We leave the Tokyo Westin at 6:30AM Sunday morning to catch a flight from Narita Airport to Singapore.  Thus, I won't have time to post an article that day.  So, I send this now, and not long after midnight Hawaii time will come a second posting to cover that absence.   By the way, did I tell you that it is cold in Tokyo?  44 F. As I indicated yesterday, I've been to Robuchon many times. Click on this  to see some of my previous visits.   Ten years ago I indicated that Joel Robuchon, a quarter century ago, was named Chef of the Century, and that he is five years younger than me. He first retired in 1995 at the age of 50. His cuisine is retrogressive, harking back to the earlier days of French cooking before all the micro-stuff you now see, called  molecular gastronomy , created in 1988, but only began to become prominent around 2000. He passed away five years ago at the age of 73. It was another perfectly clear day in Tokyo today, so we had a perfect view of Mount Fuji from sun

We're in the Plumeria Lounge of Hawaiian Airlines. Next stop, Haneda Airport.   It's alway so exciting to anticipate the coming of a global adventure.   Now, I want these trips to be as secure and comfortable as possible.  Thus, we are traveling business class, except for the Bangkok to Dubai to Munich leg being on Emirates first class.   I never asked, but I assume they don't practice Ramadan on their flights and airport lounge. In  2022 we caught an Emirates first class from Bangkok to Duba i.  Unlimited caviar, with showers on the plane.  Fabulous experience.   So we thought we'd double the pleasure.  It is 3000 miles from Bangkok to Dubai, but 3700 miles from Dubai to Munich. And a big plus.   Washington D.C. is reaching peak cherry blossom blooms now.   They said it's due to climate change.  Tokyo and D.C. are very similar in terms of weather.  Certainly, too, our first few days then will feature a surprisingly early Sakura season. So here is our entire around

  There are two major metropolitan regions in Japan. Kanto Means East of the Barrier, the Hakone checkpoint. Essentially, Greater Tokyo. Two watershed moments. The Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, which killed more than 100,000. Operation Coronet, the proposed land invasion of the Kanto plain during the latter part of World War II...which did not occur because the Atomic Bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki convinced Japan to surrender. Had a population of 43.23 million in 2019.  Was around 11 million in 1920. Kansai Means West of the toll gate, and was the center of feudal Japan.   Sometimes also called the Kinki region. But this second name has been less and less used because of the English word kinky, or perverted.  In 2016 Kinki University changed its English name to Kindai University.  Earlier, Kinki Nippon Railway Company became Kintetsu Railway in 2003, then Kintetsu Corporation in 2015. Includes Lake Biwa, the largest freshwater lake in the country. Major cities are Kyoto, Osaka an

Opening on Friday will be Japan's tallest living structure, the 1083 feet tall Mori JP Tower, replacing Osaka's Abeno Harukas.  Just bit shorter than Tokyo Tower. The lower floors will be for commercial facilities and the Keio University Center for Preventive Medicine.  The upper floors will be residences run by the Aman Group. Remember Aman?   The most expensive hotel in Tokyo .  The Ritz Carlton is #3. Mori Building was started in 1955 by an economics professor, who went on to build a real estate empire and become the RICHEST MAN IN THE WORLD.   Taikichiro Mori 's net worth in 1992 was $13 billion, double that of Bill Gate's that year.  Mori passed away the following year at the age of 88. Each building in Japan is named according to its chronological building date.  Mori Buildings was not only responsible for Roppongi Hills ( 2003 ) in Tokyo, but also the  Shanghai World Financial Center  ( 2008, 1614 feet, which at that was the second tallest in world ) and  Jakarta