More Tokyo

There was nothing sake-related to report on Monday, although I did win $10.00 from Rob on a bet about a book and that's very newsworthy, although maybe not because I nearly always win my bets with Rob.

On Tuesday (March 11th) we went to Mr. Nitta's (of Yushodo) "friendship" dinner for about 25 booksellers. The dinner was at Kagurazaka, a fish restaurant at the Umi Hotel. As Nitta-san hosted the dinner, we didn't actually see menus, so I'm not sure what sake I had, but the restaurant's web site assures me that it was "the best-selected sake that goes best with the fish." Nitta-san and his wife, Mrs. Nitta-san, are two of my favorite hosts, always gracious and always generous, and, most importantly, always fun! Mr. Nitta, Rob and Robert Frew (who has a way with profanity that I very much appreciate) were drinking shochu with a nice, big ume dropped in, and that really got the party started.



Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were book fair days, so we were very busy. Happily, we got to have a nice dinner Friday night with our friends, "Masa and the other Masa" (they gamely let us refer to them this way), and they are fun Japanese academic party animals. They seem to be very amused by me as I'm interested in antiquarian books, cats and the Japanese cat cafes (here's one), and sake. One of the reasons it's fun to hang out with these guys is that they're both brilliant English professors and they alway bring a bunch of questions for us. They want me and Rob to explain the meaning of things like "riding shotgun." Sometimes they ask us the same questions year after year and I wonder if they are looking to catch us explaining things which we know nothing about.