Gen Kanai is a Japanese New Yorker who has been living in Tokyo for about 3 years.  In fact, he grew up within a couple of blocks from the Murray Hill neighborhood where we stayed in New York in December.

Anyway, Gen and I know some of the same folks and when plans were made to visit Tokyo, we made plans to meet Gen there.  Last night we went out to a very nice and tasty tempura restaurant called Ginza Tenkuni, which has been around since 1885. More on the food in a minute.

What excited me was learning about the Japanese gadgetry.  First, we met at the Apple store in the Ginza district and used their computers to find a restaurant.  Then, Gen put the restaurant's phone number into his GPS-enabled phone.  From that point, the phone guided us to the restaurant with voice commands as we walked through Ginza.  In Japanese, the voice from the phone would say "In 50 meters, turn right". I was very impressed.  Also, did you know that the Japanese don't use SMS (short message/chat)?  They use email for mobile text communications. This is the mobile GPS system...

Once we got to the restaurant, it was obvious that we had entered a very fine and traditional tempura house, which is a bit like a high class sushi bar, but only serving seafood and vegetables fried in a light batter. The quality of food was equalled by the japanese service and ambience that could be described as beautiful. The experience was quite a treat.

One of the dishes I had never had was the fried shrimp legs.  They were better than they sound- further proving my point that frying anything makes it better. :) 

 We owe a big thanks to Gen for his hospitality.