Current Weather in TOKYO, JAPAN
None of the guide books or recommendations reveal this little gem we stumbled across. The Muji superstore. Stevie will tell you all about it.
10 points, name that band? Name that video? ps. the dolls cost $135 each.
Dinner at Tabela. See next entry for the food pictures.
It isn't the camera. I'm blurry.
So the last day of the trip we decided to go to an old part of the city to eat Tempura. See the next entry.
This is the garden inside the restaurant.
Stevie in front of Nakase. The woman at the first restaurant we thought was the right one walked us around the block to this one. The right one.
Um, another big temple with a lot of people.
I asked aloud the other day, "where do they buy all these black suits and white shirts?"
... and how do they know what size to buy?
I had a meeting with a distribution company called Uplink. They have a couple of small movie theaters and this excellent restaurant called Tabela. It is food from around the world.
Trina suggested a decades-old tempura restaurant in Asakusa called Nakase. Delicious.
As we were already on the path to geekdom. Here's the start of the desktop photo collection. click an image to launch a full size version.
The Fish Market - 1920x1440 - 1.1mb
Shellfish At The Fish Market - 1920x1440 - 1.1mb
Dried Fish At The Fish Market - 1920x1440 - 1.1mb
We're just back from a very bizarre dinner in a restaurant on the 25th floor. I'll save the review for later - but here are 6 of the 9 courses.
A soccer game on the roof.
We hit, Electric Town - Akihabra. It is all about tomorrow's electronics today. So they hyped it with cool street tiles.
and other future technologies like the walkman.
We walked through a huge bamboo forest to have a picnic in a park. Bento Boxes.
Soy sauce container.
And finally delicious cherry pudding (think a mild cherry flavored flan).
Lunch of Okonomiyaki.
Coffee and tarts. The one I shot of Stevie's strawberry shortcake was too blurry.
So we arrived in Kyoto in a rain storm. We debated indoor activities, like going to see a movie and then decided to persevere.
After a cup of coffee.
and with such cute creamer.
heading to the start of the walking tour.
yep, temples and cherry blossoms. It is really very beautiful.
The coolest part of this temple involved walking through a pitch black hallway that made numerous 90 degree corners to arrive at a huge stone, which you spin and make a wish.
the oldest cherry tree in Kyoto.
Stevie at a temple dedicated to people who have died without families.
word.
egg mcmuffin delicious in any language.
Waited for a bus in the mountains.
In an hour or so we'll be on a bullet train to Kyoto. We aren't bringing the computer so we'll have to wait till we get back on Thursday evening to update. Till then!
;) Stevie
:) Zach
Zach blogging in his weird Muji socks with individual toes.
We took it a little easier on the sightseeing Tuesday. Even as walk-everywhere-New Yorkers, our feet get damn tired, too. These are all a bit random but then so is Tokyo.
Make your own caption for this photo.
We found this place to eat called Lotus in Aoyama. Have to say it's one of the coolest spots we've been to yet. We didn't want to leave. Look at that food!
And the coffee!
And the dessert!
Zach got a badass tie at Vivienne Westwood.
We had bibimbop for dinner with tempura shrimp on top. Delish!
I don't even know where to begin with my intense love of Muji. I've been to the stores in Paris and London and the tiny "store" they have at the MoMA in NYC but until I went to the stores they have here in Tokyo I had no idea. This is me sorting through my mad purchases back at the hotel. More pictures of Muji stuff TK.
;) Stevie
The Meiji temple is right near the Harajuku station but feels miles away form the bustle once you get inside the grounds. It was a needed break from shopping and crowded streets.
People write prayers on these little wooden plaques and hang them around a big tree just outside the temple.
These ladies all wearing red were part some sort of group visiting the temple.
We had dinner at a touristy but tasty restaurant called Gonpachi in Roppongi on Monday night. Yakitori and sake, yum!
This place is big.
We're a little behind in updating but we all knew that would happen, no? We are on vacation after all. But before we leave for Kyoto tomorrow morning, a quicky update of our last couple days. We spent the day in Aoyama on Monday.
Zach on one of the side streets in Aoyama, under some of those crazy cherry blossoms.
Stevie after a delish lunch of dumplings in some basement restaurant.
Caught this red truck going past a yellow building. Lucky shot.
Zach in one of the famous A Bathing Ape stores. This one sells only exclusive stuff–like the others don't?
Ramen Lunch.
Can't even pay attention when we're shooting our own picture.
Zach, clocking at the food shop.
Drink contemplation.
From St. Marks Pl. to Shinjuku. Or I suppose the other way around.
Boss coffee, Stevie's favorite canned coffee.
There would be more photos here of our trek to the Ghibli Museum, but they don't allow photography. it was a wonderful museum. Worth the short trip to Mitaka.
Stevie with cherry blossoms.
Cherry Blossoms.
The place where our hotel is located, the Shiodome complex, is intense. There are walkways and escalators crisscrossing all over the place and all sorts of shops and restaurants. It's perfectly clean, with marble, glass, and steel as far as the eye can see. There is even a Nathan's hot dog place next to a Doughnut Plant! It's like we never left New York.
A sculpture in the Shiodome.
Thankfully there are maps and signs with "you are here" everywhere we've gone so far. Only this one seemed a bit gratuitous. It tells you that you are here, half way up the flight of stairs. Duh?
We spotted this building near our hotel.
Those are the cutest fire fighters ever.
After our super tasty sushi breakfast near the fish market, we went back to the hotel, cleaned up and headed out to walk around the imperial palace gardens.
Cherry blossoms hanging over the mote.
Everyone was taking this photo of the bridge. Must be a classic.
Zach and Stevie in front of classic bridge shot.
It's 3 in the morning. We are wide awake. We were so tired after sightseeing all day yesterday that we came back to the hotel at around 5pm to take a quick rest before dinner. Mistake. We both crashed hard. Then I woke up again around midnight and have been awake ever since. Time to update the blog I guess!
;) Stevie