Blog - Tsukishima, Hamarikyū, Ginza, Juliana
Tsukishima, Hamarikyū, Ginza, Juliana
Yesterday I met up with fellow Quebecer Sylvain who's visiting Tokyo. We started the day by having monja for lunch in Tsukishima with my good friend Noriko. Not really knowing where to go, we asked the monja association stand and were recommended to Hanabishi (花菱), a place apparently ran by a sister and brother. It was up par and they were very friendly especially seeing that we were enjoying the food. They said that they sometimes get groups foreigners who can't speak Japanese and once they managed to order they won't eat their delicious meal (despite the maybe suspicious appearance)...
Then we walked over to Kachidoki and across Kachidoki-bashi. Noriko had to split, but Sylvain and I went to have a walk in the quiet Hamarikyū Gardens. It's about the right time to catch some autumn colors, though there wasn't as much as I'd have hoped around there. Still it was a nice little escape from the city, if you can say that even though buildings are always peeking in the landscape.
We then headed towards Ginza and stopped to have a look at the Nakagin Capsule Tower Building. The strange building's architect, Kurokawa Kishō (English Wikipedia), still seemed healthy last spring when he was running for Tokyo governor elections, but then he suddenly died last month. One of his most famous creations, the Nakagin building is set to be destroyed in the near future because of its bad condition. Sylvain pointed out how it's similar to Montreal's Habitat 67 (Wikipedia) that was built 3 years earlier.
We walked a bit through Ginza, doing quick stops at Apple Store and the large Muji. Then we looked around for food and ended up having curry at the small curry/sushi restaurant inside of Ginza station.
Our last destination was Shibuya to check out the 8th edition of Tokyo Fun Party. Home Cut's skills were once again very impressive. I love seeing him pick up records from his pile non-stop.
Posted on November 26, 2007 at 22:12 | Tweet
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Only had monjayaki once, but since I had to cook it using picture instructions I have no idea if it came out right. I'm more partial to modanyaki myself.
Posted by nick on November 27, 2007 at 18:08
Most shops will be happy to cook monja for you, since even most locals have no idea how to cook it either. :)
Posted by Patrick on November 27, 2007 at 18:17
though for some reason there seems to be a higher percentage of restaurants in tokyo where your only option is to cook your okonomiyaki related meal yourself. Definitely not all of them or the famous Osaka chains with Tokyo branches, but I've run into quite a number, Sakura-tei (Harajuku), Honjin (2 floors in Shinjuku), the place in the basement of Sunshine City. I don't think I've run into any in Kansai. Though the dynamics of going to one of them on a date probably has some subtlties.
Posted by nick on November 28, 2007 at 15:48