Tokyo Is Better Than Kyoto!
This is for our two new great friends, Tsuji and Masa!
Guli wanted to stop at a particular bar / restaurant type place to have sushi for her birthday. We went in, climbed upstairs, and sat down at the bar to Japanese menus. Uska (?) gave us an English translation and recommended an item. The guys at the end of the bar noticed we weren’t from around town and said hello. One of the guys, Masa, had lived and worked in the states for 5 years and Tsuji had been there several times on business. Tsuji really wanted to show us some of Japan in a way that we might not ordinarily see. He’d been well treated in the US and wanted to return the favor to some other foreign travellers. You could see in his eye that it truly came from his heart. Sometimes you can worry someone is going to take advantage but they seemed very on the level. Anyway, why wouldn’t you trust these guys?
We went out to this out of the way, tucked in down the street type place that was small but very inviting. I’m not ordinarily a fan of anything uncooked but this place was truly incredible. We were treated as honored guests and had great food and wonderful shochu (? – can’t vouch for a spelling there 
) and great conversation, some of which was obvious to all parties involved, while most of it went through Masa the translator.
Well, it’s late and the full story must wait, but I really wanted to give Tsuji and Masa a shout out because they treated us grandly and we can’t say enough good things about them. It truly was a wonderful evening and a special birthday for Guli that we will never forget. And since they wanted us to go on our travels beleiving Tokyo to be better than Kyoto, I’m going to say that Kyoto is going to have a heck of an act to follow!
Tokyo is better than Kyoto!
