Elizabeth's Japanese Autumn #3/4 - Tokyo
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| Elizabeth Rose at Tokyo Imperial Palace East Garden, Ninomaru Garden (Day 4) |
While going through the pictures for this Nov/Dec Japan trip with Elizabeth, I realised that we focused more on eating and fabric/toy hunting than on sightseeing in Tokyo. (In our Kyoto leg and Fuji Five Lakes leg, we pretty much did the reverse.) Nonetheless, there were some beautiful autumn scenes we encountered during this part of the trip.
Tokyo Day 1
Ramen. Ginza.
Ramen. Ginza.
We took the Nozomi from Kyoto to Tokyo, and the first thing we did was to check in at our hotel (conveniently located across the road from Tokyo Station), dump our baggage, and return to Tokyo Station to eat.
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| Kizo's gyutan negi shio ramen and gyutan croquette, Tokyo Station Ramen Street | |
To be precise, we ate at Kizo (㐂蔵), at Tokyo Station Ramen Street. Their specialty is gyu-tan. Their signature gyu-tan negi shio ramen is delicious, quite a refreshing choice from the usual ramen flavours. The gyu-tan was so tender, and the broth was light but packed with flavour. They also serve a mean gyu-tan croquette - super crusty and delicious.
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| Gudetama pop-up store at Tokyo Station |
We didn't do much as we arrived in Tokyo pretty late. But we did check out the Donguri shop at Tokyo Station. Bought a cute Totoro bib and fabric book for my 12-month-old nephew Jude! And we got a few other little things as gifts too. Saw a Gudetama pop-up store, and thought of a friend, but I'm not so hot about Gudetama myself.
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| My meh iPhone7 panoramic picture of Ginza |
We also hit the streets of Ginza for, well, erm, window shopping and shopping. I tried taking a panoramic picture of the junction between Ginza Place, Ricoh, Wako and Mitsukoshi, but the iPhone panoramic function doesn't do so well when there are moving objects.
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| The next generation electric cars |
Yeah so, Ginza is infamously upmarket and is supposedly the most expensive district in Japan. Okay, but anyone can look, right? Sometimes Ginza has the coolest, most awesome things to look at. That day, it was a new generation of electric cars.
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| Ginza Itoya, one of the shop windows |
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| Namiki Maki-e fountain pens, Ginza Itoya (taken during our September 2016 trip) |
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| Grand Seiko 9R65 Spring Drive, Seiko Museum (September 2016 trip) |
Ginza Itoya is a 19-themed stationery paradise; as such, for me, there's definitely more than 6 things to enjoy there. I confess that I prefer to shop for certain kinds of stationery at Sekaido Shinjuku (世界堂), another stationery heaven, but in terms of shop design, decor and atmosphere, Ginza Itoya is the place. Plus Drink (1F) and Cafe Stylo (12F) are bonuses.
This trip, I was considering getting one of the Pilot custom heritage fountain pens. (Decided against it. Also checked it out at Seikado, but also decided against it. But it is still on my mind.) As for the Namiki Maki-e pens...so so so beautiful, but...no. Some anniversary perhaps. Not our 7th (pen sets), as that has passed. But maybe our 50th (gold)? (ᗒᗜᗕ)՛̵̖ Hahaha...
Also hopped into Wako... Going to Wako has actually become something of a Tokyo-Must-Do ritual for Hubby. We each have our own obsessions - me and Blythe (and fabric), he and the Seiko spring drive movement (and Metal Builds). His first Grand Seiko was the SBGA041 which he has since swapped for the Diver. (I always remember the SBGA041 in humorous terms. When our flat was broken into in 2009, the thief stole my Gucci heels but not the watch. Our friends used to make me laugh by joking that the thief had to have been female - or had a shoe fetish.)
Since around 2007, Hubby has been an ardent admirer of Grand Seiko watches and the spring drive movement. (For a comprehensive explanation of the movement, see Timeless Luxury Watches and A Blog to Watch.) It is indeed impressive with its accuracy, glide motion, and 72-hour power reserve. Seiko states that its accuracy is average +/-15s per month. But Hubby said this is actually an extremely modest estimation, and that in truth its accuracy is around +/-3s per month on average.
Tokyo Day 2
Todai, Rikugien & Akihabara
Todai, Rikugien & Akihabara
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| Ginkgo trees in the Chiyoda ward, Tokyo |
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| Yasai-tendon, Keyaki Tempura, Tokyo Station |
There are also many lovely autumn-viewing spots in Tokyo: Icho Namiki Avenue at Gaienmae, Rikugien, Koishikawa Korakuen, Shinjuku Gyoen, Hibiya Park, Imperial Palace East Gardens, Yoyogi Park, Ueno Park, Inokashira Park, Shiba Park, Kitanomaru Park...
So, this Tokyo phase, we went autumn-viewing at Rikugien, Todai, Shinkuju Gyoen and the Imperial Palace East Garden. I would've liked to do more, but Hubby was past his limit by then.
For lunch, we went back to Keyaki Tempura at Tokyo Station's Kitchen Street, a good and reasonably priced tempura place we found on our winter 2013 trip with Caramelaw and Travel Companion #4 (now, we call him He Who Shall Not Be Named).
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| Ginkgo trees at Todai |
We then took the Marunouchi and Namboku lines to Todaimae Station, and walked to the Hongo campus of Tokyo University (東京大学), commonly referred to as Todai. Might sound like a major surprise, but Todai is actually a popular and beautiful autumn spot in Tokyo, especially the avenue between the Seimon (main gate) and the Yasuda Auditorium.
Hubby and I also popped by the Sanshiro Pond, a pond dating back to 1615, but I spent so much time at Todai that we had to skip the Akamon and rush to our next destination.
More on the visit to Todai here.
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| Togetsukyo, Rikugien |
So, after Todai, we made our way to Rikugien (六義園), another of Tokyo's popular koyo spots. It is considered one of Tokyo's most beautiful Japanese landscape gardens, and is a fine example of an Edo period Japanese stroll garden (kaiyu-shiki teien).
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| Togetsukyo, Rikugien |
Rikugien was created in 1702, and was designed to reproduce 88 scenes from famous places in China and Japan, as well as waka poems, and some of the garden's scenery are so named. Its name literally means "6 tenets of poetry garden", after the 6 classifications of poetry in Chinese poetry, which influenced the classification of Japanese waka poetry in the Kokin Wakashū (「古今和歌集」), the anthology of poems I've mentioned in the post on Sento Imperial Palace.
More on the visit to Rikugien here.
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| Akihabara, Tokyo |
Next was Akihabara (秋葉原). For Hubby and myself, no trip to Tokyo would ever be complete without stopping by Akihabara, to check out what's on the toy/anime/manga scene. First building we dropped by was Radio Kaikan (ラジオ会館), one of my favourite spots at Akiba.
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There're many shops at Radio Kaikan that Hubby and I patronise...Azone International, Uchusen, Yellow Submarine, Hobby Station, Havikoro, K-Books, Hobby Square, etc. One of the shops we always pop into is Uchusen (宇宙船) on 5F - they carry, among others, Blythe, Azone Neemo, Obitsu...and I think they have one of the best selections of mokekes! Also one of the places to get S-sized Azone Neemo bodies, as the Azone International shop at 7F always sells out.
Other than Radio Kaikan, we did venture out to other buildings at Akiba - spending most of our time at Kotobukiya and Mandarake.
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There was a lot of fantastic stuff we saw this trip, but I was quite strict with myself when it came down to buying. Made only very very very modest acquisitions...very unlike the winter 2013 trip with Caramelaw where we had gone nuts.
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| From Kotobukiya |
Added another special danboard to my (growing) collection - a Monkey year special. (Hubby's Chinese zodiac is the monkey, so quite apt, we both thought.) And I couldn't resist the cute Yotsuba t-shirt.
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| Salvatore Cuomo Bros., XEX Tokyo |
After dropping our bags home, we headed out to dinner. We decided to go to XEX Tokyo again, since it was close by our hotel. Our initial plan was to revisit yakiniku at Teppenyaki An (which we went to during our winter 2013 trip). But at the last second, we decided to go Italian, and tried Salvatore Cuomos Bros instead. The food was good, service was great, and the tables by the window have a fantastic bird's eye view of Tokyo Station. I also later found out that the restaurant belongs to Italian chef Salvatore Cuomo, credited as the man who made the Neapolitan pizza famous in Japan. Posted the other pictures I took at Salvatore Cuomo Bros in another post here.
Tokyo Day 3
Ate a lot of sushi.
Ate a lot of sushi.
Day 3 was a dedicated sushi day with lunch at Sushi Masuda and dinner at Nishiazabu Taku. One of the main focus points of our Tokyo trip was sushi. Hubby's been on a sushiya roll ever since we went to Harutaka and Jiro Roppongi. Long before Jiro Dreams of Sushi was ever filmed, he has loved sushi, but that film sparked his obsession with trying out all the Michelin-starred and/or well-reviewed sushiya around Japan, starting with Tokyo. Sigh.
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| Monkfish liver (ankimo), Sushi Masuda, Tokyo |
First sushiya we hit this trip was Sushi Masuda (鮨 ます田) at Aoyama. The chef, Masuda Rei, is a former apprentice of Chef Jiro of Jiro Dreams of Sushi fame. While Jiro's influence is clearly present, I think Chef Masuda has done several things differently from his shisho. His shari is not heavily vinegared, like the Jiro school style. I enjoyed the sushi there, but I did find the atmosphere quite formal and stifling. Not as stifling as Harutaka, but nowhere near as relaxed as Jiro Roppongi.
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| Halfbeak (sayori) and Japanese clam (hamaguri), Sushi Masuda, Tokyo | |
There were several sushi ingredients that I knew about - having read about them or seen them before, but had not eaten before, so it was an interesting experience for me. The highlights of the omakase lunch for me were the ankimo (monkfish liver), sayori (halfbeak), akagai (ark shell clam), madai (snapper), and hamaguri (Japanese clam). Of these, my favourite would be the hamaguri, which was slowly simmered in a broth and then brushed with a gooey sweet-salty tare sauce.
More on our lunch at Sushi Masuda here.
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| Nishiazabu Taku, Tokyo |
Same day, for dinner was the 2nd sushiya of the trip: Nishiazabu Taku (西麻布 拓), or just Sushi Taku, at Roppongi Hills. Taku is run by Takuya Satosushi, a sushi chef and sommelier, and is known to be somewhat unconventional in pairing wine with sushi.
The atmosphere was pretty relaxed, and the chefs were all very friendly - also limited English spoken, like in Masuda, but somehow less formal and rigid? Between our chef's limited English and my limited Japanese, we had quite a fun time going actually. I noticed they had aoyagi available (as an additional item) and we had a laugh over how the aoyagi clam is also known as bakagai, "idiot clam". Service was fantastic too, and they were very accommodating.
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| Nishiazabu Taku, Tokyo | |
The highlights of dinner here, weirdly enough, fall into the category of reproductive organs of sea creatures. First, my favourite, was the uni course, where we were served bafun uni in a warm briny liquid, and murasaki uni, chilled on its own. Second, was the shirako course - my first experience eating shirako. So shirako (cod milt) is another of those ingredients I had heard of it but not eaten it. It was a good experience, but I think it's an acquired taste that I won't be picking up any time soon. Not because I have anything against eating reproductive organs of sea creatures - after all, uni, which I adore eating, are sea urchin gonads.
More on our dinner at Nishiazabu Taku here.
Tokyo Day 4
Tokyo Imperial Palace & East Garden. Nippori Textile Town. Ate more sushi.
Tokyo Imperial Palace & East Garden. Nippori Textile Town. Ate more sushi.
Of the Imperial family properties that we visited during this trip, we found that our visit to the Imperial Palace in Tokyo was rather disappointing compared to our visits to Shugakuin Imperial Villa, Sento Imperial Palace, and Kyoto Imperial Palace in Kyoto.
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| Fujimi-yagura, Tokyo Imperial Palace |
The Tokyo Imperial Palace (皇居; Kokyo) is the primary residence of the Japanese Emperor. It encompasses the site of the former Edo Castle which has been the residence of the Tokugawa shogun in the Edo period. In 1868, following the Meiji Restoration, the Emperor moved his residence from Kyoto Imperial Palace (which we have also toured) to Edo Castle.
Not many of the original buildings remained - much of Edo Castle's structures disappeared during the Meiji period, and most of the Imperial Palace was destroyed in the WWII air raids over Tokyo. The few that remained were part of the tour, but cannot be entered and their interiors could not be seen.
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| The Chowaden and Kyūden Totei Plaza, Tokyo Imperial Palace |
The main structure of the current Imperial Palace, and the tour, was the Kyūden (宮殿) - the main palace complex which was constructed and completed in 1968. However, this too could not be entered into, nor were the interiors viewable.
Overall, If I had a choice to do it over, Hubby and I would probably have given the Imperial Palace a miss, and simply focused on the publicly accessible areas (the East Gardens and Kokyo Gaien). We found the Imperial Palace tour group too large, and not very pleasant because of a fair number of pushy, inconsiderate people. （♯▼皿▼） Not many points of interests, and though we walked along several paths with lovely autumn foliage, there was not much. It was an educational experience, but not an enjoyable one, in my humble view.
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| Elizabeth Rose at the Imperial Palace East Gardens |
Following the tour around the Imperial Palace, we made our way to the Imperial Palace East Garden (皇居東御苑; Kokyo Higashi Gyoen) which hjad been made a public park in 1968.
In the East Garden are several Imperial Palace structures that are excluded from the tour, but are publicly accessible. My favourites were the Tokagakudo (桃華楽堂), a music hall built in commemoration of Empress Kojun's 60th birthday, and the Bairin-zaka (梅林坂), a steep slope flanked by stone ramparts and ume trees that were said to have been planted in 1478 by Ota Dokan (太田 道灌; 1432-1486).
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| Ninomaru Grove, Imperial Palace East Garden |
The East Garden is one of my favourite autumn spots this trip. The autumn foliage around the Ninomaru Grove, Ninomaru Garden and the Bairin-zaka is very beautiful. Totally worth visiting.
More on the visit to the Imperial Palace and East Garden here.
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| Nippori Textile Town |
For Nippori Textile Town, I'm not going post pictures because others have done so (e.g. Japanese Sewing Books, made by ChrissieD, triple rin, blackcabbit). It's an amazing place to go fabric hunting. Not far from the JR Nippori Station's south exit, it stretches around 1km and is lined with fabric and specialty textile stores, as well as all kinds of craft and sewing sundries.
So anyway, we did not have much time to roam the district because we had to rush off soonish for our dinner appointment. First stop was Tomato (トマト) because my no. 1 agenda was to get my hands on nani IRO fabric. I confess I made the deliberate choice of keeping my focus only on nani IRO, and excluding almost all others because (i) I had limited baggage space; (ii) already bought some fabric at Nomura in Kyoto; and (iii) I have a huge stockpile of fabric at home, much of which has yet to be used.
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| nani IRO fabric from Tomato, Nippori Textile Town |
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| Organza and chiffon from Nippori Textile Town |
The blue organza would make a great dress for Ella (my Almond Doll), and the off-white organza would suit this jellyfish hat project that has been germinating in my mind for some time.
The green chiffon was really just a whim - because I just loved the green, and the drape of the fabric. Oops.
Definitely have to return here for a longer period of time, to do some serious hunting. Because really, that's the only way to treat Nippori Textile Town with justice.
Our meals for today were also quite extravagant - with lunch at Choujoumen Tsukushiro (Kitchen Street, Tokyo Station) and dinner at Sushi Nakamura.
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| Choujoumen Tsukushiro, Tokyo Station. |
Lunch was right before we went to Nippori Textile Town, and was relatively quick. Choujoumen Tsukushiro (頂上麺 筑紫樓) would not normally be my preferred choice, but Hubby'd been wanting to check out their sharkfin, and I felt very very very bad for going overtime at the East Garden. In the end, we both agreed that though the food was all right, there was really nothing that made us go "wow, I would totally eat here again".
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| Red seabream or snapper (madai), Sushi Nakamura, Tokyo |
Dinner was a very good experience. We were at the third sushiya for this trip - Sushi Nakamura (鮨 なかむら) in Roppongi. Felt more formal than Nishiazabu Taku, but also friendly. Excellent service too. There were several highlights to our omakase course, such as the crab dish, madai (true seabream), ankimo. It was here that my ambivalence towards tamagoyaki was changed. Chef Nakamura's tamagoyaki is almost like chiffon cake, fluffy and mildly sweet.
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| Juyondai Shichitare Nijikkan (十四代七垂二十貫). Sushi Nakamura, Tokyo. |
We also found the rumoured maboroshi no sake, Juyondai (十四代) on the drinks menu. To be precise, the Juyondai Shichitare Nijikkan (十四代七垂二十貫), a junmai daiginjo, produced with Aiyama rice (愛山) and with a rice-milled ratio of 40%. So, Juyondai is a well-known sake produced by the Takagi Shuzo in the Yamagata Prefecture. In fact, it has achieved cult status, and is quite difficult to find inside and outside of Japan. After sipping his first cup, the Juyondai has firmly displaced the Dassai 23 as Hubby's favourite sake. How would I describe it? Smooth and round, slightly fruity and sweet, and very very very clean.
More on the dinner at Sushi Nakamura here.
Tokyo Day 5
Ate a lot again. Whisky!
Ate a lot again. Whisky!
Again, another day dedicated to good food. I confess, that was what we did most of Day 5 in Tokyo - eat and seek out Japanese whisky.
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| Sushi Tokami | |
So the first highlight of the day was lunch at Sushi Tokami (鮨 とかみ), run by Chef Sato Hiroyuki. Chef Sato speaks fluent English, having lived and worked in Singapore many years prior returning to Japan. Lunch was a great experience, and also interesting because Chef Sato uses red vinegar for his shari. I was expecting it to taste sharper and stronger, but was surprised with its softness. Also surprising in a very good (and delicious!) way was the maguro tossaki temaki and tamagoyaki. More on the lunch at Sushi Tokami here.
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| Tea at Wako Cafe, Ginza |
We also had tea at Wako Cafe. I was quite stuffed, so I gave all the sweets a skip and settled for Darjeeling tea. Hubby had his tea and a chocolate parfait.
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| Chocolate parfait, Wako Cafe, Ginza |
Would I go back? Don't know. Hubby said he would go back to buy the biscuits, for which they are supposedly so famous. For myself, I just think about other cafes that we've been to that have better tea and confections for more reasonable prices.
Not too long after tea, we made our way to dinner. Something different from what we normally do - molecular gastronomy at Tapas Molecular Bar at the Mandarin Oriental Tokyo.
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| Onsen tamago, Tapas Molecular Bar, Mandarin Oriental Tokyo |
There were some things I liked about dinenr at TMB, but also many things to pick on. I liked the seating concept - everyone had seats at the counter, where we can watch the action. Actually, the components are mostly already prepared, and the action we see at the counter is mostly the finishing touches.
In terms of the food, we were served a number of the savoury dishes. The highlights for me were the Cigar, which was made of barbecued pork but tasted like Peking duck; the Bisque of lobster and uni; the Onsen Tamago, which was actually vegetarian (tofu and pumpkin), not an egg at all but tasted totally like an egg.
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| Sausage & Omelette, Tapas Molecular Bar, Mandarin Oriental Tokyo |
The desserts did not make an impression on me. Some (like the Short Cake) were rather flat, needing some element to balance the sweetness, or ordinary if not for the various gimmicks (e.g. the foam guns, nitrogen gas). Sometimes it felt as rather try-hard molecular, or molecular for the sake of molecular - like the Sausage and Omelette desserts, the Instant Fondant and After Eights. More on the dinner at Tapas Molecular Bar here.
In between our eating adventures, we went hunting for aged Yamazaki, Suntory and Nikka for Hubby's dad and, I confess, by proxy, ourselves. We checked out 6 stores, including Liquors Hasegawa and and 2 branches of Liquor Mountain. Only 2 stores had stock; the other 4 carried but were sold out. Even then, purchase was limited to only 1 bottle each per person.
To be perfectly honest, Hubby, myself, my FIL and our fellow whisky-drinking friends have loved Japanese whisky for a long time. So, it's really annoying when the global markets suddenly "discover" the wonders of Japanese whisky following the Yamazaki Sherry Cask 2013, which in turn created a global shortage, which in turn had Japanese distilleries shifting to NAS bottles to preserve stock. (Nothing against NAS but I still want 12, 15, 17, 21).
In the end, we bought a bottle of the Yamazaki 2016 Limited Edition from Liquors Hasegawa, and a bottle each of Yamazaki 12 and Hakushu 12 from Liquor Mountain (if I remember correctly, which I am not sure about). Would've loved to also get the Hibiki 17, but unfortunately we have liquor duties and restrictions to consider.
Day 6 began with tori paitan soba at Kagari (篝). Ever since we ate there in 2015, it has become one of our favourite ramen place in Japan, and we try to eat there at least once when we are in Tokyo.
After brunch, we headed to Shinjuku Gyoen (新宿御苑), mainly because I wanted to take pictures of Elizabeth Rose at the various locations that were featured in Shinkai Makoto's The Garden of Words. (Yeah, ok, geek moment.) But that aside, Shinjuku Gyoen is a lovely park.
The site of Shinjuku Gyoen was originally bequeathed to Naito Kiyonari (内藤清成; 1555-1608) by Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1590, and was the private residence (下屋敷; shimoyashiki) of the Naito clan. It was made a public national park, alongside former Imperial parks Kyoto Gyoen and Kokyo Gaien, in 1949. I'm not going to detail the history of Shinjuku Gyoen because I've posted about it separately, and it has been well expained by Japan's Ministry of Environment and Japan This!.
One of the sections I love is the Japanese Traditional Garden. Of the various structures around the Japanese Traditional Garden, the Kyu-Goryo-Tei (旧御涼亭) makes a great spot for photo-taking. (Of course, it was also featured prominently in Shinkai Makoto's Garden of Words.) The pavilion was built in 1928 to commemorate the wedding of the Emperor Showa (昭和天皇; reigned 1926-1989).
As we were leaving Shinjuku Gyoen, we also passed what looked like sakura trees in bloom. Naturally I was curious, because I didn't think it was possible for sakura to be blooming in autumn. But I was wrong! There were a few winter cherry trees that were in bloom - the Jugatsu-zakura (十月桜) and the Kobuku-zakura (小福桜). Not as spectacularly as the spring cherries, but still quite pretty. Only managed to take a few pictures as it was really hard to take decent ones in the fading light.
More on the day at Shinjuku Gyoen here.
Technically, this part of the Tokyo leg was actually not consecutive since we made a side trip to the Fuji Five Lakes, returning to Tokyo on our last day at Fuji Five Lakes. Arrived back with some time to check out at least one Christmas illumination site.
Decided that we would go check out the Christmas lights at Caretta Shiodome (カレッタ汐留). So the theme for 2016 was Canyon d'Azur, and featured an ocean of 250,000 LED lights! Very magical.... But very hard to photograph (;__;)
Confess that our choice of venue was very much influenced by dinner options. So Caretta Shiodome had quite a variety to choose from, which stayed open til relatively late (by Tokyo standards). We picked Toraji Param because we both craved yakiniku, which we hadn't eaten since dinner at Hafuu in Kyoto.
Our last day in Japan, but we still wanted to pack in as much as we could.
Our first stop for the day was Nakano Broadway (中野ブロードウェイ), where we have had some toy-hunting adventures, some super fun, some sparse.
This trip, the inventory was fantastic. The very first Blythe doll I oogled at was the mint-in-box Margo Unique Girl. She was going for ¥320,000 - in fact, I think she's the same one I saw during our Nov 2015 Fuji Five Lakes trip. Back then, she was around USD2,600; at the current exchange rate, she'd be about USD2,784.
There were several highly sought after translucent Blythes that were all still mint-in-box. Their prices though comparable with eBay prices, still pack quite a punch:
(The exchange rate was ¥1,000 = USD8.70 / SGD12.40 on 11 December 2016.)
Looking at the Nostalgic Pop and Penny Precious in the display cabinet, I thought about the Nostalgic Pop and Penny Precious I acquired during our winter 2013 trip which I sent to K07 Doll for customising (now christened Mitsuha and Elizabeth Rose). In fact, Elizabeth Rose was here with me on this trip, looking nothing like her former self following her amazing transformation.
There were another 2 Cardcaptor Sakura animation cels on auction. Hubby rather liked the one of Sakura in her pink cape costume, and considered bidding for the cel. (We last bought on in summer 2015, of Sakura in her Chinese purple dress.)
After that, we took the train to Tokyo Tower (東京タワー), where I was hoping to catch twilight descend over Tokyo. Other than Tokyo Tower, spectacular views of Tokyo metropolis can also be seen from the Tokyo SkyTree (which we visited in winter 2013), but I personally prefer Tokyo Tower.
Not our first visit to Tokyo Tower - our first visit was back in winter 2012 (no post on that trip, sorry). But this time, we stuck to the main observatory deck. This trip, we also exited from Akabanebashi Station.
Inspired by France's Eiffel Tower, construction and completion of Tokyo Tower is symbolic of Japan's post-war rebirth and its rise as a global economic power. Standing at 333m tall, Tokyo Tower is the world's tallest free-standing steel tower - and it was Japan's tallest sructure until the Tokyo Skytree was completed in 2012. The main observatory (2 storeys) stands at 150m high and the special observatory at around 250m high.
The tower's designer Naito Tachu (内藤 多仲; 1886-1970), renowned Japanese engineer, based the design on the Eiffel Tower. The Tokyo Tower is supposedly able to withstand earthquakes twice the intensity of the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake (7.9 Mw) and typhoons with windspeeds of 220km/h.
Also took a time-lapse video of sundown over Tokyo and posted it on Instagram (viewable here). One of my favourite times to look out over cityscapes is during twilight, when the sinking sun stains the sky with orange and pink, which then slowly turns a deep blue, and the lights of the city slowly come on.
On our way back down, I noticed there was a Kuragehime event going on! Exciting, and totally ironic because Kuragehime was what gave me inspiration for the jellyfish hat project - the one I bought the off-white chiffon at Nippori Textile Town (above) for! Maybe it is a sign....
As for how I got interested in Kuragehime, it was actually because of BLYTHE. Hahaha... Basically, a character in Kuragehime, named Nomu, is a Blythe collector and sews Blythe clothes and sundries. She first appears in Chapter 31, but does not appear in the anime. What I recently found funny in Kuragehime is the fact that the main character, Tsukimi, was scouted and is off galivanting around my hometown Singapore (chapter 60).
So, after Tokyo Tower, we trotted off to Nihonbashimuromachi, where we had a dinner reservation at La Paix (ラぺ). At the time, I honestly had no clue what to expect because my loving and attentive Hubs planned everything. But as soon as our amuse bouche arrived, I got the idea - Chef Matsumoto Ippei creates and serves classic French dishes with Japanese seasonal flavour and ingredients.
Frankly, La Paix was easily the most enjoyable meal I had this trip. All the dishes were delicious, well-prepared, and presented a harmony of French and Japanese. The presentation of the dishes were unmistakably French, but some of the flavours and the ingredients were unmistakably Japanese.
The highlights of the meal for me were, well, all of them - it was really hard to pick! But one dish was the clear favourite for me, and that was the foie gras terrine sandwiched between the coffee gaufre biscuit - a perfect balance of flavours and textures.
The other close 2nd standout dish for me was the pre-dessert - a dattan soba tea blancmange, beautifully soft like good handmade silken tofu, topped with refreshing salt ice cream, and liberally drizzled with buttery olive oil. The dish was one that was made up of contrasts - sweet and salty, warm and cold, and different kinds of softness and smoothness.
I definitely will be returning to La Paix! More on the dinner at La Paix here.
(This post was edited on 11 October 2017, and tweaked again on 23 June 2020.)
In the end, we bought a bottle of the Yamazaki 2016 Limited Edition from Liquors Hasegawa, and a bottle each of Yamazaki 12 and Hakushu 12 from Liquor Mountain (if I remember correctly, which I am not sure about). Would've loved to also get the Hibiki 17, but unfortunately we have liquor duties and restrictions to consider.
Tokyo Day 6
More ramen. Shinjuku Gyoen.
More ramen. Shinjuku Gyoen.
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| Tori paitan soba, Kagari, Ginza Echika-fit |
Day 6 began with tori paitan soba at Kagari (篝). Ever since we ate there in 2015, it has become one of our favourite ramen place in Japan, and we try to eat there at least once when we are in Tokyo.
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| English Landscape Garden, Shinjuku Gyoen |
After brunch, we headed to Shinjuku Gyoen (新宿御苑), mainly because I wanted to take pictures of Elizabeth Rose at the various locations that were featured in Shinkai Makoto's The Garden of Words. (Yeah, ok, geek moment.) But that aside, Shinjuku Gyoen is a lovely park.
The site of Shinjuku Gyoen was originally bequeathed to Naito Kiyonari (内藤清成; 1555-1608) by Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1590, and was the private residence (下屋敷; shimoyashiki) of the Naito clan. It was made a public national park, alongside former Imperial parks Kyoto Gyoen and Kokyo Gaien, in 1949. I'm not going to detail the history of Shinjuku Gyoen because I've posted about it separately, and it has been well expained by Japan's Ministry of Environment and Japan This!.
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| Kyu-Goryo-Tei (Taiwan Pavilion), Japanese Traditional Garden, Shinjuku Gyoen |
One of the sections I love is the Japanese Traditional Garden. Of the various structures around the Japanese Traditional Garden, the Kyu-Goryo-Tei (旧御涼亭) makes a great spot for photo-taking. (Of course, it was also featured prominently in Shinkai Makoto's Garden of Words.) The pavilion was built in 1928 to commemorate the wedding of the Emperor Showa (昭和天皇; reigned 1926-1989).
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| Jugatsu-zakura blooming at Shinjuku Gyoen |
As we were leaving Shinjuku Gyoen, we also passed what looked like sakura trees in bloom. Naturally I was curious, because I didn't think it was possible for sakura to be blooming in autumn. But I was wrong! There were a few winter cherry trees that were in bloom - the Jugatsu-zakura (十月桜) and the Kobuku-zakura (小福桜). Not as spectacularly as the spring cherries, but still quite pretty. Only managed to take a few pictures as it was really hard to take decent ones in the fading light.
More on the day at Shinjuku Gyoen here.
Tokyo Day 7
Christmas Illumination at Shiodome
Christmas Illumination at Shiodome
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| Caretta Shiodome Christmas Illuminations 2016 |
Technically, this part of the Tokyo leg was actually not consecutive since we made a side trip to the Fuji Five Lakes, returning to Tokyo on our last day at Fuji Five Lakes. Arrived back with some time to check out at least one Christmas illumination site.
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| Caretta Shiodome Christmas Illuminations 2016 |
Decided that we would go check out the Christmas lights at Caretta Shiodome (カレッタ汐留). So the theme for 2016 was Canyon d'Azur, and featured an ocean of 250,000 LED lights! Very magical.... But very hard to photograph (;__;)
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| Yakiniku dinner at Toraji Param Shiodome |
Confess that our choice of venue was very much influenced by dinner options. So Caretta Shiodome had quite a variety to choose from, which stayed open til relatively late (by Tokyo standards). We picked Toraji Param because we both craved yakiniku, which we hadn't eaten since dinner at Hafuu in Kyoto.
Tokyo Day 8
Nakano Broadway, Tokyo Tower, La Paix.
Nakano Broadway, Tokyo Tower, La Paix.
Our last day in Japan, but we still wanted to pack in as much as we could.
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| Nakano Broadway | |
Our first stop for the day was Nakano Broadway (中野ブロードウェイ), where we have had some toy-hunting adventures, some super fun, some sparse.
This trip, the inventory was fantastic. The very first Blythe doll I oogled at was the mint-in-box Margo Unique Girl. She was going for ¥320,000 - in fact, I think she's the same one I saw during our Nov 2015 Fuji Five Lakes trip. Back then, she was around USD2,600; at the current exchange rate, she'd be about USD2,784.
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| Mandarake, Nakano Broadway | |
There were several highly sought after translucent Blythes that were all still mint-in-box. Their prices though comparable with eBay prices, still pack quite a punch:
| Doll | JPY (¥) | USD (US$) | SGD (S$) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Margo Unique Girl | 320,000 | 2,784.00 | 3,968.00 |
| Miss Sally Rice | 100,000 | 870.00 | 1,240.00 |
| Regina Erwen | 75,000 | 652.50 | 930.00 |
| Nostalgic Pop | 58,000 | 504.60 | 719.20 |
| Penny Precious | 55,000 | 478.50 | 682.00 |
| My Melody | 50,000 | 435.00 | 620.00 |
| Curly Babe Blue | 40,000 | 348.00 | 496.00 |
| Hatsune Miku | 30,000 | 261.00 | 372.00 |
(The exchange rate was ¥1,000 = USD8.70 / SGD12.40 on 11 December 2016.)
Looking at the Nostalgic Pop and Penny Precious in the display cabinet, I thought about the Nostalgic Pop and Penny Precious I acquired during our winter 2013 trip which I sent to K07 Doll for customising (now christened Mitsuha and Elizabeth Rose). In fact, Elizabeth Rose was here with me on this trip, looking nothing like her former self following her amazing transformation.
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| Cardcaptor Sakura animation cel, Mandarake Nakano |
There were another 2 Cardcaptor Sakura animation cels on auction. Hubby rather liked the one of Sakura in her pink cape costume, and considered bidding for the cel. (We last bought on in summer 2015, of Sakura in her Chinese purple dress.)
After that, we took the train to Tokyo Tower (東京タワー), where I was hoping to catch twilight descend over Tokyo. Other than Tokyo Tower, spectacular views of Tokyo metropolis can also be seen from the Tokyo SkyTree (which we visited in winter 2013), but I personally prefer Tokyo Tower.
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| Tokyo Tower | |
Not our first visit to Tokyo Tower - our first visit was back in winter 2012 (no post on that trip, sorry). But this time, we stuck to the main observatory deck. This trip, we also exited from Akabanebashi Station.
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| Tokyo Tower | |
Inspired by France's Eiffel Tower, construction and completion of Tokyo Tower is symbolic of Japan's post-war rebirth and its rise as a global economic power. Standing at 333m tall, Tokyo Tower is the world's tallest free-standing steel tower - and it was Japan's tallest sructure until the Tokyo Skytree was completed in 2012. The main observatory (2 storeys) stands at 150m high and the special observatory at around 250m high.
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| Tokyo metropolis at twilight (blue hour) |
The tower's designer Naito Tachu (内藤 多仲; 1886-1970), renowned Japanese engineer, based the design on the Eiffel Tower. The Tokyo Tower is supposedly able to withstand earthquakes twice the intensity of the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake (7.9 Mw) and typhoons with windspeeds of 220km/h.
Also took a time-lapse video of sundown over Tokyo and posted it on Instagram (viewable here). One of my favourite times to look out over cityscapes is during twilight, when the sinking sun stains the sky with orange and pink, which then slowly turns a deep blue, and the lights of the city slowly come on.
On our way back down, I noticed there was a Kuragehime event going on! Exciting, and totally ironic because Kuragehime was what gave me inspiration for the jellyfish hat project - the one I bought the off-white chiffon at Nippori Textile Town (above) for! Maybe it is a sign....
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| A Kuragehime event at Tokyo Tower |
As for how I got interested in Kuragehime, it was actually because of BLYTHE. Hahaha... Basically, a character in Kuragehime, named Nomu, is a Blythe collector and sews Blythe clothes and sundries. She first appears in Chapter 31, but does not appear in the anime. What I recently found funny in Kuragehime is the fact that the main character, Tsukimi, was scouted and is off galivanting around my hometown Singapore (chapter 60).
So, after Tokyo Tower, we trotted off to Nihonbashimuromachi, where we had a dinner reservation at La Paix (ラぺ). At the time, I honestly had no clue what to expect because my loving and attentive Hubs planned everything. But as soon as our amuse bouche arrived, I got the idea - Chef Matsumoto Ippei creates and serves classic French dishes with Japanese seasonal flavour and ingredients.
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| Foie gras terrine, coffee gaufre biscuit, La Paix |
Frankly, La Paix was easily the most enjoyable meal I had this trip. All the dishes were delicious, well-prepared, and presented a harmony of French and Japanese. The presentation of the dishes were unmistakably French, but some of the flavours and the ingredients were unmistakably Japanese.
The highlights of the meal for me were, well, all of them - it was really hard to pick! But one dish was the clear favourite for me, and that was the foie gras terrine sandwiched between the coffee gaufre biscuit - a perfect balance of flavours and textures.
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| Dattan soba tea blancmange, salt ice cream, olive oil, La Paix |
The other close 2nd standout dish for me was the pre-dessert - a dattan soba tea blancmange, beautifully soft like good handmade silken tofu, topped with refreshing salt ice cream, and liberally drizzled with buttery olive oil. The dish was one that was made up of contrasts - sweet and salty, warm and cold, and different kinds of softness and smoothness.
I definitely will be returning to La Paix! More on the dinner at La Paix here.
(This post was edited on 11 October 2017, and tweaked again on 23 June 2020.)
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More on Elizabeth's Japanese Autumn, November 2016
- I. Yokohama & the Miho Museum - Chinatown (Heichinrou, Yokohama Mazu Temple) ● Yamashita Park ● Zou-no-Hana ● Osanbashi Pier ● Yokohama Red Brick Warehouses ● Miho Museum
- II. Kyoto - Tofukuji ● Kiyomizudera ● Sohonzan Komyoji ● Eikando Zenrinji ● Manshuin Monzeki ● Iwakura Jissoin Monzeki ● Nanzenji, Nanzenin & Tenjuan ● Kitano Tenmangu ● Shugakuin Imperial Villa ● Sento Imperial Palace ● Kyoto Imperial Palace
- III. Tokyo - Tokyo University ● Rikugien ● Tokyo Imperial Palace & the East Gardens ● Kotonoha no Niwa trip to at Shinjuku Gyoen ● Italian at Salvatore Cuomo Bros., XEX Tokyo ● Sushi Masuda ● Nishiazabu Taku (aka Sushi Taku) ● Sushi Nakamura (1st taste of Juyondai) ● Sushi Tokami (1st taste of tossaki) ● molecular gastronomy at Tapas Molecular Bar ● French-Japanese at La Paix, Nihonbashi
- IV: Fuji Five Lakes - Part 1 (Bessho Sasa, revisited) ● Part 2 (Fuji Subaru 5th Station, Motosuko & Koyodai) ● Part 3 (Fujisansaku Park, Motosuko, Shojiko, Saiko, Kawaguchiko)
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