Quick Business Lunches and a Tasty Yakiniku Dinner and Some Scenes From Tokyo

Here are some pictures from our recent trip to Tokyo.  This was the view from our hotel room.


On my first day in town, I got a super quick lunch at a little restaurant (just a small booth) at the bottom of the building in which our Tokyo offices are located.  This is the beauty of Japan - the quality of food served in any old stand or stall in a department store or basement of a mall is superb.

 Neat little chairs and tables and a vending machine, which is how you pay for your meal.   I didn't realize there was a special button you had to hit to get a receipt - and the waiter had to help me unlock the vending machine and "re-order" my meal for me so that I could get one.  Ooops. 

I was not really sure what I was ordering, but I was so hungry that I was willing to try anything.  Plus, like I said above - the beauty of food in Japan is that there is about a 99.9% chance that it will taste good.  It helped that there were pictures next to each item so I could get a good idea.  I ordered a shredded chicken with wild vegetables and rice, over which I then poured a dashi broth (in the little kettle in the upper right hand corner).  It was very good.  The little cup on the side contained a scoop of fresh tofu paired with miso sauce.  I know it sounds a bit odd to eat straight up cold tofu, but it had the creaminess and consistency of a yogurt.

Here is the beautiful bullet train that I boarded, as mentioned in my prior post.  It is cheaper than Amtrak and about 1000x more efficient and clean.

 This is the lovely omakase dinner that Michael and I enjoyed at Nihon Yakiniku Hasegawa Ginza.  I probably would have preferred a more casual yakiniku place with more meat and salads and veggies, rather than this formal set course, but our hotel arranged everything for us and made it easy so I guess I can't complain.  Plus the meat was still good.  I just could have done without these little "frou frou" starter dishes, like the vegetable mousse and the chilled vegetables with crab.

 Dessert was so yummy - soft serve with Japanese mochi paired with rice tea.

 On our last day, I had a chance to grab a quick lunch and do some shopping.  I again went to a restaurant in the basement, this time of our hotel (what can I say, these basement places are awesome for a quick meal!) and this time tried an udon restaurant that looked very popular.

I think I ordered their best dish (a fish sausage tempura udon) because everyone around me was eating the same thing.  The fried tempura coating probably does not make this the healthiest meal, but it was tasty and satisfying.
Sitting amongst these Japanese office workers eating during the peak lunch hour made me feel like I a classic Japanese salarywoman.  It was a fun experience.

Despite being a huge metropolis, Tokyo has tree lined streets and wide avenues and some classic architecture.  It still strikes me as a mish mash of everything but overall it feels pleasant.  We were lucky to be there when the skies were blue and clear.  

Right before leaving for the airport, I managed to squeeze in about an hour of shopping at Mitsukoshi where I was thrilled to discover a children's brand called "Sense of Wonder."  They partner with Liberty Print and make shirts and dresses using the finest Japanese cotton (so light, so breathable) but with the beautiful and distinctive floral prints that Michael and I love.  I went a little bit overboard and bought Lola 3 dresses, a pair of shorts and two pairs of pants.  Then I threw in a pink jinbae (traditional children's kimono top and shorts set), for fun.  The department stores in Tokyo also make it very easy for you as an international shopper - I went to their duty free counter two floors below immediately after making my purchase and got my VAT refund in cash instantaneously.  So rewarding!  Shopping is so much fun!  

Blogging From All Kinds of Places

My dedication to blogging knows no bounds!  I am drafting this post while on a Shinkansen, a high speed bullet train in Japan.  I came to Tokyo for a last minute business trip this week and am en route back to my hotel after a busy two days' of meetings and negotiations.  I should be using this time on the train to sleep, however, the bright (and I mean uncontrollably, floridly bright) fluorescent lights in the train make it nigh impossible for me to get any sleep.  But this is not a fact that seems to affect about 95% of my fellow passengers, who are all dozing away peacefully while sitting upright?!

We have been here since Wednesday and will return home on Friday afternoon.  This is the first time that Michael and I have left Lola at home with her caregivers, Jovie and Lily, without one of us present.  We were really reluctant to do it, but thought that if there was ever a good opportunity to try this out and get a little time away, this would be it.   Unfortunately, between both of our work schedules, this trip has not been about leisure or couple time at all!  We miss Lola terribly, but before leaving installed/activated cameras around our apartment so we can see them and communicate if we want to, and we are getting lots of updates in the form of pictures and videos.  

It has been fun to have company on my business trip and I am so grateful Michael was able to accompany me, especially because I was traveling solo without any coworkers.  The last time we had a trip like this just the two of us was when we were at the Rosewood in Beijing, before Lola was born!  I think I was about 5 months pregnant at the time.

I had a fantastic flight to Tokyo from Hong Kong, flying the direct route that lands in Haneda (way more convenient airport than Narita) in first class.  I usually never fly first class for work; this was just a fluke when the price between business and first was practically the same and this was the last seat available that was not economy.  I have only had the chance to fly first class once, from Hong Kong to San Francisco, way back when I could burn my points in a much more frivolous manner.  I am sad to report that on the daytime short haul flight from Hong Kong to Japan, you do not get pajamas nor do they fry up your eggs in an actual skillet, however, it is still an immensely pleasurable experience because your seat is really more like a little suite with room for two or three.  Michael came and sat across from me for a little bit while I enjoyed my breakfast and it was great.

In Tokyo, we were picked up at the airport in a Lexus sedan (Michael was so disappointed, as he was hoping for a brand new Mercedes S500 or a Jaguar) and then upgraded to a bigger room when we checked in at the hotel.  We decided to try the Mandarin hotel this time but I have to say, we have been finding the experience a bit disappointing.  It is extremely expensive, the dining menu feels limited, there is no swimming pool, and in a typical-for-Japan-but-otherwise-bizarre-situation, their sauna and jacuzzi are only available between the hours of 6 and 9 am?!  The Palace remains my favorite hotel in Tokyo but it was sold out on our days.

I immediately changed and rushed off to my office for meetings, and Michael settled in for work.  I didn’t return back to the hotel until nearly 1 am, and didn’t go to sleep until after 2 am.  Every time I am here in a business setting I find myself exasperated/amused at how counter-intuitive and inefficient things are.  Just as an example, the instructions that my office gave me, detailing the exit route if I was stuck at work after hours, was mind-boggling and dizzying, with multiple colors, words in every direction, and lots of pictures and arrows and dots.  I should have taken a picture.  I wanted a printout of a few agreements and it took so long that I just gave up on the second copy.

This morning, I was back up at 8:30am for more meetings as well as a local business trip (hence the shinkansen)!  I haven’t been on a bullet train in years.  I truly admire the cleanliness and promptness of Japanese public transportation.  The line that I am taking runs every 10 minutes (!) and is incredibly smooth, quiet and fast.  The bathroom on the train is itself a marvel – clean, not odorous, and even equipped with a Japanese toilet!!  Also incredible to me is the fact that the train leaves with barely any fanfare.  There are no loud announcements or warnings – when the second hand sweeps across the 12, the train doors seal shut and the train immediately starts pulling out of the station.  This country does not tolerate tardiness. I would definitely miss many trains if I lived here.

Despite the late hour of my return to Tokyo, I am determined to go out to dinner.  Tokyo is the second metropolis that never sleeps – so I am returning to Tokyo with all my work stuff in tow and going straight to a yakiniku (grilled meat, yummmmm) restaurant in Ginza to meet Michael for a late dinner.  I find Tokyo particularly romantic at night, more than practically any other city in the world, and that may or may not be due 100% to the influence of the movie “Lost in Translation,” but I like to think it is also due to the allure of the dark, dimly lit, intimate, tiny dining and drinking spaces that are found in little nooks and crannies all over the sprawling city. More than any other city I have been in, in Tokyo I feel like I own, just for that particular moment on that particular night, a little piece of my own delightful space in an utterly foreign and alien place.

The Sweetest Present, "This," and A Great Father's Day

I think I had previously mentioned the ritual that Lola and Michael have engaged in these past few months - going out to get coffee in the early evening.  When I can make it I will go with them, often meeting them at Starbucks on my way home.  As the ritual has evolved, it also includes stopping by the fruit stand on the way home and, often, picking up some fruit for Lola.  Michael likes to let her pick what she wants - and usually she will opt for a star fruit, or some plums, or an apple, or a variety of those things.

But sometimes I can't make it because I am stuck at work on a call or meeting.  In the past two weeks, once Michael and Lola went out on the weekend while I warmed up her dinner.  When they came back, Lola was nearly jumping out of her skin to rush into the apartment to give me her present.  She bought me a lemon!  Michael said it was the sweetest thing; they were at the fruit stand and after buying her fruit he asked Lola what she wanted to buy for me.  I don't know if she knows I love lemon and honey tea or if she simply wanted to buy me something she doesn't eat, but it was perfect!  What made it so sweet was that Lola usually likes to explore and wander on her way home, drawing out the two blocks as much as possible and thoroughly enjoying her adult excursion with daddy.  But this time Michael said she rushed them home as quickly as possible because she was so eager to deliver me her present. I practically melted when I heard that.

The next time they went out together while I was stuck at work, I returned at night to find a little surprise waiting for me on my pillow on my bed - another lemon!

Since then, on the nights I return home from work late and miss putting Lola to bed, I frequently return to a little present waiting on my pillow - whether it be a clay handprint or a painted strawberry or some little thing that she made in one of her classes that she leaves for me.  Michael of course helps her put it there and it's one of the most thoughtful gestures and best parts of my evening.

Michael has taken to growing a beard (sigh) and while he is free to experiment with his facial hair as he likes, Lola has certainly had an opinion about it.  When she kisses him, she immediately wrinkles her nose and says "this" and touches her own chin.  It is really cute. I am not sure that it's dislike, exactly; instead, it's more like commentary that she consistently provides every time she comes in contact with it.

Despite finding ourselves in the midst of a huge crowd and protest in Causeway Bay on Sunday, we still had a wonderful, fulfilling and really fun Father's Day.  We went to an early dinner at Frites, a Belgian pub like restaurant that happens to have a very simple kids play area, essentially a little table and chairs with a lot of plastic food toys.  It was enough to keep Lola entertained and us happy.  Lola was in a great mood.
 

Lola excited to eat her fish fingers - but they are hot hot hot!

Lola loves fish

Michael loves steak

And I love mussels!  We all win.

We all ate very well, especially Lola.  I think she eats with more gusto and relish when she is "eating with mommy and daddy."

Then it was time to open presents - Michael got an elephant frame colored and decorated by Lola, which he loves and I know will cherish forever,

 and beard oil (see what happened there?) and some wireless earbuds from me.

 We had a really great day and I think Michael felt special and loved.  Lola wished him a "Happy Father's Day" and said multiple times that she loved baba.  Prickly "this" notwithstanding, she let him give her, and she gave him, kisses on the cheek.  So sweet!

Some Scenes from a Sunday Protest

As promised, here are some scenes from our little family excursion to Causeway Bay this past Sunday, when we thought that we could take Lola out and also run some errands (specifically, to visit a car dealership).  I hadn't paid much attention to the local news that morning and thought that, given the late night announcement of the retraction of the extradition bill, there would no longer be any protests on Sunday (or at least, a more minimal presence).

Imagine our surprise when we were told the buses were all detouring due to road closures and the closest stop we could get to was off the highway near Causeway Bay.  We quickly realized we had underestimated the size and scale and starting point of the march, when at the designated bus stop we saw streams and streams of people dressed all in black shirts, walking slowly and steadily toward Percival Street.

We made many mistakes on our route (taking the bus instead of the MTR, heading toward Gloucester Road and Percival Street instead of a side street, and remaining on the street level instead of taking a sky bridge to get across the main protest artery).  Basically, we did everything wrong and found ourselves so far in the thick of the protests that, despite being so close to our ultimate destination, we simply could not get through.

While we failed in achieving our errand, it was an extremely interesting experience and Lola was completely in her element despite the hundreds of thousands of people.  She is a city girl not at all fazed by complete congestion and chaos. 
 

There was one photographer on the closed off bridge taking pictures of the crowd below.  Can you see him, one lone speck above?  He must have gotten some great shots:

 Michael, Lola and I really stood out in the sea of black (we were wearing blue, polka dotted and bright red, respectively). Whoops.

Eventually, we gave up on our original destination and took the only way out - down a tiny alleyway.

 

 

 

I have to say, I am so proud of the Hong Kong people.  It was an incredibly peaceful, calm and methodical protest.  No one was acting violently and everyone seemed united by a common purpose.  I don't know how late or how long the protest went, but the huge outpouring of support despite the retraction of the bill in some ways made it more powerful - a message that the people here will not be easily soothed by words but rather by actions.

We shall see how long Carrie Lam can remain in power - it's a bit of a pointless exercise, though, because even if she resigns, Beijing will just appoint another sympathetic civil servant who will continue to do the Central Communist Party's bidding while taking the fall for it and claiming that any policy or legislative change is really his or her idea.

Sitting on the Tarmac and Pondering the Future of Hong Kong

Apologies for the long lag in posts - it's not for lack of desire to update everyone!  But it was a hectic week last week as I ended up going to Beijing for a last minute business trip (then getting stranded for an extra day because my return flight was canceled and I had to make my return flight work around an important call that I had).  I wrote this blog post while sitting on the tarmac in the Hong Kong airport, about to head to Beijing on Wednesday night, the day Hong Kong erupted in one of the largest day of protests of recent times. 

I had great intentions to post it, but while in Beijing, the censors slow down the internet so much that it is a real pain to blog, especially because blogger, google, whatsapp, etc. don't really work.  I also hesitated to publish the post while there - it seemed a bit like poking the bear in his native habitat, which, while I have no delusions that the long arm can reach me in Hong Kong, felt a bit too cavalier in light of the seriousness of the recent political events.

Since I wrote this post last Wednesday, the protesters in Hong Kong were successful in repudiating the vote.  The chief executive of Hong Kong has pulled back the extradition bill and issued an apology.  However, despite the retraction, there was yet another protest this past Sunday - perhaps the biggest one yet - demanding her resignation and many other reforms.  I will cover this in another post, as Michael, Lola and I unwittingly found ourselves smack dab in the epicenter of the protest march!

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Hong Kong has been in the media spotlight for its demonstrations and protests for the first time since the umbrella movement in 2014.  I can’t believe that all took place nearly five years ago.  Seeing the metal barricades, the battalions of Hong Kong police, and most of all, the crowd equipped with goggles, face masks, plastic wrap and posters flooding into the streets near the Hong Kong legislative offices, brings back all of those memories.  My office building is situated right in the heart of all of the action.  It looks very sensational on the news but in practice it feels very routine.

The first big protest took place this past weekend, on Sunday June 9, due to the pending extradition law that would allow the transfer of fugitives to mainland China.  Today, June 12, was expected to be a very tumultuous day because the Hong Kong legislature was due to have a second reading on the bill mid-morning.  As of this afternoon, the protestors succeeded in preventing the government representatives from meeting, effectively postponing it.  Many large institutions situated in Admiralty and Central, like HSBC and Standard Chartered, had already issued notices last night to their employees to work from home today.  Our office sent out a message right after lunch on the day, asking everyone to go home due to the uncertainty of transportation options to get home.  I missed it because I was at the airport preparing to depart for my flight to Beijing.

I am now sitting on the tarmac in Hong Kong, and have been for the past two hours, and likely will for another two hours, in the familiar purgatory of any Beijing-bound traveler: completely subject to the merciless whim of the Chinese Communist Party.  We were already about half an hour delayed (not surprising at all) when our pilot came on with the dreaded announcement: after a lot of negotiating with the air traffic controller in Beijing, our flight would be delayed for another 2 hours.  Honestly, I would not be at all surprised if this were related to the huge protests that are taking place concurrently - perhaps Beijing is mad and seeking its vengeance in any shape or form!

Only time will tell how successful the Hong Kong people will be in this latest development.  This appears to be one of the many slow and steady encroachments on Hong Kong's independence, well ahead of the agreed handover date. I see it as a very troubling indication of its future, and a perfect example of China's classic behavior:  slow, steady encroachments to push beyond permissible boundaries - if they misjudge and push too hard, then they retreat but have lost no ground; but if they judge correctly or are lucky, then they have won an important victory and are closer to domination.   

The chief executive of Hong Kong, Carrie Lam, has been getting a ton of criticism and flak for her role in supporting the extradition bill.  I find her excuses for needing this extradition bill extraordinarily flimsy.  She used the example of the murder case earlier this year: a man accused of killing his girlfriend in Taiwan, who then fled to Hong Kong.  Taiwan has come out in no uncertain terms that they would not sign any extradition treaties with Hong Kong if it has any potential knock on effects for Taiwan's own principles of sovereignty/policies (another much more complicated and ongoing skirmish), so I fail to see how this extradition bill addresses what it purports to fix.  I don’t know if Lam will change her stance, but so far her position has been to stand firm and insist that the extradition bill must be passed.  People largely believe she is in the pocket of the Communist Party and essentially a puppet.  Latest news reports are that she has been getting death threats.

Interestingly, just last night I went to a fundraising event for the Asian Women’s University, an all-women’s university based in Chittagong, Bangladesh, with one of the most diverse student bodies in the world.  Some of the recent graduates were present, representing their home countries of Afghanistan, Palestine, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Vietnam… I found it so inspirational.  I had heard about some issues/infighting with the establishment and administration of the university, but I found it easy to forget all of that in light of the eloquent words of gratitude that these young women expressed for the independence, knowledge and freedom that their education provided to them. 

I mention this because the honorary speaker at the event was none other than Carrie Lam!  All of the attendees, myself included, were speculating whether she would actually show up.  There was a formidable security team (likely especially now, given all of the heightened tensions) but they managed to blend in very subtly with all the other suit-wearing male attendees.  But, to her credit, Carrie Lam did attend.  She gave a speech about being a civil servant (albeit quite mechanical and rote).  She apparently was born into a very average family in Hong Kong but was the lucky beneficiary of a good education.  She has been in the public service of Hong Kong her entire career – now spanning 39 years.  She is the first female to serve as the chief executive of Hong Kong.  She also touted some impressive statistics (impressive only in relation to the rest of the world) about Hong Kong and gender equality. 

I only warmed up to her at the very end when, done with her prepared speech, she relaxed a bit and got a little more personal.  With a twinkle in her eye, she admitted that she used to engage in protests as well, when she was a student.  Given the recent political backdrop, this confession drew a very surprised chuckle from the crowd. She said she went into civil service because she wanted to be an agent of change.  But when it came time to decide whether to change matters from the inside or from the outside, she thought she could try to effect that change from within.  This all struck me as so trite, and it was all I could do to refrain from rolling my eyes.  

But then she listed the characteristics that she thought important to being a successful civil servant – tenacity, integrity and courage.  She finished her speech by taking a deep breath and saying that courage was essential - as she braces herself to enter the fight of her political life, she needs to draw deep and find courage to face the challenges that are about to come her way.  That was such an honest admission that I couldn’t help but admire the break in her usually stoic (some might say robotic) veneer.  I may not think that she has acted properly or with savvy in this delicate and volatile dance between the "one country two systems," but I can absolutely see how her job requires an astronomical amount of courage.