Various activities ensued after my ramen lunch and before dinner – walking to the (dead boring) temple on top of the local mountain, more photos, nap. You don’t get any pics of that. You DO get this neat picture of a retro streetlight. No processing; the colors here seem to be on accounta some confusion […]
mid-price
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Kiki, Kamiyamada (樹樹)
Saturday morning in Kamiyamada, I woke up early and spent the morning walking around, being cold and taking pictures of old buildings. The weather was beautiful and clear, but the day-onsen only open at 9 or 10 AM, and at some point I just got too cold. Fortunately there was this kissa…which was very ordinary, but this […]
Kuruma, Tokyo (車, Tokia B1)
Continuing in a series of “Hey, I haven’t seen you for a year!”-type meetings, Roofie and I met up last night. Somehow these meetings with men from work always devolve into chicken-fests. In this case, I have the rare pleasure of questioning the existence of a restaurant, or at least providing a strong steer about […]
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Kawashima, Musashi Koyama (川島)
In one of the standard books on drinking sake in Tokyo, there’s an establishment called ‘Sake no Ana’. I like to translate that as ‘The Liquor Hole’, although I’m sure there’s a more delicate way of putting it. If I had to assign a name to Kawashima, it would be ‘The Liquor Cave’. It’s a […]
Hana Modern, Kagurazaka (華もだん)
Japanese people, damn your language. I was moping around the counter at this place, thinking how crappy it was that I couldn’t understand what ‘modan’ meant. Written in hiragana, I assumed it was a regional word or something. Then I noticed it was written ‘modern’ on their business card, and I said “damn your language”. […]
West Park Cafe, Kamiyacho
Before launching into a short and dull review of a place every foreigner in Tokyo probably knows, let me ask a simple question: Why did Josie Cotton never make it big? I was just listening to Convertible Music, which is a truly excellent confection of 80’s girl-rock. Sure, many people know songs like He Could […]
Wako Tonkatsu, Otemachi (和幸)
Odd that I’ve never blogged about a Wako before, except to mention it dismissively in posts about other tonkatsu restaurants. It’s been a long time since I went to one, although I have of course been to the one in Roppongi Hillz’ basement (Metro Hat) and the one under the tracks at the south end […]
Hiyoshiya, Morishita (日吉屋)
This place has always been on my radar to some extent, and after 5 years I finally made it in. Great experience, decent food. Hiyoshiya looks like it’s been doing the same thing forever. In fact it’s since Showa 5 (1931), although you could easily be mistaken and think it was Taisho 5. Somehow I […]
Henry Good Seven, Marunouchi
What does the name mean? It sounds like rhyming slang for something, Fanny Adams and all that. Is it cryptic just for the sake of crypticosity? That reminds me, I saw one of the most fabulous Engrish garments ever on the train this morning, but failed to take a picture. If I had, that would […]
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Umibatake, Ikebukuro (海畑)
Last year when I went to Sunny Spot in Ikebukuro, I left my camera on the bar. In fairness to myself, I was away from my seat for an extended period playing guitar, and during that time other people crowded around the spot where I had been sitting, which helped me forget the camera. But […]