Following on the heels of the quickie Munich visit…we spent even less time in Japan, and it was just in the Tokyo Haneda airport, but still, it was enough time to have our minds blown.
We made a beeline for duty free, to procure a couple of bottles of IW Harper bourbon, on a tip from a friend in Bangkok. Apparently, the Japanese, being the Japanese, liked this bourbon so much they just made a deal with the American distillery to buy all of it and sell it only in Asia. It’s good, and comes in a pretty bottle, along with 800 other types of whiskey I’ve never heard of.
Then we used the bathroom. Sweet Jesus, but which bathroom?
I could’ve spared myself the decision-making if I’d just gone in this bathroom, but it was frankly a little scary.
And then…did you know they even make modern squat toilets? I did not. Please admire the support bar.
After navigating that bit of craziness, we needed sustenance. To the ANA lounge!
I know everyone’s seen a bottle of Pocari Sweat by now. But have you seen a pitcher of Pocari Sweat?
There was also coffee from a machine that ground beans on demand. And beer from what looked like a soda fountain, but which tipped your glass to the appropriate angle for perfect foam.
And also in the liquids department, they had this adorable soy-sauce portion, for titrating one drop at a time onto your surprisingly satisfying rice balls filled with something pink.
But this is where things got really delightful:
Like you, I was thinking sundae toppings. But no. Here they are in action in my miso soup, still looking like candy:
Later, on our flight, the mind-bending continued. I only have this pic, in which the item on the lower right involves fish eggs, and the strawberries were steeped in vinegar with juniper berries. And after that, there was a whole series of disturbing-looking things–including a dry and slightly withered shrimp, a cube of brown jelly with shreds of things floating in it, and a gray chalky thing that looked like a rock but wasn’t–that were incredibly tasty and vaguely fishy.
Apparently, all those Spanish chefs with their nitrogen tanks and their hydrocolloids are really working their asses off to recreate what’s just the daily experience in Japan. Next time, we’ll stay for longer.