Well, we're finally finished the amazing trip and can think about the highlights.
Everyone has a top ten and I think this is mine although it's very hard to choose and it's in no particular order:
1. Staying at a ryokan in Koya-san and visiting okunoin: Beautiful scenery and an amazing buddhist cemetary. It is hard to convey what a fantastic experience this is, especially if you stay in a temple ryokan and go to morning prayer. It's unlike anything you will do in the West.
2. The red torii at Inari: these gates are on lots of postcards but have to be seen to be believed. It's a (less than a) day trip from Kyoto. For info on how to get there, click here.
3. The Todaiji Temple at Nara: a day trip from Kyoto with one of the largest wooden structures in the world and 1200+ deer roaming the gardens. It's just fabulous.
4. Be waited on as a "master" at a maid cafe in Akihabara, Tokyo: one of the weirdest things you can possibly do in Japan. Not for the faint hearted.
5. Go to a really good izakaya: in Tokyo, I highly recommend Gonpachi (Nishi-Azabu, book ahead), Yui-an in Shinjuku or Bistro 35 Steps in Shibuya. In Kyoto, we loved Bamboo Bar and Bistro Zuzu but seriously wherever you are, just ask around or google and find a good one.
6. Some sort of bath or onsen: if you can get to a traditional onsen, then do it. If you can just try a public bath or a bath at a traditional hotel, then take the opportunity. Just work out where you are going to be staying and google. For etiquettetips, click here.
7. Sumo wrestling: it's not on all year round but if you're lucky enough to be in Japan for a championship then do whatever you have to, to get there. This online service is great for organising tickets in advance from outside Japan.
8. A day of shrines and temples in Kyoto including the Golden Pavillion.
9. Lunch, dinner or a drink at the New York Bar and Grill at the Park Hyatt in Tokyo. This is where some of the scenes in Lost In Translation were filmed and it is utterly perfect with a remarkable view of Tokyo. A drink will set you back regular top end hotel drink prices (although there's a cover charge after 8pm). Lunch is around 6,600 yen which is a great splurge really for a appetizer and dessert buffet plus a la carte main. Park Hyatt is easy to find in Nishi Shinjuku but be sure to book ahead if you want a table by the window- 5323-3458 (or check website for more info).
10. This is cheating a bit because it's a catch all but ... Crazy shopping in Tokyo - Shibuya, Shinjuku, Harajuku: wherever is convenient. Just get the subway and soak up the amazingness.
For Jess' last night in Tokyo we went to a fantastic izakaya in Shubya called Bistro 35 Steps.
It's a big open plan place and even on a Sunday night, was crowded and happening. The staff were incredibly friendly and spoke a little English.
The food was fantastic and very reasonably priced. Particular standouts included tuna tartare with avocado, mackerel seared at the table and a homemade tofu cheese which sounds odd but was like a beautiful light ricotta and served with toasted slices of baguette. The schochu (Japanese vodka) with various juices) was also great. For dessert, we all had creme brulee which was scorched at the table with a blowtorch.
This place is definitely worth a visit if you're looking for a reasonably priced, friendly, tasty izakaya.
Finding it Bistro 35 is not far from the Shibuya Station (I think we used the central exit) - just walk up beyond the five way intersection with Shibuya 109 (crazy young women's fashions) on your left. When you get to the street where Bunkamura is, turn left. When you see the Shibya City Hotel sign on your left, turn left again - the bistro will be down some stairs on your right - look for some dark wooden slats and a downward staircase. Reservations are recommended although we did not have one and managed to snare a table - tel: 3770-9835.
This is a picture from the day we went to the Gyoza funpark. Alex remarked, "All this time, we were trying to find goyza and we could have just been having a bite at Café Spazio."
We are getting close to the end of our journey and I have loved the feeling of Japan and the craziness of the frenetic cities we've been in. I have to admit I'm looking forward to being back in a city that understand what I'm talking about and how to make a good coffee rather than an average coffee served cold in a vending machine.
Engrish on t-shirts and signs we have loved over the past few days include:
Do you remember in Kill Bill where Uma Thurman killed a whole lot of people (ok, Cress, narrow it down a bit) - it was in a restaurant which looked remarkably like the restaurant called Gonpachi which is in Tokyo.
My research on the web suggests there is conflicting advice about whether it was the actual restaurant or a set modelled on the restaurant. It's also complicated by the fact that Gonpachi has several different sites including in the US.
But the most impressive one is said to be the one in Nishi-Azabu in Tokyo which is where we went on Friday night. The prices are quite reasonable and it was absolutely BRILLIANT. Amazing atmosphere and there were people being turned away and asked to wait an hour and a half (which they were happy to do). The lovely Leonie had made a reservation for us so we had no trouble getting our table. We were seated on the upper area so we had a view of the whole restaurant.
All in all, great food, fantastic service (including a very large South African man called, "Sonny" who introduced himself as our host) and a crazy experience.
I highly recommend it if you're coming to Tokyo but be sure to book well in advance.
Today we visited Akihabara
and made a brief foray into a manga shop which was extremely porn and a
trip to the Mac Shop and a couple of other electronics stores.
Akihabara
is a great place to go if you're looking for discount electronics or
you are a single gal on the go who would like to pick up a geek who has
never before spoken to a woman.
After cruising around for a while, I suggested we go to a Maid Café.
We went to At Home Café
which in the site we were at, had four floors of cafés. We got in the
lift and selected the sixth floor because it had English speaking
maids. When we got to the floor, it was so crowded that the line went
well down the stairs so we decided to try the seventh floor which also
had English speakers but the maids were in regular (?) maid costumes
rather than kimonos.
Once we arrived, we still had to wait for a
while, then the maids greeted us with "Welcome home master and
mistress!" in Japanese of course, then after a short wait assigned us
to an English speaking maid but not until they had run through the
rules:
No touching the maids.
No photographs.
No asking the maids about themselves.
Maids cannot leave the café. Do not ask them to.
You must order at least one thing off the menu and pay a cover charge of 700 yen.
We sat down and our maid, who spoke English like a Valley Girl, ran
through the menu of sweet and savoury treats, (none of which will
feature in Gordon Ramsay's next book) before leaving us to ponder in the
frighteningly pink kawaii surroundings. I ordered a sweet pancake and a
caramel café latte. Alex ordered a coke and waffles. I also ordered a
photo, but decided not to order any of the other entertainment items
such as playing cards with a maid, playing checkers or playing the Japanese
equivalent of rock, paper scissors because I was fighting off a rising sense of panic like any natural person would be.
The atmosphere was entirely
bizarre. There were about 15 women, probably under 20, running around
in chocolate brown and white maid's costumes with large pink bows
around their necks, many of which featured a brooch in the middle of
the bow such as a 10cm Mickey Mouse doll or a sequined red heart as
well as numerous scrunchies round their wrists and bags in the shape of
Tweety Bird or unidentifiable fluffy animals. My head was
spinning. Alex had lost the power of speech.
To my left sat a young man who seemed painfully shy and
who ordered the cheapest thing off the menu (a black coffee) before
playing a game of Uno with our Valley Girl. To our left sat a couple.
When
our maid brought our drinks, she made us play a game with her to cast a
magic spell over them. We had to form our hands into a heart shape then
say, "Miu Miu, Kyu!" The same went for the food. Part of the price of
the pancakes covered the maid drawing a picture for me in chocolate
topping on the plate. She drew a cat. Sweet Felix on a Stick.
But the most disturbing was yet to come.
For
my photo, I had to choose which maid I wanted to be photographed with.
I said, "Oh really, it's fine, you choose, you all seem like lovely
intelligent, capable women, who will no doubt one day have Masters in
IT" but they weren't having a bar of that so I had to pick someone at
random.
The odd thing was, the whole thing was at once surreally
bordeline fetishistic but not at all sexual. The maids are not sexy;
they're deliberately very cute and girlie. There are couples there and
women in twos and threes who seem to have come just as friends and get
photos altogether with the maids. There are lonely guys and groups of
five or six guys who just seem friendly and don't at all harrass the
maids.
Without warning, the lights dimmed and a disco colour ball
started scrolling. The maids did a wacky cute dance that seemed to be
to some sort of well known nursery song. Several of the guys in the
audience (who would have been at home at Forrest Gump's bus-stop bench)
got up and started dancing and doing actions during the chorus in an
unsettlingly enthusiastic way. The girls looked slightly concerned but
kept fixed smiles on their faces; they're professional maids, people.
Alex and I tried to work out where security would come from if it was
needed.
Finally the sing song was over and I was called up for my
photo. I resisted the maids' entreaty to put a pair of bunny ears on my
head. They nodded undestandingly but insisted I made a heart symbol
with my hands. They took a polaroid which they eventually presented to
me (heavily transcribed with cute scribblings) when Alex and I asked
for the bill. With the bill, they also gave us a loyalty card which
said we had reached Level 1 of our Licence of Your Majesty but if we
kept coming back, who knows where we might end up?
If travel is about experiencing an entirely different world, the Maid Café is a must have experience for travellers to Japan.
If
you're interested, just take the subway to Akihabara, look for the
girls handing out flyers, and make your way to a nearby café. The @Home
franchise is pretty large but I'm sure the others are just as insane. FYI: the girls on the street handing out don't like being photographed either.
Below
is a video which doesn't have much but is at the same place we went to
so you can get a feel. Goodness knows how it was filmed given it's
prohibited but anyhoot:
I love dumplings. Love them. So when I read in Lonely Planet that there was a gyoza stadium/funpark in Ikebukuro I was enthused.
The journey to the fun park was difficult but everything worth it is difficult so I remained enormously optimistic.
When we hit an area that looked a little bit like Chadstone if it had been teleported to Tokyo, sure, I started to get a little concerned. Alex remarked, "It's shit and thankfully, it's also really out of the way and hard to find." I laughed glibly, and said, yes baby but it's going to be great.
When we got into the (not aptly named) Sunshine Park shopping centre, we were completely unable to find the Namjatown funpark but were able to find a lot more crazy ladies fashion. We did see a sign which said the funpark was on level 2 but when we got to a lift two and three were both unavailable. The buttons just didn't work. Perhaps it was a sign from food loving gods.
We decided to give up but at the last minute, I spied an escalator which potentially led to gyoza heaven. Or did it. Here is a video that someone else took that looks quite nice.
It was not like that.
It was like the Crapness Fairy had visited and touched her little Crappiness wand to everything.
We had some gyoza. They were only ok.
I would not recommend this experience unless you like eating average gyoza amongst very loud noises and lots of statues of cats that you don't really understand.
Today we went to the Edo Tokyo museum in Ryogoku which as a fantastic museum with full size replicas of some buildings from the Meji and Edo period as well as artifacts and lots of information. It even has things you can participate in and touch (eg check out how heavy it would be to carry pails on your back, sit in a palanquin).
The museum building itself is also really impressive. This is a picture of the massive escalator on the way up.
All of the disorder of the Tuskiji Fish Market is more than balanced out by the freakishly well ordered nature of the imperial gardens which are perfectly manicured and cannot be used, walked on, camped on or touched in any way. We planned to go to the East Garden which is the only one open to the public, but even it is for no apparent reason, closed Fridays.
The Royal Family do actually live here so maybe that's their day to stroll. Who knows?
I hope you will particularly enjoy this shot of me in front of the bridge looking belligerent for no apparent reason. I think it nicely highlights my Japanese fried food belly and my lovely new green umbrella.
Alex hardly slept as he wasn't feeling well so we (paradoxically) decided we may as well get up at 5.30am and check out the Tsukiji Fish Market.
It is the biggest wholesale fishmarket in the world and handles around 400 different types of seafood, some of which were completely unidentifiable to me.
What they hint at but cannot adequately convey in guide books is that you take your life into your hands when you step onto the market floor. There is a WorkCover ad just waiting to be made here. Forklifts whiz by at 15km/h while people hurl enormous frozen tuna towards unguarded bandsaws. It is off the charts. To give you some idea what I'm talking about:
Eventually, we realised that the way to manouever is just to set out and not really look at the forklifts but make sure they have seen you so they avoid you. This is what the locals seem to do.
The people working at the market regarded us with a mixture of tolerance and "What are these crazy gaijin doing here?"
This is the izakaya we went to last night which is on the 52nd floor of the Sumitomo building which made me think of Die Hard for some reason...
Anyway, the food was excellent although the service seemed to be trading a little on the view.
We had Japanese omelette, slow cooked pork belly, rare beef with ponzu dipping sauce, salad of vegetable sticks, and fried sesame chicken followed by sesame pudding with caramel sauce (aka sesame rice mould with evaporated milk) which was all delicious. We even had a Chilean white wine which was a nice change after the ubiquitous beer.
Reservations are necessary to get a seat with a view. Alas we were up at the bar and could only see it in the reflection.
It's worth a visit, provided you phone ahead: Nishi-Shinjuku 2-6-1, Shinjuku Sumitomo Bldg. 52F, tel: 3342 5671.
This picture is the view from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Offices which have a free observation deck which is well worth the visit and is right near our hotel.
Alex and I headed for Shibuya which has the mad five way crossing that everyone associates with Tokyo. We went all over the shops which were insane. Particularly Shibuya109 which is where you go if you want to dress like 109 different insane teenagers.
It's like teenagers laid out the store and chose all the stock and music for it. If there was at any point in the creation of it a person who said, "Do you think that might be enough if we have four different soundtracks blasting at full bore and maybe we could have a wall which is just plain-ish, maybe without 17 frills on it?" then that person received an emphatic, "No thank you."
In the various department shops we visited, the floors all had various synonym names (ladies casual, ladies street casual, ladies fashion, casual ladies street fashion) which may to some expert observer meant different things but to us just seemed to be different brands of just plain crazy.
Some of our favourite shops were:
and
which despite their names, merely sold casual young women's clothing.
Having built up quite a thirst, we toddled along to the beer museum in Ebisu which had very few English subtitles but did have a room filled with various beer ads:
Trent led us safely through the Shinjuku station from the Yamanote line which was sensational. We are staying at the Keio Plaza and Jess is nearby in the Sunroute, both of which are great.
We immediately hit Shinjuku and did a bit of shopping, including popping down to one of the department store foodhalls where there is beautiful and incredibly expensive fresh fruit and veg (can I interest you in a $40 bunch of grapes? No? Perhaps a $7 apple?).
With lighter wallets, we decided to reward ourselves by hitting the Keio Department store beer garden which was most pleasant. The beer garden was enormous and must have seated well over 200 people. It became totally packed afer 6pm and we eventually retired to ready ourselves for more Tokyo ack-shon the next day.
We had booked into a hotel in Hakone which looked fantastic online and were thrilled at the prospect of a little retreat at one of the most popular weekender spots of Tokyo residents.
When we arrived, they had lost our booking but accommodated us anyway. We were a bit surprised as it was the peak season. That is until we started to explore the hotel.
Imagine if Elstree Studios in Borehamwood, England were not available to film The Shining and instead they decided to set it in Summertime regional Japan with an Australian and Japanese cast.
That's where we were staying.
There were only three other couples staying at the hotel. There were whole corridors that were entirely dark, one of which we traipsed down in an attempt to find the swimming pool. The signs up said the pool closed at 5pm (you'll have your fun at prescribed times, thank you) and when we were unable to locate it, we asked one of the staff where it was. He told us it was closed (it was 4.55pm) and we said, yes we know we can't swim in it but could we see it.
It really was closed. Big time. It was empty and peeling.
The high point was definitely the onsen which was genuinely nice. There were some Americans there complaining that it was too hot though which seemed perverse.
We thought we would go to the bar for a pre-dinner drink but the bar was closed. We managed to persuade the staff member who looked like a perpetually unsmiling Japanese version of Conan O'Brien, to let us have a drink in one of the restaurants (which had one of the three couples in it by 6pm for dinner). We threw down several cocktails to prepare ourselves for our kaiseki dinner, the only food available in the place other than French, for 8,600 Yen.
After eating this somewhat confronting meal which I blurrily photographed, we all agreed that we would not stay an extra night and would go to Tokyo a day early.
When we woke up, it was misty and a little rainy which worked well with the gale force winds.
After receiving a note under our door that informed us the onsen would not be operational as of mid-morning (it may as well have said, "You have made the right decision!"), we checked out and Conan O'Brien-San seemed to smile for the first time.
