Walking Ixus

I'm spending my last night in Tokyo at the Sheraton Miyako in a standard room on the 6th floor. A lower floor again but I get a view of the neighborhood. The hotel is next door to a Toyopet dealership and at the bottom of the hill from the Shirokanedai Station off of the Namboku Line. The lobby has an early 60s design that would fit in the world of Mad Men or 花樣年華. It doesn't look retro; it was probably how it was built many years ago and spotlessly maintained since. My room was recently remodeled and was quite comfy and plush. I can only imagine how the "nice" rooms look like.

The bed is awesomely firm, like most nice beds in Asia. The opposite of North America...

Nice desk and loafing couch. I think that's the same TV I have in my bedroom.

Internet here is free but wired. Check out the speed!

Damn fast!

Sheraton Miyako
1-1-50 Shirokanedai Minato-ku
Tokyo, Japan 108-8640
Phone: +81 3 3447 3111

Starbucks at Roppongi Hills West Walk.

I think kimono should be the new dress code

Often, travelers will groan when they check into a hotel and they get a lower floor. Usually, higher floors are reserved for elite guests (much like upgrades and E+ are usually for elite flyers). In some cities, like New York or Hong Kong, a higher floor is a must because you get a feel for the city. Hong Kong and New York are defined by their skylines so it's best to able to see them.

From the sixth floor, overlooking Roppongi Keyakizaka Dori. Happy New Year!

Having a lower floor at the Grand Hyatt Roppongi, for example, isn't the end of the world. In fact, it gives you a sense of having bearings since there's not really an outstanding icon of Tokyo to focus on. No million dollar skyline or Art Deco canyons here. What Tokyo has is street life. It's the best city to explore on foot (provided you've not twisted your ankle before the trip) and its full of neat things you won't find riding on the Hato Bus. The hotel is part of the Roppongi Hills complex and it serves (along with Tokyo Midtown) as an oasis from the silliness that Roppongi is known for.

Hallway from the room to the front door. Nice!

The rest of the room, including a wet bathroom and a properly firm bed!

The question will arise; how could I stay here on my usual low budget? My stay here was an award night from Hyatt's Faster Free Nights promotion. During my last stay in LA, I stayed at two Hyatts, thus earning me a free night anywhere there was availability. What's important is that the service was sublime, the room was comfortable and I had a place to fall flat faced after the 10 hour flight from SFO. Despite being on a "lower floor".

Grand Hyatt Tokyo
6-10-3 Roppongi, Minato-Ku,
Tokyo, Japan 106-0032
Tel: +81 3 4333 1234 Fax: +81 3 4333 8123

On a recent "suicide run" to LA (despite my vow a few years back not to do them ever again), I had a three hour brunch at FIG in Santa Monica.

But first, what exactly is a "suicide run"? A "suicide run" is when you drive to LA from SF when the return is 3 days or less. Having not done these in a few years, I was amazed to find that the Tejon Ranch near Grapevine had been developed and even has an In & Out, thus bringing the amount of restaurants on the 5 to two! Exciting if you're a fan of driving. And I&O. Despite the suicide run character of this road trip, I've not taken the MX5 out for a proper shakedown cruise. I took the MX5 there on the 5 and back on the 101 and learned that Kumho Ecsta tires are noisy and new struts are in order. But never mind the logistics of driving...

So I met up with a friend and she drove me to FIG at the Fairmont Hotel in Santa Monica. It's basically American cuisine in nice surroundings. This was the first time there for both of us. It was a fun brunch; I think I spent more time laughing and chatting than eating. It took me two hours to eat a grilled cheese sandwich and another hour to have a couple of drinks in the Southern California sunshine with wonderful company.

I need more meals like this.

Signage is excellent; you definitely know where you are.

Sea salt. Looks good and tastes good too.

When you're seated, they serve you arugula butter with warm mini baguettes.

This is how a 2 hour grilled gueyre cheese sandwich looks like

The aftermath, a half finished pasta-less lasagna, fries and the second half of a grilled cheese. And someone's pair of Ray-Ban aviators...

Great service and validated parking at the Fairmont Hotel. Worth a visit then a stroll afterwards.

FIG
101 Wilshire Boulevard
Santa Monica, CA 90401-1106
(310) 576-7777
http://www.figsantamonica.com

This is my second year attending this local Bowl game. Since USC (and Boston College) is in it this year and it's at PacBellPark, it was an opportunity to watch the Trojans win again. Which they did, 24-13.

Then of course, like any other SC game, there's the sideline show.

Song Girls!

Yell Leaders & The Greatest Marching Band in the Universe

Mmmmmacaroni salad!

Conversation over Ping! for iPhone...

Pally: "Hey, when are you coming down to LA? I've got some friends I'd like you to meet..."

Me: "As soon as I get some time, I'll swing down for a few days. Think the weather will behave?"

That initial chat was over a month ago. Despite my best laid plans (which involved driving my MX5 down the coast and visiting friends along the way), I've not been able to make the drive to LA. I've been just plain busy! Since I returned to SF from Japan, the weather has been cold and rainy and issues have come up with the money pit that required me to go "out there" to fix things. I don't like being flaky (cuz I absolutely LOATHE it when people are flaky with me) so when I found a SFO-LAX same day turn flight on UA for US$100, I went for it. I figure it's been a long time since I've been to LA strictly to putter. Longer still since I had a french dip sandwich from the place that invented the yummy thing. And since I was arriving around lunch time, I figured that this was a sign.

Nah, THIS is a sign!

Phillipe's is an 91 year old Los Angeles institution; basically a deli that makes short orders (and sells cuppa coffees for 9 cents) and french dipped sandwiches with your choice of meat. It doesn't sound like much. A sandwich (with your choice of meat and cheese) dipped whole into au jus. But like alchemy, the ingredients themselves aren't that fantastical; combine everything and it's wonderous!! There's also hot spicy mustard at all the tables for that added kick. Bam.

I arrived at the restaurant just after 1300 and parked in the free parking lot. A very fast 6 minutes later, I was ordering a French Dip Beef with swiss cheese, macaroni salad, homemade custard and a Diet Coke (burp). $12 or so for the entire thing; if I nixed the custard, it would have been under $10.

Ah, what a healthy lunch!

Oh yeah, the whole reason why I came down to LA? I'll have to cover that next time. I did have the fastest sashimi dinner ever and got from Little Tokyo to LAX in 29 minutes during the evening commute. So I accomplished something else besides satisfying my french dip craving...

Three Los Angeles icons: free parking, Phillipe's and an LAPD radio car

Phillipe the Original
1001 N. Alameda St
Los Angeles CA 90012
+1-213-628-3781
http://www.phillipes.com

I spent my last hour in Japan (being in the lounge doesn't count, because since you clear passport control, you're technically "not" in Japan) puttering in 東京駅.

It's been a while since I've needed to go through Tokyo Station on the way to NRT. These past few visits I've been going through Shinjuku Station since it's closer to where I stay during my visits. There's a lot happening in Tokyo Station and the surrounding Marounouchi neighborhood. For one, Tokyo Station has a left baggage service in the basement close to the NE'X tracks so you can check your bag and putter around for the day before making the long slog to NRT. Although both stations have lockers, they won't swallow a 26" roller, that's why it's nice to have the left baggage service at Tokyo Station because Shinjuku doesn't have it. Another bright spot of Marunouchi are the many nice restaurants in the area that includes a branch of A16 and a Cafe that's part of Joel Robuchon's restaurant chains.

Almost feels like being in Paris. Of course, we ARE in Marunouchi...

The best food I found though was inside Tokyo Station itself. There's a branch of Mutsumi-ya in a special Tokyo Ramen Street section of the basement. I stumbled upon this gem as I was wandering around semi-lost for a new place to eat. Mutsumi-ya is a Hokkaido based chain as evidenced by their flagship bowl of corn-butter ramen.

It was very oishii! Corn and butter in the broth...

Unlike most Hokkaido style ramen I've had, this bowl has the satisfying food buzz that you get with good Hakata style ramen. The broth was rich and hearty and very satisfying. And unusually for Hokkaido ramen, the noodles were firm and has the feel of quality. It's easy to mass produce thick noodles (which Hokkaido ramen uses) and many shops cheat with store bought noodles. I don't think Mutsumi-ya does that. It's that good.

The restaurant itself is not designed for lingering; rather it's all about eating and going.

Here's some of their other menu offerings and some credentials

Two years ago, I attended my first Tokyo Motor Show. It was a big affair, with practically every major manufacturer in existence. The M3 saloon, the Nissan GT-R, the BMW 135 motorsport edition, the Lexus IS-F and the Roadster PRHT were featured or premiered there. I'm sure I missed others that were premiered there too. Practically all of Makuhari Messe was used for the show which also featured a lot of buses, lorries and motorcycles.

Flash forward to 2009. Thanks to "hope n' change", the US dollar is in a downward spiral, the automotive world is in a tizzy, no thanks to high oil prices (due to the tanking dollar) and the uncertainty of Government Motors, trade policy (protectionist) and lack of fiscal policy of the current occupiers of Washington DC. As a result, practically every non-Japanese auto company save for Caterham, Lotus and Alpina flaked out on the Tokyo Motor Show this year.

The budget cutting was obvious. Instead of all of Makuhari Messe, the show only covered three halls; almost sounds like a typical show in the states. There were only 1/3 the amount of models to go with the cars and bikes, there was no commercial vehicle section (what vehicles there were wound up displayed by their respective manufacturers) and the featured models that were there were featured in little time blocks, like a show.

They were on stage for exactly 30 minutes...

But that has nothing on the fact that the TMS this year was BORING. Each manufacturer's theme was "how green can we be" with boring or dumb looking electric cars.

An example was Mazda's area, where there were tons of people carriers, compact cars and kei (light) cars. At least 30 of these transportation modules. But the models that Mazda is known for, the RX-8 and the Roadster (Miata), would you like to guess how many they had? Nope, too many. There were one of each. One. Although I guess you could say that there were two cars that weren't boring. They attracted the biggest crowds of the Mazda area. Two cars that have been in production for a combined 10 years.

Nissan was worse. With a stage that proudly bragged "zero emissions", their area was chock full of eco cars. Almost as an afterthought, a GT-R was placed at the edge of their area. Guess where all the people in the Nissan area were?

These people were moving around; not really looking.

That's because they were all here, at the only GT-R on display.

This is the car Nissan chose to feature on its stage. The Leaf, an EV due next year. Yawn.

Toyota/Lexus and Honda had the biggest areas of the show. Honda continued the eco theme ad nauseum but had an interesting exhibit on how they're making their Super Cub a plug in EV but strangely enough, none of their motorcycles are hybrid or electric. Waaaah! They did have their CR-Z concept that premiered two years back as a, you guessed it, an electric car! Toyota/Lexus had the most interesting cars there. A new supercar from Lexus and a concept car that some are saying could be the new Celica. Toyota making fun cars again? Faster please. They also had the usual SUVs and family cars on display. And Priuses. So many Priuses. How much acid rain will fall on Canada due to the increased nickel mining? I wouldn't park my car outside...

Each year, United Airlines hosts a Friends and Family event at the Maintenance Center at SFO. It has a classic car show, some UA hardware on display, lots of booths aimed toward their employees, a A319 for a plane pull and oh yeah, the Blue Angels.

Firing up the engines

Inspection

Walkaround

Waiting for the "go"

Fat Albert takes off to take readings for the air show

Finally off!

The height of Fleet Week is the airshow over the Marina Green and the waterfront. Due to weather (lots of low fog), the Saturday show was cancelled. This show would be the only one and because of the slightly higher fog, they had a "flat show".

Besides the Angels, there's the other events...

Each year, there's a plane pull between the Blue Angels and two groups of Flyertalkers (who usually lose pretty badly)

UA took part in the Fleet Week Airshow for the first time with this low flying 747-400

The USAF sent two F-16s

And to wrap this up, here's SQ15 enroute to Seoul Incheon

This is the ONLY time I will quote Mao in this blog. "The Chinese people have stood up".

It begins on MUNI with an Auntie who is willing to stand up and fight when she's attacked. Guess people will think twice now before attacking Chinese in San Francisco, I hope.