Culturally speaking, yakitori is as about Japanese as sumo wrestling, origami and the cultivation of square watermelons.
Spiritually, however, there is something profoundly Scottish about your average yakitori experience; a lot of drinking, smoking, ribbing and swearing accompanies the joyful devouring of mysterious gizzards.
It was fitting, therefore, that I was escorted to the zenith of yakitori restaurants -- Iseya in Kichijoji -- by Glaswegian Ali Campbell.