buying beans

Yesterday I tried to buy lentils.  3 supermarkets and 1 foreign food shop later I was still empty handed - actually I had my hands full but not with lentils. (I spent a good 20 mins in one shop with no staff on hand looking for yeast - Australian supermarket logic I expect would have it with flour.  I eventually found someone to ask and found it in the home cooking section with hundreds and thousands, choc bits and maple syrup... )
In search of lentils and Indian curry paste - I trotted off to Okachimachi - the market area where Rory had 'piggy shoulders' so as not to get squashed in the new year crowds and Dad emphatically suggested keeping a hand on one:s wallet...  Lentils and dahl were easily found, Indian curry paste a little more problematic - I could get vindaloo or madras but had something a bit milder in mind....

I had a doner kebab in Okachimachi - another chalk up for the not much has changed column.  The same Turkish man was there and was so surprised to see me again he gave me a free drink.... hmmm... me thinks I eat too many kebabs....

It seems like NHK H1N1 warnings are not making a huge impact in this part of Tokyo - masks were few and far between on the Keihin Tohoku line.  Perhaps tomorrow on the subway will be a different story.