June 2nd: Shrine & Tapas Molecular Bar

I was expecting crazy hair color, haircuts, and dressing already so i was not surprised when I saw it. It made me feel pretty under dressed and boring! Tokyo is absolutely beautiful and clean. Transportation is great (subway, bus system, bullet trains, taxis) and it is easy to walk everywhere. We took advantage of the JR Yamanote Line. We took the train & walked to Meiji Shrine. It was located in Shibuya, Tokyo. It is the Shinto shrine that is dedicated to the deified spirits of Emperor Meiji and his wife, Empress Shoken. We walked through botanical gardens beforehand. There was an Iris Garden. When you approach the shrine you stop and bow your head, drop change into the holes, and clap your hands twice. As expected it was breathtaking. You could also write your hopes and wishes on a piece of wood and place it on a hook. I was nosey and read a few. Many Americans asked for peace, health, and the war to end.


We took the train back to Ginza. We stopped by a Breitling shop. We walked out empty handed, thank goodness! We toured the Sony Building and drooled at all the high tech gadgets we do not have. The LCD HD televisions were huge! My 42" LCD Sony TV looked puny compared to the 72"! ha ha. We continued to walk around Ginza and by the time we got back to our hotel we had walked about 8 miles! I'm glad since we were going to stuff ourselves silly at Tapas Molecular Bar for dinner.
We had reservations for the 8pm sitting at Tapas Molecular Bar at the Mandarin Oriental. Only 6 per seating. We enjoyed 5 different glasses of wine & champagne to compliment the dishes. We were served around 28 different dishes. They were all unbelievable! The Chef would explain each dish and put it together infront of us. He went to school in NYC and moved back to Tokyo due to marriage. He said he missed NYC but the food (although more expensive) is much more organic & local/easily available in Japan. The world famous fish market is only a few miles away & Japan is covered in organic farms.


All of the dishes were spectacular but the dessert got even more interesting. As always I'm trying to become more health conscious and eat more vegetables and fruit. I'm absolutely horrible at eating fruit. My Dad eats an apple a day. I wish I would do the same. The Chef gave each of us a plate of fruit. Strawberries, lime & lemon slices, melon, apple slice, and orange slice. He asked us all to eat 2 pieces of fruit. Then he handed us a small red piece of fruit. He told us to put it in our mouths for 1 minute and then to swallow it. Next he instructed us to eat another piece of fruit or to drink some wine. I ate the orange slice. Holy crap! It was sooooo much sweeter! It tasted amazing and within 2 minutes I had eaten the entire plate of fruit. Even the melon, lime and lemon slices! The chef explained the fruit was called the miracle fruit. No joke. When I return home I am going to order some. It is fruit, so it is not unhealthy. It will definitely help me eat more fruit. Amazing!