Adventures in Tokyo, a Week in Review

Been a busy week here in Tokyo, with a bit more of a walking expedition being made with friends to various parts of the city, and realised I haven't written one of these for a while - there's likely to be a bit of a flood coming shortly!

David and I went for a wander through the Komaba campus of Tokyo University, which is next door. He'd heard of a good supermarket close by, and we thought we'd go have a look. Winding our way through the multitude of nameless streets on the outskirts of Shibuya, my eyes were caught by some of the quirky buildings - Japan seems to have a propensity for having perfectly mundane, boring buildings, next to a spectacularly bright and exciting one, as seen below:

 Walking further down the street, we discovered something that I have only seen on YouTube - Mario Karts in Tokyo! Basically you can dress up as a Mario character and drive one of these karts around the streets of Tokyo, as if you were in the popular Nintendo game! Unfortunately it requires either an international drivers licence or a Japanese one, so when I go back home to NZ for a holiday I may have to arrange for that; this looks like such fun! David and I were looking at the karts, and the guy inside asked us where we were from, inviting us in to have a look at their set up. They had a big map on the wall with pins, showing where people had come from, and I'm proud to say I was the first person there from Nelson, putting that green pin in with a big grin on my face.

Part of the Mario Fleet

Floreat Nelsonia!

While David and I were trying to navigate ourselves, David exclaimed that nearby there was a place we ought to visit - the New Zealand Embassy! That day was a national holiday (Sports Day), so the place was closed, but I was grinning like an idiot at seeing the New Zealand flag and the gardens beyond the fence of the embassy.

A few days later I went and met up with another friend, and we proceeded to explore the Eastern suburbs of Tokyo, primarily in search of some good cafes and chocolate stores. The Japanese are famous for doing whatever it is that they do exceptionally well, constantly honing their craft and always desiring perfection. So needless to say, the food and drink experience we had was phenomenal!

Japanese chocolate from a supermarket isn't terribly good, especially when you are a New Zealander and used to Whittaker's Five Rolled Dairy Milk chocolate, but this place, Artichoke Chocolate, did some superb, if slightly expensive, chocolates. Walking into the shop, the smell of cocoa and creaminess was superb, a very welcoming experience!

Apparently they turned a shoplifter into chocolate and ate him piece by piece until all that remained was his hand!

Samples!

The log is wood, the birds are chocolate

At work making chocolates

 We then moved on to a cafe called Cream of the Crop. I'm not much of a coffee drinker (can count on one hand the number of coffee's I've had), but it was again very cool to see the interior of a cafe that wasn't an American or American style chain cafe like Starbucks or Tully's Coffee. Also, Cream of the Crop had a very cool logo which I was all for!

During our wanderings around these new-to-us suburbs, I was noticing some of the artistry that featured in ordinary road and footpath utilities:

These pretty additions make for a bit of fun while walking, I feel as though a bingo game could be made, as there was quite a selection of flowers and animals on the tiles!







The suburb wasn't entirely artisan cafes/confectioners and footpaths with high amenity value; there was some seriously weird stuff going on that I couldn't put a finger on. Like one of my earlier posts where there were cartoon characters apparently being crucified, we came across a similar scene of death and mayhem, this time with China's national animal being strung up! Whether this is indicative of Japanese sentiments towards Chinese, or something more mysterious, I do not know, but there's something seriously whacky afoot. Also, a feline Mona Lisa, because Japan.

This store front also captured my attention - baby chickens fighting eels?

Wandering further, we came to a temple, which, having no clear agenda, we entered. One of the guys I met in Japan last time I was here was often getting exasperated at all the temples, saying there were all much of a muchness (I suppose he'd be the same in Europe with Churches/Cathedrals/Castles/Chateaux/Crypts/Cemeteries). Nevertheless, here was a temple, with some cool architecture, nice gardens, sculptures and so on, all very Japanese!

The final store we visited was one that sold exclusively Hokkaido produce. Hokkaido is the dairy area of Japan, and also a major wine producing region. We got there fairly late in the day, but that meant that the door was illuminated in a very cool way for the cameras!

Dinner that night was fish and chips from a Scotsman's restaurant - while not quite the caliber of the Milton Street Fish and Chips in Nelson (coupled with Sprig and Fern beer), it was nice to have something that was at least a bit Kiwiana, and to have some proper chips was amazing - the norm here is McDonald's shoestring fries, hardly satisfying!

Fried fish burger, with BBQ sauce, perf!

That was followed up with a chestnut jam bun, which was very pleasant, surprisingly sweet, but not in a saccharine sugary way; rather it was far more mellow - would recommend!

On the academic side of things (because let's be real, that's why I'm here), things have been reasonably quiet!

I had a welcome party with my Professor and the postgrad students under his tutelage, which was good fun, having a name memorising game (I find Japanese names very hard to remember), and a new experience for me - having my teacher/Professor plying me with alcohol! My glass was never empty under his watchful eye!

We had a party at my dormitory as well, organised by the dorm, for the purposes of meeting other residents and so on; which was a good time, though I found it hilarious that the staff were trying to keep afterparties in the common areas (thankfully not on my floor) under control/not in the halls, when they'd been giving out bottles of wine and cans of beer as we left. I'd have thought they'd want to keep the surplus for another event, but there you go. Maybe next time!

Pleased to meet you!

This last week has been the first one where it's been getting chillier, so I've now been able to pull these bad boys out - those who know me well will know I am never far from these in NZ, but it's been too hot and humid here to wear them!

Enjoying some small creature comforts!

I've had a few more adventures over the past few days, including climbing a mountain and going to a museum, so watch out soon for another couple of blog posts! Japan goes to the polls today, which will be interesting to follow, but it also means that the politician trucks that drive around the neighbourhoods with loudspeakers shouting out political slogans and policies have now stopped - they are most un-Japanese in that they are loud and intrusive, not what you want to hear at 8.30am! The other bit of excitement is that Supertyphoon Lan is about to make landfall in Tokyo, which is naturally causing the Japanese some consternation! Think I'll just have to do my rain jacket up nice and tight, and go for an adventure in the rain!

Until next time, be well!

Troy :)