MestMets in Tokyo

In January, MestMets had daily reports from Tokyo. You'll find them all bellow!

Tuna

At the back end of Tsukiji fish market, you will find several blocks with a mixture of wholesale and retail shops that sell Japanese kitchen tools, restaurant supplies, groceries, and many restaurants, especially sushi restaurants.

Normally, a long line is a sign of a great restaurant. But here, a long line can also mean ‘randomly mentioned in a guide book’. These places can have up to an hour waiting line. I strongly suggest to drop by one of the other sushi stalls where the fish is just as fresh and the atmosphere just as good. If you are lucky, you end up at this little joint where you can order the ‘All that tuna’ plate.

Oh my.

Naka Shin'en

The Heian Jingu garden in Kyoto also features the Garyu-kyo, a walkway consisting of stone pillars. Yes, you saw it briefly in Lost In Translation.

Tsukiji

The last post from the Tsukiji fish market. I promise.

Mt Fuji

If you are lucky, you may see Mt Fuji from downtown Tokyo on a crisp clean winter day. And if you are luckier, you can see it from your hotel room!

Omikuji

Omikuji are fortune telling paper slips found at many shrines and temples. Randomly drawn, they contain predictions ranging from daikichi ("great good luck") to daikyo ("great bad luck"). By tying the piece of paper around a tree's branch, good fortune will come true or bad fortune can be averted.

Hama Rikyu Garden

Hama Rikyu Garden is considered to be the best garden in Tokyo. You'll find this urban oasis just a couple of minutes from the fish market. There are ponds, a refuge for ducks, a 300-year-old pine, and teahouses spread around. And as always, the skyscrapers are hiding in the back!

Just Like Honey

Sometimes it is perfectly understandable to spend the evening in your hotel room and just stare at Tokyo by night.

Stories from the City Stories from the Sea

If possible, you should always take the opportunity of seeing a city from the water. So also with Tokyo. One of the better boat trips run on the Sumida River between Hama Rikyu Garden and Asakusa. You pass 12 bridges along the way and have a view of Tokyo you'd otherwise miss.

Tsukiji

More goodies from Tsukiji fish market!

Heian Jingu

When in Kyoto, a visit to the Heian Jingu garden is a must. This is how it looked in December - I can only imagine how it must look in the summer.

Sushiko Honten

Sushiko Honten is another great sushi place in Ginza, also with a Michelin star. Their counter only fits eleven, the chef speaks no English, and the walls are empty. But the sushi makes up for everything. Saying “omakase” while sitting down is the smartest decision you can make. The chef pick the tastiest fish from the Tsukiji market and you give him an opportunity to show-off his skills and experiment with presentation.

I overheard the chef telling the Manhattanites next to me that he had worked at Sushi Samba.

Oh, as with basically everything else in Tokyo, Sushiko Honten is really hard to find.

Hachiko Crossing

The Hachiko square has to be the busiest pedestrian scramble in Tokyo. You find it just outside the Shibuya station.



(Click here for a much larger version)

Tuna

Tsukiji Fish Market opens really early (great for the jetlag victims among us) and most of the action is over by 9am. Unfortunately, the daily tuna auction is closed for tourists, but that doesn’t keep you from finding some frozen species around the stalls.

Anyone For Coffee?

I don't care what you say, I love my Starbucks. Getting my daily cup was so much fun at the Southern Terrace@Shinjuku where every order was repeated by all the girls behind the counter. Five Japanese yelling out 'one grande latte' together in their high-pithced voices. Luv it.

Got $80 Millions To Spare?

The Prada store in Harajuku is quite a sight and one of the cooler buildings along the Omotesando street. It is supposed to be amazing when the night falls too.

Pretty In Pink

Some like to dress in pink! Or a clever make-up company knows how to get people's attention at a busy crossing in Ginza.

Chopsticks!

Golden Temple

Japan isn’t only Tokyo, off course. Kyoto is just a couple of hours away with the Shinkansen. Make sure to visit by the Golden Temple (Kinkaku-ji) and the magnificent Japanese strolling garden surrounding the pavilion.

Blue Christmas

They sure know how to light up trees at the Southern Terrace in Shinjuku.

Tokyo’s largest Poo?

This is most likely Tokyo’s largest poo. Which is yellow, some 130 by 50 feet and placed on top of an office building. Don’t ask me why. I guess they call it art? You can see the building (and the poo) by standing on the Asakusa side of Asakusa Dori, looking east across the river.

Tsukiji Fish market

Tsukiji is the world's largest wholesale fish and seafood market and a visit is a must while staying in Tokyo. Rumors say they sell 490 types of fish there. I know the names of twelve. And I cannot name any of these.