I think most travel sites aren’t very helpful, and I found an easy way to upload a few pictures per temple. Consider these a teaser to help you decide where to go. Also, they’re all on the map. Adashino Nenbutsuji is pretty well-known because of the ‘garden’ of little statues. The effect is kinda spoiled […]
Other treats
Otagi Nenbutsuji, Kyoto (愛宕念仏寺)
I think most travel sites aren’t very helpful, and I found an easy way to upload a few pictures per temple. Consider these a teaser to help you decide where to go. Also, they’re all on the map. Otagi Nenbutsuji was one of my favorites. It’s small but very quiet (at least at 10 AM […]
- Other treats
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Umauma ramen, Tokyo (うま馬)
Sorry, I was with a colleague (You) and forgot to get a picture of the exterior. This is tucked into a corner of Tokyo Station’s Kitchen Street, so you should be able to find it without much trouble. Not that I’m advocating finding it, I’m just saying. Didn’t even realize it’s Hakata ramen until we […]
- Asakusa
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Otafuku, Iriya (大多福)
Otafuku is an institution. The Woodsman has been here several times over his comings and going vis a vis Japan (something like 15 years since the first arrival, no?) and positioned it as one of those ‘You haven’t been?!’ experiences. Plus the horse stew place I wanted to try was closed when we got there. […]
Chinju, Marunouchi (大志満 椿壽)
Just got back from another business lunch at an area hotspot. I say that to be clever and ironic, because one doesn’t have business lunches in hotspots. And Japan’s definition of hotspot is maybe a little different. A little cooler. And less spotty. Spotless even. Compared to last week’s business lunch, this was cheaper, fresher, […]
Blacows, Ebisu
Arrrr, beef, blah blah blah. Grade A5 wagyu, yadda yadda. Was it really worth trucking out to Ebisu after work to meet Roofie and have a burger? It’s actually closer than I always think, so it was pretty good value, time-wise. In addition to the animals being served at Blacows, the other wildlife in Ebisu is […]
Edomae Miso Ramen, Monzennakacho (江戸前味噌ラーメン)
I say unto you, all of you, it’s nice to have friends, and even better when they call you on a lazy Sunday to say “We’re at your station. Howzaboutit?” “It” in this case was lunch, with noodles being the request. Perfect opportunity to hit the, er, new ramen place on MZNC’s main street (probably […]
Tsunahachi, Shinjuku
Here we have a whole flock of peafowl scratching about in the yard, looking for seeds and worms. Actually we don’t. Only two of them are peafowl. But all of them are about to enter this tempura restaurant that I’ve read about a couple times, Tsunahachi. Let me just get it out there – I’m […]
New York Bar, Park Hyatt, Shinjuku
Darkness envelopes me as I exit from the medicinally quiet stillness of the Oedo line’s City Hall terminus. This is a dead part of town at night, with no walkers and only the occasional filming session for a TV police procedural to break the womblike, tomblike silencium. Walking south along Shinjuku Central Park, the menacing […]
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Never Never Land, Shimo Kitazawa
Big Bird has some funny connections in Japan – like the former world champion of backgammon. And a pediatric orthodontist who also plays backgammon but has a good side-line in being a generally upstanding citizen of Shimokitazawa. If I were a daft travel writer, I’d spin you a good line about how he came to […]