X-Radiation

Last night was had one of the most interesting dinners I have ever tasted. We ate at an izakaya in Kyoto called Okariba. The taisho, Aoki-san, hunts his own wild game, forages his own mushrooms, grows his own vegetables and raises his own bees and locusts. On the menu last night:

Grilled Wild Boar Skewers

Steamed Bear Shoulder in lemon shoyu

Bear rump

Smoked goose

Misoyaki Vegetables

Grasshoppers

Bees and bee larvae

While shitake mushrooms

Grilled pan fried tofu

Black Snake Whisky

Red Snake Whisky

Okinanwa Snake Whisky

Giant Killer Bee Whisky

Wasabe Leaf Salad

If you ever make it to Kyoto and are a serious carnivore this is the place to go for a unique experience. Aoki-san was charming and welcommed us to try each dish with an explanation of it’s origin including when and where he bagged it. His hunting rifles are proudly on display in the restaurant.

If society ever falls apart, I have a feeling Aoki-san will be right at home.

Last night we went to a hunters izakaya in Kyoto. The taisho, Aoki-
san, hunts the game himself, picks the mushrooms and grows the
vegetables. It was an amazing dinner.

Here is the menu:

Wild boar
Steamed bear shoulder
Bear rump
Smoked goose
Miso yaki veg
Grasshopper
Bees and bee larvae
Wild shitake mushrooms
Grilled tofu
Black snake whisky
Red snake whisky
Okinawa snake whisky
Giant killer bee whisky
Wasabe leaf salad

Someone was streaming live video of Santa from Tokyo! The captured streams and some more pictures are on-line here:

http://blog.jibunya.com/?eid=1126484

 

My friend Santa Trevor has posted his pictures for your enjoyment! You can see the rest of his pictures at Trevor`s  gallery

 

There`s something special about little girls drinking big bottles of booze.

Santacon Tokyo was great! I didn’t bring a laptop so there is a delay
posting pictures while I wait to get on one.

Cheers,
-X

Somehow, after all the rerouting and a two hour delay in the Tarmac,
possibly caused by security cocern over my bag tags that didn’t match my itinerary and the fact that they tried to stop me boarding because even though I had a boarding pass it wasn’t in their system, I and my luggage arrived at the same time. Oyabun Santas luggage arrived a few hours later, having made a short side trip to Australia.

Cheers,
-X

Due to booking with frequent flyer miles, my original itinerary flew to
from SFO to FAT to LAX to NRT with no padding for late flights. The
first leg got pushed back 30 minutes after I had checked in so they
booked me on a direct flight to LAX and need to transfer my bags. Now I
can only pray that the Baggage Gods smile kindly upon my travels. I
don’t know what Oyabun Santa did to piss them off but his bags were lost
enroute to NRT yesterday.