We made it to Robot Restaurant! You get your tickets across the street, and then led through this hallway mirror, up some loud, wacky stairs and into a waiting room that has gold shells for chairs, colors, mirrors, lights and chandeliers everywhere. There were two robot musicians playing jazz, the best Japanese toilet so far in the restroom, and …… YELLOW DORITOS.
We hung out here for a while, until it was time for the show to begin. We were lead back downstairs to a large room with a runway down the middle. Turns out, we had front row seats. A ringleader instructed us to not touch the robots and to “make a dodge!” if something is heading your way. This is about the time I lose words to accurately describe the pure bonkers-ness of this experience. There is lasers, smoke and explosions. There are “savages” playing giant bongo drums, there is a whole story line where a race of robot aliens is trying to take over a peaceful planet of cute robot animal friends. A robot shark and monkey battled a robot alien mistress with lasers coming out of their mouth and eyes. There were breakdancers in trippy black lights, there were musical numbers and strange voice overs and at one point they bought out a chain fence and put it in front of us to contain the robots (??). There was also a strange zebra-ception vignette, where a zebra was carrying a blow up zebra on it’s shoulders while riding a robot zebra. I don’t think words can even do this place justice.
For the rest of our stay in Japan, we were at the Super Hotel! It was very no-frills, and the check-in is on the second floor – so when we walked in the door and were greeted by buttons and an elevator, for a shining moment we thought it was going to be a robot hotel! But then a woman came to check us in, womp. It was still an interesting experience – we got to choose the type of pillow we prefer and we all received a set of pajamas (a giant, button-up night shirt – same for male and female). The women (no men!) get to pick out five things from a case of beauty products per night (so Sarah and I got ten!). I mostly got some face masks, since I already had shampoo, soap, etc. It was a funny, random thing.
We walked around the Asakusa, an older neighborhood where we were staying. There was a giant shrine right behind our hotel, with the biggest paper lantern I’ve perhaps ever seen. It was still a holiday weekend, so there were a ton of people there. In fact, there were so many people paying their respects and worshiping that there was a visible, thick cloud of incense smoke. There was also a strange fortune telling station, where you shook a metal box and a small metal stick came out of a slot. There was a paper key that correlated with the stick that told your fortune, I guess? I didn’t get too close, but you could hear the metal sticks shaking throughout the whole shrine.
bride and groom
tried this dessert – accidentally broke the local’s rule :/ugh red bean again!
We also had some tsukemen ramen at Rokurinsha, Tokyo Ramen Street, Tokyo Station. Please see the “Noodles” episode of Mind of a Chef (available on Netflix or here). There’s just a whole section of a train station devoted to small ramen places, and this one had the biggest line. We were pulled out of line, sent to a machine to order and pay, and then sent back in line to wait for a seat. This type of ramen consists of the noodles seperate from the broth, and you dip it in and eat it yourself. I’m still not sure why that is a thing as opposed to a completed dish, but it was prettttty tastyyyyy.
We had special udon noodles across town for lunch one day, where the guy was making them in the front window. Very good, and we finally got some tempura that wasn’t soggy because it was already in broth (apparently the preferred way to eat tempura everywhere else we went).
Our last day, we walked around the Harajuku neighborhood again, as we heard Sunday afternoon is the prime time for spotting the dressed up crews. We didn’t see any, but we did see their clothing shops with elaborate costumes, and other shops with wacky items and products – I was v. tempted by a pair of rainbow platform sneakers. It was true Tokyo wackiness everywhere, so it was a good way to spend our last few hours.
this lil egg was everywhere, just doing egg thingscotton candy the size of a small child
We got on the bullet train for about an hour ride north of Tokyo, hopped on a shuttle in a tiny town for an hour ride – and our van died going up the mountain! It was pretty high, with snow still on the mountain tops and about 55-60 degrees when we got there. Another shuttle came to rescue us.
We got there, they took our shoes (!), gave us some horrible slippers and served us some sort of savory hot tea. Then we got to pick out our yukata (a cotton robe with a sash – they had different sizes in a lot of different patterns. The guys tried to choose girl ones at first. The staff, and Sarah and I, were pretty amused by that!), and were escorted up to our rooms. Not much furniture – just a large, low coffee table and four cushions with backs. The floors were tatami, rice straw mats but surprisingly cushy.
view from our window7 am – too excited to take pics when we got there7 am – a great time to get the onsen to yourself!
We changed and went exploring! There was an inside bath for male and female, as well as three huge outside mixed baths and one female-only, on either side of a roaring river with several falls. There were four bears and some bunnies, as well as several different lodging buildings. There were little paths to stepping stones, water falls, little altars, statues and gazebos everywhere. To go outside, you had to trade your inside slippers for one-size-for each sex, wooden, outdoor only flip flops. The women’s were way too small for me, and the men’s were way too big.
The women had to wear a brown sack-like bathing dress, and the men had to use a hand towel to cover up – and that was it. Entire families, old people and babies were all just sitting around, enjoying the warm waters of the onsen (hot springs).
We had to be in our room by 6:30 for dinner. They came in, took away our big table and brought us each our own TV tray. (Joke!) The was a smaller version of the coffee table with quite a spread on it.
The lady who brought in our food told us how to cook and eat what, but there was so much stuff there we could only retain part of it!
Some of my favorites: A tiny, tiny glass of iced sweet, juice-like sochu (she told us was an appetizer) sashimi (we think river trout and salmon?), baby octopi, mushrooms, a potato shaped like a mushroom (so it would look good, she told us!) and a tiny fish we grilled over our own little charcoal fire pot and noodles with some ham, veg and a little broth that we added an egg to and cooked over a little flame.
My least favorites: A glob of fermented soy bean paste, pieces of seaweed jelly, a big ol squishy square of soba noodle, a giant pickle wrapped in a giant pickled radish, and a rice/potato pudding that had the same slimy texture as my least favorite thing in the entire world <link>.
We also had egg custard soup, vegetable tempura (green plants!), salt, soy sauce and other things for dipping, and cuttlefish.
Twenty minutes later, we were pretty full but she bought us all a bowl of rice and BEAR MISO SOUP. (There are signs to put visitors at ease; we do not eat the bears that are kept on the property. Although apparently they used to bath with visitors in the past.) The bear just tasted like meat in a soup, nothing special.
bear soup!
After dinner, we went back into the onsen while they set up our beds. Futons on the ground were laid out with pillows filled with we think rice husks. It was surprisingly comfortable and John is going to try and find a pillow like that for his bed!
The next morning we woke up early and had a dip, then went to breakfast. We ordered three western breakfasts and one Japanese one the night before. They were basically the same but the western breakfast had toast, a croissant, coffee and minestrone (yup), and the Japanese breakfast had miso soup, rice, some other strange items we couldn’t identify and a strange leaf-packet of beans with a packet of mustard. They both had salads, a raw egg, bacon, fish and cauliflower that needed to be cooked on individual griddle things. After breakfast, we packed up, got our shoes back (!), and headed back to Tokyo.
After a two hour ride on the bullet train to Kyoto, a couple of stops on the local metro, and a twenty minute walk through the most tourist-congested area I have ever been in (about 20% turned up from even the busiest days in Estes Park), we got to a quiet, tiny cul-de-sac and still spent ten minutes looking for our place. Our neighborhood was beautiful, there was a giant river with green mountains in the background, by it was just so crowded that it was very hard to appreciate.
a VERY rare slow spot in the pedestrian traffic
We walked back into the crowd for some dinner and found an udon (noodle) shop that wasn’t full of tourists. Then we walked around our hood – turns out the Tenryu-ji (one of the over 2000 in Kyoto!) temple and gardens were right there, as well as a bamboo forest. There were lots of shops and stalls, and guys offering tours on rickshaws.
There was a picturesque train station that only had two cable car-type lines running out of it. It was surrounded by an art installation called the Kimono Forest, where they covered lights in silk kimono fabric. There was also a $2 foot bath just on one of the train platforms. You can bet where I spent the evening.
It was only about two feet of water, with benches, tables and wifi. It was quite delightful.
The next morning we could not find breakfast, and ended up getting an early lunch at a touristy noodle house. Wanting to be adventurous, I ordered a dish that turned out to be cold soba with cold grated yam and a raw quail egg and cold broth – slippery and slimy and cold. NOT GOOD. John offered to trade with me and then he couldn’t take more than a couple of bites either.
We took a little scenic train ride through the mountains. You could ride back in a fishing boat through some light rapids, but we didn’t have time as we had to meet the rest of the Americans for dinner. So we stopped for a snack – John got takoyaki (fried octopus dumpling things) and I got fried cheese and yuba (turns out, the skin off cooked tofu). Both quite good!
fried octopusfried cheese and tofu-pudding-skin (better than it sounds!)
We were heading for an okonamayaki (cabbage pancakes) place r\recommended to somebody in the group by an actual Japanese person, but our group of four got there first to find there was no room for us, much less the group of ten we eventually grew to be. We were a little early anyway, so when we saw a place across the street that had wifi and “Good Beer! Good Music! Good Ham!” of course we decided to wait for everybody there. And eat some ham. It was actually pretty “Good!”
Once everybody else arrived, we went across the street to a hot pot place (shabu-shabu), where we sat at two tables, ordered a lot of things that then got confused so I was never sure what exactly I was eating but it was delicious. Instead of cooking things in oil or dipping them in cheese, you cooked them in boiling soups.
Part of the group was telling us about this bonkers ice cream shop we all passed on the way there. I saw the wall of ice cream parfaits (and had already made a note to pitch a stop here after dinner) but didn’t notice the big attractions: giant parfaits in buckets, bowls, vats, some with hot dogs, shrimp tempura, or fries. There was even a $500 parfait! We headed there after dinner but (disappointingly) stayed pretty conservative with our ice cream choices .
After the baseball game, we were headed home to a tiny, tiny apartment we got for the night – it had two sets of bunk beds and not much else (advertised as sleeping six?!). Not wanting to go straight to bed, and not a lot of room we looked for a place to have a quick drink and a snack. A few of the places were closed, but we found a guy in a business suit giving heartfelt, exuberant goodbyes to people seeing him out the door up a tiny set of stairs. I asked him if it was fun up there, and he replied “oh yes, oh yes!” and ushered us up and in! (Well, we think. He was not speaking English, exactly. And also drunk.)
view the next morning – you’d never know!
We came into a small room, smaller than the size of the living room in a duplex I share with two other people – and that included a small open kitchen and a small counter with about six seats on one side, and about three tables with benches on one side, chairs on the other. There was a couple at the counter, three guys at the tables, the host brandishing a microphone and a smile toward us, and the hostess kind of fretting around us – we think she was worried we were expecting a different experience or weren’t into karaoke? However, she warmed up to us pretty quickly – amazing what four charming but confused smiles can get you! The youngest person in there was easily at least 50 years old. One of the guys at the table was leaned back, casually singing a Japanese song into a mic. We were seated at the counter – last four seats in the house!
We were given some drinks – we think shochu, a Japanese liquor, with ice they kept aggressively replenishing. The host handed me a song machine with the English setting on, and told me to choose a song! While I was deliberating, the hostess brought us each some tiny little helpings of curried potato stew. As the night went on, she would randomly bring us other snacks. Tofu with some sort of savory topping, what we’re pretty sure were wood ear mushrooms (soaked or stewed in soy maybe? They were surprisingly good), fried Japanese edible plant (it was SO good that we asked what it was, and “edible plant” was the translation the hostess + Google gave us), some pumpkin dip with ritz crackers (also so great I asked – pumpkin, mayo, sugar and chives).
Sarah and I sang Abba’s Dancing Queen, Matt and John sang Elvis’s Hound Dog, then the Japanese guys sang Hound Dog right after they loved it so much! We insisted the others take turns, so they sang Japanese songs in between. The guy from the couple (I’d guess late 70s) and I sang Sinatra’s My Way while his wife danced with John. The hostess and host sang songs, in between her serving us random snacks and him plying us with ice cubes. The other guys sang and chatted with us to the best of their ability. It was quite the experience.
We knew it was time to go when an almost 80 year old tried to dip me and dropped me on the counter (I didn’t exactly trust this frail old guy, so I was ready for the drop). Before we left, the host and hostess each gave John their business cards and of course we took a bunch of selfies with everybody’s phones (theirs and ours!).
We picked up our baseball tickets at a Japanese post office, where they were sent from the guy John bought them from (using a stubhub-like service). John showed him his ID and a sentence in Japanese on his phone that the guy typed in an email – voilà! Succesfully navigated the Japanese postal system (I guess).
We walked to the stadium and asked an attendant outside which gate we should go in. Since we happened to walk right up to the gate nearest our seats, and the concession tunnels were small and unassuming, I was expecting a smaller stadium. We walked out toward our center field seats and were wowed by the size of the stadium and the crowd.
We were in the Tokyo Giants section, the visiting team, in a hometown rivalry game against the Tokyo Swallows. There were multiple chants with each players name fit in to each yell. First I would make up silly syllables to chant, but then I realized everrryyyybody was wearing some hardcore fan gear, including a lot of jerseys (about half with players’ names in English, half in Japanese characters). So we would figure out which player was up from a combo of the chants/fans jerseys. It was a lot of fun to be an actual part of the crowd instead of just spectating.
For dinner, we hit the concessions of course. They had noodle dishes, soups, tempura-d mystery things, and a PILE OF VARIOUS HOT DOGS. Of course we hit up that stall (the one with the longest line, but it moved quickly!). After you picked up your plate o’sausages, you moved on to an assembly line of condiments – ketchup and yellow wasabi mustard that was distributed in quite the interesting fashion.
I thought I would switch it up and get what I thought was a basket of French fries and fish sticks. They were right next to the chicken strips/fries basket, but that one didn’t have the smiley faces. It turned out to be a big ol bucket of fried potatoes in various shapes! Hey I’m not complaining, but I did get a green juice from the konbini later that evening.
The beer girls carried around tiny kegs on their back for draft beer delivery. They also, strangely, wore baseball hats folded up and pinned onto their heads, instead of the, ah, more traditional hat wearing style. The home team had cheerleaders, and the Swallow mascot was carrying a giant bottle of yogurt on his back (their team is sponsored by Yakult Yogurt, the other team by what we think is a vitamin company?). At one point a fan from each team was chosen from the audience, made the big screen split-screen, and they played rock, paper, scissors against each other! 2 out of 3, and Giants won!
score!
this is a stranger i asked to take a pic and he insisted on jumping in!
The Swallows ultimately won the game, and the manager came out and addressed the crowd and led them in some chants, the mvp shot tshirts with a cannon into the crowd and there was more cheer/mascot dancing. It was quite a way to end a game.
Because of our, ahem, early bedtime, we all woke up at about 3 am and decided to try for the fish market. We missed the tuna auction (seats are limited and rumored to basically be all taken by about 4), but wanted to walk around anyway. It’s basically a fend-for-yourself situation, since it’s a commercial operation. Cyclists, truck drivers and especially these guys on yellow fork lifts without the fork zoomed by, honking with no thought of slowing. IRL Frogger – less fun than the video game implies!
ruthless!
Turns out, the fish market isn’t open to the public until 9, but the outer market and the breakfast sushi places were open. We chose one that was playing Abba and The Eagles, were immediately brought hot green tea and we pointed to the words “today’s recommendation” on the menu to order.
We had a few more minutes until nine, so when we walked by a booth serving two pieces of o-toro tuna for 600 yen (apparently goes for much higher in the US), we snagged one and ate it standing right there. It might have been my favorite piece of fish all morning!
We walked around some more, got some samples and checked out some really great vending machines.
Time to tackle the big boy (and I mean big! We never made all the way through the building): Tsujiki Fish Market. Tunas bigger than me, wiggling sea creatures, knives, swords and bandsaws fileting fish, and blood and guts everywhere.
Wanting to check out a different neighborhood, we headed toward Ueno Park in search of an Azalea Festival. We stopped for ice cream, where we had our first vending machine/person service experience. These machines are everywhere – you put in your money, chose what you want and it prints a ticket for you to give the counter person. They have them in noodle shops, sushi restaurants, ice cream stands and all kinds of other places. Then we stumbled upon a ‘Traditional Arts & Crafts’ fair. The booths where demonstrating how to make Daruma dolls, write your name in Japanese alphabet characters, throwing star practice, and a booth to try on a kimono. We got some strangely long french fries topped with cod roe and mayo (pretty good) and Wagyu beef skewers (VERY good), and watched an acrobatic monkey show, until I got too bummed thinking about that monkey’s life.
We headed to a different park nearby for the azaleas!
When we got home to rest and recuperate, the school behind us was holding after school baseball practice. Let me tell you, those kids were noisy! Just shouting the ENTIRE time, but not in like a little kid way. We have a theory that that’s just how they play baseball – tbd when we head to the diamond on Saturday.
We headed towards Shinjuku, the busy commercial area where we found the tiny streets full of tiny restaurants yesterday to finally get some yakatori in a tiny, TINY smoky restaurant. Yakatori is just grilled things on sticks – skewers cooked over coal just right there on the counter. The cook/server/cashier/ONLY EMPLOYEE (guess he’s all that would fit in there) gave us a plate of edamame and we ordered what looked like the greatest hits special set. Fish balls, chicken thighs, pork hearts, plus my two favorites: blistered green peppers and these really great chicken wings.
Well it took 30 hours of travel, our first vending machine stop, and some friends at the konbini (the convenient store – they pulled out a phone book of maps (?) and got us on the right path) to get to the apartment.
drinking some good ol Pocari Sweat, an ion replinishing, gatorade-type drink (but less sweet, hey i was tired and kind of thought it was water)
Sarah and Matt were already asleep and we were exhausted, trying to be quiet and keep it dark – so I thought I was dreaming when I discovered the toilet.
No soap or anything, so what is that sink for?! Still haven’t figured it out. But that first night I stood in there for what felt like forever, trying to figure out how to turn it off.
Our sleep was all wonky, so we woke up at six am and hit our local 7-11 for some fried chicken and green juice for breakfast. (It’s a thing here!)
We walked around for a bit, went to exchange a little cash at tourist information and WE MET A ROBOT. It’s name was Happy.
Shortly after that, I got trapped in a bidet. Yeah, you heard me. I’m in a public restroom, checking out all the buttons when I find the sprayer. I’m already giggling when I realized I can’t find the off button and start to panic. I can’t stand up because the water will spray everywhere. Sarah is outside the stall, asking me what’s wrong but I can’t really hear her over the sound of the bidet and my laughter. So she starts laughing, then I laugh harder and snort, then a Japanese lady starts laughing and I can’t even see the buttons anymore and the whole thing was ridiculous. I escaped, relatively dry.
We walked around Shinjuku, which had huge buildings and loud billboards everywhere, some with …. interesting translations.
Then we walked around the outside of the Imperial Grounds, the old palace and gardens surrounded by a moat, right in the middle of the city. Quite the contrast!
Time for another pit stop. We were near the Palace Tokyo Hotel so I share my top secret tip for using hotel lobby amenities: act like you’re supposed to be there and nobody will question you. We played it cool as we located what turned out to be the fanciest toilets ever! So many buttons and I used them all – a seat warmer, bidet varieties and options, a blow dryer! Being a fancy hotel for tourists, the off button was clearly marked on this toilet. :)
Lunchtime: We went looking for a yakatori (grilled things on sticks!) restaurant nearby in a multi-level food court, but couldn’t find it. What we did find was a tiny shop with about five or six stools filled with suited men leaned over steaming bowls slurping in front of a guy dishing out ramen – we gave up the yakatori search pretty easily after seeing that. Delicious! I got the classic, John got the spicy and some dumplings. All very good. The place only sat 16 people (6 tables – we had to split up the crew just to fit) plus the counter. The table was pre-set with a pitcher of some sort of tea – we’re still not sure what flavor it was but it was great. We were asked noodle firmness preference – she recommended al dente, and it was the right choice for sure. The egg yolk was bright orange, the broth creamy but not overly fatty, the strange condiments plentiful and men in suits sporting lobster-eating kind of bibs.
Full after lunch, we tried to find the “scramble,” this crazy pedestrian intersection in the Shibuya area. We ended up walking around a commercial area, just soaking it all in. We happened upon a network of these small alley-like streets with tiny little restaurant, tucked in less than a block away from giant buildings and shopping centers.
After wandering for a while, we tried to find a place to grab a drink, fire up the wifi and regroup. Where we ended up served us a round of drinks and an amuse bouche of cold potato salad with chopsticks in a smoky, low ceilinged place. Wasn’t quite the place we had in mind, but it was strange and weird and very Tokyo-esque.
Oh yeah, and we spotted Godzilla.
After that, we went to the top of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building No. 1 to check out the view. Sadly, it was too foggy to see any of the mountains but very awe inspiring to see the scope of the city.
Mt. Fuji is in the back right corner somewhere!
Since we got up so early, we went back to our apartment to rest at about 5 pm – and all slept right through dinner!
We had a few more minutes until nine, so when we walked by a booth serving two pieces of o-toro tuna for 600 yen (apparently goes for much higher in the US), we snagged one and ate it standing right there. It might have been my favorite piece of fish all morning!
After wandering for a while, we tried to find a place to grab a drink, fire up the wifi and regroup. Where we ended up served us a round of drinks and an amuse bouche of cold potato salad with chopsticks in a smoky, low ceilinged place. Wasn’t quite the place we had in mind, but it was strange and weird and very Tokyo-esque.
Meredith R. Allen 
