In light of the closing of the Hump restaurant in Santa Monica, California after it was busted for serving whale meat, you might be interested to know that there are still many restaurants in Japan where it is served regularly. I wrote this tongue-in-cheek article for Forbes in 2005. http://www.forbes.com/global/2005/1114/134A.html
http://www.latimes.com/travel/la-tr-vancouver21-2010feb21,0,7499776.story
Much of the world may think of Japan today in terms of Hello Kitty, electronics and anime, but some of Japan’s neighbors haven’t gotten past World War II. Many people in these countries feel that Japan has not sufficiently faced up to atrocities before and during the war.
This makes Yasukuni Shrine, just north of the …
6:45 – Wake up in hotel room, energized with plans for gym, breakfast and site visits before my 11:25 flight.
7:01 – Turn on CNN. Instantly possessed with deep anxiety over the Obama administration’s seeming inability to accomplish anything meaningful. Shut TV off immediately and remind myself why I never watch TV at home except for …
Tokyo is one of the world’s most stylish cities. For the unsuspecting American it’s easy to feel like a fashion felon, but you don’t have to if you follow these simple tips:
1 – The most important rule of all: care about what you look like. Presentation is an art in Japan. You don’t have to …
1 – You need an instruction manual to operate the toilet.
2 – Eating an ice cream cone on the street might create an international incident, while eating a bowl of noodles in one minute and 40 seconds while standing at a counter is …
1 – Chicago may be a very big city, but its values are of the prairie. There’s little of the pretense, jadedness or can’t be bothered-ness of New York, Los Angeles or San Francisco. To see the difference, hop in a cab in New York and then Chicago. In New …
You always feel it before you hear it.
You always hear it before you see it.
And by the time you see it, it’s here.
- overheard from actual conversation at the B and C Line platform, 81st Street Station
HELSINKI -
1 – Finns are cute, and their names are cuter. Among the people I met were a Matti, an Aino, a Paivi, a Hennu and a, uh, Patrick.
2 – My friends in Helsinki say that they have never spoken with their neighbors. Yet throughout my visit, people literally went …
TIJUANA, MEXICO – Having gone all the way to the birthplace of the Caesar salad, there was no way I was going to leave without trying one from the restaurant that invented it, at the Hotel Caesar. But I’d already eaten lunch, a spectacular one at that, of vegetable soup, a steamed …