Tonight, Sachi and I went to a Yakitori place that we found online. Comments said that the food was delicious, so we decided to give it a try. It’s on the north side of Hibarigaoka Station, so when I got home from work, Sachi took the bus up to meet me, and we went to the place.

Having just moved from Ikebukuro, we are used to the kind of place you find in the city–nice, but cloistered, separate–you have nothing to do with the other clients, and the restaurant people leave you alone. Kitaro is the kind of place where you sit at different tables, but everybody has a good time together. The “master” took to us from the start, and we became part of the “in crowd” very quickly. As we ordered food, there was stuff thrown in–an extra Yakitori here, complimentary beers for us before we left–and always, conversation.

We were given a nice seat near a small gallery of drawings, and a white-haired and bearded gentleman at the end of the counter turned out to be the artist–and drew portraits of us both. We engaged in a lot of talk, and had a good time. It’s a lot like going to the bar in “Cheers,” in some ways–you feel like you’ll always be welcome there.

And, like the reviews said, the food is excellent.