Admit it. Sometimes we go to places for the wrong reasons. Today involved a bit of disgruntle – there was an Italian place that’s been on the list for months, but my boss delayed and delayed a meeting before finally canceling it. I got to the place at 1:45 and thought, phew, they’re open until […]
Other treats
Toutouan, Higashi Akiru (燈々庵,東秋留)
Big day, eh? If you read the preceding posts, you’ll realize that Woodrow and I got up early, took the train way out west, did a solid hike, went to an onsen, browsed around, and then took several other trains to end up at this wonderful restaurant of his acquaintance. It’s really nowhere, and they […]
Matsuno Onsen, (松の温泉 水香園)
As I said below, today was hiking day. The mountains that ring Tokyo are nowhere near as high as the ones that you get a little farther out (they don’t call those ‘Alps’ for nothing), but there’s still some good autumn color and soothing vistas (as long as you don’t look toward Tokyo, where the […]
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Harajima Liquors, Otaba (Okutama) (原島商店, 大丹波)
The Woodsman and I had a bit of a walk today. It’s a tourist special to take the train west from Shinjuku and go ‘hiking’ at Mt. Takao (where you have your choice of fully-paved road, cable car or chairlift to get you up and down), but in the same area there are plenty of […]
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Iseya, Kichijoji (いせや)
After spending a long, long day in Kichijoji last summer, I didn’t feel a tremendous need to go back – not that it’s not nice, but it’s pretty far away. So imagine my surprise when a trip to my new friend Beach’s pottery exhibition and lecture east of Ikebukuro turned into an invitation to yakitori […]
Zero, Monzennakacho
Bike culture may not be for sale, but it is most certainly available for exhibition in the windows of recently-opened bars in middle-aged districts of Tokyo that cater to middle-aged men. This is a questionable strategy; there were some young customers in here that might have been lured in by the hip fixie in the […]
En, Monzennakacho (えん)
Clearly I’m not spending enough time walking the streets of Monnaka at night; there were several new places since the last time I got around, and that’s a rarity. This one looked really nice on Friday night when Mayu and I were binging on my old favorite places, so when we found ourselves with time […]
Seikanin, Kagurazaka (清閑院)
After a truly terrible lunch that I won’t link to because I want to forget it happened and wouldn’t like any of you to repeat my mistakes, Mayu and I walked around Kagurazaka. It’s a mellow neighborhood – apart from the homey, shitamachi feel; abundant french bistros; and high-end antiques and art shops, you can find […]
Popolare, Iidabashi
I like to admit when I make mistakes. I don’t like people who don’t admit when they made mistakes. I made a horrible mistake today, I feel a complete boob, and I want to apologize deeply and sincerely to Mayu, who suffered with me in this mistake. Sorry dude. For Japanese readers wondering about Mayu’s […]
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Kitayama, Otsuka (きたやま)
Recently I wrote something about how my friends and I have been to all the good places. I’m not going to link to that post. I just wanted to say I’m sorry. That was a really stupid thing to say, and I’m very embareassed. It won’t happen again. Here’s another good place. Actually a whole […]