Day 5: Wednesday, November 26
Our day began at a normal time for once--10am--with coffee at a Starbucks-like chain called Tully's in Shinjuku, not far from our hotel. We then headed to East Shinjuku, an area that beckoned with its copious neon; we've eyed it from the subway station each time we return home. Though it was too early in the day for the neon to show its true splendor, the area was a distinct shift from the other areas of Shinjuku we'd seen: seedier, dirtier, much more Times Square circa 1989. The highlight was walking along the narrow alleys of Golden Gai, a collection of tiny bars (five or six counter stools) with doors so narrow that the majority of Americans would be unable to fit through. These bars are notorious for the after-work debauchery of Tokyo's "salarymen," and I'd read that a) not many of the bars welcome foreigners, and b) if you do go in, know what you're getting into, because it's entirely possible you'd be charged $100 for a beer. True or not, we'll never know.
Heading for less sketchy territory, we headed to the Isetan department store. We wanted to see the depachika (food shops) in the basement, famous for both their quality and their amazingly beautiful wrapping. Each counter in the depachika was like a tiny museum showcase, with the goods--macaroons in every color of the rainbow, pastries as intricately decorated as jewelry, individually wrapped pears and apples for upwards of $5 each. If we'd purchased anything, it would have been painstakingly wrapped in beautiful paper and ribbon. I really want to move to Tokyo and have a big dinner party now so that everyone will bring us wrapped food.
Next we headed to Asakusa for lunch and sight-seeing. We chose a restaurant called Sometaro, an okonomiyaki restaurant. Okonomiyaki are basically filled pancakes that you cook yourself on a griddle on your table. Finding the restaurant was difficult--there were no Roman letters on any of the restaurants on the street, only kanji characters--but we eventually did. Inside, we removed our shoes, placed them in plastic bags, and were led to a low table. It was a struggle for Andrew to fold his legs into a comfortable seated position, and it was a good thing no one was sitting next to us--they would have had his feet in their laps. I ordered a pancake with pork, green onion, kimchi, and cheese. Andrew ordered one with ground meat, cheese, and "pizza sauce." The ingredients came to our table in bowls, and after we indicated that we needed help with the process, the waitress expertly mixed everything up, fired up our griddle with fat, and fried up the cakes while Andrew shamelessly snapped pictures. They were delicious.
Next stop: the Senso temple, an ornate, crowded temple surrounded by interesting shopping streets. At the temple I finally got my temple book--a blank book of fanned pages on which a calligrapher at each temple in Japan will write for a small fee. I'd tried to get one on Monday, but they were sold out at the Meiji shrine. The calligrapher even inscribed "Littell" on the front in kanji. The temple was beautiful, and the atmosphere was more bustling meeting-place than place of worship.
The last stop of the night was Roppongi, the nightlife center of Tokyo. Tons of ex-pats live in Roppongi, and it's both extremely crazy and extremely expensive. We walked for a bit around Roppongi Hills, a landmark building that contains offices, apartments, a Grand Hyatt, a shopping mall, and lots of fancy restaurants. It's an entire city in once place.
We eventually met our friend Atsh and his girlfriend for dinner. This time he took us to a Korean barbeque restaurant, where we grilled pieces of beef at our table--delicious.
It's 12:30am now, and I'm off to bed; tomorrow we leave Tokyo for a night in Nikko, then it's on to Kyoto. Oh, and I've developed a mild addiction to the 100-yen stores--more about these in a future post.
I'm too tired to include pictures in the post tonight, but here are just a few to illustrate our day:
The Senso temple
Watching my lunch being prepared. My thought at this moment: "I hope that pork cooks enough on this griddle."
Macaroons at the Isetan department store
Bars within the Golden Gai
Heading for less sketchy territory, we headed to the Isetan department store. We wanted to see the depachika (food shops) in the basement, famous for both their quality and their amazingly beautiful wrapping. Each counter in the depachika was like a tiny museum showcase, with the goods--macaroons in every color of the rainbow, pastries as intricately decorated as jewelry, individually wrapped pears and apples for upwards of $5 each. If we'd purchased anything, it would have been painstakingly wrapped in beautiful paper and ribbon. I really want to move to Tokyo and have a big dinner party now so that everyone will bring us wrapped food.
Next we headed to Asakusa for lunch and sight-seeing. We chose a restaurant called Sometaro, an okonomiyaki restaurant. Okonomiyaki are basically filled pancakes that you cook yourself on a griddle on your table. Finding the restaurant was difficult--there were no Roman letters on any of the restaurants on the street, only kanji characters--but we eventually did. Inside, we removed our shoes, placed them in plastic bags, and were led to a low table. It was a struggle for Andrew to fold his legs into a comfortable seated position, and it was a good thing no one was sitting next to us--they would have had his feet in their laps. I ordered a pancake with pork, green onion, kimchi, and cheese. Andrew ordered one with ground meat, cheese, and "pizza sauce." The ingredients came to our table in bowls, and after we indicated that we needed help with the process, the waitress expertly mixed everything up, fired up our griddle with fat, and fried up the cakes while Andrew shamelessly snapped pictures. They were delicious.
Next stop: the Senso temple, an ornate, crowded temple surrounded by interesting shopping streets. At the temple I finally got my temple book--a blank book of fanned pages on which a calligrapher at each temple in Japan will write for a small fee. I'd tried to get one on Monday, but they were sold out at the Meiji shrine. The calligrapher even inscribed "Littell" on the front in kanji. The temple was beautiful, and the atmosphere was more bustling meeting-place than place of worship.
The last stop of the night was Roppongi, the nightlife center of Tokyo. Tons of ex-pats live in Roppongi, and it's both extremely crazy and extremely expensive. We walked for a bit around Roppongi Hills, a landmark building that contains offices, apartments, a Grand Hyatt, a shopping mall, and lots of fancy restaurants. It's an entire city in once place.
We eventually met our friend Atsh and his girlfriend for dinner. This time he took us to a Korean barbeque restaurant, where we grilled pieces of beef at our table--delicious.
It's 12:30am now, and I'm off to bed; tomorrow we leave Tokyo for a night in Nikko, then it's on to Kyoto. Oh, and I've developed a mild addiction to the 100-yen stores--more about these in a future post.
I'm too tired to include pictures in the post tonight, but here are just a few to illustrate our day:
The Senso temple
Watching my lunch being prepared. My thought at this moment: "I hope that pork cooks enough on this griddle."
Macaroons at the Isetan department store
Bars within the Golden Gai
Comments
First - get a 2-3 day transit pass that's good on both subway as well as surface bus routes. In the English language Kyoto Visitor Guide,there is a transit map that is easy to read and navigate.
Nijo Castle - absolutely a must. Just west of the Imperial Palace (you can visit that - you need to sign up the previous day but you can only get on the grounds)
Kyomiza dera Temple - after the temple take the walking path in the trees below the temple. Gold and Silver temples are nice and traditional visitor sites.
The traditional handicrafts museum in the convention center has the best display of how japanese crafts are made. then only a couple blocks north is the handicrafts shopping center -
If time permits - take the tour to Nara - touristy but worth it, buy biscuits for the deer.
If you stay in the central area around Karawamachi , there is a 5-6 block shopping area that has decent prices and interesting funds.
Bring back stories as well as pics.
andy and cindy