Tokyo Day 9: Clothing, housewares, and Zakka, OH MY! Nakameguro & Shinjuku

I don't want to take away form the seriousness of the events happening in Japan so I struggled with this post. In light of all that I experienced the last couple of days while in Tokyo I felt that I should remind myself of how much I love Japan and not to think of it as the scary place that almost killed me. With that said my heart goes out to all those who have suffered tremendous loss and those who survived at the epicenter of the disasters who now have to carry on and start a new life with heavy hearts. So here's my last day full good day before the earthquake and all the wonderful things I experienced. I will have one more post about the last happy events before the quake too coming up.



I started my day with a trip to Shinjuku to Odakaya one of my favorite fabric and crafting stores. The store is super easy to get to because it's right outside of the East exit at Shinjuku Station, near the Studio Alta building. Odakaya has two buildings, one consisting of 5 floors of fabrics and the other 7 floors of all sorts of crafting supplies, from felting to knitting to pattern books.






After my excursion through a crafters fantasy land I picked up lunch from the 7 Eleven and headed home to drop off my finds and eat. When I was satisfied, I grabbed my cameras and set off to the other side of the Meguro river for some more Nakameguro exploring. I found a slew of tiny stores mostly vintage clothing and housewares and some zakka stores. The buildings and small stores hidden from the main roads were wonderful to photograph and some of the popular places were a also a delight.
Before crossing over the river there were just everyday scenes of Nakameguro in the back streets of my immediate neighborhood and the main commerce street.

This was a great restaurant near the train station.








After crossing the river I found this store which I had scene on google street view before traveling to Tokyo I originally thought it was a restaurant but it was a men's clothing boutique called, VASE, they also carried handmade jewelry and handpainted bags for women, plus all sorts of cute little housewares. There was also, Tokyo Lampoon, a women's vintage clothing store.






If you walk along the river towards the train tracks and pass under them you will come to this Izakaya, which I wanted to try but didn't get a chance because nature had other plans for me. Anywho, if you make a left on this street and walk until you reach another underpass you will see a large ugly red brick building in front of you, this houses a few vintage stores and a cute Zakka store. Here you'll find, Attic Antiques, SIIGE, USA Sundance, Loop, and a few other places,one of the vintage stores had only wares associated with airlines and travel, plus they had a super cute dog working there.








After checking out the stores I came across I lovely cafe/bar called Square Hedges just past the underpass about two blocks. The proprietor, Marie, is a Japanese woman who speaks perfect English and her friend Chel from Arizona hangs out there all the time. They make a delicious Green Tea Latte. Upstairs she rents out to an Aussie, a New Yorker, and I think a guy from California and they have a bike shop/bar. They have total hipster bikes and at night it dubs as a bar.




Getting There: Take the Tokyu Toyoko line to Nakameguro, to cross the river- when coming out of the station cross the street to the opposite side of the station, then turn left and then make the first right and keep walking you will cross the river in about 5 mins.

VASE: 1-7-7 Kamimeguro, Meguro

More addresses to come.

Tokyo Day 6: Snowy indoors day at the Loft

Today we had totally unexpected weather, it was snowing. It started as very heavy rain then it turned into chunky fakes of snow. I had kinda figured today would be an indoor activity day because there was rain in the forecast so I had already planned to go to Takashimaya, but that wasn't going to be an all day affair. SO, on my list for today aside from Takashimaya were Loft in Shibuya, and Yuzawaya in Shinjuku (in the Takashimaya building). Both truly amazing experiences.



I took the train into Shibuya around 2pm and got a little lost finding Loft because it's kinda tucked into a back street and it was hard holding the map in my freezing hand while the other held a shaky umbrella. When I final found it I was so relived to go into a warm dry place.



The ground floor at Loft is beyond amazing, it's like a stationery store on steroids. Every kinda notebook, calendar, diary, moleskein, washi tape, pens, stickers, you name it they had it in bucket fulls in every color of the rainbow. My mind almost exploded with sensory overload, everything was so kawaii, and useful to boot!




I absolutely loved these little boxes of alphabet stamps, but as mush as I loved the little wooden box ones, the fonts were nicer in the cardboard box set. There were so many stamps of every variety. Then there's the washi tape which has become my favorite I like that it can act as a little splash of fun on practically anything.



On the other floors they have housewares, party goods and such, much like Tokyu Hands but not as overpriced, and cooler. I loved their extensive collection of mugs, and of course I finally got to see some engrish at work, here are these to lovelies.



"flattely will get you know where"

In the kitchen section, there's a couple of aisles dedicated to just making lunch. The Japanese don't be live in a boring lunch so they have a million things to spruce up their daily lunches. Like these cute onigiri boxes. Then there's the food punch cut-outs, which you can cut little faces out of nori or other thin flat food to dress up your lunch. They have toothpicks of all sorts, with little animals, or country flags. Tiny bottles to add condiments to your lunch. It's a fun lunch in Japan!





In the bedding area, you can find a large stuffed creature to keep you warm on those lonely nights, like these sheep. All the adult sleeping animals are mega large, to accommodate a snuggle.




I was so sad when I saw the prices of these prints because Marini and Monteany are my favorite Japanese children's book illustrators and I would have loved to come home with one.



Japan has some of the prettiest umbrellas I've ever seen, this more stuff at the Loft.



Next stop dinner at Takashimaya restaurant park! I went looking for sushi, but they have everything, Tonkatsu places, crepes, thai food, whatever you like. I had the Nigiri set which came with a miso soup, a gelatinous tofu glue bowl, I ate some of it, didn't taste bad but the textured freaked me out, it was too mucous-y for me. The sushi was okay but I've had better, and I tried the eel since it was on my plate, I can still say I don't like it.





Next stop was an amazing surprise. I think I walked into heaven, at least crafters' heaven. Yuzawaya is located on the 11th floor of the Takashimaya building and, my oh my, I've never seen so much amazingness. It's a fabric, notions,crafting and art supply department store.






Since it's rainy and I know there will be more nights of staying home I figure I get some little craft projects to occupy my time , so I got these two cute felting projects at Yuzaway and some stationery supplies at Loft. I started the elephant, it's super time consuming.




On the way home I stopped in at the 7 Eleven and bought myself a beeru and a chocolate bar. I have to try these strawberry sandwiches that I keep seeing too, maybe tomorrow. I'm in for the night, with a movie, beeru, and felting mascot! Konbonwa!




Getting there:

Shibuya-Take the JR Yamanote Line, Tokyu Toyoko line, Keio Inokashira line, Tokyu Den-en-toshi line, Tokyo Metro Hanzomon Line, Tokyo metro Fukutoshine line, or the Metro Ginza Line to Shibuya. Exit the Hachiko Exit.

Loft-21-1 Udagawa-cho, Shibuya-KU (map below)


Shinjuku-Take the JR Yamanote,Chuo main, Chuo-Sobu, Shonan-Shinjuku or Saiko Lines. Or the Odakyu line, Keio Line and Keio New Line, Marunouchi Line, Toei Shinjuku or Toei Oedo lines. For Takashimaya, exit the New South Exit.

Takashimaya-n 5-24-2, Sendagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo

3 Days in Tokyo, What to Do

A very nice gent wrote me this week asking for recommendation on what to do with 3 days in Tokyo so I decided I should post my recommendations for others with the same question.

I would visit the the Tokyo Trinity, as I like to call it, no visit is complete without at least a one time stop at each of these locations in Tokyo. Shinjuku, Harajuku, and Shibuya. Yes, it's cliche' but it's still a must for a first timer,and you can do them all in two to three days.

In Shinjuku:

1.check out for night life the Golden Gai
2. for food you should definitely not miss Yakitori Alley, it's real name being Omoide Yokocho.

Both are within walking distance of Shinjuku Station, Yakitori alley is sandwiched in the alleys between the East and West exits of the Station. Take the East exit walk towards the Epson sign when you get to a very large intersection the Epson sign will be across the street from you stay on your side hange a right walking towards the train underpass, a couple of stores before the underpass there's an alley that's one of the entrances to Omoide Yokocho. I can't recommend what stall to eat at, some will not be friendly to Gaijin (foreigners) all the menus are in japanese, Yakitori is traditionally all chicken parts on a skewer plus veggies. If your stomach is adventures then try it all if not use a phrase book or draw a pic of chicken ( I did this) and point to the parts you want. I have a sensitive stomach and I was totally fine eating there. It can be pricey at some stalls, especially if you drink beer and/or Sake.

The Golden Gai (tiny alleys with tiny bars) is a bit more difficult to find but worth it. If you head out the East exit and walk toward Studio Alta(that's the large LCD screen) cross the street and head through the alleys onto a large street called Yasukuni Dori, you have to be on the other side of the street so cross over, you'll be walking along Kabuki-cho. With your back to East Exit hang a right keep walking, you have to pass a large intersection, Kuyakusho Dori, cross it. now you have to keep an eye out before getting to the next big intersection (Meiji Dori) is a small street with no name, hang a left and you should find a series of small alleys with bars, you are at the Golden Gai. If you want to orient yourself in the day you can look for Hanazono Temple it's right in front of these alleys.

* a bit of a warning, although Tokyo might be the safest of large cities to travel in the world, be careful in Kabuki-cho, especially as a man they'll try to lure you into seedy clubs, and extort lots of money from you, particularly beware of the non-japanese solicitors, mostly African*
You'll be totally fine, I walked around at night in Kabuki-cho with another woman and was completely safe I just walked away from these people, some of them even followed us around, but eventually gave up.

3. Harajuku, best to visit on weekend to see the insanity of young people all dressed up in Harajuku square, regardless if your not there on a weekend it's still a nice trip. Right outside the Harjuku train station you can find the Meiji Shrine it's worth the visit, when your done there take a trip done Takeshita Dori, with all the shops, right before you get to the end(large intersection) on your right is an awesome, Japanese Italian buffet, called Tebasa, where all the young people go. It's really cheap, fun, and delicious. For 1500 Yen you can get unlimited trips to the buffet for an hour and beverages (non-alcoholic, for alcoholic bevs pricey,don't bother). Have lunch here. Then take a walk towards the right on Meiji Dori towards Omotesando Dori, you'll find lots of little streets of both Meiji and Omotesando with, great stores and little cafes and restaurants. There are a few izakayas (these are restaurants that offer a variety of small style dishes to compliment your beer or sake in the neighborhood, so you may want to plan for dinner in the neighborhood.

4. Shibuya, is less intense during a week day, night time it's overrun by teens, but can still be a lot of fun, lots of Karaoke places (lots of Karaoke in Shinjuku too right outside the station), you can't miss them. The greatest thing to watch in Shibuya is during rush hour, the large Shibuya station crossing, you've never seen anything quite so insane (and I live in New York, and I'm still saying that). The one store I say you should check out in this area is Tokyu Hands, it's a great department store, with stuff you would never find outside of Japan. It's not far from the station.


Ok, so those are three easy things to do in 2-3 days

If you want to go and explore some less touristy areas, I would recommend Shimokitazawa, Daikanyama, Naka-Meguro, all really easy to get to from Shinjuku station, I have posted entries for the first two, but I haven't written anything yet on Naka-Meguro, it's really laid back, it's like the artist/neo-hippie area, lots of vintage stores, and cool little cafes. If you are having trouble sleeping and are awake at the crack of dawn check out the Tsukiji Fish Market.

OH! if you saw Lost in Translation you'll remember the Park Hyatt hotel, it's pretty amazing, about a fifteen minute walk from the Shinjuku station and if your there Sunday go for Sunday brunch, it's about $60 USD, but it's amazing. Unlimited Appetizer buffet, gourmet entreé, and unlimited dessert buffet, and the view of Tokyo is spectacular. You have to call for a reservation, the restaurant in the hotel is call the New York Grill. You can go for a drink at night there too, it's $20USD to get in.