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Published: April 6th 2024
I love Tokyo. If I had to eat only in one city for the rest of my life, Tokyo would be it. Most chefs I know would agree with me. Anthony Bourdain.
We’ve all seen photos of Tokyo, but until you are there you cannot imagine the enormity of this city. Dave refers to this as his “Grand Canyon Theory.” You can tell people how big it is, show them pictures of how big it is, but until you actually put your eyes on it, you do not realize just how big it really is.
To start with, Japan is roughly the size of California and has a population of 125 million. Thirty-eight million of those people live in the greater Tokyo area. It’s the largest metropolitan area in the world. Need more perspective? The next largest metro area is Deli and it has almost nine million fewer residents. Tokyo is bright and shiny for the most part with amazing new high-rise buildings as far as one can see. Aesthetics and cleanliness are very important to the Japanese, and you experience that as you move around this city and this country.
We wanted to get a good look at this massive city and take it in, so we went to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building to enjoy the views…. and boy did we! We were there on a clear
Spring Onion Sushi
Fresh and flavorfulday and felt unbelievably fortunate to see Mt. Fuji in her glory. We’d read that many people visit Japan and never see this mountain.
At the government building the lines are long but move quickly. Admission is free. At 240 meter or 797 feet high you will have a grand view of the magnificent city. Many people go to the Tokyo Tower for the views as it is 333 meters or 1092 feet. We were more than happy with our free view. Mt. Fuji was clearly visible and wow, she is spectacular! We went from window to window viewing her from different angles. From every angle, all you see is this huge metropolis and it is amazingly large. Breathing taking.
The viewing room at the top has a small café, gift shop and a piano in the middle of the room. Visitors stand in line to play the piano for all to hear. The quality of talent in that room from tourists was quite impressive. Although after a while we were wishing someone would get away from the amazing classical pieces and break out with Jerry Lee Lewis. What a delightful location to see the city views, relax
with a juice and enjoy the music.
Thank you to our friend Alex for telling us about the Metropolitan Government Building. In the evenings they have lightshows on the building. I’m sure it is fantastic, but we didn’t get back to see it.
Sushi Eating in Japan is not just a meal… it is an experience. The chefs who prepared meals for us were artists. Those of you who know us knew it would not take long for us to want to talk about food! Our love of sushi made us want to go on a quest one day to eat sushi in Japan. Seriously, what could be better?
Japan has a unique food culture, and it needs to be experienced. We read that Tokyo has more places to eat per square mile than New York and more Michelin stars than any city in the world. You will see our blog is filled with photos of sushi and noodle soups that we were fortunate enough to enjoy. Making food in Japan is an artform. Not only is it cooked or prepared well but it must be presented well. Color, flavor and texture balance seem to come
above all else and they do manage.
In this blog we will focus on the sushi, although we will include a couple of photos of the noodle soups we ate in Tokyo. We will discuss other foods in a future blog.
We’ve been fortunate to live in Seattle and San Francisco and we have always imagined those two cities offer the closest to an authentic sushi experience as we could get in the United States. Japan has the freshest and most tender flavorful fish we’ve ever eaten—the freshness is unparalleled.
With that said, we will say that some of the sushi chefs who have moved to the U.S. in comparison do an excellent job. The flavors won’t be quite as vibrant due to the fish not being as fresh, but they hold up pretty well. We had some delightful meals in Tokyo and all throughout Japan. As much sushi as we ate, and we did well many nights we never grew tired of sushi. The rice in Japan is perfection, the perfect amount of stickiness. They will ask you if you want wasabi as it is not automatically served in many places. I read that many locals
don’t dip their sushi in soy sauce and wasabi the way we do so I tried it both ways. It was good with and without so it should be a personal preference. I still enjoy a dip in the sauce as long as you don’t use too much and drown the flavor of the amazing fish.
Baseball Although there are many great reasons to visit Japan, for Dave, it is the opportunity to see some Japanese baseball. This is a bucket list item for him, so naturally we had to go to a game….no, make that two. Our visit was a bit early in the season, so we had to take in a couple of spring training games. That did nothing to damper the excitement, though. The Japanese love baseball so much, it is the most popular sport in Japan. The annual high school tournaments are on the magnitude of the college basketball tournament in the United States….it’s a big deal. So big in fact that Japan has won the World Baseball Championships three times since its inception in 2006.
So….off we went, south of Tokyo about an hour by train to the Sheibu Bella Dome, home
of the Sheibu Sea Lions. It was a wickedly wet and blustery day, but as luck would have it, the Bella Dome is covered. It’s not entirely enclosed, but we were dry. The train station was a short walk to the Dome, so we were spared a good drenching. It was quite cold when we went for food, but we warmed a bit later by having a heaping hot cup of green tea, from the roving green tea girl. There are also girls who serve beer and have little kegs on their backs….what’s not to like? You can get the equivalent of an American hot dog along with many Japanese foods at the concession stands.
The following day, we went to Yokohama to see the Blue Stars. It was the opposite of day before weather-wise, with sunny skies and warmer temperatures. But both games gave us a good idea of Japanese baseball. Before the game, there is the standard batting practice, but also fielding drills as well. Each team has its own band and even the visiting club shows up with their band. Horns blow and lots of cheering….and it’s a game that does not even count in the
Samurai Warriors
Well... maybe not standings! Dave is now officially a Yokohama Bay Stars fan!
Samurai and Ninja Museum For those of you who have read our past blogs you know we like going to quirky museums. This one was hokey, but we had a great time. Once we paid the entrance fee, we were ushered into an area to put on Samurai costumes so they could take our photos. They used our cell phones to take several photos and suggest poses. We had a good laugh at ourselves!
We learned the history and difference between a Samurai and a Ninja. You must be born into a Samurai warrior family to become a Samurai. Samurai are warriors who serve the emperor or shogun. Ninjas are hired mercenaries. While at the museum we got to throw Ninja weapons. They looked like little metal stars.
There is a pecking order to all of this and hopefully this will help outline it.
Shogun – is the Ruler of Japan and Head of all the Samurai.
Daimyo – Feudal Lord and Leader of the clan
Samurai – are the warriors, The Noble Class, only 5%!t(MISSING)o 10%!o(MISSING)f each clan
Ronin
– Masterless Samurai, similar to mercenaries, not part of any clan
Farmers and Fisherman – Ninja were farmers. They were mercenaries.
Craftsman and Merchants were at the bottom of the chart.
Shrines, Tori Gates and quaint sections of town Tokyo is a gigantic modern city with amazing architecture, but you will still find quaint, older, traditional sections of town with beautiful shrines and tori gates. We visited the Shinto shrine of Nezu-jinja. It is one of the oldest (1705) places of worship in the city. Walking the grounds gives one a sense of serenity and peace. The flowers, the gardens, the koi ponds and the footpaths are placed with intention, so relaxing and beautiful. The Japanese excel in creating spaces for quiet contemplation, full of beauty, peace and serenity where one can heal and feel healthy.
Yanaka is one of the oldest sections of Tokyo and worth taking in. It's easy walking, taking in all the shops and food stalls.
Senso-ji temple is in the Asakusa district -- breathtaking and colorful. You won't want to miss this five story buddhist temple. The neighborhood is rather upscale and a delight to explore.
Tokyo is
A Baystars Fan
Yokohama Baystars a fast paced modern city that embraces and cherishes its past and the traditions of years gone by. One can appreciate the hard working, stylish citizens as they head off to work and an hour later you'll see men and women walking down the street in traditional dress. It is a lovely culture and the people are so polite and pleasant.
Cherry blossoms vs. Plum blossoms One cannot predict mother nature and she was not on our side on this trip. Japan had a cooler and rainier winter, and this delayed the blooming of the plum and cherry trees. It would have been spectacular to see and would have been more disappointed if we had not seen the blossoms in Washington D. C. several times. You can’t see everything on each trip and if having to pick I am thrilled we got to see snow monkeys and Mt. Fuji.
As we began to see a few trees bud and bloom around the city…. and there were few, we were filled with excitement and tried to predict how many days it would take for them to pop.
The plum trees bloom sooner than the cherry trees. The
plum blossoms are a darker, richer pink. The cherry trees of which there are five or six kinds have a lighter pink or white blossom. The ones we did see in bloom made us happy.
Shinjuku area The Shinjuku section of Tokyo is flashy with the tallest buildings in town, designer shopping, glitz and glitter. We enjoyed walking in the evening and enjoy the colorful lighting. We came upon Kabukicho Sakura-dori street where we found bars and clubs galore. Some of them seemed a bit seedy, offering adult entertainment and we are told is the largest red light district in the city, neon samurai shows and we imagined rather nefarious things may be going on behind some of those doors. As we walked around we felt completely safe.
Shibuya Crossing A famous location in Tokyo is the Shibuya Crossing. This is a street intersection that is often featured in movies and advertisements. It is considered one of the busiest pedestrian intersections in the world. In Japan, many of the intersections allow you to cross on the diagonal so a mass of humanity is in the intersection all at one time. You would imagine it to be
utter chaos, but it is a rather orderly chaos, with up to 2500 people crossing at one time. There are several buildings nearby where you can get an elevated view and it provides a bit of entertainment. It was really cool to see.
One of the more famous places to view from is the Starbucks but it is current being remodeled so we watched from Shibuya Scramble Square, a mall nearby and were not disappointed.
If you’ve done any research on what to do in Tokyo they mention renting street go karts. They are Mario Karts because they will give you costumes so you can dress up like your favorite character while you drive around town. We’ve included a photo for your enjoyment. It was hysterical seeing adults riding around in costume. A lot of people must be into Mario as these go karts were seen often around the city.
Kabuki Theatre Kabuki dates from the 17
th century and is a delightfully dramatic form of theatre. The costumes are mesmerizing, and the sets are intricate in color and detail. The acting is minimalists in its nature and understated in movement. The painted faces and elaborate costumes
draw attention to each move, whether a small hand gesture or raised eyebrow adds to the story and emotion of the scene. They say so much without speaking at times. The vocals are distinctive and called kakegoe, it is an exaggerated theatrical language that adds drama and emotion to the performance. We truly enjoyed this experience, and the theatre was beautiful in and out.
When we were purchasing tickets, we thought we had purchased tickets to a one-hour show. Once we arrived at the theatre we were slightly confused because the program stated it was a three-act performance rather than the one act we thought we were going to see. We felt like we were getting more for our money. They had an intermission between each act. During the first intermission many of the locals around us began pulling Bento boxes out of the shopping bags and began to eat. We went to the lobby to see that people were lined up buying food, so we joined in. We were surprised we were allowed to eat in the theatre but that is what happened. This was our first bento box meal, and we enjoyed it immensely. The second intermission
was a bit shorter, and everyone grabbed something to drink. As we entered the third act, we noticed people around us falling asleep and we admit our eye lids were drooping. We may have dozed off for two or three minutes, but we straighten up and pulled it together. We had gotten a little too comfortable in our seats. This performance ended up being three and a half hours. Ideally for us it would have been good to end about twenty minutes sooner. Kabuki theatre is a one-of-a-kind experience. We are glad we went.
Thanks for letting us share our time in Tokyo with you. We’ll be back soon to tell stories from around Japan.
Where we stayed: A great location! OMO 3 Akasaka
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Bellini
Bellini
If I had to choose between the cherry blossoms and the Mario Kart racing, I have to admit I'd choose the latter! Now I have to go back. I also just looked up the history of Kabuki theater used as a negative political term. I had no idea it was a real thing!