Ninjaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Have I ever mentioned how much I love the theme restaurants in Tokyo? Because I do. Last night we went to a fantastico theme restaurant called Ninja. It was groovy. Groovilicious even. But a tad on the pricey side. It was in one of the swankier areas of Tokyo. I like the swank. ANYWAY...

From the outside it looked like a crazy black box but not reeally box shaped...sort of like a box with too much stuff in it so the sides bulge out. And it was all ridgy. And there was a small sign which was just their logo all backlit and swanky. I dug it. Inside it was...black! And the staff were all dressed up in ninja attire (more black...gee, why did I like it?).

It was quite lovely and mysterious really. To get to our table we had to be led by a ninja (they called it our ninja training) through a series of narrow hallways with hidden doors and boobytraps. One section that made me particularly happy involved what looked like a missing section of the floor with a stony crevasse (I said crevasse! tee hee) with plants growing on the rocks and whatnot. It was all jungly and cool and we thought it was probably covered in glass and we'd have to walk across it but no! Our ninja trainer clapped her hands and summoned a bridge. It was great. There were lots of spots where we had to duck to go through and then finally we got to the seating section of the restaurant and it was still dark but lovely and we had a private room and the walls looked kind of cavey. I didn't know that ninjas lived in caves but hey, why quibble. Our room was called Something Japanese I Can't Remember Semi. A semi is a japanese cicada.

The food was pretty expensive but the presentation was beautiful. It was like in those 80s movies where poor people go out somewhere for dinner and the food comes in tiny portions and it looks more like art than food and then afterwards they go to McDonalds for a cheeseburger. We didn't do that because Kumiko, Kazuki, Kohsuke and I just ordered a lot of small things and shared so we were full. Ish. Comfortably not hungry. It was quite delicious.

Kumiko didn't like it so much because she said our waiter had a bad attitude. I think he didn't really know what to do with a room full of foreigners. Our friend Ben is a tall australian and every time he stood up his head would hit the bamboo light thingys and the waiter would shriek "please be careful!" "please watch out!" It was kind of funny really. And then he got a little bit pissy because we don't really order like japanese people. Usually one person does most of the ordering and then everybody just shares so sometimes waiters find it annoying to go around and take orders from everyone individually. But it all worked out in the end.

And then when we'd finished eating another ninja guy came and did magic tricks for us. It was great. He knew a little english and kept shrieking "I am ninjaaaa!" So fun. He was quite amusing. Happiness is a magic making ninja. Yes indeed.

I almost forgot to tell you about the fun thing! Shae and Moody both ordered this salad (which was supposed to be large portion but it SO wasn't - was it Moody?) but the cool thing is that it came out in this fun glass bowl on a wooden box and inside the box was a red light and some dry ice so it was all glowy and there was smoke billowing out everywhere. I don't think they were too impressed as it really was quite small but hey, it made me happy! Woo hoo! Glowy, smoky dinner! I think they should serve everything that way. EVERYTHING! Okay bye!

Nin! (that's what ninjas say. I don't know why. )