Jin and I got up a bit late this morning… as I said, lots of sake. We then made a quick (heh) trip to the Tsukiji Market, which is the world’s largest fish market. Most of the sushi in Japan goes through there, apparently. Anyway, we went as I recall there being a good knife store there from the Nenox Japanese web site, www.nenohi.co.jp.
We got there about 1 PM, and the place was pretty dead. Apparently things are hopping from 6 AM to about 10 AM, and then the day is done. We found a stall with the knives we wanted, but they only took cash and I didn’t have enough. However, they had a main store down the street, and there was a post office (which is the only place Plus or Cirrus works) nearby. So we headed over, got some cash, and went to the store. I eventually found Sean a nice Japanese vegatable knife (usuba), which is a a squared blade. You can see the style here: http://www.japanesechefsknife.com/HonKasumiGyokuseikou.html. Anyway, this knife was plenty sharp, but after I bought it, the owner of the store promptly took the knife to a sharpening block and put a razor edge on it! Man, this thing is sharp now! I’ll tell you later how Sean enjoys it.
We then headed back and Jin got me off on the Narita Express to Narita, where I hopped a flight to Beijing. The flight was fine — the only mistake I made was I exchanged 10,305 yen for 700 RMB… horrible exchange rate. I should have exchanged money at the Beijing Airport, where the stalls are open 24 hours and the rate is set by law at 8.24% — so they don’t completely rip you off. Ah well, live and learn. And expense. 
The cab ride to my hotel, the Shangri-La Beijing, was just under 90 RMBs, or about $12. Took 45 minutes. Wow Beijing is cheap….