Amazing Nemo

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During my quick late night review of our plans for today, I realized we were supposed to have ordered tickets from a local convenient store (Lawson) for the Ghibli Museum since we had planned to visit there this morning. Luckily there was one by another touristy spot we planned on visiting so we stopped by to get tickets on our way to Yoyogi Park. After a couple failed attempts using the only in Japanese machine, we realized there was no available times on the days we were in Tokyo to go. Giving up on that plan, we headed to the park. This huge park's name stands for Imperial Garden and is managed by the imperial family. It was a very tranquil place but there were a number of homeless men with tents assembled on the side we entered on. In their defence, if I were homeless and had to pick a place to put up my "house", I would probably pick Yoyogi Park too. The park was full of runners, bikers, and little kids visiting with their daycare classes. We also passed a number of students from other countries in town for the Asian Youth Games. Since half the park was an athletic complex, it made sense they were relaxing in the park part between events.
Next door to the park was the Meiji-jingu Shrine, the most famous and visited shrine in Tokyo. It has two of the largest Tori entry ways in the country. The walkway in itself was breathtaking so Fred and I spent quite a while taking pictures just on our stroll in. Unfortunately, that meant we did not have enough time to spend at the shrine taking it in before we had to run off to make the assigned reservation for a Tea Ceremony in the Rippongi area. Making plans to return, we headed off to catch the metro.
Hopping off the train we were a bit turned around so starting in what we thought was the right direction we found the building we thought was the address where the Tea Ceremony house was located. The building had the hotel name on it. When we went inside, though, the guard indicated we were in the wrong place. He personally escorted us to the location we were supposed to be - the true Hotel Okura next door. If the high end cars, posh shops, and decor were any indication this hotel is very classy. Inside the tea house we had to wait a bit because the other half of the reservation was not there yet. It gave us time to sit and observe our surroundings and ask questions about the Japanese garden outside the tea house. We had a very friendly host who was quite excited about the history of it. She then showed us how to "purify" ourselves before entering the tea house for the ceremony. First you wash your left hand with water from a hishaku (ladel) and then your right. Next you put some water in your hand to wash your mouth. Finally you pour the remaining water down the handle of the hishaku to clean it for the next guest.
A full tea ceremony is about 4 hours long and includes two tea servings and a meal. Instead we watched our host conduct the last tea making portion - the thin tea called usucha. It began with a small mochi cake that we were to eat before the tea. It was served with a little stick. Fred picked up the small cake on the stick like a lollypop and ate it all in one bite. Laughing, the host came over and showed me that I should cut it into small pieces with the stick to eat. Meanwhile the remaining guests showed up, so we began the ceremony watching the tea being made and then served. Since I was the girl, I was served before Fred. The host brought me the bowl of tea making sure the pretty side was facing me. I was instructed to pick up the bowl with my right hand resting it on my left palm. You drink out of the not beautiful part of the bowl so I had to turn it 90 degrees. Then because Fred did not get a drink yet, I had to say "Osakini" to excuse myself for drinking before him. Finally I was good to go ahead and take a sip. It was an interesting taste because they use green tea powder for these ceremonies called matcha so you can feel the grainy texture while drinking. After the ceremony we sat on the tatami mats and asked our host questions about the ceremony. She even showed us the right way to get up and down in a kimono and the proper way to walk (or really shuffle) through the tea house. Her passion for the art really showed through and made us thankful for doing the lessons with her.
After the ceremony we left Rippongi to go back to the Harajuku area we were at before to explore Otome-sando Road the high end shopping district with some interesting architecture. Unfortunately, getting off the train we got turned around and went the wrong direction. It did lead us to an awesome restaurant where we had the opportunity to try soba. Fred got his as a hot noodle soup dish, while I ordered one cold where I had to dip it in the soup. Mine made quite a mess, but both dishes were superb! With the waiters help, we eventually made it to Otomoe-sando which is a more expressive version of New York's 5th Avenue. One of the malls on the street had every single floor connected because the walkway spiralled up the mall. That lead us over to Takeshita Street that is famous for Japanese teens dressing up in cosplay (costumes from anime and manga). After me grabbing a crepe because they seemed to be the thing to get in the area and Fred a kabob, we wandered down the street. While there was number of school-aged girls no one was dressed up. I was a bit disappointed. However looking it up online later that evening I realized that they truly only dress up on Sundays because they don't have school. How silly of me not to realize that. Now I just have to convince Fred to go back on Sunday!
We had some additional time before we had to be back at the hostel to meet up with Elliot, so we returned to Meiji-jingu Shrine to explore a bit further. We were able to see the outer gardens this time which included a waterway that started at a pure well. The water was crystal clear. It fed down a stream to a pod. The stream was filled with what looked like patches of grass. Eventually we figured out it was a garden of many different types of Irises. The walk brought us back to the shrine for a couple more pictures before we headed back to Asakusa.
Elliot joined us at the hostel where we walked around to find a place to eat. We ended up at a restaurant that had a grill in front of us where we were served okonomiyaki (savoury pancake dish popular in Japan). It seemed like an omelet that had coleslaw mixed in it. Each came with different toppings that we got to pick. Elliot got one that had three different types. The oddest one seemed to be topped with a mixture of mayo and ketchup. I was recommended to try Shochu while here so I ordered that to accompany my meal while the guys picked out frozen beers. I was not a fan of the very alcohol tasting shochu (the one I got was sweet potato based) so I changed out for a beer. The frozen beers tasted like beer slushies, it was a very interesting combination. Afterwards we were full but still had plenty of time before the guys had to leave to pick up our next travel companion, Tyler, from the airport. The hostel had given us a voucher for a free drink at their sister hostel that had a bar. We wandered over there and grabbed some sake and plum wine (which was significantly better than the shochu). It wasn't a bad bar, but the odd accordion music they were playing gave us a headache driving us away after our one free drink.
Elliot gave us the advice that most good bars were located in small back alleys. I picked a way for us to wander that was new and down a back alley. Fred noticed an nondescript black door with the title Bar Nemo, so we went in. Entering through that door brought us to a new world - a very classy bar lined with expensive alcohols. The bartender sat us down and offered us hot washcloths to clean our hands (they felt wonderful). Fred and Elliot knew they wanted some whiskey so with some interesting communication they got that across to the bartender. I was a bit overwhelmed with my choices, so had no clue what to order. Eventually I turned it over to the bartender to make me a cocktail with rum. It was amazing! I had this cute little glass with a pink drink that just made me smile. After their first glass was done, Fred tried to talk the bartender into giving him a cocktail with Japanese whiskey. However he was not having it. Eventually we figured out that you sip American whiskey or make cocktails, but you take Japanese whiskey in shots. So they boys ended up with shots of Japanese whiskey. The bartender seemed to take to us, so he began telling us about the history of the bar as best he could between his broken and small usage of English and Elliot & my novice knowledge of Japanese. The previous owner (grand master) of the bar was well known and in many newspapers that he showed us. The man owning the bar now (his son) is a famous whiskey taster and was in many magazines as well. Together they made this famous bar based on their last name Nemoto. The bar carried coasters with both of them drawn on there in a manga type style. The bartender even showed us the manga artists latest manga. He let us take home the coasters! There was one conference that the grand master went to that he met a famous brewer for whiskey and managed to buy a couple bottles that they labelled for the bar. Sad to leave, but having to head to the airport we paid our bill. I made note on my phone thanking the bartender for his help and telling him he showed us such a good time it was our favorite part of our trip. He was so thankful for that he walked us out the door, took our picture, and bowed to us as we walked the entire way down the alley. It was a very humbling experience to have someone thankful to you just for being interested in their history and enjoying ourselves. This culture and their helpfulness and genuine kindness is amazing. I am loving Japan.
The boys dropped me off at the hostel and headed to the airport. I spent a bit doing my blog for the previous day and then sat chatting with the remaining travellers in the common room. I met some interesting characters from Canada, Bulgaria, and the US. We stayed up swapping random travel stories. One guy from Canada had a ton of random stories and facts in his head, so he kept most of us entertained through the night. Eventually Fred, Elliot, and Tyler joined us, but it was about 2am when they got back. Apparently the trains stopped running so they had to walk part of the way back! It took them about 3 hours to make it back to the hostel. Tyler and I were shot so went to bed around 3am while the other two stayed up chatting with the hostel group.

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