Grilled Meat Dinner

I met Rachel at 6PM as planned and we went to a nearby Yakiniku (grilled meats) restaurant. Rachel lives in the Shinjuku area so she already knew some good local restaurants.

The meal reminded me of Korean Grill in Toronto but the quality of the meat was better, there were vegetables as well (onion, baby corn, leeks, mushrooms) and the grill was over charcoal briquettes giving the cooked food a better smokier taste.

Rachel has been teaching English in Japan for six or seven years and it's clear that her love for the crazy culture of Japan is one of those things that makes her want to stay. We talk about J-pop and other cultural influences like the animated films of Satoshi Kon.

After dinner we try a nearby cafe for dessert. I have a caramel latte and a really excellent milk cream cake which turns out to be a cake made by stacking 10 crepes on top of each other with a milk cream spread between each crepe. All those layers provide the cake with an amazing texture and taste. Really good.

I'm still pretty jet lagged (and tired from the general lack of sleep) and I head back to Ikebukuro to call it an early night and get ready for my overnight to Hakone.

Probably no update tomorrow. Try back in two days.

The never ending challenge of navigating Tokyo

After leaving The Design Festa I decided to head back into the central area of Tokyo. I was meeting my cousin's cousin Rachel for dinner and I needed to pick up a Hakone Free Pass at Shinjuku Station.

Unfortunately what had started as a seemingly warm and pleasant day had suddenly turned very ugly (in defense of the weather predictors this was all going as expected). Seriously grey skies accompanied by a drop in temperature was not something to look forward to.

The rain started just as I exited Shibuya Station in front of the famous Shibuya Scramble. This is the traffic intersection where at some point all of the pedestrians are allowed to cross at the same time producing a massive sea of humanity (only this time they were all carrying umbrellas).

The rain made walking around in this area a lot less enjoyable and the heavy crowds didn't help matters much.

Having missed out on lunch, I decided to have a quick snack. Why not try a Mos Burger. I'd avoided all of Tokyo's burger chains last time I was here but this time I felt it was worth giving it a shot.

I went with the classic Original Mos Burger. Essentially a patty on a bun with a thick slice of Tomato and a weird sauce/spread that seemed to mix Onions, mayo and a tomato sauce of some kind? I really don't know what it was made of. Possibly it's some kind of secret recipe.

Aesthetically pleasing but quite a mess to eat as the sauce gets on everything.
OK to try once but probably not something I will bother with again. I did wash it down with a green melon soda (my favorite Japanese soft drink) so that was an upside.

After Mos Burger I tried to make my way back to Shibuya Station but found that there were so many signs leading in so many different directions that I couldn't find a way to my destination that didn't involve retracing my steps. Serves me right for trying to find a shortcut.

Things were even more confusing in Shinjuku Station (which is admittedly the busiest train station in the world). I exited on one side in order to buy my Hakone Free Pass (not so free, right?) but was meeting Rachel on the other side if the station. That would be a problem. First though, I had to find my way to a particular counter somewhere in the Odakyu complex where I could buy my ticket.

One person at a Odakyu ticket window gave me a push in the right direction but it wasn't until I noticed a small directional sign for the Sightseeing counter that I was certain I was on the right track. For the next few minutes I advanced cautiously scanning the areas for more signs to my destination. There wasn't much to go on. I found one sign that said 40M ahead but when I had travelled about that far ahead I couldn't see anything useful. Finally I noticed another small sign next to an escalator directing me up a floor (news to me) and once I was on the correct floor I was able to locate the counter very easily.

Unfortunately now that I had left the platform I needed to make my way through the poorly signed and confusing tunnels, indoor malls and department stores in order to make it back to the other side of this immense station. Remember it was cold, dark and rainy outside and I didn't feel like getting wetter than I already was. Fortunately I decided to treat the station like a large maze and vowed not to get frustrated by my confusion.

As before, the best solution was to just be observant and keep an eye out for any sign that might be helpful. Soon after I saw one single mention of the southern terrace entrance and now with a general direction in hand I was able to proceed. Eventually another sign was spotted and in a few minted I was at my destination. My reward was a few extra minutes browsing at the large nearby Kinokuniya book store.

Tokyo Design Festa

Twice a year Tokyo Design Festa holds a big exhibition at the Tokyo Big Site convention center on Odaiba (the man made island in Tokyo harbour). We'll be coming here again next week for the Kaigai Manga Festa.

Most of our group made our way out to Odaiba on our own. It was a simple direct route with no transfers from Ikebukuro, if you knew which train to take. The people who worked at the hotel all recommended routes where I would have to change trains. It was odd that they didn't know the best directions since they were giving out complimentary passes. Apparently no one knows the best way to get from point A to B.

The Design Festa was fun but it wasn't as cutting edge (or out there) as I was expecting. There was a lot of woodworking and crafts mixed in with traditional artists. I bought a bunch of surreal and bizarrely funny postcards and other little trinkets.

Gary finally gets his coffee

This is not quite on the same level as Eddie finally getting his cappuccino but after 8 years I was finally able to get another hit of Wonda Morning Shot coffee.

Sold out of the omnipresent vending machines that dot the landscape of Japan, Wonda Morning Shot was my early morning caffeine beverage of choice. Unlike Suntory Boss Coffee I have never been able to find this in North America.

I bought the coffee along with some breakfast pastries while wandering around the Ikebukuro Station early Sunday morning taking my new camera for a test drive. There are a near infinite number of choices and I have a great deal to learn but I am beginning to see the advantages.

I spent some time playing around with the A and S modes adjusting the aperture and shutter settings and letting the camera tell me when I'd gone too far. It seems like the trick here is to absorb and interpret as much of the information the camera provides as possible before finally taking your photo.

Izakaya visit

Checked in at Sakura Hotel in Ikebukuro. This is the same part of town my brother and I stayed in last time we were here. The Hotel is very basic but it's only a short walk from Ikebukuro Station and has a nice cafe/bar and free wifi. The single room I have isn't big or anything but it has sufficient space and the bed is bigger than I expected.

Despite being seriously jet lagged we headed out to a local Izakaya for some food and beer. Izakayas are traditional Japanese Pubs. They serve alcohol and lots of little dishes designed for sharing. A bunch of Izakayas have popped up in Toronto like Guu and Don Don and all have been really great.

12 of us crammed into a small private room (no shoes allowed) and sat around a table set close to the floor (although there was room below for our legs).

We ordered a wide range of dishes some of which impressed (a bizarre hot pot combination of rice cake, cheese and oh let's say, kimchi, maybe) while others were less popular like assorted chicken on skewers (of course the chicken was made up of gizzards, hearts, liver and other assorted less popular parts of the bird).

A real Izakaya experience was a great way to spend our first night in Tokyo.

Japanese food is awesome

I'm not ashamed to admit that one of my goals is to eat as much as possible on this trip. Any missed opportunity to try something uniquely Japanese will be a disappointment.

Accordingly, my first purchases in Japan are a bottle of Gokuri (a grapefruit drink that was the first Japanese drink I had last time I was here and a little Bento box from Narita Airport's Lawson (the ubiquitous Japanese convenience store).

The box contained some chicken and egg on Soya rice with pickles. I devoured it hungrily within minutes of boarding the Airport Express train to Tokyo. This kind of snack is available everywhere in Japan and is very affordable (less than 4$ Can). Not everything here is super expensive.

More importantly so much of what is on offer is presented in a playful manner. The bottled water I got came with a little toy car (collect them all while you're here). The Kit Kat bar I got was in the new Green Macha latte flavor. So much to eat so little time.

Back to Japan

So as you probably already know I'm taking a return trip to Japan for 10 days. I'm traveling with a contingent of Canadian comic book artists who are going to take part in a special International Comics Showcase as part of the Kaigai Manga Festa in Tokyo on November 18. Many well known Japanese and European artist will be in attendance as well. The Canadian group was organized by my friend Christopher Butcher who is also the Director of the Toronto Comics Arts Festival (TCAF). I'll be helping out where I can but mostly this trip is an opportunity to re-immerse myself in Japanese culture.
Right now I'm composing this in the plane on my iPhone (we're still four hours out from Tokyo). It'll get uploaded the next time I connect to wifi. Hopefully I can do this on a fairly regular basis for the rest of the trip.

Not many pictures to take on the plane but here's one anyway of my new Nikon D5100. Yes, it's a picture of a camera, which proves once and for all that there is nothing that I can't waste time taking a picture of.

Anyway, this is my first DSLR so I've spent a good deal of time on the flight with Nikon D5100 for Dummies in an attempt to bring myself up to speed.
Hopefully it won't be a complete disaster.