Monday, October 28, 2019
We started our day with an excellent light (Western) breakfast at the coffee shop on the corner. Then off on the subway to Shibuya, one of the newer built-up areas in western Tokyo. Shibuya Station is one of the busiest commuter stations in the world; as you exit you’re immediately confronted with Shibuya Crossing, the famous intersection over which as many as 3,000 pedestrians pass at every green walk light.
Subiya is a much younger, hipper place than Ginza, seemingly catering to a middle-of-the-road, relatively moneyed youth. Lots of boutiques, and lots of Mexican, burgers, and beer. It felt very different than our walk through Harajuku the day before. We walked around enough to get the flavor and ducked into another of Tokyo’s enormous department stores, Tokyo Honten. Still very fancy (think $1000 bento boxes with caviar), it is nonetheless a half step down from the store in Ginza.
Vladimir had recommended that we take in the opening of one of these stores, which we did. At 9:55 the doors open and you’re invited in. Facing you are three greeters; behind them, standing at attention in front of their area, are many more staff. At 10:00 to the second, all three greeters bow deeply and gesture you inside. Especially as an early customer, every shop attendant bows and greets you cordially as you walk by their section. If one of them is asked a question in a language they can’t understand, they sprint to a colleague who can help, who in turn sprints back to you. Just like in New York.
I spent a few minutes in pleasant, confused conversation with a young man in the sake department and ended up with a small bottle which may just end up being part of a gift to a certain couple. The highlight so far of my exploration of sake was at Ippudo; when I asked the very nice young waitress whether I should drink the sake I’d ordered warm or cold, she smiled and replied “Maybe.”
Sue and Connie spent some pleasant moments doing a bit of shopping for baby clothes while I wandered off looking at fountain pens. I found a gorgeous deep crimson Urushi (lacquer) pen for a mere $850; I managed to resist that particular temptation.
As wonderful as the subway is, you don’t see anything, so we decided to splurge on a cab to Asakusa; we were in the southwest, Asakusa in the northeast, so we figured we’d get a cross section. Which we did, but at a little higher price than we’d reckoned on. It was that kind of day. The cabbie asked “Expressway OK?” and we said “Sure.” Unfortunately, the expressway crawled through the center as the meter spun wildly. We passed through some very wealthy districts in central Tokyo: Asakusa, Roppongi, Nihonbashi. And we passed through kiddie Tokyo, Akihibara, the land of manga, anime, cosplayers, (and probably a myriad of other stuff that we could never understand; OK Boomer) and enormous electronics shops.
We got out in Asakusa right in front of the most venerated Buddhist temple in Tokyo, Senso -Ji. The temple grounds date from around 700 AD, but the temple itself has been destroyed numerous times by earthquakes, fires, B-52’s, etc. The present temple was rebuilt in 1958.
Beside the temple stands a Shinto pagoda, rebuilt in 1973.
But the structures aren’t the central thing here: it is the throngs of people making for a genuinely carnivalesque atmosphere.
We took the subway back to Ginza for lunch. We had been deprived of sushi and were determined to make up for this major gap in our trip. Sushi no Midori has the reputation of offering some of the best affordable sushi in Tokyo and, when we arrived, we found that we weren’t the only ones who had gotten the message: there was a long line outside. After a pleasant hour wait (the wait was a good bit longer if you wanted a counter seat), we were ushered in for the best sushi meal of our lives.
Each couple ordered the same: one seafood platter and one tuna platter; we shared eel rolls and shrimp tenderloin rolls. The seafood sushi was wonderful but perhaps not in a different universe than the best sushi at home. The rolls, though, were the best we’d eaten: wonderfully inventive and deeply flavorful. But the tuna platter, which combined fatty tuna with extra fatty tuna, was transcendental. Flavors we could not have imagined. Vladimir and I had opted for beer; the weather continued beautiful but very warm.
There was a very nice young Chinese-American couple from San Diego a couple of tables down with whom we were comparing notes; they seemed to have ordered everything on the menu and urged us to try the super fattiest tuna, so we ordered four pieces of that and some excellent warm sake. This flavor, too, was outside our experience; Vladimir said it was the Speck of tuna. As good as it was, we all agreed that the middle grade was the one we would dream about. We left plotting how we could come back on our last day in Tokyo.
Although we were stuffed, Vladimir wanted a bite of something sweet. In Ginza, your wish and your wallet are your command. We found an elegant patisserie on our way home, and ordered some cake and some macarons and took them back for a little tea party in our room. Tokyo is reputed to have some of the best French food in the world, and these tastes suggest that we should try some on our next visit.
Much of the inspiration for this trip came from Andrew and Emily, who had spent their vacation in Japan and fallen in love with the country. They had urged us to have a drink at the bar of the Ritz-Carlton, on the 45th floor of a building in Akasaka. We were glad we did; the views are extraordinary and the space very elegant.
We knew that the drinks wouldn’t be $5 apiece, but we still had some sticker shock. I won’t reveal what we paid after including a cover charge and a “service charge” (the only one we’ve encountered in Japan, where the price you’re quoted includes tax and tip), but let’s just say we weren’t at Joe’s corner bar.
