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truck lunch

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

Today we attended a truck lunch festival in Tachikawa. Upon arrival, we were surprised to learn that there was a ¥1,000 entrance fee for anyone from outside Tachikawa. The fee for local residents was ¥500. Given that the thing was being hosted in one of the biggest parks in the west end of Tokyo, I would have imagined that the city would want to put its best foot forward, and not treat their guests that way. But, this is the land of mean, committee thinking so I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised.

The food inside was not, as you might expect with such a steep entrance fee, in any way discounted. Beer was ¥600, soft drinks ¥200, and most of the meals were above ¥1,000 - significantly more than a truck lunch in the city center on a work day. It was 13:30 when we arrived, and while the place was open from 10:00 through 16:00, we found quite a few places were sold out by that time. It was another off note. I feel that we could have understood these things going into the event, but it had been a busy day and any event I've been to of this sort in the past has been distinctly different - welcoming and with abundant food. But then, that was in Canada!

The first thing I tried was a 牛タン dish; cow's tongue. The meat was well cooked, but I was surprised at how small the portion was for ¥1,200 - it clearly wasn't like the ohotos. And unfortunately, I watched the fellow open a bag of prepared garnish, which took some of the appeal off the whole idea. But then happily we tracked down a "Hawaiian BBQ" place called "Nao Café" and here we struck gold. Mari and I were delighted with the food, and the portion was surprisingly was surprisingly good.

All in, I spent ¥3,500 just on truck lunch for myself, which is absolutely insane. I feel that Tachikawa missed the mark by a wide margin on this.

今日は立川で開催されたトラックランチフェスに参加した。到着して驚いたのは、立川市外の人は入場料が1,000円かかるということだった。地元住民は500円だった。東京の西の端で最も大きな公園のひとつで開催されるのだから、立川市は客をそのような扱いにはせず、最高のフットワークで臨むだろうと想像していた。しかし、ここは意地悪な委員会思考の国なので、驚くべきではなかったのだろう。

最初に試したのは牛タン。肉はよく焼けていたが、1,200円にしては量が少ないのに驚いた。そして残念なことに、その人が用意された付け合わせの袋を開けているのを見てしまった。しかしその後、嬉しいことに私たちは「ナオ・カフェ」という「ハワイアン・バーベキュー」の店を見つけ、ここで大当たりした。マリも私も大喜びで、量も驚くほど多かった。

全部で3,500円も使ってしまった。立川はこの点で大きく損をしたような気がする。

中の食事は、これほど高い入場料から予想されるように、決して安くはなかった。ビールは600円、ソフトドリンクは200円で、ほとんどの食事は1,000円を超えていた。到着したのは13時30分で、営業時間は10時から16時までだったが、その時間には売り切れている店がかなりあった。これまた注意書きがずれていた。しかし、その日は忙しかったし、過去に参加したこの種のイベントはどこも明らかに違っていた。しかし、それはカナダでのことだった！