Meiji Jingu and a few photos of the trek home. We finished up with ramen (again) near to our place but I can’t remember exactly where it was.
Nikon FM2 / Kodak Portra 400
The train to Nikko and some munch near the station.
Nikon F100 / Fuji Industrial 100
The indeterminate puck of fried matter I’m holding in my wizened, withered, weather-beaten mit is actually yuba manju. It’s deep fried, salted tofu skin (yuba) filled with sweet red bean paste (manju). We bought these tasty morsels from Sakaeya (さかえや) a little shop on the corner of the square over the road from the train station where the buses pull in.
I’ve since learnt that this shop is somewhat famous for these snacks and that yuba is actually a local delicacy. We were served by a delightful young lady of no more than seventy years of age who skilfully willed me into buying not one, but several of these modest but immensely flavourful snackettes and I’m so glad she did because we did something downright touristy and didn’t even realise it at the time. We had a jolly nice time as we waited for the bus all thanks to the charm and charisma of an elderly and rather attractive yuba manju lady.
You’ll definitely want to be like us and go there so here’s some info-goodness for you.
http://nikkosakaeya.co.jp/shop/
To get to Nikko from Shinjuku we took the subway from Higashi-Shinjuku to Shinjuku station (¥140) and then from Shinjuku, the Chuo line to Ueno (JR Pass). The “Yamabito” Shinkansen took us to Utsunomiya in about 50 minutes and at Utsunomiya we changed to the local Nikko line (pictured).
金伝丸渋谷本店 Ramen Restaurant – Shibuya
We just stumbled on this ramen restaurant in Shibuya and liked the look of it. It appeared to be patronised by passing travellers and Tokyoites grabbing a bite for lunch and looked plenty busy.
You’re required to place your order at a machine that will vend a ticket that you give to a member of staff. No money, no yummy. Address and some other info-goodies are below if you want to be as cool as us and go there as well.
Nikon FM2 / Kodak Portra 400
Address:
道玄坂2-9-2 渋専連ビル1階
Shibuya, Tokyo 150-0042
Our first breakie in Japan. We stumbled on this lovely little cafe/bakery in Shimokitazawa called Mixture. The place was very cozy and the staff were friendly and it seemed to be popular with locals as we didn’t see any other gaijin/gweilos/farang/whities while we were there. The coffee was actually pretty terrible but the grub was good.
If you want to be like us and go there yourself, here’s the address: 3 Chome-31-5 Kitazawa, Setagaya-ku, Tōkyō-to 155-0031, Japan
Nikon FM2 / Lomography F2 400 / 24mm
Chu Chu, Cafe, Konica Minolta Centuria Super 400
Chu Chu and Matty went for some coffee at Le Pain Quotidien in Wan Chai. Ok coffee in some over-sized cups and a comfy chair. We had some average carrot cake as well. Not bad overall.
Nikon FM2 / Konica Minolta Centuria Super 400 [expired 5 / 2006] / Nikkor 50mm f/1.2 ais