Japan Part 2: Tokyo

Welcome back to Sites Unseen! Apologies for the continued lack of visuals. Google Photos and Word Press are not playing nice, and I am trying to resolve it. Pictures will be added as soon as the problem is solved. In the meantime, join me and the crew as we explore Tokyo!

After lots of travelling and, a fantastic dinner, and a good night’s sleep, we were ready finally ready to start exploring. Since we wouldn’t be heading to our first spot until the afternoon, we took it easy in the morning. For me, nothing strarts a trip like exploring local coffee shops, and since our hostel happened to be right between two of them, that made for the perfect opportunity! Breakfast included some wonderful coffee and a grape tart, topped with actual grapes and baked to a wonderful texture! It was a great way to start the day!

In the afternoon, a friend’s Dad brought us to Shibamata, famous for its kusadango, sweet Japanese rice dumplings made with ingredients such as red bean paste and yomogi, Japanese mugwort. It’s also the hometown of a famous Japanese character in popular fiction, Torajiro Kuruma, also known as Tora-san. Unfortunately, lack of familiarity with the character made that fact a little harder to appreciate. Still, it was nice to explore a part of Tokyo that is less busy or crowded with tourists.
Having never had them before, we decided to buy some kusadango for ourselves to try them out. The soft rice dumplings were complimented well with the slightly bitter yomogi and the sweeter red bean paste. It was a great first taste of Japan for the rest of the group, and for me, it was a reminder of why I love Japanese desserts and sweet. Tasty, but not overwhelmingly thick and sweet, the way many western desserts are. Not that I object to western desserts!
After our snack, we headed up to the Shibamata Taishakuten temple. It’s been a long time since I’ve had the chance to visit a temple in Japan, so this was a long awaited treat.
Unlike other temples in Tokyo, such as Sensoji in Asakusa, this one seemed relatively free of tourists, which meant it was much quieter. There is something to walking through quiet temple courtyards, and hearing the sounds of bells, gongs and other things used as part of the religious practice. There was a good deal of tactile things to explore as well, from some of the huge temple pillars to the wide gate leading into the compound, both of which were amazing to discover. There is certainly a difference between reading a description, and being able to experience it yourself! We wrapped up the day by going to a nearby restaurant for unagi, japanese eel. This restaurant had 200 years of history behind it, and the eel was expectedly delicious! This was also my first time eating hitsumabushi, a variation on the traditional ell on rice, by having different accompaniments such as nori (seaweed), wasabi, a broth made of dashi (Japanese soup stock), to be added in stages. This was the meal that made me truly felt like I’d come back to Japan, and it was an indescribably amazing experience!

Thursday, unfortunately, was a bit less eventful, because the Imperial palace was closed when we got there. We did, however, got to try Starbucks in Japan for the first time! I took my opportunity to try the sweet potato frap, which was a limited time drink for the fall. It may sound odd, but it was pleasantly sweet and creamy, much to my surprise, and I enjoyed it!
Friday, we went to Akihabara, famous for being the home of Anime, games, and every other kind of conceivable Japanese pop culture. After spending a few hours visiting arcades, figure shops, and even one of Japan’s infamous maid cafes (an experience worth its own article), we met up with a friend and headed to Shinjuku for some Okinawan cuisine.
Okinawa, though part of Japan today, was formerly its own kingdom, called Ryukyu. This, along with the fact that it’s im a more tropical climate, means that there are more ingredients from that climate, with bitter mellon, or goya, being the most popular. There is also a great deal more pork used in Okinawan cuisine. It’s hard to remember all the dishes we tried, but some of the standouts were certainly the Okinawa soba (noodles in a light broth with pork), somen champuru (thin stir-friend noodles with meat and vegetables), and mimiga (marinated pork ear).All of it was delicious, and a unique taste that is hard, if not impossible, to find in Canada!

The weekend flew by, with a visit to Asakusa on Saturday to try some Okonomiyaki and Monjayaki, both of which are fried Japanese dishes with Okonomiyaki commonly being compared to a Japanese pancake or pizza, and Monjayaki having a lighter, more runny consistency. We also stopped by the more crowded Sensoji temple, bought some souvenirs, and wrapped up the day by swinging by a local matsuri (Japanese festival), to take in the unique atmosphere of dancing, Japanese taiko drums, and the smell of fresh, and affordable, street food. Then on Sunday, we had some incredible tonkatsu (deep-fried pork cutlet) for lunch, and visited Japan’s famous shibuya scramble crossing, where thousands of people can dash across the intersection of streets from literally any direction. It’s difficult to imagine the sheer number of people, and hearing descriptions, or even seeing pictures for that matter, will likely never be the same as trying to cross that intersection at peak times. That was a great way to end our stay in Tokyo, and a great way to prepare us for some much quieter time over the next two days out of the big city, which was truly a life changing experience. Stay tuned to read more!