Several weeks or months ago, coming home from a particularly disastrous meeting (this one, but I’m sort of a gentleman sometimes so I didn’t mention the disastrous aspects in the original post), I was so disgruntled that I got off the train and walked around Shinbashi. It always seemed like a grubby, seedy area for […]
izakaya
Mikura, Atami (海蔵、熱海)
Woo hoo, weekend away. It’s been some time, eh? Atami, at the head of the Izu penninsula, is called the ‘Monaco of Japan’. Really, my colleague tried to convince me of this. I laughed at the time, then I went there…and I still think it’s funny. Sure there are dramatic hills falling down to a […]
- izakaya
- ...
Fuji, Morishita (藤,森下)
Every day I sink a little deeper into Fukagawa. Which is a shame, because Fukagawa is slipping away a little every day. I hate it when travel journalists strike a maudlin tone about this sort of thing, because the single biggest factor in the slipping-away of Fukagawa’s heritage was almost certainly extensive firebombing in WWII, but […]
- izakaya
- ...
Manaita, Kanda (まないた)
My colleague Waddap was in town from London, and since I’ve still never been to London this is the only chance we get to socialize. Here we are leaving the office. I like to call this ‘Still Life With Waddap’ except that he’s walking. I was keen to get back to Manaita after the lovely […]
- izakaya
- ...
Uoshin, Shibuya (魚真)
The Uoshins are a small chain of fish-focused higher-end izakaya, and this outlet is oddly located just across the street from the north side of Dogenzaka. It’s convenient for all your Dogenzaka needs (and I’ll refrain from including the other pictures I took in the neighborhood, OK?), and has the well-oiled reliability of a store […]
- izakaya
- ...
Manaita, Kanda (まないた)
Kanda…where magic happens. I like to call this ‘Still Life With Koala’, but she’s not that still. Manaita (cutting board) is the kind of place whose quality is screamingly obvious to me. Gently-flapping noren, hand-written sign and menus, immaculately clean, freshly-sanded counter…you’d be silly to not like this place. A lot. I definitely recommend it […]
Takaban, Jinbocho (鷹ばん、小川町)
Having some time to kill after work and before 8, I spied out something on the map that looked like it would pass the time. Takaban will bear further investigation since I just sat and read and nibbled and drank for an hour, but it could well be my new favorite place. The food seemed […]
- izakaya
- ...
Kurumaya, Nezu (車屋)
McNoonan and I were kinda onna roll after going to Koyu – we had eaten through what we wanted on their menu, but were far from done talking. Fortunately the streets of Nezu are filled with funny little places, and I picked this one. Not a great pick, I’m sorry to say, but we ended […]
- izakaya
- ...
Koyu II, Nezu (呼友)
Waiting on the subway platform for McNoonan to show up after work, I thought to myself “There’s nothing like a little goth-loli-spotting to get the evening started right.” Nor is there anything like a Black Punch to get this partee started, but where we were going, there’s no black punch. Just deserted streets where it […]
- bar
- ...
Good One, Kanda
Good one indeed. Woody and I were set to re-visit Hanakago (yeah, it’s that good, especially if you reserve so you can get sashimi from the shop next door). I had reserved for 7 but it turned out we could both get there earlier, and that left us standing outside with 30 minutes of freedom (except […]