Shrine
Some cool looking building
Museum
Robert with Marunouchi in the background
A glimpse of Tokyo's Imperial Palace
After this we walked to Marunouchi. The financial district of Tokyo. There's a bunch of tall skyscrapers in this area and most of them seem to be stuffed with Offices, Shops aswell as a lot of restaurants. We opted for sushi.
This is the list of restaurants in just one of the many skyscrapers in this area! I wish I had time to try them all!
Order #1
Order #2
This is the third time I ate sushi in Japan, but the first time I was able to appreciate it. Weirdly enough my stomach acted weird the first 2 times and I was barely able to eat anything due to nauseousness :S VERY strange, but since this 3rd time I've had no more issues and have been able to enjoy sushi in Japan.
This particular restaurant was quite good. Some pieces, especially the Sardine, were better than the best I've had in London, but some pieces are definitely better in the 1-2 best restaurants in London. The thing is though, order #1 was only ~8£ and order #2 only about 16£. In London you would pay about 5 times as much for this much sushi!! So all in all a good experience.
On my 4th day alone in Tokyo I didn't do a whole lot. My feet were very painful, because of the new shoes I had bought a few days before my trip. My feet didn't like them much, so I had some lunch and took it easy the rest of the day.
On Friday, day 5, my father arrived. I met him at the new hotel we were staying at. My feet were still very painful this day, so besides eating and doing a full loop of the Yamanote line(the overground train that loops around Tokyo) we didn't do a whole lot that day. Sorry about the zooming at times, making it blurry. I know not to do that anymore in the future when recording videos.
On saturday, we went to the famous Tsukiji fish market and had the freshest sushi I ever had for breakfast. We went to a really friendly sushi bar. Cool chefs, nice waiters and even nice customers. I had a nice chat in Japanese with a married couple from Hokkaido on their honeymoon. The sushi was extremely fresh, but not as good as I had expected. The ingredients were certainly top notch and very fresh and it was about on par with the best sushi I've had in London, but I had expected better beforehand. The Sea Urchin, wasn't great, but it was edible. Which is a big step up from the one I didn't finish eating at Joel Robuchon in Vegas. Here's some pictures:
Insanely fresh fish
Very friendly atmosphere and a LOT of chefs, so you get your sushi supersuperquick
まぐろ、Tuna
たい、 Sea Bream
あじ、 Horse Mackerel
うに、Sea Urchin
えび、 Shrimp (Sweet water)
あなご、 Eel
#1) Unsure
#2) さけ、 Salmon
おとろ、 Fatty Tuna
ちゅうとろ、 Middle Fatty Tuna
Here's some pictures and videos to show you the crazyness that is the Tsukiji fish market.
After the breakfast fit for a king, me and my father went to Mitaka to see the Studio Ghibli Museum. Some parts were very cool, with lots of nice handrawn paintings and cool rooms full of movie related material. Other parts weren't that interesting. The 15 minute short shown in the theater at the end definitely delivered and it was worth going just to see that. We were not allowed to take pictures inside, but I have a few pictures from the outside and one from inside before I saw the no photographs sign.
On Sunday, day 7, we moved to another hotel that we had booked. The hotel turns out to be extremely nice. Easily the best hotel so far. For lunch we went to eat some Tonkatsu, fried pork cutlets, and afterwards we went to Harajuku and Shibuya. Areas that are very popular amongst teenagers and young people in general. A picture says more than 1000 words, so here's a bunch of pictures.
Insanely busy street in Harajuku
Walking through the busy street
Shibuya
Shibuya at night
The famous massive Shibuya crossing
More Shibuya at night
More Shibuya at night
After we saw Shibuya at night, my dad went back to the hotel. I had heard about an international party being held in Shibuya and decided to check it out. My first time ever going to a party by myself, so it was a little scary, but mostly I was just excited and looking forward to it.
It ended up being a blast. There were some foreigners, but I'd say it was 80%+ Japanese people. Some of whom didn't speak any english at all. I'm unsure why they came to an international party if they neither can nor try to speak english, but I don't care. It was fun! And I surprised myself with my Japanese. Even though I had never had a Japanese conversation a week before that party, at the party I was able to introduce myself and talk about this and that with people for ~30 minutes, before having a harder time finding things to talk about that I can say in Japanese. Here's a couple of pictures from the party.
Shunsuke
Emi
Yurina
Don't remember her name :(
The next day, I met up with Izumi, another girl I had spoken to on Skype to practice Japanese. It was the only day she could meet up, but also my father's birthday, so we didn't get to spend a lot of time unfortunately enough =(. We went to a science museum, where we had a tour all in Japanese. I was able to practice my Japanese listening skills, but it was hard to understand all of it. Izumi was kind enough to translate a lot of it for me though, so I was able to follow the main things that the guide said. I also learned a new word. きょうりゅう、 which means Dinosaur. We also had a drink afterwards and had a nice conversation. Her english was also better than most Japanese people's english, so that made it easier to talk. Here's a few pictures from the museum:
Flying Turtle!
Afterwards I met up with my dad to eat some sushi. We ate at a VERY friendly restaurant. Talked a lot with the chef and everyone kept complimenting me on my Japanese. Even though it's really not that great! Still cool that they're impressed. After lunch we went to Akihabara aka Electric Town. The home of Maid cafes, Anime and a whole lot of other crazyness. I think it's best to just show you the pictures and videos.
Pacman
After they made it clear, they didn't like to be photographed, I had to go into stalker mode and use my 42x optical zoom to photograph the maids from the other side of the street!
So now on to Tuesday the 9th. Day 9 in Japan. The day I had lunch scheduled at Sukiyabashi Jiro, supposedly the best sushi restaurant in the world. Given a 3 michelin star rating. I had EXTREMELY high expectations for a couple of reasons.
-It has 3 michelin stars
-It's my favorite type of food
-It's supposed to be the best sushi in the world.
-It is purely focussed on the food. No atmosphere, no fine dining. You get served 20 pieces of sushi in 20 minutes and that's it.
My father was telling me I was expecting too much and that it'd probably disappoint. But I can't change expectations... they are what they are.
We went there with plenty time to spare, which ended up being a good call. It was extremely hard to find and we had to ask 3 times, before being shown the entrance by a friendly man. We were ~10 minutes too early, but that was no problem.
I had expected beforehand that the atmosphere would likely be very tense and uncomfortable. In general people are expected to be grateful to have a chance to eat at Jiro, rather than Jiro being grateful that you come eat at his restaurant. He doesn't care wether you eat there or not. Furthermore, foreigners in particular are not very welcome from what I've heard.
Just as expected, the entrance was a little awkward. We were the first to arrive and were straight away seated at the bar. Asked if the menu looked okay, given a useless bowl of soy sauce, which presumably is only given to foreigners, who don't understand that the best chefs already put the perfect amount of soy sauce on the sushi themselves.
Jiro and his son got to work straightaway and within 2 minutes of entering we were eating our first piece of sushi. Around 15 minutes later we had eaten 20 pieces of sushi and were seated at a table in a corner to have a desert of melon and green tea. The pace was extremely quick. At 1-2 moments during the meal I had about a 15 second break between pieces, but apart from that the next piece landed on my plate <5 seconds after I had finished the last. At the time I was okay with it, not in love with it, but now having eaten at another high end sushi restaurant, I have to say I actually LOVE how the sushi came in such quick succession and I think it is THE best way to enjoy sushi. It was like 1 long trip/dream of continuous sushi.
At the start of the meal when it was still very awkward, my dad foolishly tried to talk to Jiro. First of all Jiro doesn't speak english, second of all he doesn't speak to anyone, not even in Japanese. Guess the nerves got to him a bit. Jiro's son did talk a bit of English to us and he was very friendly. I talked back to him and the waiters in Japanese. After a few minutes I think that due to me talking Japanese and we just calmly eating our sushi and not doing anything crazy like using the extra soy sauce, the atmosphere became more relaxed and I started focussing on the important stuff. The sushi itself.
The menu consisted of the following 20 pieces:
-かれい, Karei, Righteye Flounder
-すみいか, Sumi-Ika, Golden Cuttlefish
-いなだ, Inada, Young Japanese Amberjack
-あかみ, Akami, Tuna
-ちゅうとろ, Chu-Toro, Middle Fatty Tuna #1
-ちゅうとろ, Chu-Toro, Middle Fatty Tuna #2
-こはだ, Kohada, Konoshiro Gizzard Shad
-むしあわび, Mushi-awabi, Abalone Ear Shell
-あじ, Aji, Horse Mackerel
-はまぐり, Hamaguri, Orient Clam
-さより, Sayori, Japanese Halfbeak
-くるまえび, Kuruma-Ebi, Kuruma Prawn
-あかがい, Akagai, Blood Clam
-かつお, Katsuo, Skipjack Tuna/Bonito
-しゃこ, Syako, Giant Clam Shell
-うに, Uni, Sea Urchin
-こばしら, Kobashira, Scallops
-いくら, Ikura, Salmon Roe
-あなご, Anago, Conger Eel
-たまご, Tamago, Omelette
The first 5 pieces were actually quite disappointing. I thought they were good, but not the best I've had. I had better Akami at Tsukiji and better Chu-Toro in London. From the 2nd Chu-Toro and onwards though, things started to be pretty epic. There was a lot of fish on the menu that I had never had before. I had to look most of them up in the dictionairy to be able to translate them to english.
The Kohada was the first piece that REALLY blew my mind. The taste of the fish was quite special. And I think it's probably a VERY hard fish to serve perfectly, but Jiro certainly knows how to. It was mind-boggling good.
The Aji was also fantastic. The Hamaguri I had never had before and was served with the same type of sauce as Unagi and Anago are usually served. I'm an instant fan of Hamaguri and from now on I will always order it if I see it on the menu.
One might argue Jiro made a mistake on the Sayori, putting too much wasabi on there, but it suited the fish perfectly! Simple amazing! The ebi was easily the best I ever had, the Akagai was DELICIOUS, the Katsuo was very special, the Syako like the Hamaguri I will always order from now on if it's on the menu!
Then came the Uni, Sea Urchin. I've had Sea Urchin before at Joel Robuchon's 3 Michelin Star restaurant in Vegas and did not like it. I didn't even finish eating it. Obviously I'm not gonna say no to a piece of sushi from Jiro. And surprisingly enough it was quite good. By no means the best piece, but it was pretty good. I told Jiro's son in Japanese that I disliked Joel Robuchon's Sea Urchin, but liked Jiro's Sea Urchin. Joel Robuchon is the one person Jiro looks up to, so when Jiro's son told his dad, you saw he cranked up and smiled. Which I don't think happens very often!
The last piece that I absolutely HAVE to mention is the Ikura. Looking back on the meal, I think the Ikura was probably my favorite piece of them all. The temperature of all the ingredients was just EPIC. The warm rice, the warmer nori, the cold Ikura. The perfect amount of Ikura... it was a piece of heaven!
The anago was the smoothest, softest I've ever had. Served very warm. So far I had not liked Japan's eel and thought London's eel was better, but Jiro changed that big time.
The last piece the Tamago, was by far the best Tamago I've ever had, but compared to a lot of the other pieces a little underwhelming.
Overall EASILY FAR AND AWAY the best meal of my life aswell as possibly the most special restaurant experience of my life, considering eating took <15 minutes and we were out the door in under 40 minutes. I also think there's a very high chance this'll remain the best meal I'll ever have in my entire lifetime. Until I go back to Jiro or maybe have a chance to check out Mizutani next time I go to Japan.
This meal alone was worth the trip to Japan!!!
Picture I took of the entrance right after leaving
The door
Me being in utter disbelief at what I just ate
Afterwards we visited the Meiji Shrine. Some random temple and park I couldn't care less about after that SICK SICK meal I ate. Here's a few videos/pictures anyway.
Fish with a hole under his eye
180 degrees panorama feature of my camera
During the evening, I met up with a guy from the party that had asked me to go eat Ramen with him. He brought a friend and we went to eat Ramen at a place that seemed to only be visited by locals.
Afterwards we went to a cafe and chatted for an hour or 2. They were EXTREMELY friendly and I had a good time talking to them! Here's the picture we took together afterwards:
Wednesday the 10th, we went to Asakusa, an old part of Tokyo. I was a little underwhelmed, but we had some decent sushi for lunch. There were lots of different fish to choose from and the ingredients were top notch. The cheffs weren't that skilled though, but the sushi was still very good for such a simple place.
In the evening I met up with Robert again. My dad joined aswell this time. We went to Andy's which looked like a super super popular spot. I have to say I didn't think the food was as good as the great sushi place Robert took me to nor the great Tonkatsu place he recommended me, but Andy's did have a fun atmosphere and we all had a great time.
Thursday the 11th, we tried to go shopping in Omotesando, but were unsuccessful. The shops were mostly western shops that just happened to be in Japan, so it wasn't all that interesting. In the evening we checked out Shinjuku. Another BIG area in Japan. We strolled around the neon lit streets, went to an arcade, walked around an area which seemed to have a lot of Host and Hostess Clubs and was probably also the Red Light District of Tokyo. Here's some pictures and videos:
Pachinko parlor. The only legal form of gambling in Japan
AKB48 themed Pachinko parlor
A very smokey alley full of Yakitori restaurants
Today, Friday the 12th, I went to eat good sushi in Tokyo 1 last time. I had asked the hotel to make a reservation at Sushi Kanesaka, a restaurant with 2 Michelin Stars. This time I did take a LOT of pictures.
Seaweed and Ginger Salad
Easily the best Sashimi I ever heard. And it's not even close!
A very juicy piece of swordfish
I don't remember what fish this is. It doesn't look very good, but it was some very good sashimi!
The chef preparing the fish for the Nigiri
Starting off with たい、 Tai, Sea Bream
Don't remember what this was
ちゅうとろ、 Chu-Toro, Middle Fatty Tuna
おとろ、 O-Toro, Fatty Tuna
いか、Ika, Squid
さば、 Saba, Mackerel Roll
The first really good piece of sushi!
Shrimps waiting to be prepared
Excellent piece of Aji, Horse Mackerel.
えび、 Ebi, Prawn
Didn't really compare to Jiro's
Lots of Sea Urchin
This was even better than Jiro's. The Sea Urchin was served very cold, which I thought was AMAZING! I actually really really liked sea urchin here. I may have to start ordering it more often!
Scallops. Not bad.
あなご, Anago, Eel
Pretty good, but not even close to Jiro's Anago
Best Maki roll I ever had. Very simple and I don't remember what was in it, but it was delicious!
The Tamago, Omelette, was also better than Jiro's. Best omelette I ever had. Probably mostly due to it being so different from any other tamago I've ever had. I really liked this! A nice surprise!
I ordered 5 extra pieces, starting with Kohada. Disappointing compared to Jiro.
Akagai, also disappointing compared to Jiro.
Hamaguri, also disappointing compared to Jiro... =(
Tuna Cheek. Very nice actually, even though it doens't look like it!
Anago, but with salt instead of sauce. Didn't really blow me away.
Overall it was disappointing. Maybe suffering from too high expectations. I do have to say it was a very pleasant restaurant to dine in. VERY foreigner friendly. The chef talked a decent bit of english and was extremely fun and friendly! The chef definitely had some legit sushi making skills, but I think there were a few errors. I wasn't able to taste the fish as much as I'd like due to, there not being that much wasabi on there. I'd have preferred a bit more. Also the rice, while very nice, had too strong of a taste in my opinion. Nonetheless a few pieces were outstanding, especially the Sea Urchin was FABULOUS! And I very much liked the Tamago.
I've gotten even more respect for Jiro after this meal though. The speed at which Jiro serves the sushi is far superior. And the way he prepares a lot of the fish is just FAR better than they did here. I'd still say this was my second best sushi experience ever, but not by as big a margin as I'd have expected and between this and Jiro there's a BIIIIG gap! Definitely would rather go to Jiro once than 2 times to this restaurant.
Right now I gotta hurry up. Hopefully get something to eat and then head to another one of those international parties. Hopefully I'll meet many fun, friendly and interesting people again. Sunday I'm off to an onsen and national parks and leaving Tokyo. Sometime later next week I'll arrive in Kyoto and spend a couple days there before my dad heads back home and I'll travel on by myself.
Gotta hurry up and get going now!
Frank.
