Japan 2023

Colin's Photos, Day 2 (September 25): Ginza & Shinjuku

Here's my photos from Day 2 (September 25)

Mostly Ginza during the day and Shinjuku at night.

The drink & ice cream combo is from Itoya, the 12-story stationery store. The drink was a matcha lemonade and the ice cream was a kiwi sorbet sort of thing.

September 26th

Off to the Imperial Palace! The official tour only offers 140 spots a day, so you have to go early and pre-register. Colin and Dana headed that way; Lisa, Yuri, Isaac, and I wandered the East Gardens.

It's amazing what all the money and power in the nation can do for you. The trees were regal. The koi were royal. The mosquitos were imperial. More importantly, we saw a snake, a skink, some frogs, and a cool construction vehicle pulling part of the palace down, smash clink crash!

By about 2pm I was starving and pushed Lisa and Isaac to join me for lunch. We had delicious seiro soba then bought some visiting mochi from Shiga prefecture at the Palace Side Food Court.

The shrine were had planned to visit next wasn't nearby, so we headed back to Shinjuku instead, stopping by the local Inari shrine and (in)famous Don Quijote general store home. Donki has the chaotic energy of Christmas Tree Shops or Ocean State Job Lots but is filled with Hello Kitty ID badge holders and novelty bath bombs and it has a liquor section. It also has a 🔞 section.

While checking out at Donki I realized I had lost my JR rail pass, so that really killed my post-stupid-shopping buzz. I drank a self-pity 3% Suntory summer 🎆 pineapple beverage and rested my feet until dinner.

For dinner, the Imperial Palace visitors regrouped near Shinjuku Station and decided on an ultimately disappointing restaurant, sigh, but we did all get to sit together. A lot of Tokyo restaurants are very small, so seating for 6 is a bit of a victory in itself. Afterwards, Colin, Dana, Lisa, and Yuri bought tickets and prepared to go to Hakone on Wednesday. Isaac and I went for a drink and managed to make a lucky Google Maps choice. We went to a little speakeasy-like bar up a narrow staircase to an unmarked wooden door with a little stationed glass porthole. A little giggly, we came back to Okubo for the night very ready for bed.

Yes, of course I did

When we were planning this trip, I interrupted someone mid-sentence during a zoom call to say, “Lisa… we should go SQUARE DANCING!!”

Colin and Yuri were very confused and the Japan meeting got sidetracked for a while into me reminding them that the only reason they knew Lisa (and Mary indirectly, and then Isaac) is because I met Lisa when she came to Tech Squares at MIT.

Because square dancing was very popular in the 50s, and there was a large post-war American presence in Japan… square dancing is relatively popular in Japan. The database where one looks up these things lists 8 clubs based in Tokyo. I picked one based on the location, the clarity of the directions in the database (extremely accurate, but, as I noticed later, last updated in 2005, so maybe I should have been more cautious), and the fact that I knew we would be in Tokyo on the night they met.

Everyone was pretty confused when I showed up, but Otori Squares in Meguro was extremely welcoming. I feel bad for the one English speaker who got stuck babysitting me — she was very attentive. They asked me to introduce myself over the mic and answer some questions, all translated by my new BFF. Unfortunately Lisa wasn’t feeling well and couldn’t join me.

It was a little awkward but that disappeared whenever we were actually dancing. I was mostly able to keep up with the Japanese accents, which I’ve had a lot of problems with in the past.

The dance was mostly Mainstream with one Plus tip and one set of rounds. I danced everything but the rounds, only because I couldn’t get positive body language from the lead dancing by herself if it would be okay to join her. And I have new appreciation for how difficult it must be to round dance when you don’t speak English!

If I’m free at an appropriate time later this trip, I might try to find a higher-level dance to attend.

No good pictures because I was dancing the whole time!

Liquid Ruby

Finally, after 3 or 4 "whisky sodas" I had a real drink in Tokyo at Liquid Ruby , a dark, smoky, hidden gem near Shinjuku Station. Who knew there was cardamom shochu?

Views: The Lone Pine

Colin:

Yuri:

Isaac:

Mary:

like a moth to flame

I am in Akihabara

コンビニ food (3)

Yuri found blue "muscat" flavored chocolate.

It tastes like grape bubblegum.

September 25th

After lots of walking on Sunday, we decided to have a quieter day. Ahaha. My feet hurt.

After a local breakfast, a large portion of us headed to Ginza. Isaac and I split off to explore the Mitsukoshi department store, while Colin, Yuri, Dana, and Lisa went to get ramen at Kagari Honten. The queuing process deserves its own post, but the short version is that the line was long. Instead, Dana and Lisa went to an Japanese artisan craft store and Yuri revisited a site they remembered from 10 years ago on their last trip to Japan.

After lunch, we regrouped at Ittoya, a 10 story tall stationery store. After visiting each and every floor, we had a snack at Cafe Stylo on the top floor. The sweet potato fries were lovely; some of the drinks were new to us.

After that we split up again: Colin and Lisa came home, with some adventure; Yuri walked Hibiya; Dana, Isaac, and I bought desserts and wandered a couple side streets in Ginza, then took the long way home, past a surprise shrine and a cat. Convenience store dinner or Nepali food finished off the evening.

コンビニ food

Results of our first collective convenience store trip (Saturday night, after arrival at the AirBnB):

* hand soap

* lemon drink

* salted lychee drink

* curry pan

* ginger onigiri

* sweet potato koign amann

* cola fettuccine gummies

* souffle milk pudding

* hana mochi ice cream

* India themed gummies

* salt flavored potato chips

コンビニ food (2)

"I got the nebulous vague cheese because I was curious but I don't really like the nebulous vague cheese, so if anyone likes the vague cheese, they should eat it." - Dana

Mary had a good day

We took her to an 8-storey stationery store and then let her loose in the pastry section of the fancy department store.

We are well-provisioned for breakfast.

The cat in question:

Walk back from Nishi-shinjuku Station

New route on the way home from Ginza today, stumbled across yet another pair of shrines tucked away in the city (Naruko Tenjin Shrine & Asama Shrine)

and then in our neighborhood Mary stopped to say hello to a noisy cat

Let's talk about the toilet

Okay so the toilets in our airbnb has all sorts of exciting settings that maybe I'll be brave and try out, but the part that I want to tell everyone about is the flush. There's a sink on top of the toilet tank, and when you flush (choose Big or Small), the water runs out of the faucet into the sink and then fills up the tank. Since it's filling the tank, it runs for long enough to properly wash your hands. And then the next flush uses the gray water from the tank so it's less wasteful. So smart!!!

Ramen lunch

When a coworker heard I was going to Japan, he gave me a specific recommendation for a paitan ramen shop in Ginza, and it turned out to be the one that Colin also suggested we try!

It's super popular so there was a crowd of people milling around and a completed two-line situation, but we finally made it in and WOW delicious.

I got regular paitan with a seasoned egg, Dana got a large paitan, which was extra noodles, and Colin got a special paitan, which was double toppings.

American Lemonade

Sitting in a cafe (Café Stylo) atop a 10 story stationery store in Ginza (Ittoya). There is a cocktail called "American Lemonade" offered in red or white. We are horrified and Lisa is ordering it.

It is, as we feared, white wine and lemonade.

Signage

"What's wrong with the people on this sign, Mary?" - Isaac

September 24th (Mary)

Best starting writing things down before I forget them! We began our first full day in Japan heading out as a group to Shinjuku, where we got breakfast/lunch (depending on when we each woke up) at the food court in the basement of the Odakyu department store. I am reassured that, like in Paris and Zurich, I can reliably find delicious overpriced food here in Tokyo by going to a fancy department store.

We walked to Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden, passed an amazing 3D-animated cat billboard on the way. On arrival, we decided to go to Yoyogi Park in Harajuku instead and nearly lost Isaac along the way.

At Yoyogi Park, we ate lunch (and surprisingly good ice cream from the park food stall) and split up to wander around enjoying various approximations of nature - gardens and pets. The crows were plentiful and brave; the myrtle trees still blooming; and the spiders very large (not pictured).

After wandering the park a couple hours, we returned to the entrance where the greaser geezers were rocking out and hung a left to visit Meiji Jingu shrine. I enjoyed reading the ema and I purchased a fortune.

Dana had plans to go square dancing in Meguro, so she, Isaac, and I headed out for dinner at ...a chain izakaya? It was a little confusing. Isaac ordered a giant whisky soda and it came as advertised. We had gyoza and meat on a stick before heading off to dance or return to Shinjuku.