Spring is in the airz. The tower continues to erectify. That wasn’t a word, so don’t add it to your vocabulary. Meanwhile, in a completely differential part of town (I’m Edokko, so I think Eitaibashi is light years away from northerly Kanda), Big Bird and I walked around for a long time, decided we didn’t […]
teishoku
Nakasato, Matsushima (磯焼 なかさと)
We’ll start this trip with a cave, I think. Zuiganji is a nice enough temple, and really a must if you’re in Matsushima – there aren’t that many things to do other than cruise the bay. Unfortunately the harsh climate means it needs a lot of renovation, and right now it’s in one of those […]
- izakaya
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Dottanba, Kanda (どったんば)
Came across this place while looking for targets for those big sake dinners with colleagues…and have actually been turned away trying to go for lunch. It’s decent. I like the rustic exterior, the way they’ve fitted this to look like you’re going into a cave in the woods. Down the stairs it gets darker, and […]
- Other treats
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Haruno, Omotesando (はるの)
Omotesando dining has always presents problems – everyone feels like there are tons of great restaurants mixed with the fancy shopping, but it’s not true. Today in the middle of a walk we wandered into this place; it turned out to be ‘healthy dining’, but not in a bad way, in a stylish room with […]
- Kanda
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Hamayoshi, Kanda (浜よし)
I have to say this at the beginning, just because I think it’s so funny – Hama-yoooooooosh! I know it’s not funny to anyone else, but I’ve gotten really into saying “yosh” in all manner of Japanese situations (long ‘o’ sound). It’s a sort of casual exhortation like “Here we go!” or “Let’s do this […]
- izakaya
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Daitetsu, Kanda (大鉄)
Japan’s construction philosophy is often described as ‘scrap and build’. You’d think that the narrow buildings and cramped neighborhoods would impede construction, but no…it just means they find ways to be careful. Here, a building is being torn out from between others, and a pint-sized backhoe is perched atop the rubble. But that’s not particularly […]
- Kanda
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Sanshuya, Kanda ( 大衆割烹 三州屋)
Things are so hot in Tokyo at the moment that whole sections of street keep spontaneously combusting, forcing the fire department to work overtime racing to conflagrations for liquid refreshment. But it’s always cool as an uri up in Kanda, where this branch of the Sanshuya chain is dishing out tasty dishes. Hard to say […]
- Kanda
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Yatsudeya, Kanda (八ッ手屋)
There’s a lot of pleasure in visiting old places. The danger is that the theme-park attraction of them is often not met by anything resembling food, Alternatively, you can be forcibly reminded that the theme park is in your head, and the people who own and run these places aren’t doing it to be retro […]
Uoju, Kodemmacho (魚十)
Tokyo has a garment district, did you know that? Loads of cheap-looking clothing stores, and of course fabric and whatever bits ‘n’ bobs you need to, y’know, make clothes. (If you want to check it out, it’s in Bakuroyokoyama; you could walk from Kodemmacho on the Hibiya line or else there’s a direct stop on […]
- Otemachi
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Lunch Trucks, Otemachi
Yet another place to tick off the list, and in this case it’s really a ‘place’, not a restaurant by another name. In front of the Sankei building, which is just diagonal to my office, there’s a series of lunch trucks parked every day along with tables for eating their takeout. The number varies by […]