Hey hey, Ginza! As someone was saying to me just last night, it’s always high on the list of places that people want to go when they visit Tokyo. I’ll flatter myself by saying that I’m an experienced Ginza visitor, and from that dubious position of expertise I’ll also say that I think most visitors […]
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Akatsuki, Jogasaki (暁、城ヶ崎海岸、静岡県)
Let me start off by saying that I don’t particularly want you to go here – we got a really weird last-minute deal (65% off? What were they thinking?) that made it worthwhile. If you paid full price, you’d be disappointed despite the excellent location just north of Izu Kogen, within walking distance of the […]
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 […]
Shonosuke Sweets, Kanda (庄之助、淡路町)
Small sushi lunches just don’t fill a guy up, especially not one with bulging…err, muscles, like me. But I really do need to lose some weight, eh, and managed to avoid eating anything too bad after lunch. Still, I knew there was this quaint old sweet shop… I first saw Shonosuke when I went to […]
Sushi Isshin, Asakusa (鮨一新)
Had to work today, afternoon meeting plus some cleanup that finished around 5:30. After that, went up to Asakusa and discovered that it was Sanja Matsuri on the day, one of old Edo’s big 3 festivals. Another of them is Monzen Nakacho’s Hachiman Matsuri, which is so f-in awesome that it’s only held every 3 […]
Kirei, Ueda (亀齢)
It’s come to my attention that many readers have not visited a sake brewery. I tried to visit one in Ueda (Wadaryu), but failed since they were closed on Sundays. Thus I went to this one, which turned out pretty well – met the brewer, tried some daiginjo fresh from the tank, generally pleasant experience. […]
Kappabashi 4: Buy a Japanese Knife
Or: How to Buy a Japanese Knife In Tokyo’s Kappabashi Kitchen-ware Street. 1. Go to Kappabashi. 2. Go to Kama-Asa. It’s on the west side of the street, just before the halfway mark at Kappabashi crossing (there’s no sign other than the one on the traffic light). If you come the fun way, walking from […]
Kappabashi 3 – good stores
After much pfaffing, finally we get to the real and useful segment of this series of posts. Most people, I suspect, walk to Kappabashi from Tawaramachi on the Ginza line. This is most efficient, and there are probably even signs in the station like there are in Akiba for ‘Electric Town’. [My preferred alternative is […]
Kappabashi 2: Fake Food
I noticed on the map that Kappabashi is actually called 合羽橋, not 河童橋. I can’t explain this. Moving on… People often describe Kappabashi as ‘the fake food neighborhood’. It’s not. There are exactly 3 stores selling fake food. More like exactly two-and-a-half, actually, since one of them is pretty small and sad. But the two main […]
Kappabashi 1
A special post inspired by the thematic things I saw on Yukari‘s site recently. Kappabashi is a frequently-mentioned tourist destination in food circles (just after Tsukiji, which seems to be #1 on every tourist’s list), and there are a few stores that I always end up going back to. Here’s a general feel for the […]