One thing I love in Tokyo is my local izakaya. An izakaya is a casual restaurant similar to a pub or tapas bar, where co-workers go to eat finger food, but generally the focus is more on drinking.

For over a year I didn’t know the name and affectionately called it, “the Local.” It is a homey, comfy place where I can sit alone at the bar and get some solid Japanese fare. Thankfully, there is an English speaker and, while it seems I am the only gaijin ever in there, they have recently brought out an English menu.

Ironically, on Tim’s first tour of duty in Japan, he went to the Local to practice his Japanese with the ever patient owner, Jun-san. Now, years later, it is me who practices Japanese with him.

Fish tanks with fugu (blow fish, the poisonous kind eaten as a delicacy in Japan). We call them the little swimming croutons.

Sake bottles line the wall. I drank the hachi-umi-yama brand or eight-sea-mountain.