More Hina Matsuri

Only two more days until Hina Matsuri (Girls Day or the Doll Festival).  Here's a comple more recent shots of Hina Matsuri related things spotted in Azabu Juban and Hiroo.

Here's a delicious ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins. It seems like a bargin for ¥2,200.

And a banner from Azabu Juban.

I've got crepes and taiyaki on my mind...

Out shopping yesterday and spotted this handy contraption.  It's a taiyaki maker!  Basically a waffle machine with taiyaki shaped molds.

The family also passed by a Marion Crepe's stand located outside the Tokyo Tower.

If you aren't familiar with the Tokyo Tower... Here are two quick snaps.

Hina Matsuri is around the corner...

First just let me assure you that this is not an advertisement for Baskin Robbins (although I do enjoy their ice cream).  This is just a view into the detail and enthusiasum that Japanese (including foreign restaurant franshises) get into their holidays, even cut but minor ones.

Anyway, last Thursday after dinner the family dropped in for ice cream at Baskin Robbins in Hiroo outside National Azabu Supermarket.  The shop was decked out for Hina Matsuri (Girls Day or Doll Festival). Anyway they had a special Hina Matsuri Sunday, ice cream cakes and a cute display featuring Micky and Minnie Mouse as the Emperor (Odairi-sama) and Empress (Ohina-sama).

Here's Micky and Minnie decked out for Hina Matsuri.

A walk on Washington's birthday, other instersting sights - Part 2

I don't have much to say other than, "Would you wear these pants or this suit?"

A walk on Washington's birthday, other instersting sights.

The dramatic entryway to this restaurant in Harajuku caught my attention. The dark wall with the lit red cutouts seemed to draw me in. The reflection of the shapes in the ceiling was also visually interesting.

Oh well, I'm not sure if the food or drinks are any good. But if you want to visit, the place is called "StaiR".

It seems that you don't have to be a top tier brand like Prada, Cartier, Fendi, etc. to have an interesting and visually striking shop in Harajuku.  Even blue collar workers can find something appealing at Carhartt. In the US this brand is associated with construction workers and public works employees.  However, after reading the article associated with the last link it seems they are more upscale in Europe and Asia.

The property values in this area must be sky high, but this house is only a couple years away from looking like this one in Hiroo.

If you come for a visit please keep Harajuku green!

A walk on Washington's birthday - Would you like to buy some hashi ?

I took a lot of pictures yesterday on my walk from Nishi Azabu to Harajuku, in Shinjuku and in Azabu Juban.  I haven't really had time to digest them all, but I do have time today to post. The first set is from this interesting chopstick store in Harajuku.

Their beckoning cat was holding chopsticks (hashi).  The name of this shop is Hashi Ginza Natsuno.  There are several locations in Tokyo.  Ginza is probably home to their headquarters or flagship shop.

The had several interesting displays featuring Hina Matsuri.

This is the entrance to the shop.  In addition to chopsticks, they have a wide assortment of chopstick rests.  My wife collects these, so I should make a trip back.

These are baseball themed chopstick rests.

Cheap Culinary Adventure in Tokyo? Have Taiyaki! (Part 3 - Final)

I finished the day with a stop in Azabu Juban for taiyaki.  It's a pastry made of waffle or pancake batter filled with azuki (red) bean paste.  It's made in a special waffle iron.

Seems that this treat was invented in this very shop, Naniwaya, back in 1909!  There's a good review on foodjapan.net.

The taiyaki treat was only ¥150.  That brings my grand total for a crepe, curry rice lunch (with coffee) and taiyaki to ¥1050.  Who would have thought that such fun food could be a bargain in Tokyo.  If you add transportation on the JR from Harajuku to Shinjuku, and the Oedo subway line from Shinjuku to Azabu Juban, that would set you back another ¥340.

Cheap Culinary Adventure in Tokyo? Have Mushroom Chicken Curry! (Part 2)

After a long walk from Nogizaka Station to Harajuku Station, I took the train to Shinjuku for some shopping at Yodobashi Camera and some photography in the skyscraper district.

The Cocoon Tower in Shinjuku is one of the more visually interesting buildings to have been erected in recent years.

After sufficiently building up my appetite, I stopped at the Blue Square Cafe in the Cocoon Tower for a meal.

I had a delicious mushroom chicken curry bowl for ¥600 with coffee! I don't know of many places that you can have lunch for less.

The cafe was well thought out, and no design element was left out. The paper cups even had an attractive graphic design.

It's too bad that the Blue Square Cafe (English translation via google) will be closing on 28 February 2011.  Oh well, all good things must pass.

Plum Blossoms, architecture and other sights from Aoyama Bochi to Harajuku Station

Before I had my crepe at Marion's, I built up my appetite by walking from Nishi Azabu through Aoyama Boch then along Omotesando and Takeshita-dōri.  I took several pictures along my walk. Here are some of the better ones.

I started my walk near Nogizaka station outside the National Art Center Tokyo (official web site - English).  I'll probably have to return here to take a better photo.  This is a pretty lame snap...

There were some plum blossoms in bloom in Aoyama Bochi.

I'm sure that someone has taken a better photo of the Prada building. Here's the angle that I liked.

Here's a photo that I took on a better day last year of the Prada Building.  The glass used in the building is simply amazing.

The finishing touches were being put on this little building with an unusual facade.  It reminds me of the Malaysian Embassy in Daikanyama. 

Cheap Culinary Adventure in Tokyo? Have a Crepe! (Part 1)

Although I live in Japan, I work for the US Army as a civilian employee and Monday was a US Federal holiday, Washington’s Birthday (or President's Day).  I had the day off while the wife and kids were at school and I was able to take a long walk through some of my favorite places in the city.

My first stop was Harajuku.  I walked along the main street Omotesando and noted how much things have changes since my first visit in 1998.  The Kenzo Tange's Hanae Mori building was demolished recently.  The Gap (included the Elephant Cafe and Pizza Express) across from the Laforet came down as scheduled last year.  The Dojunkai Aoyama Apartments which had plenty of character (for a 1927 vintage housing project), but looked like they were going to fall down were replaced by Omotesando Hills in 2006.

In all that time, I never ate a crepe from one of the many restaurants or popular crepe stands in Harajuku.  Anyway, I finally took the plunge and ... tried some on Takeshita Dori. Delicious!

The first crepe stand that I passed and gave a pass was Cafe Crepe. For some reason, I was put off by the pictures of the young girls. Not sure if it was some sort of promotion, but it just seemed a little odd to me.

The next crepe stand was Angel Heart. It was a little too pink and there wasn't a line. Seemed a little like the North Shore version of Matsumoto versus Aoki Shaved ice.

I went on to the Marion Crepes stand, which had a line and a sign that boasted that they had been in Harajuku since 1976. They must be doing something right.

So many choices. I chose 37 - apple cinnamon. Only ¥300!

The crepe guy was efficient. I was chowing down on a delicious crepe in no time at all.

Yaki imo

After enjoying an afternoon a large park in the Tokyo suburbs of Suginami with another family, we were drawn to the recording sing song phrase "yaki imo" coming out of a small truck.  It was quiet chilly, and hard to resist this old man making the rounds selling roasted sweet potatoes.... Yummy delicious! Oishi!