CHERRY BLOSSOMS AND ROBUCHON

To our disappointment, we learned that the early blooming of the Sakura ten days ago....stopped, with cold weather. Thus, the chances were that we would not see anything. But we took the JR Yamanote Line to Shinjuku Station and walked to Shinjuku Park. There is a small charge, but the guards said that we should come back in two weeks, so we did not even enter. This photo was from four years ago when on April 4 there were a lot of blossoms.

We then took the Marunouchi Red Line Tokyo Metro to Ginza Station, and transferred to the Hibiya Line to Ueno Park. Incidentally we this time had no Japan Rail Pass, and paid for these rides using a Suica card which we added around $50. This amount should cover several days of riding about in Tokyo.

At Ueno Park, we were met by my Blue Bar Pigeon. Looked up the walk path where in the past it was all white and pink. This time, nothing. The season officially starts here tomorrow, March 22 with the Ueno Sakura Festa 2024. Lights go on and it is supposed to look like the above.

In Japan, goen or koen means park. Ueno Koen was established in 1873 early in the Meji Period. There are major museums here and a zoo, Draws more than 10 million annually.

There are 1200 cherry trees here. You'd never be able to guess which park has the largest number of Sakura. It is Branch Brook Park Alliance in New Jersey with 5300 trees in 18 varieties.

Well, anyway, we did see a a couple of trees at the Ueno Park entrance just about beginning to bloom.

We then walked back to Ueno Station, and in the midst of the shopping street with all the stalls, we saw this.

If that Buddha-looking statue were 30 feet tall, this tree would be huge. However, it is 3-feet high, so here is another photo.

This will nevertheless be the most filled sakura tree we'll see on this trip to Japan.

Returned back to the Tokyo Westin, took a bath and had a nap. Then up to the executive lounge where I had a champagne. Our table had a nice view of Tokyo Tower. To the left further in the background is Tokyo Tree, at 2008 feet, about double the height of any other structure in Japan.

Then on to Robuchon for an extravagant supper. I looked fashionable with my ascot.

The entrance to Robuchon's. Decor in chandelier and black.

I had a gin martini and glass of red wine. We took the one and two appetizer and two main entre option. I can mention my L'Oursin creamy organic spelt heat risotto served with sea urchin and green peas, but will stop there and just show you what we ate with the various carts.

Bread cart.

Caviar dish.

Many dishes came under glass.

The outstanding dish of the night was the roasted Kyoto duck with Acacia honey and coriander seeds, glazed turnip with duck liver. Most of the dishes were tiny, but this one featured a whole duck for two people. This serving alone and nothing else would have filled us.

Cheese cart. Asked for both blue cheeses.

Nuts and dried fruits.

Dessert cart.

Had their chocolate souffle special.

The table next to us really enjoyed their meal.

Petit four cart.

We asked for someone to pack these petit fours, but they said no. Something to do with liability. They did give us a gift package on our way out. A truly great supper.

Dinner began at 7PM and went on to almost 10PM, which was the equivalent of 3AM Hawaii time. I was exhausted. Those 14,706 steps actually represented the number from home in Honolulu to one full day in Tokyo.

A NEXT COVID SUBVARIANT?

By now most know that the Omicron BA.5 subvariant has become the dominant infectious agent, now accounting for more than 80% of all COVID-19 cases. Very few are aware that a new one, BA.4.6, is sneaking in and steadily rising, now accounting for 13% of sequenced samples . However, as BA.4.6 has emerged from BA.4, while there is uncertainty, the scientific sense is that the latest bivalent booster targeting BA.4 and BA.5 should also be effective for this next threat. One concern is that Evusheld--the only monoclonal antibody authorized for COVID prevention in immunocompromised individuals--is not effective against BA.4.6. Here is a reference as to what this means. A series of two injections is involved. Evusheld was developed by British-Swedish company AstraZeneca, and is a t ixagevimab co-packaged with cilgavimab . More recently, Los Angeles County reported on subvariant BA.2.75.2 . which Tony Fauci termed suspicious and troublesome. This strain has also been spreading in

Part 3: OUR NEXT AROUND THE WORLD ODYSSEY

Before I get into my third, and final, part of this cruise series, let me start with some more newsworthy topics. Thursday was my pandemic day for years. Thus, every so often I return to bring you up to date on the latest developments. All these subvariants derived from that Omicron variant, and each quickly became dominant, with slightly different symptoms. One of these will shock you. There has been a significant decline in the lost of taste and smell. From two-thirds of early patients to now only 10-20% show these symptoms. JN.1, now the dominant subvariant, results in mostly mild symptoms. However, once JN.1 infects some, there seem to be longer-lasting symptoms. Clearly, the latest booster helps prevent contracting Covid. A competing subvariant, BA.2.86, also known as Pirola , a month ago made a run, but JN.1 prevailed. No variant in particular, but research has shown that some of you will begin to lose hair for several months. This is caused by stress more than anythi

HONOLULU TO SEATTLE

The story of the day is Hurricane Milton, now a Category 4 at 145 MPH, with a track that has moved further south and the eye projected to make landfall just south of Sarasota. Good news for Tampa, which is 73 miles north. Milton will crash into Florida as a Category 4, and is huge, so a lot of problems can still be expected in Tampa Bay with storm surge. If the eye had crossed into the state just north of Tampa, the damage would have been catastrophic. Milton is a fast-moving storm, currently at 17 MPH, so as bad as the rainfall will be over Florida, again, a blessing. The eye will make landfall around 10PM EDT today, and will move into the Atlantic Ocean north of Palm Bay Thursday morning. My first trip to Seattle was in June of 1962 just after I graduated from Stanford University. Caught a bus. Was called the Century 21 Exposition . Also the Seattle World's Fair. 10 million joined me on a six-month run. My first. These are held every five years, and there have only been

Search This Blog