We flew from Shanghai to Osaka - the most memorable things about the flight were the swine flu questionnaires (have you been to mexican, met a mexican or worn a sombrero in the last two weeks) and also the inflight entertainment which consisted of a live camera of the planes view on both take off and landing - quite a scary sight.
It was lunch time by the time we got to Osaka, got through quarantine and collected bags etc so we stayed in the airport to get some grub. I was quite worried about this as both my travelling companions were huge Sushi/Sashimi fans and I don't really even like fish (unless it is covered in batter and mushy peas) - but with a week of Japan ahead of me and some client dinners coming up everyone thought it was best if I tried it now and decided what I liked, so we ordered a huge plate of mixed raw fish. I didn't expect to like it at all but it was delicious - I think we had eel, salmon, tuna, yellow tail, mackerel, roe and a few others. Occasionally i got a huge mouthful of wasabi which takes your breath away a little but overall it was amazing.
After eating we got onto the bullet train and headed straight to Kyoto where the clients were meeting us. Kyoto was the only major city of Japan not bombed during the second world war - it was saved due to its history- and as a result it still has a lot of its original post war buildings. That evening we went to a restaurant in the oldest part of Kyoto - Gion. The streets around here were tiny little alley ways lined with Geisha houses, Monastery's and old restaurants. We were taken to a place that was over 600 years old and apparently where Shabbu Shabbu Beef was invented.
The surroundings for the meal were superb - it was just like in some of the old japanese movies. We were told that the antiques and decoration were all original and that many of the items on display were the same age as the building and worth up to 10million Yen (£1m). I got told not to touch anything - wise advice. For the meal we had to sit on the floor cross legged for the duration - the table was low and there were no chair backs. After about 20 minutes my legs were killing and I had to break etiquette by sprawling my legs out all over the place.
The beef was fantastic. Shabbu Shabbu is basically thinly cut carpaccios of wagyu beef (a special beef known for its marbelling and fine taste) that you then dip into boiling water for about 3o seconds before applying various spreads and dips - like chinese hot pot. The beef tasted so fresh - it was delicious. You also throw into carrots and potatoes and other vegetables to complete the dish. It's called shabbu shabbu because of the noise that you make when you wash the beef in the water.
After the meal we stepped out of the restaurant and i was amazed to see a Geisha pass me by in the street - i didn't really think that they existed anymore other than in films - we followed this geisha round the corner and were lead into an original Geisha house. Here three young geisha and their old mistress (whom used to be a geisha herself) spoke about what it meant to be a geisha and they played guitar and sang songs for us. The older lady said she was quite saddened how westerners saw geisha as prostitutes when they are really just confidants and friends.
My boss told me afterwards that we only got in to these places because of the clients we were with (some of them work quite high up in the Japanese government) and without them no foreigner would be allowed anywhere near the restuarant or the geisha house, no matter how much money they had. Boss said it was one of the best experiences he had in Japan in over 20 years of visiting. After the geisha house we headed back to the hotel - I had some work to do on the back of the meeting and it had to be done despite the huge amount of sake and whiskey imbibed. Once i had finished I went for an explore of the city and then to bed.
