Tokyo in Small Doses

I'm in Tokyo for 24 hours. Coming to Tokyo as a visitor is so much better than living here as a resident - I feel no hate for it, just detached apathy. It's hard to experience all the things that annoyed me as a Tokyo resident in just 24 hours, because what led me to hate Tokyo was the build-up of a thousand tiny infractions to my soul. In a 24 hour period, it's 2 or 3 infractions at most, and that I can deal with. In fact, during a 24-hour visit, it's actually quite nice. I love how Japan is just so....Japanese. As a visitor, it brings a sense of almost-serenity to my soul, whereas when I lived here, it only brought annoyance and anger.

I met up with T for dinner - when asked what was the first thing I wanted to eat in Tokyo, my answer was Ippudo ramen. A bowl of steaming hot melted down smoky pork fat broth with thin, chewy noodles, soft-boiled flavored egg and marinated bean sprouts is the kind of artery-clogging, lip-smacking deliciousness that you can only get in Japan. I hope I have enough time after my meeting to pick up sushi to go from my favorite casual sushi place to take on the plane...I'm tempted to head over to Sushi Zanmai in my PJs to pick up some toro for breakfast (they open 24 hours), but it's freaking cold outside and I guess I don't love sushi more than I hate being cold.