Day 1 – Tempura Restaurant
Mr. Miyama happily greeted us at the airport and drove us immediately to his home in Chiba, on the outskirts of Tokyo. Our flight had been delayed, and by the time we’d arrived it was getting dark fast. Once at his house, Mr. Miyama reasoned that the first order of business was to get some food, and he took us to a local Tempura Restaurant. 
Owned by the chef and staffed by his wife and daughter, he cooked the tempura in front of us as we sat at the bar. I rather thought the clams were the best thing on the menu. They were an open shell tempura clam fried whole. It was delicious, tender and a little nutty like fried mushrooms. Unfortunately he didn’t have very many left, but he gave Brian and myself the last two. Additional items included eggplant (also excellent), asparagus, a purple Japanese sweet potato scallops and oysters. Of a more exotic flair, he served tempura fish (can’t remember the species, but it was a white fish) with fried backbone and a fried shrimp head. Both were very good.
