I fell in love with Tokyo. I adored it. I adored everything about it - ok, actually strike that, maybe not quite the amount of people in train stations, but I fell in love with the people, culture, friendliness, their ability to queue.. yes I did write that, how refreshing is it to go somewhere and not be pushed and shoved left, right and centre?!
The food, cleanliness, order, and sense of perfection. I hope someday I can return.
Hong Kong was a blast too. I will be sincere, however, and say whilst I found it a fun, vibrant, hectic place to visit (Yeah, I did go to Marks and Spencer, and I did buy too much UK ex-pat food) but maybe the fact I had to speak a totally different language in Japan made it a more fun place to be.
Before I flew over to Tokyo, I managed to master: "Hello", "Thank you very much", "Do you speak English?!", "Sorry, I don't speak Japanese," and most importantly, "Can I have that one?" in Japanese.
In addition, after way too many plum wines, I was able to direct a totally non-English speaking/understanding Japanese taxi driver halfway across the city back to our hotel, all in Japanese.
I was incredibly proud of myself; overall, it was great fun.
I really hope you enjoy the pics in this post.
This post was featured on my original blog a few years ago. Still, it was such a fantastic trip I didn't want to bin it on the revised blog, as it was one of the most memorable trips in my life.
Whilst there, I discovered I had a new favourite food ~ Yakitori. I loved these straightforward, rustic and authentic Yakitori bars, which were situated across from where I was staying. I ate there for 2 or 3 nights, enjoying the skewered meats with cold beers and copious amounts of salted chilli edamame beans.
Hibiya Park
This beautiful park was located directly across from the hotel I stayed at in Tokyo. The day I walked around it was a hot one, so I didn't manage to cover as much of the park as initially anticipated, but I got an incredible thrill to spot my first Japanese maples trees down near the water's edge, I guess that's when you know you are officially in Japan. (Along with the many black raven birds the same size as a small dog!)
It was a sublime place to wander around in the afternoon, so incredibly peaceful and serene.
I was incredibly fortunate to be staying literally only a 2-minute walk from a restaurant which belonged to a good friend of my cousin ~ the latter of whom lived in Tokyo for years.
'Andy's' is under the Yamanote elevated tracks, a minute's walk from Yurakucho or Ginza station. Apart from enjoying a great, authentically Japanese meal with some friends on a Friday night, Andy kindly offered to show me around the world-famous Tsukiji Fish Market the following Tuesday morning.
He was still the only Westerner who buys fish daily at the markets, so it was great to head over and get a personalised tour. Tsukiji is the world's biggest wholesale fish and seafood market, handling over 2,000 tons of marine products daily.
A few years back, the fish markets were seen as a good tourist opportunity, and tourists were welcomed to take photos, potter, etc. However, guidelines and restrictions needed to be set in place for such. Upon finding tourists sitting on large frozen ($$) tuna having holiday snaps taken, it was decided the number of tourists allowed into Tsukiji each day should be limited to approx. 120 per day. I had been told that most people go to buy their fish at the unearthly hour of 4am *shudder*. Still, thankfully, Andy asked me to meet him at 8.45 as this was the only time Westerners were allowed into the wholesale section of the fish markets as before this time, the vendors were too busy trying to make a sale to be bothered by tourists stopping to take snaps and in turn, hinder sales taking place.
I asked Andy if the vendors would have an issue with me taking photos, and he admitted they generally don't like it as this is not a venue for glossy shots; it's nitty, gritty, dirty, messy fish-fest and the primary concern of the sellers is to make a sale, not be distracted by Westerners with their cameras snapping away. He asked that I wait to take shots at each of his vendors until they had mutually agreed upon a sale. Then I could snap away to my heart's content.
I found it an utterly mad place, from when you're not trying to get your leg taken off by one of the many (many) Japanese workers scooting around the area on their scary-looking little wheely cars* (seriously, they don't stop you have got to make sure you are out of the way and they come at you from all angles).
Due to the sheer volume of fish and abundance of bizarre varieties, I had no iota of half the species. A lot, in turn, only went to confirm I'm not the world's biggest crustacean fan...
Andy selected his day's worth of fish. We stopped at the external markets, or 'Housewife' markets, as Andy called them, where housewives can pick fish and other groceries without venturing into the primary market. It was great pottering about the little streets and, again, a good reality check regarding being in Tokyo.
Andy took me through the messy gutting and cleaning of a giant Yellowfin Tuna at his restaurant. The cleaned fish then got passed onto his head chef for filleting for sashimi along with the daily quota of fresh squid. I'm not one to shy away from blood and guts, so I was fascinated by the process.
ANDY’S RESTAURANT BELOW
Suginami, Shinjinku/Golden Gai and Shibuya
I was really fortunate that Conor, an Irish friend, was in Japan teaching English during this trip. It was beautiful to see him, as this usually only happens when I return to Dublin, so we spent a good few nights catching up, drinking too many Asahi beers and singing bad karaoke.
Conor had been in Japan only just over two months. Still, I am indebted to him for showing me some cool places in Tokyo that I would never have found alone.
First off was a fantastic little bar in the Suginami area, located in the western part of the ward area of Tokyo. After an initial walk from the train station past a few neon-lit buildings, it suddenly turned relatively residential. You felt like you were well away from the big city as you meandered its little house-lined streets.
I was confused about where we were going when Conor showed me into this fantastic little 'bar' with only 5 people. It was insanely authentic Japanese, and it felt like we had just walked into an elderly Japanese lady's sitting room.
She and the 4 regulars at the bar were so welcoming and ushered us over to the only little table at the back of the room *note, the whole place measured about 3 x 6 metres. We were asked to remove our shoes whilst clambering onto the raised seating area and graciously tried to stuff our legs under the low table.
Suddenly out of nowhere, I was served a WHOPPING portion of warm sake, a drink I'll be honest, I really haven't grown to love all that much. I tried warm and cold during this trip and can attest it's not entirely my tipple. It tastes and smells like sour milk and has an odd aftertaste. I'm not all that mad about it.
Before we knew it, the bar owner (aka the lady pictured below) was frying up food on the little grill behind the bar and ushering it over to us as a gesture of her hospitality. All the while, she and the other 4 guests nattered incessantly at us in Japanese, throwing in the odd belly laugh all the time. We had utterly no iota what they were saying to us, so in that instance, you smile, laugh back and look thoroughly part of the goings on! Anyway, for respect's sake, I tried my best to down as much of it as possible (with the help of a decent glug or two from Conor to help save face).
It was a fabulous experience and one I'll never forget.
The food she gave us was excellent, fresh green capsicum fried, from what I could tell, in soy sauce, black pepper and sesame. It was paired with fresh eggplant grilled in the same manner; really simple, flavoursome proper-style drinks nibbles.
We were going to the Suginami area because Conor had told me a few days beforehand that he would bring me to "The best bar in the world". I was intrigued.
When we left the above cosy spot, we walked 3 or 4 doors up to a place called OCTOBER. It was a small bar, very atmospheric and literally like the Japanese pub version of the movie 'High Fidelity' ~ aka I have never seen so many vinyl records in such a small place. I had no iota we were about to encounter, quite possibly the most extensive music head in Japan. Holy moly, this owner/DJ knew his stuff inside out and perhaps had every record ever pressed... (!). Being a huge music fan, I was optimistic for a few hours ahead.
We were the only patrons for most of our time there and sat chatting happily. After 20 minutes, we started to notice every time we mentioned a country; place; band; concert or musical love. Suddenly, a song relating to such or the band itself would come on the speakers.
This guy ~ Hiroyuki Endo was secretly listening in whilst pottering quietly behind his bar, waiting for any opportunity to place music we wanted to hear or reminisce about.
It was fantastic! It also turned out oddly enough, and much to my delight, I had met Japan ~ and if not the world's biggest RIDE fan.
To explain, as a teenager, for about 4 years, one of my favourite bands was an English Indie band called RIDE. Whilst there was plenty of RIDE fans 'back in the day,' I rarely meet them. Hirovuki had the most extensive RIDE album collection I have ever seen, putting mine to shame.
Finding someone so utterly passionate about their love of music was terrific. We both got a kick out of meeting each other for that purpose alone.
After a 7 night stay in Tokyo, it was onto Hong Kong for a few days, where I really just kicked back and pottered about the immediate area we were staying and over near Hollywood road and Queens road, where I found some interesting food and veggie shops/stalls. If you are looking for a hotel in HK Central, I highly recommend the Mandarin Oriental. It's in the middle of it on HK island, with beautiful rooms, fantastic service and sound bars. It's only a 5-minute walk to most things and a short train ride (with a station outside the door) to Causeway Bay, Kowloon etc..
