Posted by As I near the end of my vacation I am feeling more lethargic and a finally falling into a normal sleep schedule, which is nice, but also kind of sucks because I am sleeping longer, therefore, seeing less 😦
When I came here in December I spent a lot less time in Tokyo and spent most of my time traveling around all over Tokyo and not spending a ton of time in the city itself…if you can’t tell I’m pretty adverse to large crowds of people, especially if there are going to be a lot of tourists…sometimes I like to people watch, but I prefer to people watch the people of Japan and not the tourists that travel in large groups and look perpetually lost 😛
Today I decided to check out Tsukiji Market…is it worth it? Well…it’s definitely a worth looking around, they have AMAZING sushi places there and some really fun shops that sell kitchen goods that you can’t readily find in the United States. You’ll find fresh catches of the day for a reasonable price, local foods, and dried foods…I liked perusing a lot, to be honest, do it earlier in the day when there are fewer people.
After leaving Tsukiji Market I stumbled across a lovely coffee shop called Turret Coffee which right next to the train stop down an alley. I ordered a sea salt caramel latte…and I’m from Seattle and am NOT a Starbucks lover…I find their beans to be over roasted and it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I do however like small coffee houses that are unique and not a chain, so…yes…I ❤ Turrett Coffee. The latte had a sweet, bitter flavor that left a light caramel aftertaste, come here, you won’t be sorry!
After resting and enjoying the coffee I decided to go to (pretty sure…this is the biggest) the biggest book store in Tokyo, Kinokuniya, it’s 9 stories of AWESOMENESS! It reminded me of this beautiful bookstore I went to in London last May called Foyles.
You may not know this about me…but I just love books so much. Then I decided to try a place called Takano Fruit Parlor. There are two sides to the storefront…one that is buffet style and the other where you can purchase individual desserts. The buffet also offers dinner…I’m not sure if they change out the menu for dinner but the dinner was very carb heavy, ergo, very filling. My advice? Try the individual dessert side…I tried the buffet and I was very disappointed, and it was about ¥2700 (~$27.00). The fruit wasn’t ripe…and some of the desserts lacked flavor. I know that sounds weird, I mean…how is that possible? I was personally amazed that things didn’t taste like anything…that’s skill in itself.
After this, I went to an area, that I can only describe as Koreatown…I didn’t know that’s what it was, but…that’s what it was! You want to get off at the Shin-Okubo Station…I’m wracking my brain trying to remember the place I went to for lunch and I just can’t remember 😦 The kimchi and banchan were legit! Just like my mom or grandma used to make. The thing that made me the happiest is I got to practice my Korean while I was there 😀 but…uh…I started mixing up Korean and Japanese…so…that’s not great.
I pretty much just walked around Tokyo and finding random streets and alleyways to walk down…I really do like the vibe here.
I decided to have a really late dinner at this place called, Kagurazaka Saryo. They are known for their Kyoto style food and matcha (yeah, I went for the matcha).
I’m going to be honest…I’m not really sure what I ate…I think it was a rice porridge made with chicken stock with shrimp and some light seasoning. The dessert was matcha tea and green tea s’mores…which, wasn’t as good as I thought it would be. The matcha tea on the other hand? It was fantastic.
Natalie Journeys 