the Nom Lab.: JPAdventures

Manic Tokyo in Bloom

By Passionthy 12:47 PM JPAdventures, No Recipe, Travel

On-board the Skyliner. Direction: NRT to Tokyo.

Sumimasen... Kore wa, doko desu ka?

(Excuse-me... This, where is it?)

Um, sumima-...

An almost imperceptible sigh, a shake of the head, and he was gone, the steely navy of his jacket swallowed in the frantic blur of the rush hour crowds.

I stood in the middle of the suits and echoing clack-clack of heels brushing past me in a manic pace, holding on a crumpled map dampened by the evening downpour. Blogs and travel books have repetitively warned the unaware traveler of Tokyo's bustling pedestrian life, especially at the end of the day, but being at a standstill in the middle of it all is a bewildering experience.

I had walked around Ōtsuka Station three times already, dragging my suitcase and hauling my backpack up and down the hilly road as I tried to ineffectually find my AirBnB.

My head was spinning. I was starting to realize how overwhelming the scale of the language barrier was. And it was raining. That's never good juju.

Did I ask directions from this NewsDays cashier yet? Maybe they've changed shifts.

I headed out again, trudging towards the same general direction as several other train station officers had shown me within the past hour. Up the road, I resigned myself to scrutinizing the neighboring shops once more.

Pastry store, ramen shop... Where. Is it?!

I have looked everywhere.

Well, except for that dark alley branching out in the middle of the main street. But there's no way it's there, is it?

...Oh, would you look at that. It is there. ..Who would've thought.

And it's actually not that dark in here.

The building was neatly tucked in the small side street, and the room was just as small and just as neat. I blacked out from the exhaustion as soon as I laid down, a faint thought drifting through the grogginess - I'm kind of hungry.

Shinjuku: Neon Wonderland.

Oden vending machine. The blue row comes out cold; the red row comes out piping hot!

I woke up hangry.

The amazing thing about Japan (one of the many things I've fallen in love with), I quickly found out, was the accessibility of quality foods and drinks on pretty much every street block. According to japan-experience, "it is said that in Japan there is a konbini for every 2000 inhabitants".

Konbinis - short for "convenience stores" are the Japanese version of your all-purpose corner store. While the gas stations around my house sell dubiously dated sandwiches, Japanese konbinis are replenished with delicious fresh salads, bentos, sushi platters and ready-to-eat rice and noodle bowls daily. Within a short 3 minutes walk of my AirBnB, I was munching on onigiris and I had grabbed a piping hot coffee from a vending machine on the side of the street.

Living the onigiri life.

Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden

Umeboshi onigiri.

Into the Golden Gai.

My days in Tokyo whirled by in a blur of strikingly bright neon lights, sakura petals and JR line tracks, fast mode cinematic style. I had arrived right during the blooming season of the cherry blossoms, and the cherry tree-lined rivers and national parks were chock-full of hanami parties and festival vendors. It was a gorgeous and charming experience to stroll amidst the drooping branches and heavy clusters of white and pale pink, but I came back home everyday completely exhausted.

Among my favorite Tokyo spots, the walk from Mitaka station to the Ghibli Museum, passing by Tamagawa Aqueduct and Inokashira Park, ranks high. The stroll was a rare pocket of serenity amidst the vibrant concrete jungle of the other districts.

Another well loved district: Asakusa. Despite being part of the downtown areas, Asakusa still retains the vibes of a more traditional Tokyo and is well-known for its giant Kaminarimon ("Thunder Gate") and iconic red lantern, leading to Sensō-ji Temple. It is often accessed via Nakamise-dori, a popular shopping street lined with stands showcasing tacky tourist souvenirs and trinkets. The front area is congested with tourists, but Nakamise-dori has some nooks and crannies that are calmer. It also hosts an array of traditional Japanese snack vendors often flanked by youths in school uniforms. A stone's throw away is Sumida Park, another popular hanami location, but it was not as overrun with visitors as other parks such as Shinjuku Gyoen or Ueno Park.

Still in Asakusa district, my gastronomical highlight was Suzukien Asakusa Honten: a gelato x matcha shop known for its Premium No. 7 gelato, advertised as having the highest matcha content and the richest green tea flavor. Their gelato counter also serves 6 other matcha flavors in ascending degrees of the matcha intensity spectrum. At ¥560-¥580 a scoop (depending on whether you want a bowl or a cone), the Premium No. 7 doesn't mess around. And it was the best green tea ice cream that I have ever tasted. I will be going through serious matcha withdrawal when I fly back.

Suzukien's freezer also had other flavors in stock (cherry blossom, hojicha, Japanese black tea, black sesame, adzuki bean...). Those flavors, along with the 6 other matcha levels, were sold at ¥370-¥390 a scoop.

Finally, the last of my Tokyo highlights: the museums. The Miraikan National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation is a gem for technology and scientific learning, and its "Create your future" exhibition was probably the best that I have seen in a while. The exhibition introduces visitors to robotics and guides them to explore the impact of the information era and the potential of different technologies for the future. In the "Explore the frontiers" exhibition, visitors can walk into a scale model of the ISS living quarters. During my visit, there was also a temporary Disney exhibition that steered visitors through the history of the Disney studio and demonstrated all the research and test designs that went into each Disney classic.

The Ghibli Museum is my runner-up, where the entire visit felt like walking through Miyazaki's workshop. Starting from the ground floor with the Totoro zoetrope, to the upper exhibition rooms, feels like progressing through a visual story of the history of Ghibli animation.

Last but not least: the Edo-Tokyo Museum. I am really glad that I visited this museum at the very beginning of my trip as it gave a lot of insight on all the other historical districts and castles that I will see later in my itinerary. This museum showcases the cultural and historical progression from pre-modern Tokyo to contemporary time, with life-size replicas of many fixtures of the Edo era.