Tokyo Requiem
Tokyo Day 4, 5
Shimokitazawa
Woke up in the morning and, of course, headed off to the onsen to start the day (I realize I should probably be just using the term bathhouse rather than onsen for some of these but too late now). Feeling somewhat aimless having decided to stay in Tokyo for the last couple days of my trip I decided to go get one more fantastic sushi lunch.
I went with the same preparation as last time but this time got six additional orders. Some of which I even remembered to get pictures of before devouring. I might have kept going but I didn’t want the chef’s appreciation to turn to disgust.
After that it was time to wander around Shimokitazawa, a cool artsy, indie neighborhood on Tokyo’s westside. It was absolutely fantastic. In retrospect wish I had spent more time there and definitely want to on my next trip through. Lots of cool little coffee shops, bars, stores, and just lots of fun twisty narrow little streets to navigate.
First up was:
Light Up Coffee Shimokitazawa
ライトアップコーヒー 下北沢店
https://maps.app.goo.gl/wuVj4dPBRSTnZEam7
Had a very tasty pour over of Sueño Fértil while translating the name from Spanish → English → Japanese and getting the bartender’s take. He also recommended:
COFFEE COUNTY Tokyo
https://maps.app.goo.gl/a2r5aCU1EEM9qH9r7
which made a good destination to start wandering too. Along the way found a cool little shrine and stumbled along a charming two-story Totoro-themed bakery where I made a gruesome mess of Totoro trying to extract the delicious chestnut custard from his chest cavity.
After that it was a little lending library, a bookstore, a record shop, and an art gallery. I really enjoyed the art exhibit:
Goto Mizuho "Picking up avocados, holding books" at Shimokitazawa Arts
Apparently I was the very first visitor to the exhibition. I really loved the pieces and the prices even with shipping were very affordable. Still thinking about picking up a small piece.
After that it was over to Coffee County for another fantastic pour over and some friendly art house coffee rivalry. Apparently Light Up Coffee is always copying their beans.
As, I said, I wish I had a full day to spend in Shimokitazawa as it really seemed like a cool part of town and I missed out on some cool looking bars especially a little stand up bar that specialized in interesting infused liquors tico stand up please Ikenoue and whatever was behind this absolutely killer Killer Queen poster next door.
Shinjuku
It was time to head out to Shinjuku. I was a little disappointed with my hotel APA Hotel Shinjuku Gyoenmae. While it was a perfectly reasonable hotel for a solo traveler the spa’s lack of a sauna and cold pool was not made up for by their bubbling simulated mountain stream with wall-sized Koi pond projections. But the location right on the edge of Shinjuku Gyoenmae was great.
Next stop, tonkatsu! Went to an upscale joint at the top of a mall. Tonkatsu Wako Takuan Isetan Shinjuku
とんかつ和幸匠庵 伊勢丹新宿店
https://maps.app.goo.gl/gW87rkv6bTyMmRcY9
The tonkatsu was awesome and while it could be argued I made a mistake not just getting a massive serving of pork, the oyster tonkatsu was incredible, and the mushroom and beef was pretty interesting as well. The sides were also very good with a fantastic oyster miso with these tiny oysters at the bottom of every cup. They also had delicious pickled sides.
It was awesome exploring Golden Gai and Omoide Yokocho (charmingly nicknamed, piss alley). Golden Gai is home to 300 tiny bars in a maze of alleys.
I was recommended Mama’s bar by a friend and it did not disappoint. The proprietor, Mama, has been there 22 years and was a blast to talk to. Look for the white door with the red handle. It was really cool seeing how the neighborhoods had stayed the same and developed from the pictures on her walls (not the ones of all the nipples) and some books she had. She also had some art from Osamu Tezuka who had been a guest at one time which was pretty freaking cool.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/t3BBxVTUui8QQg6N8?g_st=iw
Omoide Yokocho
新宿思い出横丁
https://maps.app.goo.gl/tLLMPfq2eQ9zkAfx7
was much smaller but packed in an incredible number of yakitori spots all on a narrow couple blocks with small tables, beer, and outdoor seating along the way.
After drinking far too much shochu and green tea it was time to retire for the night (around 3:30am). I even found a table tennis bar! Unfortunately it was closed and even though I went back a couple times I couldn’t find an opening. But I still got to strike up conversation with a couple random art dealers out front who were taking a smoke break, one of whom had just been in LA to set up a ukiyo-e / skateboarding mash up which was pretty cool.
https://www.instagram.com/naga0708
Ramen and Housing
Woke up surprisingly only slightly hungover, must have been all that green tea. And immediately went for ramen with a friend. Even though we got there at 10:40am and they didn’t open until 11am it was still a 40m wait to get in. But, man was it worth it. This ramen was loaded. For $15 it had, pounds of pork, soup dumplings, vegetables, a perfectly cooked tea egg, bamboo, green vegetables, and when you got throw the multiple layers of that the soup and the noodles were fantastic.
Sakurajosui Funakoshi
桜上水 船越
https://maps.app.goo.gl/sx1br5axj1pMrdmm6
Stopped by my friend’s place which amazingly was only about $400,000 ($270,000 for the land, $130,000 for the house) and was constructed in only a month or two. The house was wonderful, but the price and the story were mindblowing. Pre-fabricated parts, a concentration of master builders with the requisite skills and the competition to keep prices low, reasonable land use laws. I know I’ve already belabored the point, but this is not rocket science (admittedly, it is construction). And it fit in perfectly with the neighborhood which was a mix of multi-unit, single unit, and large apartment buildings, some of which were already being taken down to make newer apartments. It’s just so cool to see.
Shinjuku Gyoenmae
After that it was back to the Shinjuku area for some fantastic (and not sweet) green tea ice cream in a great tea store, which of course was inside the subway station.
Ikeda-ya TeaStore
都の銘茶 茶の池田や
https://maps.app.goo.gl/mLp4Htjyh9Hya2b67
Following that, still in a massive amount of pain from the ramen breakfast, some coffee at what randomly turned out to be a puppet theater.
Then off to Shinjuku Gyoenmae an absolutely massive park right in the midst of Shinjuku’s high rises.
Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden
新宿御苑
https://maps.app.goo.gl/Wxsut1Y7mR1qbxkZ9
It was an overcast day without sun or shadow anywhere, the perfect weather for strolling through the gardens. Sadly, the greenhouse was closed but otherwise it was a flawless, relaxing experience. There was a small museum, and while the content was light, the exterior of the building and how it sat on the grounds and the interior were stunning. The greenhouse also looked quite space-age and cool so I’m sad I didn’t get a chance to see it from the inside. Also there were some amazing giant spiders.
To finish off the trip there was just enough time for one more trip to the onsen. I went to
Thermae-Yu
テルマー湯
https://maps.app.goo.gl/28soYqJXqWhe9PYV8
an absolutely amazing bathhouse adjacent to Golden Gai. In the future, I am definitely going to stop here after any night of drinking because it is 24 hours.
It made all my previous bathhouse experiences pale in comparison. After putting my shoes in one locker and getting a key, I then got to get a digital wristband that was my key and contactless payment for the rest of the facilities, allowing me to store my clothes and backpack in another digital locker. Sadly, I only enjoyed the bathhouse but there were two other full floors of amenities including food, massages, skin treatments and other sundry items I didn’t even get to explore.
And what a bathouse it was. After stashing my towel and sauna loungewear in yet a third locker, I stepped inside. It was much, much larger than any of the previous facilities I visited: Hot pool, Saltwater pool, super hot pool, double-sized cold pool, hot sauna 200ºF, and a warm sauna 120ºF. Sadly I only had time for two 12-minute hot saunas, an extra hot pool, and two cold pool plunges but it was an amazing option and I might consider a cheaper lodging and just getting the $21 day pass if I’m staying in Shinjuku again in the future.
This was the perfect, relaxing end to the trip. After this it was just a rush hour 5pm train to the airport, getting to my gate, getting in a full stretch routine next to my boarding gate to the quizzical looks of my fellow passengers and crew alike, and a surprisingly comfy and uneventful middle seat trip back to LA. I think the key this time was putting a pillow and a blanket into my low back which really helped out with my hips.
I read Who Ate Up All the Shinga which was a very entertaining personal tale of a young woman’s childhood and coming of age in Seoul in the 1940s and 1950s. The author really had an engaging voice and lively narrative and again it just seems like what an impossibly compressed history. Going from rural Korea which seems barely out of a medieval period, to the rapid urbanization and modernization that accompanied the Japanese occupation, to post-war destruction, to the right/left putsches and counter putsches, and finally to multiple waves of the Korean War. Just such an absolutely insane compression of history for a single chapter in a lifetime.
Closing Rant
The inevitable end of my trip was a return to the harsh reality of LAX. Navigating the aging and poorly laid-out airport terminal, watching CBP ineptly handle a bare-minimum of transit volume, taking a slow, unreliable bus to the rideshare pick up point, taking a Lyft back across the concrete morass of freeways and stupidly zoned residential areas.
Politics aside, we Americans despite our absolutely immense personal and national wealth, live so incredibly poorly and do so by our own choices. Lack of state and private capacity for development and building combined with inept zoning and local control (NIMBY bullshit) lead to lack of state and private expertise in building and developing, lack of competitive depth in building and procurement, and ultimately lack of critical mass to use the very services that would be self-reinforcing and lead to greater usage and adoption.
I will still be riding the bus in LA, enjoying the museums and parks, and admiring the historic architecture but all of this could be so much better. The desire is there. If it were more affordable people would want to move to LA. We could make it as dense as Tokyo and have even more green spaces and care for our (few) historic buildings better. We could have public transit that was actually used by a broad swath of the community, we could have the cheap homes and sensible state investments that mitigate homelessness and mental health issues by moving these cases off the streets and into private spaces.
And the path to get there is not impossible to see:
Value Added Tax (VAT)
Removal of local zoning controls, restrictions to NEPA and CEQA challenges, and a more sensible process and mindset to historical designation to encourage dense, profitable private investment in residential construction.
Real investment in public transit by public agencies that could build both a rider base and institutional building knowledge by building dense lines in the most populous areas.
Competitive private procurement in building public transit to encourage red in tooth and nail capitalism to build many competing transit options in a competitive, cost-efficient manner.
Removal of street parking to encourage public transit usage
Reductions in housing and transit costs leading to virtuous cycles of immigration, larger tax base, and more housing and resources for the disadvantaged and impaired.
None of this is that hard or even unreasonable.
I was once asked, if I wanted every city to be like Tokyo. And the answer is a resounding yes. I love Los Angeles and as déclassé as it is to say the USA still is my home and has a tremendous amount to offer the world.
But the idea that we can’t have amazing, dense, incredibly safe mega cities because of American exceptionalism is simply the dumbest doomerism available.
May the boomers go quietly into that good night and may we the inheritors do better.
Also, what a fucking fantastic trip!
Palette Cleanser
Sorry, as soon as I got home I guess I felt the need to dust off the old soapbox. Returning to the trip itself I offer the following things that did and didn’t go so well.
Haneda and Gimpo. Trying to get these airports is just worth it. Inchon isn’t so bad it’s just about an extra 30-40m on the train but Narita is kind of a pain and the bullet train into the city is expensive. There are better train rides to take.
Minimal planning. Yes, I had to make some adjustments along the way and inevitably I missed some things but the day to day spontaneity was more than worth it. Plus, there was after the first night almost no stress. Just pick a place and run with it.
Same night hotel bookings. Just find somewhere to stay and go with it. Maybe I could have gotten a few nicer stays but overall I got to do a lot of sampling and I’ll have a better sense what to aim for in the future and in the meantime got some great deals.
Hiking. There’s such good day trip hiking in Seoul and Tokyo. Just do it and get up early. It’s also a great way to deal with not being able to sleep in late due to jet lag.
If you’re going to do the JR Rail Pass, go all in and make it more of a touring vacation. Bullet trains are really expensive and it didn’t make sense to do Tokyo ←→ Hiroshima which would have been $400 and eight hours round trip.
Bring some cash. I didn’t actually need much but to get the initial TMoney Korea Tour Card and Pasmo card it was worth it. I think the Pasmo card is just better than the Welcome Suica. Easier to get and the deposit is negligible. Also, Japan was definitely less card friendly than Korea but both were so relative to US. Also, the fee on my CapitalOne card was probably less than ATM fees would have been for my checking.
Once I adapted with the hotels and finding places to check my bags just having a backpack made a lot of things simpler. No checked bags, easier customs, easier to navigate train stations. A suitcase would have been helpful for bringing home more stuff though.
Use Naver in Korea and get an account. It’s just better than Google Maps there.
Google Maps is simply phenomonal for the Tokyo metro system.
Google Translate is very, very useful. Use it for conversation, show text to people you are interacting with, take pictures of signs and plaques to translate.
Stay at First Cabin Haneda on the way in or out for awkward flight times. Being at the airport is so convenient and it’s really nice for a single night stay, just be sure to check the inter-terminal bus times or be prepared for a short cab ride.
Having at least one or two pool days for destressing is really nice.
Capsule hotels are cool and you can get a bathhouse day pass somewhere nice. If you do stay at hotels make sure they have a great onsen.
Visit the fish market, get live fish, take to a restaurant. It’s just a better method.
Eat, eat, eat, eat more, no more, keep eating.
And aside from these blogs I kept the following lists in Google Maps: