Japan next? Tokyo, Kyoto and Hakone?

I thought I better post something before a year lapses since my last post, April 29, 2015, about the weather on the Camino.  And I should post something about our 2 weeks on the Camino (I had left it for something to do over the winter when I couldn't garden but other things got in the way...).  Since last April we have traveled in the U.S.: California, Boston, the Outer Banks; but I don't have to prepare for those destinations like I do for a foreign country.

Mandy says we need to go to Tokyo and Kyoto and to Hakone to see Mt. Fuji.  I have no concept of the layout of Japan so a nice map would be the first step, to see which towns are near each other.  I have no bucket list of things to see and check off but would like gardens, markets, kitchenware and handicraft stores.  I want to walk the streets and wander through neighborhoods, eat the food, but not in 4 star restaurants, only in little noodle joints, or on the streets, where we can afford it.

Three weeks later:  As you can see I didn't get very far with this post.  But now I'm reading Juan and Mandy's Insight Guide to Tokyo from 2004.  It's a little dated because it talks about the effort to move the government offices outside of Tokyo in case there is an earthquake.  One of the 3 locations suggested is Fukushima...

Current Must-Do in Tokyo
Kappabashi Market.  This is where they have the fake food shops but also the restaurant supply stores.  Bento.com has a list of the various stores he found interesting: Tanaka for lacquerware;  Kondo and Okuda for bamboo products; Hashito for chopsticks; Kamata for knives; Propack for everything; and Maizuru for plastic food models, including souvenirs like magnets and keychains.  This was written in 2005, it looks like, so that's not much better than the Insight Guide.  I hope things don't change much in Japan...
On the same website (dated 2004), Yukari Pratt has a list of tools for the Japanese kitchen, like strainers, bamboo colanders, wooden lids, graters, and brushes, which she says make great gifts for gourmet friends.  It looks like I better take a big suitcase.

Antenna Shops
Prefectural "antenna shops" are retail stores that specialize in food and other products from a specific Japanese prefecture or city. Set up by local governments and located in Tokyo and other major cities, they are meant to promote an appreciation of regional foods and crafts, and encourage tourism."  Bento.com has a map of antenna shops in Tokyo and you can browse through a list of them with descriptions.  You can click through to their websites and then have google translate the Japanese for you: "Black of cartilage of pig chili soy sauce boiled (65g) and finished with a soy sauce taste of perfect Kagoshima classic knob of rice or potato shochu black pig cartilage."

Must-Do in Kyoto
Bento.com also has a section on the Nishiki Market in Kyoto, with a list of recommended shops, such as Aritsugu for knives and strainers, Dintora for Japanese spices, Fuka for fu (wheat gluten), Takakuraya for pickles, and Yubakichi for yuba (tofu skin).  They recommend following up with a visit to the nearby food floor of the Daimaru Department Store.  Department stores seem to be alive and well in Japan, with food courts in the basements, like the old City of Paris in San Francisco.  Or was that just in 2004??