What's up everyone. I am up in Niigata, Japan for a gem and mineral show. Geography lesson, Niigata is on the west coast of Japan, a bit North of Tokyo and about 2.5 hours from Tokyo by shinkansen, or a 4.5 hour drive. It's a fairly large city, but spread out so it's not as dense as some other areas.
From what I understand it's known for it's agricultural production as it is on a large plain, similar to Tokyo.
As I mentioned I am up here for a gem and mineral show I am part of called Mineral Marche, https://www.mineralshow.net
This is our first time participating in this event, but Marche has has been doing it for several years. I think it's gonna be a good one as I have already sold over $500 to other dealers even before the even starts!
Another thing I am excited about is hooking up with 
Anyway, I'm staying in a nicer hotel this time, the Toei Hotel. It's a business hotel, which means the rooms are smaller than a standard hotel, but still all the amenities are there and it only cost about $35 a night due to lack of tourists.
While walking from the station to the hotel I cam across a Mexican food restaurant. While you can get Mexican food in Tokyo, I was pretty surprised to find it here in Niigata.
Naturally, I dropped any stuff off at the hotel and headed out for dinner at Arcoiris, Acro Iris.
The interior was definitely reminiscent of my early day spent in bars in Tijuanna when we were still in High School. It was a lot safer back then, despite the marines.
The menu was pretty damn good for a Mexican place. They have all the favorites, burritos, tacos, nachos, fajitas and of course Corona!
I decided to get some chips and guac and try 3 different soft tacos, beef, pork and chicken.
The chips and guac were authentic, but could have used some lime to spice it up a bit. Still delicious.
Let me also say, the tacos are only $3.50 each which is a damn good deal seeing as that is about the same price as one in California.
Anyway, first I tried the beef. It had jalapeños as the topping. I was a bit disappointed in these. The beef lacked much flavor and the jalapeños were not hot at all. I'm fairly weak when it comes to spicy foods, even though I love them, and for me to be able to bite into jalapeños and feel no heat really caught my attention.
Next up was the pulled pork taco. This thing was incredible. There was some kind of relish, maybe jalapeño along with onions and some sauce. The combination was pretty close to perfect. So much so, I set it down and went for the chicken in hopes I might save the rest of the best pork for last.
The chicken taco was interesting. The ingredients were all cool/cold. It actually went down really easily, tasted great and I can imagine eating these on a hot day, all day.
I finished the meal off with the last of the pork taco, savoring every bit. Man it was delicious.
Overall, this place was really good. Even the lackluster beef taco was still totally edible. Nothing was bad and I would definitely recommend trying it out if you are in Niigata.
Arco Iris is located at 〒950-0087 Niigata, Chuo Ward, Higashiodori, 1 Chome−1−1 第５マルカビル 1F
I posted this on 
Tomorrow is the first day of the gem and mineral show and then me and the Niigata guys are gong out to an all you can eat & drink Yaki Niku! I'll try and post about that tomorrow night as well.
Until then, Fuck COVID! Live again!