Sanuki Club

     Azabu Manor faces Roppongi i-chome, a neighborhood where skyscrapers dwarf single family homes huddled below the hush of the Shuto Expressway. Prince Charles, a stickler for tradition, would not approve of the mishmash that is Tokyo! Salvador Dali,on the other hand, would applaud the bizarre mix: Immediately below our Manor terrace lie rows of modest homes, some barely two arm-lengths wide. Predictably, by 8 AM the women of Azabu have hung out the laundry to dry on a rooftop or balcony. Behind the laundresses rises a cement slab eight stories tall:  At sundown a lamp appears in each window and every morning futons lean on the windowsills to air out.  Rather than Alcatraz this grim building was identified by one knowledgeable tomodachi as the Tokyo Sanuki Club.

    Tokyo is a town of private clubs, but the Sanuki Club is open to the public: It was designed as a ryokan (inn) for people from Shikoku, south of Tokyo it is the smallest and least populated of the four islands that comprise Nihon. Shikoku-ins come in by the busload, spend the night in the dorm-like setting at a reasonable rate and snap each other in front of the gray building upon leaving. "The Sanuki Club is famous for its udon restaurant," added tomodachi, referring to the noodles that are as long as shoe laces. Shikoku boasts hundreds of sanuki udon shops, and at the moment this dish is enjoying a boomlet.

    After staring at this cement rectangle for three years, I persuaded two tomodachis to meet me for a bowl of udon one sunny day during Golden Week. Penetrating beyond the gray exterior we entered a tasteful, traditional interior. The udon shop, on the mezzanine, offered a pretty lunch set for Y 1,500, which challenged this gaijin's ability to successfully lift and swipe the noodles into the dipping sauce. Secondly, the requisite slurping sound was difficult to replicate with the correct gusto. After nibbling a variety of delicacies served on small dishes, we repaired to the main floor where low wooden chairs allowed for a relaxing cup of coffee. Outside in the garden a trio on Japanese flute provided an impromptu concert. For one afternoon, we were transported to Shikoku.