Thursday, 22 September 2011

Amerrrria in Tokyo

The rationale to visit Tokyo was pretty simple: my friend Nicci lived there, I love Japanese food, and it was on the way home.  Sorted!  The extra NZ$1200 it added to the cost of my flight...well, we'll just forget that shall we...

Overall impressions were of lots of shrines (Shinto) and temples (Buddhist) - I visited the Yasukuni Shrine, Meiji Shrine, Asakusa Kannon (also known as Senso-ji) Temple, Nezu Shrine, and tried, but sadly failed to find the Gyokushin Mitsuin Temple (it sounded amazing, you enter the temple, then descend to a pitch-black, 100m long stone tunnel, before emerging into a room filled with 300 candle-lit boddhisattvas...but no sign-posting at all meant I wandered the streets of Tamagawa for nearly an hour before giving up...).  And that's not to mention all the tiny shrines and temples I saw all over Tokyo - each slightly different and generally always with someone there offering up a prayer.


And then obviously the food was incredible - my favourite was probably the 'stand-up sushi bar' Nicci took me to on our first night where the chef makes the sushi up in front of you as you order it - I especially loved the salmon ngiri where they took the blow-torch to the mayonnaise on the top of it so it was all bubbling and delicious...mmmm...  I also had freshly caught tuna for breakfast at the Tsukiji Fish Market, ramen with the Tokyo salary-men during the lunch rush (I loved it, you order from a vending machine, take it to the counter, and then a steaming hot bowl of noodles arrives minutes later), an incredibly expensive prawn tempura with hand-made soba noodles (note to self, always find out the price before you order), and a very non-Japanese but delicious pizza from Costco in the 'burbs one night.

I did heaps of walking, including a walk around the imperial heart of Tokyo which includes Kitanomaru Park and the Imperial Palace East Gardens, as well as a great walking tour through a suburb of Tokyo called Yanaka, which was very relaxed and included a walk around the Yanaka Cemetery, famed for its cherry blossoms (although not when I was there - it was stinking hot and everyone was carrying around little sweat cloths to mop themselves up with...).

Other great things included the free viewing platform at the top of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building (although it was too hazy from the heat to see Mt Fuji), the kitchen-ware district (known as 'Kitchen Town' or Kappabashi Dori) and having a traditional onsen in piping hot mineral-rich water.

Japan has experienced a 95% drop in tourism since the earthquake, so other tourists were few and far between, lending the city quite an 'undiscovered' air which was odd (I mean, come on, this is Tokyo!!).  But it was totally safe, and the wonderful hospitality from Nicci made it even more special.

Click here to see the rest of the photos!

Tuesday, 6 September 2011

A taste of Japan

This is at the Cold Stone Cremery, an ice cream chain which was highly recommended to me as worth a visit while I was in Japan.  This one is in Roppongi Hills where the staff were super enthusiastic!


More photos and stories of Japan to come...