If our first meal in Japan was eaten shortly after arrival in the airport itself (at Hanayama Udon), we didn’t go so very far for our second meal either. Well, that’s both true and not true. It’s true that our dinner was located only about 100 feet from our apartment’s door in Morishita (a residential neighbourhood in Koto City); but we only arrived there after having walked a long distance in the heat and humidity. You see, our original plan had been to eat at Hinai Stand, a well-regarded yakitori restaurant in Monzen Nakacho/Mon Naka, about a 25 minute walk from us. But on arrival we were disabused of the notion that we could just walk in without a reservation. (Why didn’t we have a reservation? As at many restaurants in Japan, you can only make one on the phone and you need to be a Japanese speaker for that. There are services you can use to get around that but we didn’t bother with all that on this trip.) We made a reservation on the spot for the next day (Google Translate is a lifesaver in Japan) and walked back to our neighbourhood sushi spot: Yayoi Sushi. Here’s how it went. Continue reading →