Ginza Very near the Tsujiki Fish Market, Ginza is the place for sushi. You have your heaven's pick of fabulous sushi restaurants. But this area is probably also most well known for its upscale luxurious shopping, sort of akin to our NYC's Fifth Avenue or Madison Avenue. It's great on the weekends, when they close off the main north-south street to traffic and it becomes this wonderful pedestrian promenade.
Ginza Denpachi Sardines and tongue are the specialty of this Okinawan style izakaya, but they offer a vast array of other delicious snacks of sushi, tempura and other exotic specialties. I wish we had something like this in New York, it's pub food, but much more substantial.
Hakobune Grill your own seafood from the Hokuriku region for some irori-style dining, but don't come here hungry, it's "slow food". The red-hot wood coals in the narrow pits are on a low burn. You'll be turning your metal tongs to and fro, waiting for a while for your food to cook.
If you have the money to splurge, Kyubei is considered Tokyo's grandest of all sushi houses. We didn't book a spot here, but can only speculate from other Tokyo gourmets' recommendations. It sounds like an amazing experience. If you request ahead of time, you can have arranged to have your dinner eaten off the pottery thrown by Rosanjin Kitaoji.
Matsuzakaya is a major Japanese department store, established in 1611. The best thing about Japanese department stores are their food halls, and in the basement of Matsuzakaya all the beautiful vendors will make your eyes pop! The place is filled with the most amazing displays of beautifully packaged rice crackers, chocolates, packed bento boxes, french baguettes and my favorite -- dazzling arrays of the most delicate and innovative pastries!
Ebisu and Nakameguro These are great neighborhoods to look for one-of-kind boutiques, funky vintage, avant-garde architecture and hip patisseries.
Shops
Kapital Handcrafted denim made by a Japanese jeans guru, Toshikiyo Hirata
Marble Sud Unique handmade goods store, mostly women's and children clothing and jewelry and some imported goods.
Hacknet Design book store
Tokka Ceramics
Iga-Mono Beautiful ceramics. The webpage doesn't reveal much, but worth a visit.
Jantiques Vintage Americana goods. There are dozens of vintage americana stores like this in this neighborhood. It was amusing just to see what vintage secondhand cast offs were coveted.
Ippudo Hakkata style tonkotsu (pork stock) Ramen in Ebisu. We had a bit of trouble locating this shop for lunch, but since it was Sunday, most shops were closed and we walked into the first restaurant we could find open, which without knowing was Ippudo. We're lucky to have this in NYC, it's one of our favorite ramen spots back home. Unfortunate for us, back home we pay twice as much for a bowl of Ippudo ramen. We like the broth and chewy noodles here better than at Jangara, but Jangara's pork morsels are richer and melt in your mouth.
Walked our way back towards Shibuya to catch the Architecture Japan 2009 exhibition at Eye of the Gyre in the MVDRV's Gyre Building.
Meguro (Persimmon Hills) We had the honor to be invited into Acekay's family's home in Meguro. They were gracious to entertain us this Sunday night.
We first stopped at Acekay's sister's home. Both her and her husband are tea masters and teach the art of tea ceremony. This art is so subtle that it looks quite natural and simple, but this is the true of the art of tea -not looking contrived, thus it takes years to study and practice in order to master it. They have a tea room in their house, where we were offered our first cup of frothy green tea. From what I understood, the experience of a tea ceremony can have 3 dimensions to it: it's a social event, it stresses aesthetics and it can have a religious dimension. The mentality ,as related to Zen Buddhism, when drinking a bowl of tea, comes from giving yourself over to the here and now and fully participating in the tea with a heart free from selfish desires.
Next stop, his family's home, where Acekay grew up in his late teens. It's a beautiful home designed around a garden. This night was a historical night for Japan's election. A seismic political shift, as Japanese opposition, the Democratic Party of Japan, wins by a landslide. The Liberal Democratic Party has ruled in Japan since 1955. We conversed about what Japan might face with the new party rule.
Bowery Kitchen This might be located in the suburbs, but it's home to the trendy set. Opened by a friend of Ace's, Uichi Yamamoto, it's a great late night hangout. Open, exposed pipes and cables, a visible kitchen, it's a simply designed cafe, sparse but cozy. Again, the desserts are the highlights. We stopped here for one last munch before turning it in.
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