Mark Cooke’s G-Mixer

Yokohama Bar

I took this photo in September 2007 at a really weird bar in Yokohama. It was like 1950s jazz themed, very relaxing, with all kids of weird bottles of liquor from all around the world. Many of the bottles were very strange, like gnomes and other eclectic characters and art. Unfortunately I don’t have the name on hand but could get it from friends.

Anyways, I just love the way this shot turned out. The empty seats, the angle, and the lighting really give this picture a lonely but welcoming feel.

Here’s a link to the full set of shots for that vacation.

OK… imagine the scene, I just got back home and experienced this. It’s Monday night. 10:45 PM or so, just finished eating dinner with a friend. We’re in East Shinjuku. I’m in a kind of upscale 100 yen place called “Don Quijote” or as it is typically called ドンキ (donki). Think of it like a dollar shop and you’ll get the idea. And it is absolutely SLAMMING. Tons of people in there, many that look like the young socialite type. This simply just does not exist in all of my experience in the United States.

You can see their insane website here: http://www.donki.com/index.php

On the ground floor there are plush stuffed female breasts (clearly the first thing I noticed), maid outfits, entirely head covering penguin hats, underwear, soap, etc. There is death metal blasting out of speakers all over the place, quite loudly. This place is like 5 or 6 stories. It also carries plenty of normal household goods – I was there to buy hangars, which were located in the basement.

The place is like a hellish haunted house – each aisle is just barely wider than the width of my shoulders and there is absolutely no obvious segregation of items. Even the aisles themselves are not evenly separated like in a super market or something in the US… it’s a complete maze.

Unfortunately I don’t have any pictures but I thought some of you might find it interesting.

The place I went to dinner tonight was something I had never had before. Unfortunately again I suck and forgot the name but basically it’s a restaurant where you pay about 3,000 yen for 1.5 or 2 hours of all you can eat. The food is all kinds of different skewered foodstuffs, kind of like a shishkabob, but only one item per stick. There were things like: salmon, sausage, broccoli, cheese, octopus wrapped around cheese, octopus balls (takoyaki, no not those kind of balls), raddish, onion, chicken, beef, etc. You pick up as many as you want then bring them back to the table.

They are all uncooked so what are you gonna do about it? Oh yeah, that’s right, we gonna deep fry those MFers. First you dip them in the “glue” mojo and then roll them around in Japanese style bread crumbs. There is a vat of oil in the middle of the table – drop them in, wait a bit, then enjoy with a variety of sauces. It isn’t fine dining but it is certainly tasty.

I know a couple of you guys out there who would want to eat them straight out of business (*cough* Eddy, Dan W.). Even better, for another 2,000 yen or so you can add all you can drink beer. Good times.

Welcome fellow beer fans! In the the north corner, wearing the gold trunks, we have Suntory The Preimium Malts! And in the south corner, wearing the green trunks, we have Yebisu The Hop! It’s a classic battle of Malts vs. Hops! Who will win? Who will take the crown?

Ok. If you have read the last few entries you’d know that I have a certain love for The Malts. I made the mistake of drinking The Malts first. I already know that I like it. I guess I overestimated my tolerance because I was pretty buzzed by the time I finished it. Hehe. These 500 ml cans of beer are about 17 oz in American terms. 17 oz of beer and already buzzed… I suck.

Side note! In Japanese you pronounce “drunk” and “good” the same way, as far as I can tell. How awesome is that? 酔い (drunk) and 良い (good) … both are read as “yoi”. Awesome! Of course being drunk is good. Edit: after the booze wore off I remembered “good” is read as “ii” in the present tense, so they’re not quite the same. In other tenses it might be the same though.

So, The Malts. In marketing speak I would describe it as: smooth, extremely flavorful for a lager, slightly bitter aftertaste that tingles the taste buds (instead of assaulting them). A quality beer if you like a strong taste. 8/10

On to The Hop. Hrm… how to describe it… Honestly, I’m surprised. A lot of Japanese lager sucks big time (hello Kirin!) but this tastes pretty good. There is no aftertaste what so ever. It’s initial flavor comes on strong but then quickly dissipates. Not bad! I’d drink it again. 7/10

I’ll have to give The Hop another try from a completely sober state to review it properly.

Time to go get some food. At this point… probably some junk food near by. Peace!

P.S. – The subtitle on The Hop is awesome. “The exquisitely refined aroma of this beer is from select fine aroma hops AND aroma hops…” Double aroma hops. What more could a man want.

It’s Prime Time beyotch!

Original all malt beer. For the best moments in life, let yourself go. Premium.

I give Prime Time a beer rating of about 6/10. It’s a fairly standard Japanese style lager, made by Asahi, but is supposed to be of higher quality. I can taste a slight difference from normal Asahi super dry but not enough to make the extra cost worth it. Suntory The Premium Malts is still tops for Japanese style lager in my book.

I think I’ll have to start a beer rating guide here… gives me a good excuse to keep buying more and trying them at least!

The Saturday before I left for Japan a number of friends and I met up at the Bear’s Lair in Berkeley primarily to celebrate my friend Eddy’s birthday and to send me off to Tokyo. Of course the reason we went to the Bear’s Lair was to watch the Cal football game that was on but a good additional reason was the beer. We ordered it by the gallon. Literally. Portion sizes are a lot smaller in Japan so I needed to go out with a bang. The picture says it all…

Thanks go to everyone who attended, all my friends who have supported me, and especially my family for all their help in preparing for this adventure.