Fishing in Tokyo



Okutama River

DAY 10

I was so excited to finally make it to this day in our trip since we both LOVE fishing!!

Two of our friends took us to Okutama for a day of trout fishing. The weather report said it was supposed to be really cold there so our friends’ wives decided not to make the trek. But luckily when we got there it was really sunny and not too cold.

Chuo Line

Above was one of the trains we rode to get to Okutama.

Inarizushi

At one of the stations when we needed to transfer, we had a nice breakfast of inari and makizushi.

Makizushi

After a comfortable and scenic ride, we finally made it to Okutama Station.

Okutama Station

From here we had to walk about 10 - 15 minutes to the fishing grounds.

Okutama

Okutama

Okutama Fishing

The cost was about $30 a person and it came with fishing tackle and bait. There were different types of pricing but I’m not sure what they were for since the signs were all in kanji. This is one place we wouldn’t have been able to go to on our own for the first time without our friends. But now that we know how to get there and what we want, hopefully we’d be able to get there again!

Okutama Fishing

Okutama Fishing Poles

Okutama Fishing

Okutama Fishing

The four of us all caught a bunch of trout. It was easier than usual since as part of the price, they stock your area with fish right as your start fishing.

Okutama Trout

At lunch time we took our trout up to the kitchen where they cook it up for you.

Okutama Menu

If you don’t catch anything, or if you want to supplement your trout lunch, they also have some menu items like ramen, soba, and curry. We just ordered some onigiri since our friend also brought side dishes like tomatoes, tsukemono, and strawberries.

Strawberries

Okutama Onigiri

By lunch time we had caught at least eight trout so we each had two for lunch.

Okutama Trout

Okutama Trout

After lunch we went out for another hour or so of fishing and caught another bunch of fish that our friends took home for dinner. This really was our favorite day in Tokyo!

June 20, 2009   5 Comments

Nikko Day Trip - Toshogu Shrine and Yuba!



Nikko Roof

DAY 9

On day 9 of our Tokyo trip we decided to go on a day trip up to Nikko!

Musubi Breakfast

Our friends made the train reservations and also picked up musubis, maki zushi, and sakura mochi for breakfast!

Maki for Breakfast

Sakura Mochi

After a leisurely ride to the north, we got off at Tobu Nikko Station.

Tobu Nikko Station

Right outside we were greeted by a doggy, not sure if he was saying “hellooooo!” or “whooo are yoooou?!”

Nikko Dog

Since we were only there for about half a day, we quickly started the walk up toward the shrine area.

Nikko Town

Flowers in Nikko

Nikko Town

Right around this bridge we saw a lot of tourists also making the trek up to the shrine area.

Nikko Bridge

But then for some reason, the route we went on was very peaceful and serene. We didn’t pass even one person the whole way up to the shrine area.

Nikko Walk

Nikko Stream

Nikko Walk

Nikko Walk

When we started to see roofs like these, we knew we were getting close!

Nikko Roofs

Nikko Roofs

Nikko Shrine

Then finally we were back among the crowds of people all checking out the - hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil monkeys…

See, Hear, Speak No Evil Monkeys

as well as all of the other beautiful art and architecture.

Nikko Gate

Nikko Bird Decoration

Nikko Stairs

Getting to the top of the Toshogu Shrine was quite a walk, but it really was a sight to see along the way. The shrine is made up of 55 main structures that cover 80,000 sq. meters. Needless to say we were a little winded at the end of the walk but thankfully our friends were prepared and offered us some Aomori apple juice!

Aomori Apple Juice

After a quick break we headed back down to the town area that we came from that morning.

Nikko Walk

In the morning when we were walking up to the shrine area, our friend had been checking out the menus of all the restaurants along the street. He wanted to take us to a yuba restaurant and was looking out for the best bargain.

Yuba is basically a very thin film that forms on the top of soy milk when in the process of making tofu. It’s very delicate and if you like tofu, you may enjoy yuba as well!

Nikko Town

There were tons of restaurants specializing in yuba set meals in Nikko. Because there were many vegetarian Buddhist priests in Nikko at one time, yuba became a local food of the area. And until this day, it is still very easy to find delicious vegetarian meals up and down this street!

We decided on a place called Sun Field that had a 1600 yen yuba lunch set.

Nikko Yuba Lunch

Some of the items in the lunch set included yuba cooked in shoyu and ginger, deep fried yuba with miso, shoyu yuba soup, sesame tofu, deep fried yuba in shoyu sugar sauce, and coffee jelly with yuba.

We all really enjoyed this yuba lunch and would definitely recommend Sun Field restaurant to others!

June 7, 2009   2 Comments

Ueno Park, Yanaka Ginza, Sengakuji Temple, Beer Museum Yebisu



Ueno Park Sakura

DAY 8

We started out Day 8 by catching the Yamanote line to Ueno station where we met our friend.

Before our trip, all of the weather forecasts said that the sakura would be in full bloom during our time in Tokyo. However, just before we arrived, cold weather descended upon Tokyo and lasted for most of our time in Japan.

We didn’t mind too much because we actually prefer cooler weather and had just seen the sakura last year. But it was still nice to see some of the earlier blooming flowers out at Ueno Park.

Ueno Temple

Ueno Park

White Sakura

Ueno Park

After our stroll through Ueno, we leisurely made our way toward Yanaka Ginza.

Flowers in Ueno

Ueno Temple

Yanaka Ginza is a small shopping area reminicent of old Japan.

Shiba Inu

Buddhist Statue

Yanaka Ginza Dango

At the beginning of the shopping street we had a snack of kinako dango.

Yanaka Ginza Dango

Yanaka Ginza

It’s really fun to check out the products in all of the small little shops along the way.

Yanaka Ginza

Towards the end of the street we stopped for a snack of tempura.

Yanaka Ginza Tempura

I had one of my favorites…nasu or eggplant tempura.

Eggplant Tempura

After picking up some souvenirs, we caught a bus back to Ueno where we picked up lunch from the basement of Matsuzakaya Department Store.

Ueno Park

We brought our lunch to eat in front of the pond back on the other side of Ueno Park.

Potato Croquette

We had potato croquettes and onigiri.

Matsuzakaya Onigiri

This ikura onigiri with shiso was the best onigiri I have ever had in my life!!

Ikura Onigiri

After lunch we caught another train to Sengakuji Temple. If you are familiar with the 47 Ronin story, this is the temple where they are buried.

Sengakuji Temple

Sengakuji Temple

The 47 ronin, lord Asano and Kira are all buried in Sengaku-ji.

Sengakuji Temple

Sengakuji Temple

Sengakuji Temple

And finally we ended our day with a look around the Ebisu area of Tokyo.

Ebisu Building

While Ebisu is a very nice and modern area for shopping and strolling, the main reason we were there was the Yebisu Beer Museum!

Yebisu Beer Museum

Yebisu Beer Museum Posters

And the highlight of the museum for my other half? The 500 yen beer sampler…

Yebisu Beer Museum Sampler

May 31, 2009   8 Comments

Japanese Baseball at the Tokyo Dome



Outside the Tokyo Dome

DAY 7

We slept in a little on this morning since all we had was a 1:00pm baseball game to catch at the Tokyo Dome. Normally we aren’t big baseball fans, but we really wanted to see a Japanese baseball game because we had heard about how different they were!

Before we left, we had some of our pastries that we picked up from Ginza the day before.

Mitsukoshi Custard Pastry

After a quick train ride we got off at Korakuen station. We made our way along with the crowd to the Tokyo Dome, bought a couple things at the souvenir shop, then found our gate into the Dome.

Outside the Tokyo Dome

The game that we saw was the Yomiuri Giants vs. Chiba Lotte Marines. We had good seats, very comfortable and not too crowded since it was a preseason game. But even though it was preseason the Yomiuri Giants fans were all decked out. A little boy in front of me had a Yomiuri jersey, towel, hat, and puppet!

Yomiuri Giants Puppet

Yomiuri Giants Puppet

As you may have heard, the baseball fans here in Japan are very hard core. They have songs and chants and their own music sections. Here are the Yomiuri Giants fans…

Yomiuri Fans

And here are the Chiba Lotte Marines fans…

Chiba Lotte Marines

We were here to cheer on Hawaii local boy Benny Agbayani and the Marines. But since we were sitting in a sea of Giants fans…we just quietly cheered him on.

Inside the Tokyo Dome we wanted to try out some of their food so we picked up some snacks. We shared some yakisoba,

Tokyo Dome Yakisoba

and a bento.

Tokyo Dome Bento

It was kind of pricey as most stadium food is, but it really hit the spot!

We were really glad to see Benny starting for the Chiba Lotte Marines…

Tokyo Dome Lineup

And he did well getting on base several times.

Benny Agbayani

However, the Giants wound up winning in the end.

Yomiuri Giants Cheerleaders

After our unique Japanese baseball experience, we went to the nearby area of Ochanomizu to check out the music instrument district again. While there we had some cheap sushi for dinner!

Ochanomizu Sushi

Ochanomizu Sushi

Ochanomizu Sushi

Ochanomizu Sushi

Ochanomizu Sushi

Ochanomizu Sushi

Ochanomizu Sushi

With our stomachs full, we leisurely caught the train back to our hotel and rested up for our next exciting day in Tokyo!

May 16, 2009   8 Comments

Kappabashi, Asakusa, Okonomiyaki, Monjayaki



Picture of Kappabashi Dori

DAY 6 - continued…

After a morning in Tsukiji, Ginza, and Akihabara, we met up with more friends in the cooking supply district of Kappabashi.

Picture of Kappabashi Dori

Picture of Kappabashi Dori

We bought a bunch of fun bowls and other kitchen accessories. But my favorite purchase…probably of the whole trip was this Japanese style vegetable knife. I use it almost everyday now and love it!

Picture of Kappabashi Knife

After shopping the six of us went for lunch in the area. The restaurant was inside of an office type building, not somewhere we would’ve gone on our own.

Picture of Kappabashi Soba

But it was a great choice, the chef made fresh handmade soba while we waited.

Picture of Kappabashi Soba

Picture of Kappabashi Soba

The warm dipping sauce with vegetables…

Picture of Kappabashi Soba

After our late lunch, we walked over to Asakusa to browse around until it was time for dinner. Eat…shop…eat…shop, my kind of vacation!

Picture of Asakusa

Picture of Asakusa

Picture of Asakusa

Picture of Asakusa

Picture of Asakusa Sakura

Next we made our way along the Sumida-gawa River…

Picture of Asakusa Flowers

Picture of Asakusa Dog

Picture of Asakusa Boat

To get to our dinner destination we had to cross over the Sumida-gawa on Sakura Bashi (bridge).

Along the way, our friend (the one who had been showing us around this whole time) showed us some of the roads he designed back when he was an engineer. I thought this one below was really cool. It’s supposed to be pictures of boats on the Sumida River with fireworks overhead!

Picture of Asakusa Road

The Japan National Tourism Organization says that in Asakusa, “the most popular event is the fireworks display along the Sumida-gawa River in summer, which over one million people gather to watch.”

Here is an aerial view of his road showing a better view of the boats and fireworks.

Aerial View of Asakusa Road

After walking down a few more streets…

Picture of Asakusa Dog

we finally made it to our okonomiyaki/monjayaki restaurant called Ha Chan. There are some areas in Tokyo that are more famous for monjayaki (Tsukishima), but we chose this place because our friend is in a singing club with Ha chan.

Picture of Ha Chan Restaurant

Here is the menu that was on the wall.

Picture of Japanese Menu

Picture of Japanese Menu

First we had some appetizers…

Picture of Edamame

Enoki Mushrooms

Picture of Enoki Mushrooms

grilled with butter and shoyu…

Picture of Enoki Mushrooms in Butter

along with oysters and Japanese onions.

Picture of Oysters and Negi

Then came some okonomiyaki. Ha chan helped us mix and grill it.

Picture of Okonomiyaki Batter

Picture of Okonomiyaki Batter

Picture of Okonomiyaki

Picture of Okonomiyaki

Picture of Okonomiyaki

Picture of Okonomiyaki

Next we had some grilled potatoes with shoyu. I thought this was going to be plain, but it was actually really good!

Picture of Grilled Potatoes

Then we had some monjayaki. The first one was a negi monjayaki.

Picture of Negi Monjayaki

After mixing everything in the bowl, you scoop out the big pieces on to the grill. Then you form a circle with the ingredients and pour the liquid into the middle.

Picture of Negi Monjayaki

This negi monjayaki was really good. I didn’t expect to like monjayaki at all. Back home I had heard about and seen monjayaki. And in all the pictures I had seen, it pretty much looked like…well you can see from these pictures. But like others I found out looks can be very deceiving. I think I now like monjayaki better than okonomiyaki!

At this point I thought we were done with dinner but yet another bowl came out. This one was kimchi monjayaki. Also very delicious!

Picture of Kimchi Monjayaki

We were playing around seeing who could scrape and scoop the monjayaki the best. There is a whole technique to it that they taught us. You have a little spatula and scrape under the edge of it. Then you come over from the top side and push down while pulling a piece away. Here is one of my best scoops!

Picture of Monjayaki

To finish off the evening we had something that was like a pancake with sweet beans inside for dessert.

Picture of An Pancake

Picture of An Pancake

Picture of An Pancake

Picture of An Pancake

This was a really fun dinner! For those of you hesitant like I was because of the looks of monjayaki, consider giving it a try at least once. I’m so glad I did!

May 9, 2009   9 Comments

Tsukiji, Ginza, Akihabara



Picture of Tsukiji Tuna

DAY 6

Do you remember the night when we had that awesome dinner at our friend’s restaurant in Asakusa? On this morning, that restaurant owner friend took us shopping with him at Tsukiji Market!

It’s a pretty daunting place. Luckily we didn’t get run over by any of those mini trucks. We just had to make sure we didn’t lose sight of him as he made his rounds.

Picture of Tsukiji Market

Checking out the merchandise…

Picture of Tsukiji Market

If he saw a vendor he knew, I’d get to come over and take a closer look…

Picture of Fish at Tsukiji

Picture of Fish at Tsukiji

Picture of Tsukiji Tuna

We both love fishing so visiting Tsukiji was really fun for us. It’s just rows and rows of fresh fish and seafood…

Picture of Fish at Tsukiji

Picture of Fish at Tsukiji

Picture of Fish at Tsukiji

Aren’t you getting hungry looking at all this fish? We were, so the four of us went out and around the corner for some breakfast.

Here is what we had…

Sushi set

Picture of Tsukiji Sushi

This one below wasn’t on the menu but we asked if they could make it…Ikura Uni Don

Picture of Ikura Uni Don

Another Sushi set

Picture of Tsukiji Sushi

And a Chiraishi bowl

Picture of Chiraishi

After breakfast our chef friend headed off to do more fish shopping in another area of town. The three of us leisurely browsed the Tsukiji outside market.

Picture of Tsukiji Fruits

There was a lot of produce, prepared foods, and products like knives and chef apparel.

Picture of Tsukiji Unagi

When we were done, we slowly made our way toward Ginza. On the way we walked by the Kabuki-za Theatre. It’s a beautiful building. Too bad, our friend told us it will be demolished in 2010 in favor of a new more modern building.

Picture of Kabuki-za Theater

Picture of Kabuki-za Theater

After checking out a couple of small shops in Ginza, we made our way to Mitsukoshi just as it opened for the day.

We picked up a variety of pastry snacks,

Picture of Johan Pastries

and walked around checking out everything else on the basement floor.

Picture of Mitsukoshi Food

Picture of Mitsukoshi Dessert

After Ginza we headed for the electronics district of Akihabara. We were looking for a couple of things like noise canceling headphones and a navigation device, but didn’t see one at a price we wanted so we mostly just browsed around the stores until it was time to meet more of our friends at Kappabashi Dori.

Picture of Akihabara

Picture of Akihabara Maid

May 3, 2009   10 Comments

Ikebukuro, Shinjuku, Ochanomizu



Picture of Roll Cake

DAY 5

Japanese roll cake…breakfast of champions! Well not really, but this was my breakfast. I had bought it at Family Mart the night before for dessert and finished it up for breakfast this morning. I have to say, for convenience store roll cake, this was very good - super soft and moist!

Day 5 was a little different in that this was our first day on our own in Tokyo. Our biggest apprehensions were finding our way in the train stations and finding our way back to train stations. But we brought our map (and even a little compass!) and were determined to do our best.

First up was the Toyota Amlux showroom located inside Sunshine City in Ikebukuro. It’s free admission and about 4 or 5 stories high.

Picture of Toyota Car

There were all kinds of interesting cars to check out…

Picture of Toyota Car

Picture of Toyota Car

But the most fun part was getting into these test cars and taking a virtual test drive. The whole thing moves up and down and side to side so it’s pretty fun!

Picture of Toyota Test Drive Machine

If you are in the Sunshine City area, drop in. You can’t beat free!

After Toyota we went to one of the department stores at Ikebukuro station. It was either Seibu or Tobu, I can’t remember which one but boy is it hard to walk by all the food in their basement and resist the temptation!

Picture of Ikebukuro Department Store Basement

Picture of Ikebukuro Department Store Desserts

Picture of Ikebukuro Department Store Desserts

Picture of Ikebukuro Department Store Desserts

After checking out the desserts we went back out into the main station area to make our way to Shinjuku.

Picture of Ikebukuro Station

In Shinjuku, the first thing we wanted to do was go to another free attraction - the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. There were many signs in Shinjuku station so it was easy to find the correct station exit.

Then using our map we just continued on down the main street. Once we got near the building there were more signs around with arrows pointing you in the direction of the Observatory (our destination) so we just followed the arrows.

It was pretty slow when we got there which was good, no line for the elevator. We quickly went straight up to the 45th floor to take a look around. It was a little cloudy that day so there was no view of Mt. Fuji. However, this is what we did see…

Picture of Shinjuku

Picture of Shinjuku

Picture of Shinjuku

While we were up at the observatory we decided to have lunch at the cafe there. They had 3 different lunch specials. We were both going to get the tomato pasta…

Picture of Tokyo Metropolitan Building Pasta Lunch

but when I saw the special called “Loco Moco Hamburg Style Plate”, I had to give this Tokyo loco moco a try!

Picture of Tokyo Metropolitan Building Loco Moco

The gravy was a little different, more of a demi-glace sauce with mushrooms. But I liked the idea of the poached egg. That was different compared to Hawaii’s standard over easy or sunny side up fried egg.

After lunch we headed to Takashimaya Times Square to do some shopping. I spent a bunch of time in my new favorite store, Kinokuniya. I

After Shinjuku we headed to Ochanomizu to check out the music instrument district. There were tons of guitars in this area near Akihabara.

Picture of Guitars in Ochamomizu

There were also many other string, woodwind, and brass instruments. We spent a lot of time in a big store called Shimokura.

Walking around the area, we saw many girls in kimonos. The reason is because we were there during graduation time. These girls were just coming out from their graduation ceremony.

Picture of Girls in Graduation Kimonos

To end this day we caught the subway back toward the Yamanote line and headed to a department store to have some soba for dinner. When I saw the unagi soba combo I couldn’t resist!

Picture of Unagi Soba Combo

My hubby was good and had the tempura and soba combo. They were very nice about making it all vegetable tempura for us.

Picture of Tempura Soba Combo

Coming up in the next post? Tsukiji, Okonomiyaki, Monja, and more!

April 22, 2009   5 Comments

Ghibli Museum, Odaiba, Asakusa



Picture of Asakusa

DAY 4

On Day 4 we picked up a quick snack at the bakery about 30 seconds from our hotel…

Picture of Raisin Danish

and headed down to the train station.

Picture of Ikebukuro Station

We met our friend on the Yamanote platform and headed to Shinjuku and from there on to Mitaka station.

Picture of Ikebukuro Station Platform

We are fans of Studio Ghibli movies such as Spirited Away so we thought we’d check out the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka.

For those interested in visiting when in Tokyo, please be sure to check out the museum’s website. Tickets usually have to be purchased well ahead of time either in your home country or in Japan. In our case our friends picked up tickets for us from Lawson’s in Tokyo about a month before our arrival.

Picture of Mitaka Road

Once you arrive at Mitaka station you can either catch a bus to the museum or take a 15 minute walk like we did.

Picture of Ghibli Museum Sign

There are Ghibli signs down the road so that you know you’re headed in the right direction. And there are also pretty flowers on the trees if you are there at the right time…

Picture of Mitaka Flowers

Sad to say there is no photography allowed in the museum. And from what I read on other blogs, they are pretty strict about it so I didn’t even try. Instead I’ll just say that if you are a fan of Hayao Miyazaki, this is a fun place to check out!

Picture of Potato Croquette

After the museum we headed back to Mitaka station and ate at a tonkatsu restaurant. My other half had the potato croquette while our friend and I had the tonkatsu.

I have to say…it was worth it to fall off the vegetarian wagon! Especially with the ground sesame seeds and tonkatsu sauce that I later drizzled over the crispy pork and cabbage - yum!!

Picture of Tonkatsu

After lunch we caught the train to Shimbashi where we boarded Yurikamome, unusual as it is a fully automated transit system controlled solely by computers.

Picture of Yurikamome

It was kind of a cloudy day but there were still nice sights to see along the way…

Picture of Odaiba

We got off to check out Tokyo Big Sight then got back on for a quick walk around the Odaiba area…

Picture of Odaiba Statue of Liberty

After doing a little bit of shopping we caught a boat to Hinode pier and another boat to go up the Sumida river.

Picture of Odaiba Boat

Picture of Odaiba Boat

As the boat pulled out, two of us stayed up on the boat’s roof to get a better view.

Picture of Fuji TV Building

We were also able to see some yurikamome up close. The train we rode earlier to get to this area is named after this bird.

Picture of Odaiba Bird

Getting off the boat in Asakusa, we took a stroll around before dinner time.

Picture of Kaminarimon

Picture of Nakamise Dori

Picture of Asakusa

Picture of Asakusa

It was fairly crowded as usual with pretty much the same shops and food offerings as last year.

Picture of Fried Manju

However, one thing that I remembered seeing last year that I hadn’t tried yet was this fried snack.

Picture of Fried Manju

It seemed to be the most crowded food stall offering several different flavor options. We went with the traditional sweet azuki bean paste.

Picture of Asakusa

By this time it was getting a little late so we made the walk across the Sumida gawa toward our dinner destination…Kazusa-ya.

Picture of Sumida gawa Bridge

Last year through our Tokyo friends we became friends with another group of Tokyoites. A bunch of them came to visit Hawaii last summer and we met several times for food and good times.

One of our new friends is a restaurant owner from Tokyo who sent me a very nice gift last October. He also said that when we were in Tokyo again, we were to come by his restaurant for dinner. So here we were at his restaurant in Asakusa…Kazusa-ya.

Almost the whole group that we had met last summer was there taking up pretty much the whole downstairs area of this cozy restaurant.

Picture of Kazusa-ya Dinner

There was quite an enormous spread laid out for us! And after a toast to start things off…

Picture of Kazusa-ya Asahi

We had a variety of appetizers.

Picture of Kazusa-ya Appetizers

Picture of Kazusa-ya Ika

Picture of Kazusa-ya Squid

And two pots of a super huge nabe!

This nabe had so many ingredients, I don’t think I can remember them all…but I’ll try: There was cabbage, shiitake mushrooms, enoki mushrooms, seaweed, kamaboko, daikon, carrots - some other vegetables that I can’t remember right now - shrimp, scallops, octopus, clams, salmon, and crab legs!

Picture of Kazusa-ya Nabe

The sashimi platter was also enormous…and we also had two of these platters for our group. It included saba, maguro, ebi, hamachi, abalone, ika, scallops, and much more that I also can’t remember. But believe me, it was every bit as delicious as it looks!

Picture of Kazusa-ya Sashimi

When we thought it was over, more food still came out of the kitchen. This time, two plates of tamagoyaki.

Picture of Kazusa-ya Tamagoyaki

And finally when we were filled to the gills with food, a very delicous dish came out. This was the rib portion of a tuna fish.

Picture of Tuna Rib

It was prepared in a teriyaki type miso marinade. And each of us got our own huge piece!

Picture of Tuna Rib

It was so buttery and delicious!

Picture of Tuna Rib

The highlight of this day? Definitely…definitely Kazusaya. It was like an all you can eat nabe and sashimi dinner with awesome side dishes and company!

April 12, 2009   11 Comments

Mount Asama, Shiraito Waterfall, and Karuizawa



Picture of Mount Asama

DAY 3

When our Tokyo friends were in Hawaii they asked, “What do you want to do in Japan?” I replied, “Eat, shop, and play in the snow!” So today they were fulfilling my third wish of playing in some Japan snow!

They took us to Mount Asama, the most active volcano on Honshu Island as well as the lovely nearby resort town of Karuizawa. The area is over 100 km from downtown Tokyo, quite a distance to drive.

Picture of Tokyo Car

It must have taken close to two hours to get there by car.

Picture of Road to Karuizawa

We stopped once for brunch at a rest stop. We had some onigiri, melon pan, and these takenoko inari that I really liked!

Picture of Takenoko Inari Zushi

When we finally arrived at the Mount Asama area, we stopped in this parking lot to take a stretch and walk around.

Picture of Mount Asama

Then we drove around a little more getting different views. It was a really pretty area…

Picture of Mount Asama

Picture of Mount Asama

After we had our fill of snow, a quick little snowball fight, and saw this…

Picture of Mount Asama

we figured it was time to move on.

On our way to Karuizawa we stopped off to see Shiraito Waterfall. It’s just a very easy 5 minute walk to reach the falls.

Picture of Shiraito Waterfall Path

However, if you are like me and stop every ten seconds to take a picture, it’ll take you more like 15 minutes to reach the top. But really, how can you not stop to enjoy these mini falls along the way?

Picture of Shiraito Waterfall

At the end of the path is the very graceful Shiraito Waterfall. It stands 3 meters high and 70 meters wide, with its water coming from the rain that falls on Mount Asama. Once the rain falls on the mountain, they say it takes 6 years for the water to seep underground and reach the top of the waterfall.

Picture of Shiraito Waterfall

After a leisurely walk back to the car, we headed off to Karuizawa. During this time of year, Karuizawa is a small ski resort type town. But since we don’t ski, we concentrated our time on the historic shopping street in town.

Picture of Karuizawa Main Shopping Street

On this street there are many little shops selling clothes, trinkets, and best of all…food!

Picture of Karuizawa Jam

Along the way our friend asked me, “Do you like sweet potato?”
“Sure!”, I said with a nod. Ten seconds later she handed me this…

Picture of Karuizawa Sweet Potato

a piping hot baked sweet potato! We were starting to get a little hungry, so this was a good treat. We split it into four pieces and shared.

Picture of Karuizawa Sweet Potato

Also on this street were dogs…everywhere. With many of them wearing the latest in doggy fashion. This lucky group got to ride around in a little stroller!

Picture of Dogs in Karuizawa

As I was saying, there were many stores that sold food. And the good ones always served lots of samples to try!

Picture of Karuizawa Tsukemono

Our friends bought a ton of tsukemono to bring back to Tokyo. We bought some but didn’t want to go over board. However, now that we are home I wish we had gotten more!

Picture of Karuizawa Tsukemono

For lunch we went to a discreet little soba shop that was recommended to us by one of the tsukemono shop owners. The two guys tried the special cold soba that was locally made.

Picture of Karuizawa Soba

Have you ever seen anything like this below?

Picture of Karuizawa Soba

Our other friend ordered it. It’s the same flour used to make the soba noodles but made into dumplings. It was served in a warm broth just like my hot soba.

My order was a warm mushroom soba with wasabi and lots of grated daikon - Oishii!

Picture of Karuizawa Mushroom Soba

After lunch we finished up at the shopping street and went to quickly visit the ski slope and adjoining outlet shopping mall, before setting off for the long ride back to Tokyo ending a very fun day.

Back in Tokyo after a short rest, we decided to head to the department store at the train station for dinner. There were so many choices, about 3 floors worth of restaurants to choose from! Eventually we chose one with some delicious looking samples outside. He had the Tendon with all vegetable tempura.

Picture of Vegetable Tendon

While I had the teishoku with miso soup, chawanmushi, tempura…

Picture of Tempura

and sashimi!

Picture of Sashimi

The area of Japan we went to on this day was very beautiful. We were lucky that the weather was so nice all day! It was also enjoyable because the town was not too crowded. At the visitor center I picked up some brochures that showed that same shopping street completely packed with people during the summer season. So if you aren’t in to big crowds, try Karuizawa during spring!

April 9, 2009   6 Comments

Meiji Jingu, Harajuku, Omotesando, Shibuya, Ikebukuro



Picture of Ikebukuro Hotel View

DAY 1

As soon as we came back from Japan last year, we knew we had to return again soon! And so, one year later, we landed at Narita airport.

From the airport we went by bus to our hotel arriving at about 7:30pm. By the time we were all set with our room and cleaned up from the long flight from Hawaii, it was pretty late. Luckily our Tokyo friends had surprised us at the airport with dinner to take to the hotel!

They gave us a roll of shiitake makizushi, some inari zushi, and vegetable miso soup to enjoy in our room that night.

Picture of Yamanote Line Sign

If you didn’t read the previous post, I should mention that we’ve been eating mostly vegetarian these days. Not 100%, but maybe about 90% when we are home in Hawaii. On this trip to Japan though, it was more like 70% (there was no way I was not going to eat sushi, sashimi, and my other favorites!) But on most days, we did try to find vegetarian friendly Japanese meals.

Back to the photo above, our friends being so considerate surprised us with this sushi roll of shiitake mushroom, kanpyo, and cucumbers - it was so delicious!

DAY 2

On this first real day in Japan, we met our Tokyo friends at 10:00am and headed down to the train station. We hopped on the Yamanote Line to Harajuku (which was fairly empty at this hour) to start out our first full day.

Picture of Yamanote Line Sign

From Harajuku Station…

Picture of Harajuku Station

We made the quick walk over to the famous Meiji Jingu shrine.

Picture of Meiji Jingu

Meiji Jingu is a Shinto shrine dedicated to Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken.

Picture of Meiji Jingu

It is an easy shaded walk to get to this shrine and a very peaceful place to visit in the middle of hectic Tokyo.

Picture of Meiji Jingu

Picture of Meiji Jingu

Picture of Meiji Jingu

Picture of Meiji Jingu

Picture of Meiji Jingu

After taking our time at Meiji Jingu, we went back out to the busy Harajuku area of Takeshita Dori!

Picture of Takeshita Dori Sign

Picture of Takeshita Dori

I had to do a double take when I saw that mannequin below!

Picture of Takeshita Dori

Along the way we stopped at Daiso, the huge 100 Yen store - and also for a snack of Marion Crepes!

Picture of Marion Crepes

Here is a glimpse of their menu.

Picture of Marion Crepes Menu

We shared number 72, the Apple Custard Crepe. Very light and delicious!

Picture of Marion Crepe

After Takeshita Dori we made our way down to the Omotesando area. We leisurely walked along the pricey shops like Gucci and Louis Vuitton, up the slight hill to the end near Omotesando Station.

We stopped near the end for some lunch at Osteria Mara Nello. It was a cute little Italian restaurant that served a lunch special of salad and mushroom pasta that was perfect for us.

Picture of Mara Nello Salad

Picture of Mara Nello Pasta

By this time we were a little tired from walking so we took the Ginza subway line to Shibuya, the last area we wanted to visit for the day.

Picture of Omotesando Station

Outside of Shibuya Station we visited the Hachiko statue. This is the statue of the dog that after his master died, waited for years at the exit of the station for him to return. So sad yeah?

Picture of Hachiko Statue

Right across from the Hachiko statue was this billboard for Soft Bank.

Picture of Soft Bank Dog

It really reminded us of our dog Rocky waiting at home in Hawaii.

Picture of Rocky at the beach

In Shibuya it was a little busy, but not too bad.

Picture of Shibuya

We went there mostly to do some shopping at Tokyu Hands and Tower Records.

Picture of Shibuya

Picture of Shibuya

A little heavier with shopping bags, we made our way back with our friends to Ikebukuro for a simple soba dinner at Sunshine City.

Picture of Tofu

Picture of Soba

In addition to these bowls, we also had a variety of tsukemono and some tempura.

Picture of Soba

After dinner we could have gone out again that evening. But since we had to get up really early the next day, we decided to grab some snacks from Family Mart and head up to our room for some Japanese TV!

Stay tuned for Day 3…

April 6, 2009   10 Comments