I will be in Tokyo from Friday (January 6) through Tuesday (January 10). If you — my one Tokyo reader — would like to get together, let me know.
If you — my other readers — have suggestions about what to do in Tokyo, let me know those, too.
My overall view of Japan is simple: They understand fermented food. Better than anywhere else (France is second).
sounds like a plan! You’ve got my email so drop me a line. Good that you’ll be here on the weekend.
Damn, missing you by 1 day Seth!
Have been reading your blog for months from Tokyo, but I recently moved to Taiwan with my wife. I will be returning to Tokyo on the 11th to close out some stuff and go snowboarding.
If you are looking for some off-the beaten track restaurants I may have some suggestions for you.
Personal favorite Tokyo lunch is Saba-Miso-Ni(mackrel with a miso sauce) with natto and raw egg on rice,
Going to the Tsukiji fish market early in the morning, seeing the goings-on, and then getting sushi is a lot of fun. You want to eat somewhere with a long line.
The big department stores have huge food markets in the basements with prepared foods as well as pickles, etc., go there to sample the foods. If you are in Tokyo train station, you can also find small markets selling food from all over Japan. .
If you want to see temples, the best thing is to take a day trip to Kamakura, but that’s really a full day trip.
I have done both those things in the past and really enjoyed them. For me one of the highlights of a trip to Tokyo has been smelling the many kinds of miso available for sale (in a department store food court) and buying some really good miso to take home.
Well, here is something I just found doing a Google search a miso specialty store, apparently they have several branches in Tokyo:
https://www.gov-online.go.jp/pdf/hlj_ar/vol_0023e/30-31.pdf
Looks like the Sumo tournament will be going on while you are there, that is A LOT of fun:
https://sumo.pia.jp/en/sumo01.jsp
I posted a reply with two links, maybe it requires approval to get posted. Anyway, I was suggesting going to the Sumo tournament in Tokyo. I also found an article about a miso specialty shop that looked interesting. You can find the article by Googling “miso food for the samurai” (include the quotes).
KenF, replies with links are sometimes classified as spam. thanks for letting me know. In any case those sound like great suggestions — I’ve never been to a miso specialty shop. I did go to a specialty pickle shop once.
Hope you’re enjoying your trip. On Monday you might get a chance to refine your theories on evolution by being near a city hall or shrine that’s doing a ‘Coming of Age’ day ceremony. You’ll see lots of 20 year olds dressed in kimonos and then getting drunk around the city.
It’s been amazing to me how differently Chinese, Japanese and Korean cultures evolved quite differently while keeping some commonalities.