Ice Bar and Whale Restaurant

For my friend's birthday, we decided to go out to the Ice Bar in Ginza, Tokyo to celebrate. Upon first entering, we were greeted by the employees and given a set of gloves and a large coat. Then, we went through a separate chamber in between the outside and the freezing inside. The inside decorations and furniture were all made of frozen ice. Even the cups that the drinks were served in were made completely out of ice.

After going to the Ice Bar, my friend whose birthday we were celebrating wanted to go to a certain restaurant. This restaurant turned out to be one that only served whale. We ordered whale bacon, whale sashimi, whale yakiniku, and whale yuke. My friend from America was bewildered by the fact that we were dipping our raw whale meat into raw egg. Everything tasted great. Ironically, I watched The Cove the next week for my visual anthropology class. I don't regret eating the whale, but the movie did make me think about the banning of whaling and the Japanese culture. Some say that the Japanese getting around the banning of whaling is just a sign that the government let itself be overpowered by major corporations' wishes, although whaling may just be a part of Japanese culture.




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