Tokyo, Japan! - Raw Chicken w/ Brian & Aya

Before meeting our friends Brian and Aya for dinner, we killed some time exploring the hotel. After we booked it, we read it described as 'Vegas-like,' so we thought it might be worth a look. The hotel was huge, with multiple towers, a handful of restaurants, a theater, an aquarium and a bowling alley (to name a few). Also, we had a 1000¥ ($11.00) voucher that could only be used in select places within the Shinagawa Prince. We decided that the restaurant and lounge on the top would be our best bet.

360° aquarium wedding!
The ultimate in upscale, white trash matrimony.

The view from the top



Waiting for our drinks


The view inside the top.
This place was like a gross Vegas lounge.


The beautiful upholstery that has clearly not been updated since the 80's


Our drinks have arrived!


Overpriced mediocre cocktails


Shinagawa Station

Tag team, back again...


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For deciding on a place to take us to dinner, we just told Brian and Aya to 'impress us with something delicious.' They did not disappoint. They brought us to a little chicken hotspot called Toriki, a little place they discovered with the help of their friend Anthony Bourdain. It was a tiny place that only served chicken, and from what we could tell you order by asking for different parts of the chicken, and not just the breast, drumstick, thigh, etc...

Nato
Fermented soy beans and a raw egg

Skewers, and the chicken in the bowl is seared chicken breast. Apparently you can eat undercooked chicken and not die of Salmonella or Campylobacter. And the texture was not how you'd think either. It is so difficult to cut raw chicken when you're cooking, but these pieces were the texture of fish. It was delicious. We're never cooking chicken again!

Liver


Necks


Thigh Meat


Judy and Aya


Brian and Andrew


Skin

This blew our minds. That is the sink on the back of the toilet. When you flush, the sink starts automatically. We both repeatedly told Brian and Aya how strange we thought it was. They didn't have much of a reply because, as we found out the next day, they have one of these in their apartment!


After Toriki we stopped at a convenience store for some walking beers and went out in search of another area. Along the way, we got lost and ended up in a bar run (almost) by a crazy woman in a night gown. She was so insane! She kept repeatedly hitting Andrew's thighs and touching Brian's special parts. When we first came in she told us she was the owner, but then later the truth came out that she was only the owner's sister. It seemed that everything we did made her more angry and aggressive. It was quite the experience.

It was sweltering outside, so we weren't looking our best...


Bacon, corn and cabbage bar snack