To Boldly Go Where No One Has Gone Before

... well, not quite. Still, if you are looking for inspiration for neat places to check out in Tokyo (or nearby), here are a couple often overlooked favorites.

KITASENJU

Land of truly cool painted shutters (a whole street worth), really odd 'Italian-style' takoyaki and more bars than you can shake a stick at.

KAWAGOE

Streets filled with Edo-era storehouses and homes, delicious sweet potato snacks and visitors dressed up in kimono and fox masks.

Vegan in Tokyo: A Helpful List

It seems that with age I am getting increasingly snarky about the morality of eating animal products.While I am by no means 100% vegan yet, I have definitely tried to severely reduce the amount of milk products and eggs I eat.

Since I know many others have similar moral (or health) concerns, I started listing some of my favourite haunts across the city, where you can get cruelty free tastiness!

Lets start in Roppongi, of all places. A short stroll from Mori Tower you will find Chien Fu (which also has a sister restaurant in Kunitachi). They specialize in Taiwanese style vegan food, with the fake meat the country is so famous for. The sweet and sour 'pork' is a major favorite, and their huge teishoku sets are all around 900yen. You can buy bags and cans of fake meat, vegan ramen and tofu mayonnaise on your way out too!

Next up is Kagetsu, a major ramen chain. During the spring they have vegan ramen, gyoza and fried rice. Cheap and cheerful. 

(NB. This is the last year they will be serving it, although you can buy the gyoza and ramen from their online store!)

(I ❤ gyoza, can you tell?)

While not a restaurant, the health food store Natural House, which has branches across the city, usually has several choices of macrobiotic bento. They are a bit on the pricy side, but allow you to have the traditional bento experience minus the meat and fish. My favorite is the 'meat' stew Nagomi set.

A hidden gem, if you so happen to be between Azabujuban and Shirokanedai station, is King Falafel. This used to be a twice monthly treat, when I worked in the area. The owner is lovely, and the full sized sandwich is a serious meal, with freshly fried falafel. Serious yum, but only two little chairs outside for seating.

On the same lines, Shamaim near Nerima is a bit of a hike from central Tokyo (unless you live there, of course), but has a fabulous falafel set and hummus set.

For something with a more American flavor, Good Honest Grub (housed in what appears to have been a normal house, between Shibuya and Ebisu) has an excellent Mexican bean wrap and smoothies. 

I have already written extensively about Eat More Greens (near Azabujuban Station) here, where the menu changes with the seasons (and has the most amazing Valhrona chocolate vegan doughnuts).The same goes for Deva Deva in Kichijoji (info here). Both T's Kitchen and T's Tantanmen are fabulous, with the first being one of my go-to lunch places when I lived on the Toyoko line.

There are several more places I wish to go, and there are definitely some that have slipped my mind at the moment.

Any recommendations? I would love to hear from other veggies in Tokyo!

Wind Chime Festival at Kawasaki Daishi

I don't know about you, but I am one of those people who always finds out about a cool festival...right after it has concluded.

The Kawasaki Daishi Wind Chime festival has been on my to do list for years. But, as it only lasts 5 days (of which only two are non-work days) each time I have managed to be elsewhere or forget about it. But this year I actually got my butt into gear (aka: wrote the days down in my planner) and whisked off on the adorable retro trains with a running friend and her boyfriend, to check out the chimes.

The temple is a 10 minute walk away from the tiny Kawasaki Daishi station, and is a nice old-fashioned temple town, the main street dotted with purveyors of kuzu mochi, the local delicacy.

Approaching the temple, the energetic sound of cleavers on wood welcomes visitors, as old fashioned candy stores line the way, interspersed with shops selling bright red daruma . The sesame filled candies are definitely worth a try!

The wind chime market itself is covered and misted with cool water, a nice respite from the July sun. The creators of these lovely crafts come from all across Japan, representing almost every prefecture, to display and sell their wares. The varieties are endless, from classic glass globes and iron bells, to unusual charcoal, bamboo and pottery chimes. The sounds are also very important, although it can be hard to figure out where they come from, due to the sheer quantity of wind chimes! Personally, I am partial to high, light bell tones (from small, heavy iron chimes) and the charming clunky sound of pottery chimes.

The colours and shapes are a feast for the eyes, and it is hard to choose a favorite amongst them all. Eventually I settled on a colourful fuurin from Akita, a heavy bell attached to a hand-decorated silk ball (in the picture above).

These apple chimes were a big hit, lots of children were requesting their parents to buy them. The glass chimes were the most creative, with all sorts of different shapes... including a cucumber which was entirely too suggestive!


My new chime is proudly hanging by the window in my room... now if we could just get a breeze to go with it!

(All photos by the awesome Eugene Roussin, used with permission)

Coffee in Kagurazaka

Kagurazaka mainly has the image of one long street, but the most interesting restaurants and shops are actually hidden in the side streets. At some point I would like to make a map of all the cool places I have found so far!

One of these hidden treasures is Mojo Coffee, the Japanese branch of the famous roastery in New Zealand. My friend Wave-chan works there as a barista, and I was excited to go and try their coffee.

 The 50's style colours (lots of light wood, turquoise, chrome and pink) are right up my alley, and it is nicely quiet. The coffee is deeply flavourful, and is less bitter than most coffee one finds in Japan.

Definitely recommend a visit if you are in the area!

Early Morning Adventures: Hasedera's Hydrangeas

June is really probably not one of the best times to be in Tokyo. Endless days of rain, laundry that doesn't really dry, excursions cut short because of squalls...

However the plentiful watering does bring one positive event with it: the riotous blooming of hydrangeas. An attractive weed, they grow easily and brighten up the city and parks with their shades of blue, violet and pink blush.

One of the most famous places to view a whole hillside of blooms is Hasedera in Kamakura, a major temple close to the giant bronze Buddha. Of course, this means that on weekends you have to wait for hours for a chance to shuffle up and down the stairways amongst the flowers, which is not my idea of a good time. 

To beat the crowds and enjoy the flowers at leisure, I trekked out to Hase Station first thing in the morning on a weekday. Arriving at the temple gates at 8:30 am, there were only a handful of elderly photography enthusiasts and a couple of cats to contend with.

I love the watercolour shades of hydrangeas, the delicate differences in shading making each one unique (and surprisingly hard to photograph well).

To complete the outing I meandered my way by foot to Kamakura station, enjoying the quiet shotengai (as the town only really starts moving around 11am). As a treat before hopping back on the train home, I rewarded myself with a murasaki imo icecream, the colour of which is wonderfully reminiscent of the flowers I came to see.

Strange culinary experiences, and where to find them

Being a vegetarian in Japan kind of precludes one from most of the 'weird' culinary experiences so many people have when visiting or living here (raw chicken or horse sashimi, fugu, dancing shrimp, Kobe beef etc...).

However never fear, there is enough weirdness to go around, even for us!

One of the oddities I have come by recently is the new 'SpoonVege' ice cream from Haagen-Daaz (which comes in cherry/tomato and orange/carrot flavours). I tried the cherry/tomato version, which was interesting. I have actually had tomato softserve in Aizu before, and this was a much richer version thereof. I could barely make out any cherry in the mix, but it was certainly not unpleasant. I intend to try the carrot one as well, to see if the fruit flavour is more noticeable.

The second interesting spot is a 'instant curry' and canned food restaurant (if one can use that term) right near Ekoda station. They have a HUGE selection of curries, from vegan curries from India to grape-flavoured curry from Yamanashi, and everything in between). They provide rice, drinks and, if you need something extra, lots of canned delicacies (from the usual yakitori, to more exotic things like snails and dolma). Sounds like a fun, cheap night out to me!

Sunday in Style: Nezu Museum

To tell the truth, lately things have been a bit tough for Ms. Godzilla. 

Nothing life threatening, but my confidence has been shaken and am not feeling quite like myself (whoever that may be).

When these things happen, I find two things very helpful to get some perspective: going somewhere beautiful and taking on a slightly different persona.

Hence, last weekend's trip to the Nezu Museum (which is near Aoyama, not Nezu). The art collection is mainly Asian artifacts, displayed in a few small galleries. While certainly pretty, they are no match for the extraordinary gardens. 

The Japanese gardens are filled with bright green momiji, which conceal a wealth of interesting statues and traditional teahouses (including one in a small boat, how exquisitely iki). The purple iris' were in full bloom, and the whole ensemble was simply breathtaking.  

As for the different persona, putting on a kimono is one of the fastest ways to accomplish that. You need to walk straight-backed, at a stately speed, with the long shoulders of a murderous queen... it certainly gives me  boost (it also helps that one also gets complimented by passing strangers.)