Studio Ghibli and Shabushabu

On Sunday, I took the train to Kichijoji train station (Keiō Inokashira Line) to meet Sunouchi and his wife. We had lunch at a restaurant near the entrance to the Inokashira Park. Different dishes made with chicken.

We walked through the Inokashira Park to Studio Ghibli. Studio Ghibli is brilliant, designed to give little kids a really good idea of how animation and movies in general work behind the scene. Not kitschy at all. Splurged on gifts for the kids. Brilliant new short film about a sumo team of rats from a poor farmer's house.





After Studio Ghibli, we walked back to Kichijoji and I had dinner with Sunouchi and his wife. Shabushabu and Sukiyaki. Yin and yang pot. Boiling water in one part for shabushabu and boiling water with soy sauce for Sukiyaki.

Thin slices of beef and pork and unlimited veggies and sprouts and mushrooms. Dipping sauces. Raw egg for Sukiyaki. Sesame sauce and a sour soy sauce for shabushabu. Add chopped chives and a spicy radish chutney and the sauce becomes very yummy. Cook the thin slices lightly in the soup dip them in the sauce and eat. Yummy. 2000 JPY each, so not very expensive either. Very nice. Apparently the place was a famous chain.

Tsukiji and Ginza

On Saturday, I took train to Tsukiji fish market. Really deep underground line. I walked around the market and had nice Sushi lunch for about 2000 yen.

Then I walked to Ginza. On the way I passed the Kabuki-za, the Kabuki theater. I did not see the show because the timing did not work out. May be next time.


Ginza is large, beautiful and rich. Ginza Wako building with the watch tower is one of the few buildings that was not destroyed during WWII.

I also saw Mikimoto Pearl company in Ginza. Cheapest thing on display a one Pearl necklace was over 2000 USD. Hah. I had Anmitsu at this swanky dessert place (tea house) called natsunoya? 12000 yen. Got a nice seat on the second floor and watched ginza crowds while eating dessert. Anmitsu is transparent gelly sqaures sweet bean red bean icecream, raw sugar syrup, and mochi balls called Shiramitsu. I am addicted.

Chicken liver sashimi

I had raw chicken liver, raw chicken gizzards, semi-raw chicken meat and semi-raw beef for dinner at a restaurant called Tamoiyansei in Shibuya. It was very tasty paired with thinly sliced pickled onions and flavored oil type sauces. Washed down with cold shochu.

Kyoto

I had booked a round-trip on Shinkansen (bullet train) and one night's stay in Kyoto from the US. The Shinkansen totally lived up to my image of what the bullet train should be like (last year I had taken the TGV from Zurich to Paris and that was a let down).

Kyoto is quite unlike Tokyo. It's old. It's scale is smaller. There are neighborhoods of old grand houses and not so grand old houses and they are all beautiful. You find perfectly manicured trees on a random street in a random neighborhood. Old houses behind an arch and a curving stone path that leads to the house. Often a bonsai tree is the centerpiece of the courtyard. Often there are little shrines on one side. The overall effect is soothing and welcoming at the same time.

I probably saw about 30 percent of Kyotos shrines and temples I'm the two days I was there. I could happily have spent a week. I took a hike on the hills behind the shrines just walked randomly as the path would lead me and I reached a multilevel cemetery on the hillside.the Japanese graves are elaborate but compact. There were parts that were well tended some shrines had flowers but there were parts as I climbed higher that were old and spooky. I had a wonderful time walking the hillside.

Kamakura

I went to Kamakura today, saw the huge kamakura buddha (Kotokuin - Daibutsu), did a a two hour hike to reach Zeniaraibenzaiten and then went and saw the Tsurugaoka Hachimangu shrine to the emperors. 50 minutes by local train from Shibuya, where I am staying.

 
In Kamakura, I came across a Soba restaurant, tucked away from the street and accessible via this narrow lane. It was quintessentially Japanese in my mind. The shrubbery, the lighting, the non-regular tile pattern, the little bamboo partition, old wooden furniture, it was classic. I went in, sat down, asked for the menu and they said on the menu that the noodles are wheat noodles and allergic people should not eat them, so I got up and left :(. I wish I could have eaten there.

For lunch, I had these cold flat rice noddles dipped in jaggery syrup (Kuzukiri) and hot green tea soup at (Maccha) at a restaurant called Minowa in Kamakura. Delicious.

Tokyu Foodshow

Tokyu is a train company in Japan. They also own malls. In the ground floor and basement of the Shibuya train station, there have retail space that is filled with food vendors and they call it "Tokyu Foodshow". I discovered this on my first day in Japan and I spent much time wandering int the food show, buying this or that delectable morsel and consuming it.

Tokyo afternoon tour

The coinceirge at Cerulean Towers suggested that I take the "Tokyo afternoon tour with river cruise" and that's exactly what I did. The building in the picture was designed by Philip Stark and is supposed to be a beer glass with foam on it. But the final effect is slightly unfortunate. The Japanese apparently call it the "shit beer" building.

Cerulean Towers

I am staying at Cerulean Towers in Shibuya, on the 26'th floor. This is the night view of Shibuya from my hotel room. My office is on the 6'th floor. Very convenient.