rain is reflections. Particularly so considering Tokyo’s love of bright lights. An effect that can, at a push, make the mundane sight of an old man heading home after drinks appear almost poignant.

On a similar-ish theme, the other day I achieved a goal of sorts by getting a series of photographs in The Guardian — a newspaper I’ve been reading daily my entire adult life. The topic is Tokyo’s old, but still working bar and restaurant owners, craftsmen, shopkeepers etc, so if you’d like to see it, the gallery can be viewed here.

Even after retreating to one of Tokyo’s old and quiet little corners, there was still no escape from Trump’s trip to the capital. But whereas avoiding him was impossible.

Ignoring him clearly wasn’t.