Yay, Tokyo! Wow, what a culture shock. Did I say that last time I went from Kyoto to Tokyo? I feel like this isn’t the first time I’ve actually felt that Tokyo is jarringly different from the rest of Japan.

That being said, the first thing we ate – Ichiran Ramen – was way tastier than the last time I had it! Man this stuff is seriously good. I think it was here that we were waiting for a while just outside the door, so I was trying my hardest to read the writing on a paper stuck next to the lift. I think my brother had to explain that it said “elevator is over here”. But now I know!

Look Enma is here too!! We headed to Kita-Kamakura, which was a place with lots of shrines.

There are heaps of dessert shops here too! And this one right next to the station was pretty yum! Matcha kanten, and anmitsu. I totally can’t get enough anmitsu XD

What’s a holiday without taking photos of people taking photos of things XD

After the lovely stroll through the shrines, it was time to head to the shopping district in Kamakura, called little town road!

An unagi tamagoyaki!!

It’s a fun little place with soooo much food. I even went for some kakigori, but it wasn’t quite the style I was after. I keep having to look for kakigori made the same way as I found in New York!!

THIS IS YOKOHAMA, JAPAN!

We headed out to Chinatown after that, just to check out the place. It’s so quiet here XD

We went to a Chinese restaurant that my brother’d been to before which was decent. It was really out of the way, but it had some good stuff! Clean and light, unlike the heavy greasy stuff you get elsewhere. I quite enjoyed it and our waiter was Taiwanese so even my parents got to converse!

And yes, that’s a shark fin soup. We ordered one to share between everyone just to try it. I’m fairly sure I’ve actually had some as a kid, but it was interesting to have again. Too bad it would probably be a waste to have asked “how was the shark fin sourced?” since I’m pretty sure they don’t really care about animal ethics here….

Some brown sugar bubble tea!!! More bitter/caramelised than one I had in Perth when I got back, but also prettier! The actual pearl’s weren’t quite as chewy was I wanted them to be though.

Next morning, I ventured out by myself for a pre-crush-hour cafe visit. This is Toranomon Koffee, which my brother recommended I check out since it was close to where we were staying. Wow, it’s a double set up! So cool!

A yum filter while I finally got a chance to read a book that my brother lent to me (which is on loan from one of his friends). A really interesting read about a Japanese coffee shop. I really like it as it describes how the owner set up a cafe, the customers, and how the cafe evolves. It does seem to take on a morbid tone towards the end though. Not super morbid, just the reality that everything dies XD An enjoyable read!

Butter toast!

And a fresh kashi!! Woot!!

Haha, there is a Starbucks Reserve Roastery in Tokyo! I’d used up all my excitement in the New York flagship store, so I was less interested in this one, but it was still interesting to compare the two. The concept and layout styles are the same, but the decor is completely different!

Many cups on wall!!

Uh, this place still uses Steampunks even though Alpha Dominche isn’t a thing anymore?

The hanging sakura are so pretty!

A coffee mocktail thing from the bar :D Not too bad actually.

A grilled beef place!! Man the marbling on this stuff was so good. And that warabi mochi!! A bit more on this place. It’s tiny but has a wait, and the kitchen, while reminding me of Tonki Tonkatsu from my previous trip, didn’t have everything on show. The food here was way better though!

It was time to farewell my parents, who were flying back to Sydney. This is a beef hotpot in the airport. That’s some crazy marbled beef, and an interesting set of condiments! Yay konnyaku! The beef was so rich and expensive!

I’d booked a capsule hotel for 25AUD a night for my remaining stay, jackpot! This was in Asakusa, a place I’ve enjoyed from previous trips, and better yet, there’s a Fuglen! Finally got to one on my third trip here! Lovely filter coffee as always, and a Norwegian pancake!

Street photography from the get go!

I explored around Hiroo, which was meant to be a new hipster hangout. Some really good English speakers here, from what I overheard. There was a cute little anmitsu and other dessert shop that I stumbled upon, and I kind of regret not getting kuzumochi! I’d asked about it but the shopkeeper didn’t speak that much english, so I went straight for the anmitsu instead haha.

Then I walked through a heaps dodgy place in Shinjuku to get to an udon restaurant my brother suggested that I go to XD

Hahaha more warabi mochi! Yay. I am such a mochi addict! And the noodles were amazing too! I got the bokkake udon, which had beef “tendon” which I think actually turned out to be closer to brisket. Still delicious though, and served in a massive bowl!

Then I went back to my hotel to eat the anmitsu I bought earlier. Gosh I love this stuff so much!

Ugh why are my trips so epic. After all that, I still had to hotfoot it to Glitch, because I love them so much. I am always impressed with just how tasty their coffee is – like mindblowingly tasty, so much so that I even bought this cardboard coaster for 200 yen!

Yep, their coffee doesn’t disappoint. That’s a nice Cup of Excellence! And I love El Salvadors too. I deliberately avoided the geishas this time around maybe? I don’t remember. But I could totally come back here every time!

And that night. Oh yeah. While I was at Starbucks the day before, I felt in the right mood to try booking a restaurant. But trying to call through to Den is a real feat in denying the impossible, and my skill level isn’t up there yet. After… 64 attempts to call through I gave up. Weak, I know, considering it took me over 80 attempts to get to Minamishima. I blame it on sudden impusle; I doubt they would have had a table for the next day anyway hahahah. So instead, I went to Inua’s website and made an easy booking. I had huge reservations about Inua (pun intended) because the cost here is soooo much insanely more than a Japanese restaurant. But I was feeling good, so yeah. Inua XD

I also didn’t get a good picture but after dinner, we went to a cafe/bar that my brother had been to before. It’s run by a former Glitch staff? Or some affiliation with Glitch. It was dark, moody and tres cool. A small quiet space where they served alcoholic and/or caffeinated drinks (or both!). They seemed really into photography and were sooooo smooth. They recommended some books off their shelf when they saw us reading a few, and omg. The way the waiter poured the water. Was so bar-tender. My goodness! I’ve never been in awe of someone pouring tap water until now!!! What!!! Bartender skills are amazing. He put the glass over the bottle, and then tipped the whole thing upside down with one hand to let the bottle fill the glass perfectly. Like woah. I gotta see that again!!!

I had a half day left, and again my trusty Fuglen comes to the morning rescue with a lovely cup of coffee – I figured out how to get a single cup instead of the decanter from last time XD I just had to order the batch! And plain waffle today.

I met up with my brother at Koffee Mameya, which the barista explained was “coffee bean shop”. This is the same guy who set up Omotesando Koffee and Toranamon Koffee! This entrance is so charming.

This tiny little dark cube space is amazing. Not just architecturally either. Look at the beans on display. Yeah. You’re seeing that right. They serve everything from super light Scandanavian roasts to that pitch black oily stuff. Woah! And they are so passionate and confident in talking about each different type of bean!

I love this kind of concept store. They sell all these beans as packs, and can brew them for you too! I love this because it shows these guys are passionate about coffee and also about people who drink coffee. No snobs here, they embrace everything! And that was really eye opening for me. Love this place!

I think I chose a geisha here? By Cupping Room. Not the most aromatic/mindblowing geisha, especially since I’ve had Glitch Coffee the day before. but still nice!

We made a quick detour to Henry’s Burger, a place that my brother previously enjoyed. But today it wasn’t that good, with heaps of chewy bits. Oh well. That’s ok, since this was just a snack.

My brother wanted to eat at 6th by Oriental. I didn’t realise this was a European style restaurant, complete with al fresco dining. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but wow, the food was actually really good! This was a… kingfish? snapper? Some sort of white fish carpaccio that was tasty!

Snails on the menu, so yes please!

This pork chop was AMAZING. Really lovely, perfectly cooked and good flavour.

And a cute little dessert, perfectly sized and priced!

It’s actually a lovely place and we were both very happy with the food. It’s also such a different vibe from Japanese restaurants. This one really did have a feeling of being “Western” by virtue of the fact that there was noise. Haha yeah. People were having conversations everywhere instead of it being super quiet, much like how I’m used to hearing ambient noise back home. So good, especially since my brother hasn’t had this experience in quite a while!

Definitely a place to put on the list!

And with that perfect timing, it was time for me to head to the airport. My time in Japan was up. But not before I took a picture of this guy in the middle of an intersection taking a photo of something! Haha, it reminded me so much of me! I don’t even know what he was snapping!

I was on the wrong side of the plane. Those people looking over, are taking photos of Mt Fuji! The pilot had announced that today’s flight path and clear skies would mean that we got to see the mountain! Alas, I didn’t get to peer over.

And wow, I’m in luck! The Sakura special dinner was still available! Not advertised as a super special Sakura, but it was the same thing!! Little appetisers, sakura soba, and chicken with rice. This was really tasty! Man I love flying Singapore Airlines.

And that’s that for this trip to Japan. I definitely love coming back here and want to come back again!! To Hakodate especially! It was kind of life changing for me. I need to go visit all the shrines for Hijikata too on the next trip! Well maybe not all, just as many as I can!!! And I want to participate in the squid festival!! And I want more wagashi and warabi mochi and anmitsu!!!