Jon Siegel / ジョン 米岡

Our new neighborhood is starting to grow on me. At first I was reluctant to fully accept it. I am, without a doubt, surrounded by the creme de la creme of wealthy foreigners and their brood. It is a completely different world near my new place. Where once I was used to seeing the stray foreigner roaming around the neighborhood, now I am surrounded by full on American families with their blue eyed kids, giant dogs trailing behind chained by thick plastic leashes and a massive SUVs not far. The 24 hour McDonalds is filled with American-English speaking kids, the Segrafredo just up the street surrounded by a pack of shady looking Europeans and their cigarettes and tiny espressos. I feel like I am living between America and Japan, in some neutral zone where neither side is dominant, yet things never really sway too far in either direction. It’s not like Hawaii where a seemingly perfect fusion of Japan and America exist. No 7/11 carrying spam perched attop sushi rolls. I get the odd stare once in a while, maybe trying to sum up why I’m here and what I’m doing to earn my place in Hiroo. How I wish for one of them to ask. My response, “Pork Dish Laboratory Scientist,… of course.”* To which I would continue sipping my espresso and flick some dust off my shoulder. The big win with living here though, hands down, would be the amazing selection of restaurants and bars at our doorstep.

*see previous post

The restaurants and bars are just SO good, they erase any concerns I ever had about living in rich foreigner zone. My new favorite is this place called Agary. It’s a sort of Asian fusion open air cafe with this fantastic interior. Lining the walls are giant bottles of house made liquors, sho-chu mixed with various fruits and then aged for several years. They are beautiful and the lighting and trance-like music bring the place to life. The flavors are fantastic, pomegranite, apple, plum, even shiso leaf. The food is equally excellent with all sorts of Thai dishes and grilled meats. Besides Agary there’s a great sushi restaurant, a fairly decent late night Indian place and great hamburger joint. Even the Mexican place isn’t too bad. The best part though is instant access to the National Azabu supermarket, which stocks imported Western foods like pop tarts and feta cheese.

I would describe the other direction, towards our other access station Shirokane Takanawa but there’s really nothing there. We found a cute little Italian place that serves a cheap course with giant food but that’s about all. Oh, there is the Maison Kaiser, but that’s about the only great thing about that area. Otherwise the party’s over in Hiroo. That’s the story with my new neighborhood. I can’t say I don’t miss my last few apartments, but this really is the best one. I’ve never lived in such a comfortable place before.