Postcard from Japan - Tokyo part 1
Japan has been on my travel wish list since I was a little. I had two other trips planned that fell through when I was younger. I was so thrilled to finally go and to get to go with Ben to celebrate his 50th birthday! But since I have wanted to go to Japan for so long, my travel wish list was so much longer than what was possible to do in just one trip.
My grandmother is from Japan, and I have family in Tokyo, Okinawa, Yubari, and Sapporo. I really hope to go back again soon and see so much more.
So let's start with the Tokyo part of the trip!
First up, the museums we visited:
Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum:
Ben had this on his list, and it happened to also align with my Studio Ghibli love. I tried to get tickets for the Studio Ghibli museum, but wasn't able to. So it was great to walk here and see some of the inspiration for some of my favorite movies. This museum was established in 1993 to help pass on cultural heritage to future generations. The museum relocates, reconstructs, and preserves historical buildings that otherwise would be lost over time. There are also special exhibitions from the former Musashino Folklore Museum. If you have the time to get out to Koganei Park I definitely recommend this stop. The museum's mascot Edomaru is an illustration done by Miyazaki too!
A fun side note is my family goes back on my great grandmother's to Date Masamune so learning more about Edo period history and imagining and connecting to my ancestors in Japan was something I have been dreaming about since I was so young. The culture, the history, the crafts, and the arts inspire me to no end. On my great grandfather's side my family goes back to Toyotomi clan.
This was another Ben addition to our itinerary. He knew I would love the museum and the garden, and the building was also so interesting. It felt like a really special oasis in Tokyo. The Nezu Museum was founded to conserve and exhibit the collection of pre-modern Japanese and East Asian art that Nezu Kaichirō built. The renowned Japanese architect Kuma Kengo designed and supervised the rebuilding of the Nezu Museum, which was completed in 2009.
My dad has a sword that was made by one of my ancestors. Which I didn't learn about until after I chose metalsmithing as my major in college. When I first started with my metals, I hoped I would learn to make swords and knives, but my studies took me in the wearable jewelry direction.
We couldn't take photos of the exhibit Cutting a Valiant Figure - Weapons and Armor in the Nezu Museum Collection, so I picked up this book in the museum shop to learn more.
Ben and I also knew we wanted to find a knife made in Japan to bring home. We had a few different shops marked to check out and ended up picking a beautiful knife out at Mei Syou in Tokyo.
We planned to get a more universal style santoku knife, but I loved the look and feel of the Nakiri knife style too much to pass up. It is my new favorite knife in the kitchen, and all of our veggies have never been chopped more beautifully.
We also stopped in to check out the exhibit at the Mori Art Museum. This museum is at the top of the central Mori Tower in Roppongi Hills. The exhibit we got to see was from some lesser known Japanese artists who live and make art around the world. If you're in this area of Tokyo, it's definitely worth stopping in to see what their current exhibit is.
TeamLab had been recommended to us by multiple people. I wasn't sure if it would be as great as I had heard, but it really was so fun to immerse ourselves in. There is one in Tokyo and one in Kyoto. It's a great place to go with kids and adults. We were there for about 3 hours and could have stayed longer if we had timed lunch better at the vegan ramen restaurant inside. It definitely would have been worth the wait. I was so excited to try it, and it smelled amazing. But I was already getting a little hangry. We waited in line to order and heard it would be a 50+ minute wait for food we decided to go to the Fish market nearby for lunch. So learn from us and order food earlier, and enjoy another exhibit while you wait.
This was a lesson for us to start thinking about food earlier than we actually feel hungry. A lesson you think I would know by now. We had to wait up to an hour for food at a few places, but since we planned better, we were prepared for the waits a little more.
Next up there was the food! Here's a snapshot of some of the food we ate in Tokyo.
Restaurants and coffee shops we loved:
We went to the Meguro City location and just loved this restaurant. It's farm to table and everything we had was just so delicious. I also loved their cocktails.
We stopped into the Aoyama location, and it was the perfect place for coffee and a treat. We went to the area to check out another desert shop called SunnyHills because the building is beautiful and designed by Kengo Kuma. But the cafe was closed for renovations. With all the walking we were doing every day, the afternoon cafe stops were some of my favorites to recharge our energy.
This was the restaurant location of the popular vegan ramen spot T's Tantan. It was vegan and gluten free. T's restaurant is in Jiyugaoka. Everything we had was delicious and we didn't have to wait at all to get a table, which was a treat.
This was our second try to get vegan ramen after we missed out on Vegan Ramen Uzu Tokyo at TeamLab. So we got to this spot expecting there would be a wait. We were at peak lunch time. So we waited for about 45 minutes. They take your order while you're waiting, so once you sit it comes fast. We got there behind a couple large family groups so the wait was longer. It isn't big, and the waiting area is small.
Of course we had to eat all the konbini food we could. From Family Mart, Lawson's to 7-eleven we were in at least one a day. The konbini's of Japan really outshine any convenience store I've ever found in the States.
We also had fun trying out different vending machines. The warm corn soup was a standout favorite for me!
If you had places you loved in Tokyo, I would love to hear. I hope I get to go back again soon to see and experience even more.
