Aloe sashimi and the quiet city

That's all. I just wanted to show you this. It's at Kotatsu in Azabu Juban, and aloe sashimi is what it's called on the menu. The sauce is a spicy mustard miso. The aloe has an unusual texture, firm then a little slimy and then gone, like it was never in your mouth in the first place.
The restaurant was conspicuously empty for a Saturday night. They usually have enough traffic to have lines out the door and menu items that they only serve after 1 am, but when we got the check at 1:30, we were the only people in there. The barman was nodding off on his feet. A friend out in another part of town said both places she went were also empty. Did we miss a memo?