EPISODE 23: TOKYO

WAY OVERDUE TOKYO PHOTOS!

In case you weren't aware, we made our trip #2 to Japan this fall. We'd initially decided that Osaka, Kyoto, and Tokyo were too much to tackle in one trip, so we saved Tokyo for a special trip all its own. Here's how we spent our Halloween and Ben's birthday. ^^

We began our trip staying in a small apartment near Kyodo Station (and by small, I mean the whole apartment was the size of our bedroom here on Jeju!). The place was comfy enough, though, and just a few stops away from the first neighborhood we wanted to explore, Shimokitazawa.

First order of the day was breakfast, and let me tell you... it did not disappoint.

As we've mentioned previously, while waffles are Korea's big thing, for some reason, pancakes are Japan's. This amazing display was Mont Blanc pancakes. The icing was a mix of chestnut and apple, topped with whipped cream, dates, cranberries, chestnut, walnuts, and even a bit of rosemary. Surprisingly not too sweet. Not surprisingly, おいしい (delicious).

After that, we did a bit of our favorite pastime, wandering around the neighborhood.

I had no idea this is where the Native Americans ended up.

We then came upon B-sides, otherwise known as Sticker land! Fortunately, the sign on the desk lied. 

Tiny shopping basket. KAWAII (cute)! Soooo many fun stickers and pins from different designers. 

Dancing, with the dancing men!

4 out of 5 maneki nekos don't want you to go in this garage.

Indeed I will, inspiring tiger. Indeed I will. 

This was our one picture from Shibuya, which was - as we knew it would be - crowded and city-like. We stopped for a coffee in the smoky Paris Cafe, then wandered around for a while until we decided, ehhh, enough with this place. Let's go back to Shimokitazawa!

Now, to another important discovery: Chabuton Ramen!

First, order your ramen from the machine...

Eat these and be as happy as you have ever been. The one with the green noodles is vegan! ^^

See your bowl empty and cry. Weep, really.

Oh well... at least tomorrow's another day... in fancy-schmancy Aoyama.

After wandering around Omotesando Dori a bit and seeing the Coach stores and the like, we decided to ditch the main drag and try to wander about the neighborhood some more. That's when we happened on this colorful make-your-own-okonomiyaki place!

I feel a bit like Ukyo from Ranma. (Yep, that's an anime reference.)

Decide your ingredients, mix them in with some eggs and batter mix, then fry it up. ^^

I was impressed with Hannah. Didn't even break the okonomiyaki (awesome fried yumminess).

This graffiti out our restaurant window was pretty cool, though... I'm not sure if these girls are pregnant or if they just really liked the okonomiyaki.

Leaving the restaurant, looking at the taaaaall bamboo.

This cat was not impressed with us.

Fun architecture around here. ^^

On the craaaaazy mirror escalator on the way down from exploring inside a mall-ish thing that included the fun store Tokyo's Tokyo!

Polly...?

We waded our way through the crowded streets of Harajuku, seeing many goth loli shops, jewelry and accessory stands, and Engrish t-shirts galore. Not too many costumes, unfortunately. 

We didn't go, but... it was hard to resist taking a picture.

Unfortunately we'd spent too much time in Harajuku to wander through the Meiji Jingu shrine and park, so we contented ourselves with watching the antics happening in this square, which consisted of musicians performing, adults doing some sort of miming or performing, and kids rehearsing some sort of dance. 

I see you, Shinjuku! We walked all the way here from Harajuku, which seemed like no small feat at the time. Big city lights galore.

We saw a sign for a cat cafe, and I couldn't resist going to my first Japanese cat cafe!

See all the cats on shelves? ...Oh wait.

We settled down on a couch and within about a minute, someone was so curious if we had tuna that he hopped over...

and made himself comfy.

Suspicious cat says, "You do not have foods."

Ben loves this!

Farewell, sleepy friend!

Nice to meet you, expensive Hello Kitty store! Did you know we have a museum of you on our island?

Best find ever, right near Shinjuku Station. Had a few for JPH.

It's so Belgian in here! No Halloween costumes here, but we did see a lot of nurses, zombies, and Disney characters on the subway on the way home. ^^

Next up: Ebisu, Daikanyama, and Nakameguro! We began our day with a delicious meal of veggies at Wanoba.

Oooh you so nasty...

Walkway to fancy European-style building, anyone?

...and then it was Evangelion and one of the angels descended upon Tokyo.

Hey, you match my shoes! Follow me home, Mr. Tile.

One of our best finds today were two awesome stores: this one and its sister store, Capital. Amazingly, this was the lobby of the store. You took off your shoes here, went up the stairs, and then you were in a crazy wonderland of Native American, Nepalese, and who knows what other styles. They had a necklace made just out of feathers. All I know is, if I were a rock star, I would totally shop here.

Creepy yet awesome.

Ummm. Why would you want to show me that even if I disconnect the power to your soda machine, it will still grow muscles and attack every human it sees in an unstoppable rampage?

On a happier note, this was about the time we discovered a new reason to love Japanese vending machines: Wilkinson's. It's a grapefruit-honey soda, and it's incredibly refreshing.

Mini windowsill people

How typographic of you.

Found this in a store... And yet they wouldn't just give it to her. I mean, it has her name on it.

Now over to Daikanyama, land of huge bookstore, expensive clothing stores, and ...the Egyptian embassy?

Beverly Hills meets church? The red carpet seems a bit much.

Now down to Nakameguro, to stroll along the river. The neighbors are out of this world.

From here, we decided to take the train down to the city of Yokohama to enjoy the Smart Illumination festival down by the harbor. 

Totally normal park. Nothing a bit off.

So Optimus Prime got a makeover... 

and now hangs out outside the Yokohama Art Museum.

Very modern art.

Very beautiful old ship.

Yes, the old Louis Vuitton car...

Dude, your building has a hole in it. You might wanna get that checked out.

Red Brick Warehouse, where there are cute stores and restaurants, including the delicious restaurant Bills, where we had a romantic dinner complete with harbor view to celebrate 7 years together. ^^

Hard to beat the beautiful water views. An awesome night in Japan's 2nd largest city. ^^

The next morning, we got on the subway to head off to meet some friends at Waseda University, where a lot of foreign students come and study. 

damn right

From there, we headed off to Rikugien Gardens. Unfortunately not too much fall foliage yet, but we still got some fun animal pictures.

Painted turtle. (Isaiah? What are you doing in Japan?)

We did a bit more wandering around Kyodo, the neighborhood we were staying in, that night, and then the next morning it was off to Akihabara, land of anime nerds.

 I (Ben) took very few pictures, probably because I was running around pointing at everything whilst frothing at the mouth with excitement.

Posters, manga, figurines, costumes, etc abound.

That night, we headed back to Shinjuku and found this fun izakaya (pub) to eat small plates at.

View from the apartment we stayed in in Akihabara. It was so colorful! 

Next, to Asakusa, for obligatory conveyor belt sushi, recommended to us by our friend Stella. You can tell by the stack of plates that Ben was very happy.

Asakusa had a lot of traditional-style shops to wander around in, plus this beautiful temple, complete with street-food stalls! It was like New Year's all over again. ^^ This was probably in a three way tie with Ebisu and Shimokitazawa for places we enjoyed walking around in the most.

Obligatory neon banana.

Mmmm, giant sweet potato fries...

The pigeon: the world's most sexy self-sufficient bird.

This makes sense... 

We went inside and it was a 4-story, crazy collection of toys, costumes, games, and miscellaneous.

Traditional yam snacks. We got the yams covered in a sticky, hardened sugary coating on the left. *_* Awesome.

Yes, this was the sign outside the six-story Bunny Theme Park! Out of pity for Ben, I relented and didn't force us to go... until next time, anyway... 

Nice yellow cloud there, Asahi Beer.

Subway sign. What goes on in here?

The next morning: Happy birthday morning, Ben! We headed to the Akihabara branch of Chabuton for some delicious birthday ramen before saying goodbye to Tokyo. We decided that it wasn't quite as crowded as we had expected, though perhaps all our trips to Seoul had prepared us for that! It was a nice change from Seoul because of the more international feel, and the complicated web of trains is something to behold.

Now, off to Narita, where we explored the beautiful Naritasan Shinsho-ji Temple at twilight. 

Shinto shrine 

Completely made of old doors? This was amazing, even if a bit creepy in the dark.

Lovely view on the way out.

Narita's deserted night streets: surprisingly charming.

We found a great izakaya toward the center of town that had Scotch eggs on sticks: somehow a Japanese yakitori standard.

Mmm, avocado.

Goodbye, Tokyo; it was fun!

The view from above. It was rather nice. ^^

Mmm, Korean Air treats you right, especially since the flight back to Jeju's only 2 hours.

At long last, we were able to see Tokyo, something our high school selves never thought we would do.  We both enjoyed the urban hipness, but I think our hearts are a bit closer to the more traditional Japan that we saw in Asakusa and in Kyoto. There's always more of Japan to explore, though...