You might recall that while I was in Paris, I took a trip to the local Disneyland (because that’s what any reasonable person visiting one of the greatest cities in the world would do, right? Go to a theme park?).
Well, I’m in another of the greatest cities in the world, and there’s a Disneyland here, so take a guess at what I did (hint: it involves both Disney and Land).
Tokyo is trying way too hard to make me fall in love with it. But you know what? It’s kinda succeeding.
Its latest attempt to make me never want to leave: a little restaurant called Tempura Imoya. I think you can take a wild guess at what they specialize in.
Like pretty much every place I’ve been to so far, there was a line to get in. Hot tip: if you’re coming to Tokyo, bring a good book, because you’re going to be standing in a lot of lines (at least if you want to eat well — and trust me, if you’re in Tokyo, you want to eat well).
I mentioned the Meiji Shrine in a recent post — one of the city’s many other shrines is the Nezu Shrine, and though it’s not nearly as popular, I’d say it’s equally worth visiting.
Walking around cemeteries is becoming a bit of a theme on this blog, isn’t it? What can I say? It seems like a weirdly dark thing to do on a trip (and yeah, it kinda is), but it’s also really interesting.
There was a stand near Yoyogi Park selling what they called baby castella (castella being a type of cake popular in Japan). You can see the lady piping in some fresh batter into the moulds.
Sometimes it’s nice to get out of the city and see some trees — it’s especially nice when said trees are actually in an enormous park inside the city. Because let’s face it, that’s just so much easier.
Remember when I mentioned how the Jagalchi Market is the biggest fish market in South Korea? Well, the Tsukiji Market in Tokyo is the biggest fish market in the world.
Just in case you need more evidence that Toyko is a special city, a store in Akihabara called Super Potato can be exhibit #7632.
It was a sad, sad day when the Beard Papa in the Pacific Mall (which was the only Beard Papa in Canada outside of Vancouver) shut down.
Tragically, I discovered this by actually going to the Pacific Mall to pick up some Beard Papa, only to find that the spot where it used to be was completely ripped apart (I think they were turning it another Chinese restaurant). There was nothing left but a hollowed-out husk filled with unused equipment and shattered dreams. It was heartbreaking.
Well, Japan is the home of Beard Papa, and it is just as glorious as I remembered.