Where Can I Get Marmalade?

Frank Cooper's marmalade to be exact.  Fortnum and Mason has quite a number of marmalades to choose from but Frank Cooper isn't among them.  Will might like F&M's Lucifer Marmalade with ginger and chilli.  Many of the marmalades are no longer made with Seville oranges but with sweet oranges, just like in the United States.  In 2013, the Evening Standard had a list of 5 of the best marmalades and Frank Cooper's was among them so it still exists, we just can't find it in Pittsburgh.  Checking with the Evening Standard's source, Tesco, they indeed do have it and it's a lot cheaper than the marmalades at Fortnum and Mason (2.20£ as opposed to 4.95£ to 9.95£) so maybe I can get it at any local supermarket or check at the Tesco Superstore across the Thames.

Tesco even carries its own "Finest Dark Coarse Cut Rich Seville Orange Marmalade".  How many jars should I bring back?  A case like Daddy did from Victoria?  But I'd have to haul it up to the Lake District with me...  While we are in London we can do taste tests of the various kinds.  Tesco offers about 24 kinds online and there's a Tesco Express a block from the apartment but who knows how many each store carries.  There's also a Sainsbury's Local diagonally across from the apartment and a larger Sainsbury's about a kilometer down Fulham Road and, like Tesco, Sainsbury's carries Frank Cooper's marmalade online.  Although maybe they should call it Sarah Jane Cooper's marmalade since it uses her 1874 recipe.

Or maybe I should just haul back a can of Robertson's Ma Made Thin Cut Seville Oranges and make my own marmalade, like I did one year when I found it at Williams Sonoma.  Oh, never mind.  I see I can get Ma Made on Amazon with free shipping for $13.71...  For that matter, I can also get Frank Cooper's marmalade on Amazon for about $10 a jar with free shipping.

But what fun is that????

London Markets

Spitalfields Market

I find myself starting posts and then I move on to something else without finishing them.   I was looking at Visit London's Top 12 Markets so that if we are in a specific neighborhood we can stop by and see what they have.  I just have to remember that many of them are only alive on weekends.

The Eyewitness Travel Guide on London says:  "Even if you're not looking for cut-price cabbages or a silk sari, it's worth paying a visit to one of London's crowded, colorful markets."

Spitalfields.  What a name!  Spitalfields was an immigrant community in East London that you can read more about in BBC Travel, host to first the Huguenots, then the Irish during the Potato Famine, then Eastern European Jews and finally Bangladeshis.  There is an old Victorian covered market hall here: Old Spitalfields Market which is open daily.  Brick Lane Market is another market in the Old Truman Brewery in the same vicinity (the East End) but it is only open on Saturday and Sunday.

Portobello Road Market

Portobello Road Market is north of Chelsea and is mainly known for its antique market on Saturday, although they have fruits and vegetables and other things as well.  They say the antiques market is centered around the Notting Hill underground station.  There is also a Notting Hill Farmers Market on Saturday, opening at 9 am.  I don't suppose we could rush out and shop before we go see the sights?  The London Farmers' Markets website has a list of such produce markets.  I'm going to have to buy a foldable grocery cart.

First Saturday in London:  Walk up to Earls Court Station (16 minutes) and then take the tube up to Notting Hill Station (5 minutes) and walk up Portobello Road to Ackham Village Market.  The stretch along Portobello Road is about a mile.  A lot of the reviews on TripAdvisor found it too touristy and overpriced although others liked it so this excursion is tentative.  TripAdvisor has a ranking for Flea and Street Markets that puts Portobello Road at #41 in Shopping (with 3,608 reviews) and Borough Market at #1 (with 10,123 reviews).  Maybe I'd prefer Borough market anyway because it is a food market rather than a flea market, and from the looks of the Portobello Road Market it would take hours to get through the crowds.

Borough Market

Borough Market
This one is located south of the Thames near London Bridge and might be too upscale for me from the looks of things, sort of like the San Francisco ferry building market.  According to the Rough Guide "Prices are high and Saturdays can be a crush; arrive early." The full market is operational from Wednesday to Saturday but it is a long way from Chelsea.  The closest tube station to the market is London Bridge but we'd have to walk up to Earls Court to take it.  At the Transport for London Plan a Journey website, they recommend taking the #14 or #414 bus to South Kensington Station and then taking two lines to the London Bridge Station for a total travel time of 50 minutes.  Or we could walk there, seeing the sites along the route, arriving in about 2 hours...

One Thing Leads to Another...

I was reading this Washington Post article on the best places in London for afternoon tea, remembering how intrigued I was by the idea in Victoria (especially with crumpets), which led me to another article, about London's underground history.

I guess it's time for me to start submerging myself in British history and quirkiness for our trip next September, or was it October?  I don't suppose they have a Britainology TV program...

Penny, what did we do with the book "The Year 1000"?  Or did I already read it?  I'll even have to read Mother's volume on British Food or check out these dishes.  Fish and chips, Yorkshire pudding, full breakfast, cullen skink and pasties I can handle but steak and kidney pie, blackpudding and jellied eels I'll leave for Daddy and Fernando!  Laverbread (Welshman's caviar) will be for Jen.  This Christmas we could have Yorkshire Pudding along with the standing rib roast that Juan is so crazy about (I don't mind it myself, especially with horseradish sauce).  Now mind you, these are "British", not "English" foods, so they include Scotch Eggs, which Mother even had at the Palms in Ventura, and Haggis, which only Fernando was brave enough to try in Scotland.  Ah, to live so vicariously through one's husband!

Heck.  I'll even eat Fish and Chips with Mushy Peas, "recipe courtesy of Young Sun Huh".  Who would have thought?  And do you remember how Daddy always liked "Piccalilli"?  I'm sorry this descended into food again but I think that is the most exciting part of my life

Columbus

As in Ohio, not Christopher.
I'm just pulling together some links that I can get to later.

And why is Columbus called the Arch City?  Shouldn't that be St. Louis?

First, the local newspaper:  The Columbus Dispatch.  Lots of sports coverage but what teams do they have besides Ohio State?
And then the monthly magazine: Columbus Monthly.
Columbus Underground is a "hyper-local, community-driven" online media site.

Then some Asian markets and restaurants:
Here's a Dispatch article on Fortune Chinese Restaurant, in the north suburbs:

"it has one of the most extensive dim sum menus in town. The restaurant is said to make all 48 selections from scratch, including the roasted pork dumplings, steamed rice roll with shrimp and the mushroom chicken bun...Certainly there are plenty of exotic choices, such as braised chicken feet, minced pork with preserved egg congee (a type of porridge) and taro rice cake."

Tensuke Japanese Market -- they also have a bakery and a restaurant in the same shopping center, Kenny Shopping Centre, north of the city.

An American's Guide  to Korean in Columbus, a list on Yelp covering six places in Upper Arlington.  She says the "International Corridor" is Bethel Road, north of the city.

More to come, I hope.

Shikoku

Are we ready for another pilgrimage?
What?  You say we haven't done the full Camino de Santiago yet?
But a night or two ago we watched the PBS Sacred Journeys episode on Shikoku and strolling through the Japanese countryside sounds delightful.  PBS has the whole episode for you to watch on its website, at least for the moment.  The Shikoku pilgrimage is a bit more challenging than the Camino Frances because it is 750 miles (not 500) around the island of Shikoku, visiting 88 Buddhist temples, many of them where Kobo Daishi, the Buddhist monk who brought Buddhism to the Japanese masses in the 9th century, studied and trained.  They say allow 45 days to complete it if you are walking, but many Japanese complete the pilgrimage by car, train or bus.  Below is a map of the island from the RandomWire blog by David, an English software engineer living in Japan who did the pilgrimage on foot last year.

He set off from Tokyo and began his walk May 1st, the same day of the year that we seem to begin our pilgrimages.  Like us because of International Labor Day, he was "slightly nervous about finding accommodation given that it’s golden week".  The night he arrived he had a "deliciously healthy dinner" and the first day of walking he had "an exceedingly healthy breakfast".  But alas, no photos of the meals although they must have been vegetarian.

(nokyocho 納経帳)

David has lots of photos and information in his day by day account of the pilgrimage and since he knows Japanese, he adds Japanese names with Japanese characters.  He also must have a fitness monitor since he lists his total steps for the day (1st day: 29,400 steps).  Juan would like the pilgrimage because at each temple they sign and stamp your pilgrimage journal (nokyocho 納経帳) and as you can see, it is a work of art.

 One can also tour Shikoku by train with a Shikoku Rail Pass but the lines don't exactly follow the pilgrimage route.  The Shikoku District Transit Bureau has a helpful website in English with bus routes you can follow to the 88 temples.  Tourism Shikoku, the official tourism guide for Shikoku, has information in English with a brochure on the henro (pilgrim) trail as well as information on the food (including markets), accommodations, etc. and brochures and maps on the various cities and sites of the island.


One of the sites they recommend is Dojo Hot Spring, upon which the animated movie "Spirited Away" is supposedly based.  I can see that one would have to do a lot of planning for a trip to this island.  And we better brush up on our Japanese...

Oh My, Here We Go Again: Tokyo Eye 2020

Funabashi Wholesale Market

I don't know if I'm ready for the Tokyo Olympics in three years but I do enjoy NHK's documentaries.  If only other countries had similar programs in English!  Heck, I'd even take documentaries on France in French and on Italy in Italian.

This evening I watched the Tokyo Eye 2020 episode on Tokyo's Amazing Backyard, Part 3: Funabashi.  Funabashi is about a half hour train ride east of Tokyo in Chiba prefecture.  They have a regional wholesale market there that you can visit instead of Tsukiji and actually buy the fish.  Tokyo's Amazing Backyard, Part 1 is on Kawasaki, to the southeast of Tokyo, and Part 2 is on Omiya, to the north of Tokyo.  In Omiya, in Onari, Saitama City, is the Railway Museum which looks like it would be fun for kids because they have simulators.
Naturally I can't ever remember what I've watched so here goes another list. The TVDB has a list of programs and I didn't realize they went back to 2015.  I'm not sure what the relationship is between the first list and the ones by year.  Also the links to the NHK videos won't last since they only have the most recent ones available.  For the earlier ones, one has to go to youtube and hope someone has posted them there.

Episode Number,  Episode Name,  Originally Aired
1 x 1 Shibuya Special Part 1: Transformation 2015-04-01
1 x 2 Shibuya Special Part 2: Hitting the Streets 2015-04-08
1 x 3 Ginza Rediscovered, Part 1: Roots of Tokyo Culture 2015-04-15
1 x 4 Ginza Rediscovered, Part 2: Two Sides of Ginza 2015-04-22
1 x 5 Tokyo Wholesaler Guide 2015-04-29
1 x 6 The Embassy Take on Tokyo, Part 4: Latvia 2015-05-06
1 x 7 The Embassy Take on Tokyo, Part 5: Cameroon 2015-05-13
1 x 8 Fusion of Past and Present: Akasaka 2015-05-20
1 x 9 Tokyo Ramen Adventure 2015-05-27
1 x 10 Flowers and Sweets for All: Jiyugaoka 2015-06-03
1 x 11 Mission Akihabara, Part 1: Starter Kit 2015-06-17
1 x 12 Mission Akihabara, Part 2: Expert User 2015-06-24
1 x 13 ICT Tokyo: Smarter Tourism 2015-07-01
1 x 14 Tokyo Tower vs. Skytree 2015-07-08
1 x 15 Farming in Tokyo?! 2015-07-15
1 x 16 The World of Sake and Wine 2015-07-22
1 x 17 Getting into Kimonos 2015-07-29
1 x 18 Shinagawa: A Warm Welcome to Tokyo 2015-08-05
1 x 19 Entertainment 2015 2015-08-12
1 x 20 Hot Spots for Summer! Part 1: Keeping Cool Indoors 2015-08-19
1 x 21 Hot Spots for Summer! Part 2: Hassle-Free Outdoor Activities 2015-08-26
1 x 22 Gateway to Tokyo: Your Guide to Haneda Airport 2015-10-07
1 x 23 Business District on the Move: Yaesu 2015-10-14
1 x 24 The Embassy Take on Tokyo, Part 6: Albania 2015-10-21
1 x 25 Fusion of Past and Present: Akasaka 2015-10-28
1 x 26 The Meguro Area 2015-11-04
1 x 27 Three Tokyo Islands: Part 1 2015-11-11
1 x 28 Three Tokyo Islands: Part 2 2015-11-18
1 x 29 Tokyo Anime and Manga Tour 2015-11-25
1 x 30 The Embassy Take on Tokyo, Part 7: El Salvador 2015-12-02
1 x 31 Night Guide to Tokyo 2015-12-09
1 x 32 Tokyo Onsen Heating Up! 2016-01-05
1 x 33 TOKYO EYE on Campus: Waseda University 2016-01-12
1 x 34 Shortcuts to Deep Tokyo 2016-02-02
1 x 35 Winter Gourmet Selection 2016 2016-02-09
1 x 36 Happy to Help! 2016-02-16
1 x 37 Tokyo Science Spots 2016-02-23
1 x 38 Celebrate a Special Occasion! 2016-03-01
1 x 39 Handmade in Kachikura 2016-03-08
1 x 40 Stationery Wonderland! 2016-03-15
1 x 41 2015-2016: Season in Review! 2016-03-29
1 x 42 Capturing Tokyo 2016! 2016-04-05
1 x 43 Tokyo Ingredients Taking on the World! 2016-04-12
1 x 44 Living in Tokyo: House Hunting 2016-04-26
1 x 45 New Developments: A Tokyo Architecture Tour! 2016-05-03
1 x 46 Deep Tokyo: Shinjuku and Okubo 2016-05-10
1 x 47 Top Trends in Tokyo Cafes 2016-05-24
1 x 48 The Embassy Take on Tokyo, Part 8: Portugal 2016-05-31
1 x 49 Urban Oasis: The Springs of Tokyo 2016-06-07
1 x 50 Futako Tamagawa: High Style and Peaceful Nature 2016-06-15
1 x 51 Looking for Laughs in Tokyo 2028-09-16
1 x 52 Staying in Tokyo 2016 2016-10-05
1 x 53 Must-See Tokyo Museums 2016-10-19
1 x 54 Aged Foods: A New Tokyo Trend 2016-10-12
1 x 55 Mejiro: Welcome to Old School Tokyo! 2016-10-26
1 x 56 Exploring Tokyo's Rivers: The Tama 2016-11-02
1 x 57
1 x 58 Cool, Fun Tokyo Tours! 2016-11-09
1 x 59 Tokyo Autumn Festivals 2016-11-16
1 x 60 Tokyo Book Tour 2016-11-30
1 x 61 The Embassy Take on Tokyo, Part 10: Venezuela 2016-11-23
1 x 62 Multicultural Takadanobaba 2016-12-07
1 x 63 A Deeper Tokyo Experience! 2016-12-14

2015 x 1 Tokyo Wholesaler Guide 2015-04-01
2015 x 2 Tokyo Ramen Adventure 2015-02-04
2015 x 3 The World of Sake and Wine 2015-02-11
2015 x 4 Getting into Kimonos 2015-02-18
2015 x 5 Shibuya Special Part 1: Transformation 2015-04-01
2015 x 6 Shibuya Special Part 2: Hitting the Streets 2015-04-08
2015 x 7 Ginza Rediscovered, Part 1: Roots of Tokyo Culture 2015-04-15
2015 x 8 Ginza Rediscovered, Part 2: Two Sides of Ginza 2015-04-22
2015 x 9 The Embassy Take on Tokyo, Part 4: Latvia 2015-05-06
2015 x 10 The Embassy Take on Tokyo, Part 5: Cameroon 2015-05-13
2015 x 11 Fusion of Past and Present: Akasaka 2015-05-20
2015 x 12 Flowers and Sweets for All: Jiyugaoka 2015-06-03
2015 x 13 Mission Akihabara, Part 1: Starter Kit 2015-06-17
2015 x 14 Mission Akihabara, Part 2: Expert User 2015-06-24
2015 x 15 ICT Tokyo: Smarter Tourism 2015-07-01
2015 x 16 Tokyo Tower vs. Skytree 2015-07-08
2015 x 17 Farming in Tokyo?! 2015-07-15
2015 x 18 Shinagawa: A Warm Welcome to Tokyo 2015-08-05
2015 x 19 Entertainment 2015 2015-08-12
2015 x 20 Hot Spots for Summer! Part 1: Keeping Cool Indoors 2015-08-19
2015 x 21 Hot Spots for Summer! Part 2: Hassle-free Outdoor Activities 2015-08-26
2015 x 22 Gateway to Tokyo: Your Guide to Haneda Airport 2015-10-07
2015 x 23 Business District on the Move: Yaesu 2015-10-14
2015 x 24 The Embassy Take on Tokyo, Part 6: Albania 2015-10-21
2015 x 25 The Meguro Area 2015-11-04
2015 x 26 Three Tokyo Islands: Part 1 2015-11-11
2015 x 27 Three Tokyo Islands: Part 2 2015-11-18
2015 x 28 Tokyo Anime and Manga Tour 2015-11-25
2015 x 29 The Embassy Take on Tokyo, Part 7: El Salvador 2015-12-02
2015 x 30 Night Guide to Tokyo 2015-12-09

2016 x 1 Tokyo Onsen Heating Up! 2016-01-06
2016 x 2 TOKYO EYE on Campus: Waseda University 2016-01-13
2016 x 3 Shortcuts to Deep Tokyo 2016-02-03
2016 x 4 Winter Gourmet Selection 2016 2016-02-10
2016 x 5 Happy to Help! 2016-02-17
2016 x 6 Tokyo Science Spots 2016-02-24
2016 x 7 Celebrate a Special Occasion! 2016-03-02
2016 x 8 Handmade in Kachikura 2016-03-09
2016 x 9 Stationery Wonderland! 2016-03-16
2016 x 10 2015-2016: Season in Review! 2016-03-30
2016 x 11 Capturing Tokyo 2016! 2016-04-06
2016 x 12 Tokyo Ingredients Taking on the World! 2016-04-13
2016 x 13 Living in Tokyo:House Hunting 2016-04-27
2016 x 14 New Developments: A Tokyo Architecture Tour! 2016-05-04
2016 x 15 Deep Tokyo: Shinjuku and Okubo 2016-05-11
2016 x 16 Top Trends in Tokyo Cafes 2016-05-25
2016 x 17 The Embassy Take on Tokyo, Part 8: Portugal 2016-06-01
2016 x 18 Urban Oasis: The Springs of Tokyo 2016-06-08
2016 x 19 Futako Tamagawa: High Style and Peaceful Nature 2016-06-15
2016 x 20 The Embassy Take on Tokyo, Part 9: Denmark 2016-07-06
2016 x 21 Living in Tokyo: Making Life Easier 2016-07-20
2016 x 22 Must-See Spots 2016! 2016-07-27
2016 x 23 Tokyo Beauty 2016 2016-08-03
2016 x 24 Tokyo Island Tour! Hachijojima 2016-08-10
2016 x 25 Looking for Laughs in Tokyo 2016-09-28
2016 x 26 Staying in Tokyo 2016 2016-10-05
2016 x 27 Aged Foods: A New Tokyo Trend 2016-10-12
2016 x 28 Must-See Tokyo Museums 2016-10-19
2016 x 29 Mejiro: Welcome to Old School Tokyo! 2016-10-26
2016 x 30 Exploring Tokyo's Rivers: The Tama 2016-11-02
2016 x 31 Cool, Fun Tokyo Tours! 2016-11-09
2016 x 32 Tokyo Autumn Festivals 2016-11-16
2016 x 33 The Embassy Take on Tokyo, Part 10: Venezuela 2016-11-23
2016 x 34 Tokyo Book Tour 2016-11-30
2016 x 35 Multicultural Takadanobaba 2016-12-07
2016 x 36 A Deeper Tokyo Experience! 2016-12-14
2016 x 37 Tokyo Mottainai! 2016-12-21

2017 x 1 Youthful Ikebukuro! 2017-01-04
2017 x 2 Enjoying Winter in Tokyo 2017-01-11
2017 x 3 TOKYO EYE on Campus: Keio University 2017-01-18
2017 x 4 Tokyo with Kids in Tow! 2017-02-01
2017 x 5 Tokyo's Amazing Backyard Part 1: Kawasaki 2017-02-08
2017 x 6 Tokyo's Amazing Backyard Part 2: Omiya 2017-02-15
2017 x 7 Tokyo's Amazing Backyard Part 3: Funabashi 2017-02-22
2017 x 8 Tokyo's New Place to Go! Akabane-Jujo 2017-03-01

Souvenir Special,  Where to buy souvenirs to take home
Gourmet Theme Parks
Tokyo Lunch Latest

Hoji Cha: My New Favorite Tea

Move over, Ti Kuan Yin, I've found a tea that is your equal in flavor.  Juan introduced me to Hoji Cha in Kyoto, pointing it out in the Nishiki Market as a tea that I had to try.  It is a roasted green tea and the flavors are very similar to the semi-fermented oolong tea, Ti Kuan Yin, name after the Iron Goddess of Mercy, I think for its brown color although there are legends about its origin.  Ti Kuan Yin is also roasted so maybe it is the roasting that gives it the fragrance I like.

In any case, I bought a box of tea bags of Hoji Cha at the supermarket in Kyoto, and liking it, when we went to the monthly craft market at the Kamigamo Shrine, I picked up half a pound of it from a couple that runs the independent Morii Farm.  It should last me for some time, although I find myself drinking a lot more tea than I used to, almost once a day.  When I run out, I can pick up some tea bags of Hoji Cha at the little Japanese supermarket in Shadyside.

Tokyo Eye 2020

Tokyo Eye 2020 is another NHK documentary program, this time highlighting Tokyo in preparation for the 2020 Olympics.  Since I've watched most of the Japanology programs that interest me, I decided to begin a new series.  I thought I would remember the episodes I had already watched but no, I end up repeating the programs, just like with Begin Japanology.  The host Chris Peppler, who dresses in an undershirt and jacket, is not as appealing as Peter Barakan (at least to us seniors), but the program has expats from other countries taking us on the tours.  So here are the ones I've watched, which I'm listing alphabetically so I can easily review it and add to it.  By the way, on January 11th we can watch the latest episode: Enjoying Winter in Tokyo.  And look!  They have a series Japan Railway Journal and the next episode is Ekiben (the bento boxes available at railway stations)!

Deep Tokyo: Shinjuku and Okubo
Ginza Rediscovered Part 1: Roots of Tokyo Culture
Gourmet Theme Parks
Living in Tokyo, House Hunting
Living in Tokyo, How to Make your Life Easier
Shibuya Special Part 1: Transformation
Stationary Wonderland
Tokyo Lunch Latest
Tokyo Ramen Adventure
Winter Food Adventure in Tokyo: Shibuya, Akihabara, Shinbashi & Ginza (Good preparation for January.  George is a character right out of Pittsburgh...)
Wonderful Washoku [Japanese Food] in Tokyo

Tokyo: What to see when

In other words, my attempt at a schedule.  For lunches, eat after 1 pm since Tokyo workers have their lunch break from 12-1.

Wednesday, January 11:
3:50 pm: Arrive Narita Airport
4:50 pm: Take Narita Express to Shinjuku Station.  For details go to the Nuts and Bolts post.

Thursday, January 12: Harajuku and Shibuya
Japanese breakfast at Matsuya?
Walk 9 minutes south to the Shinjuku-sanchome Station and take the Fukutoshin subway to Meijijingu-Mae Station and walk to the Meiji Jingu shrine and gardens.  Then walk back to Harajuku and walk up to Takeshita pedestrian street.  Amble around to the Ōta Memorial Museum of Art to see woodblock prints.  (10:30am to 5 pm. 700 yen admission. Closed Mondays)
Take the Fukutoshin line from Meijijingu-Mae Station to Shibuya Station and walk 8 minutes to the Tokyu Hands Department store  (open from 10 am to 9 pm) which is supposed to be the largest.
Or follow the itinerary at Truly Tokyo.
Or we could go to seven shrines/temples for new years: You can do the shichifukujin meguri, a short pilgrimage to sites that honor the seven dieties of good fortune such as Ebisu, the god of fishermen and merchants, and Benzaiten, the goddess of art. For example, one Tokyo tour consists of seven locations: Itsukushima and Inari Kio shrines and Taisoji, Hozenji, Eifukuji, Kyooji, Zenkokuji temples.  Or maybe we could just buy the giant lottery on January 12.

Friday, January 13:  Tsukiji Market (usually closed Wednesday and Sunday), Akihabara, and Kappabashi.
Walk 6 minutes to Shinjuku-sanchome station & take Maranouchi line to Ginza Station (15 minutes), then walk 14 minutes to Tsukiji Market (inner market opens at 9 am, closes at 2).
Here's a .pdf map of the shops in the outer market.
Take the Hibiya line from Tsukiji Station to Akihabara Station to visit the electronics district of Akihabara.
Take the Ginza line from Suehirocho Station to Tawaramachi Station to  Kappabashi for kitchen equipment. "All the shops are open during the week (usually 9am-5pm). 90% are open on Saturday and 30% or so are open on Sunday. There are several train and metro stops around Kappabashi but if you take the Ginza metro line to Tawaramachi station and take Exit 3, you will not have to walk too much to get to the shops." Tsunagu Japan recommends buying chopstick rests, knives, and seasonal (!) tableware.
If there is time left, go to Senso-ji Temple or leave it for Sunday afternoon.

Saturday, January 14:  Imperial Palace, Ginza and Tokyo Station
Marunouchi line from Shinjuku-Sanchome Station to Tokyo Station.
Check out Ekibenya Matsuri with ekiben from all Japan. It is located on Central Street on the first floor of Tokyo Station City (daily 5:30am to 11:00pm).
Imperial Gardens and Hibiya Park
Chuo Dori (Street) in Ginza is closed to traffic from noon to 5 on Saturday and Sunday from 1-Chome to 8-Chome (1.1 km) for Pedestrians' Paradise so this is a good time to walk it from Shimbashi Station to Kyobashi Station (2 km).
Tokyu Plaza Ginza features crafts and traditional products from around Japan.
Go to the Ginza Itoya stationery store.
Go to Marronnier Gate Shopping Mall to check out the 5-floor Tokyu Hands Store (DIY) if we haven't checked it out in Shibuya or Shinjuki

Sunday, January 15, Shinjuku
Breakfast at Gontran Cherrier (7:30 am - 10 pm)
If the day is clear, walk (20 minutes from the Citadines Hotel) to the the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building for the view. (9:30-5:30)
Hm.  Maybe Sunday would be the better day to explore Shinjuku since we need to leave the luggage at the hotel after we check out.
11 am: Check out of the Citadines
Take Oedo line to
Check into AirBnB

Walk from the AirBnB in Minowa east to the Nippori Fabric Street and then explore the old Tokyo area of Yanesen (Yanaka, Sendage, Nezu) that has some pre WWII neighborhoods, a quiet cemetery and temple, so see how the locals live.  The short InternationallyME video on Yanesen gives a taste of it.  Visit the Tennoji Buddhist temple.

Explore the area around Minowa.  It takes half an hour to walk to Sensoji Temple and 20 minutes to walk to Kappabashi.
Here's a suggested walking tour from Sensoji to Ueno.

4:50 pm:  Juan, Mandy and Louise arrive at Narita Airport
Switch to AirBnB near Minowa Station

Monday, January 16
Tsukiji Market
Afternoon go to Asakusa?   To see Senso-ji temple, Marugoto Nippon with its food and crafts from around Japan, and the Kappabashi restaurant supply shopping street.

Tuesday, January 17

Wednesday, January 18
Sumo Wrestling

Thursday, January 19
Take Shinkansen to Kyoto

Japanese Food

Ekiben at Tokyo Station

Juan is beginning to get excited about Japan and has been emailing me links to his favorite Ramen shop in Kyoto, to ekiben (railway bento boxes) at Tokyo Station, and to Furusato Matsuri (regional festivals) exhibition they are having in the Tokyo Dome while we are there.  Yes.  They are all related to food.  That's how the Japanese celebrate.

Japan Talk has lots of articles explaining their food and lists of what to eat:  105 Kinds of Japanese Food, 96 Vegetarian Japanese Foods (in case you can't eat fish), 12 Things to Put in Your Miso Soup, 34 Ingredients for Japanese Food and 29 Japanese Street Foods.  They tell you important things about Miso Soup: "Any good miso soup balances ingredients that float and ingredients that sink" and "miso soup is as important to breakfast as coffee".  And you learn weird things like Panko, the Japanese bread crumbs, "are made by passing an electric current through dough as it bakes."  Also aburaage (deep fried tofu) is difficult to make at home and generally factory produced -- which is good to know and I won't try to deep fry it anymore.

Supposedly Fernando has a whole bunch of stuff on food, beginning with natto...

I was looking for a list of supermarkets but Food Sake Tokyo said to go to the Shotengai (traditional shopping arcades) instead and gave a list of his favorites.  Unfortunately the list is from 2010 but hopefully the streets are still there.
Kagurazaka is east of Shinjuku and I'm assuming the street is Waseda Dori.
Yanaka is the oldest area in Tokyo and I've come across other suggestions for visiting it.   It's only about a half hour walk from Minowa station so maybe we could do it on Sunday before Juan and Mandy arrive.  The route goes along the Nippori fabric street as well.

Walking Route from Minowa Station to Yanaka Ginza

Nuts and Bolts about Japan Trip

So Papi is finally asking all the questions and expecting ME to know all the answers.
1.  How do we get money in Japan?
All the travel sites say that Japan is still a cash-based society and that most ATMs only accept Japan-issued cards.  But they also say the the post offices and the 7-eleven stores have ATM that accept foreign debit/credit cards.  We have marked locations of both near the Citadines in Shinjuku.

2.  How do we get from Narita Airport to Shinjuku Station?
Our flight on United Airlines is supposed to arrive at Terminal 1 South Wing.  On the map below, the Narita Express (NEX) to Tokyo is supposed to arrive on platform 1.

The ticket costs 3190 yen.  Our flight is scheduled to arrive at 3:50 pm and if customs takes an hour, we should be leaving around 5 pm or 17. (rush hour...).   There's a Narita Express at 17:16, arriving at Shinjuku at 18:48.  Another one at 18:15, arriving at 19:48.  At Tokyo Station, the Narita Express (NEX) splits in two: The cars of No. 1-5 go to Yokohama and the No. 6-11 cars go to Shinjuku.  I think we have assigned seats so we should end up on the right car.

When we get to Shinjuku, the most traveled train station in the world, we are to find the East Exit and come out where everybody meets up, but looking at the map, it is rather overwhelming!

3. How do we get from Shinjuku Station to the Citadines Central Shinjuki Hotel?

As you can see, both the Narita Express (platforms 5 and 6 on the bottom left) and the East Gate (bottom right) are at the bottom of the map so maybe it will be easy...  TimeOutTokyo says to meet up at the Studio Alta exit (B13) which should put us on the right side for the walk to the Citadines.  It should look like this:

Google Maps says it is 6 minutes by foot from Studio Alta to the Citadines Central Shinjuku, via "unnamed roads".

As long as our google map is working, we should be ok.  By the way, we bought a couple of power banks in case our iPhones run out of juice on the plane.

4.  Do we get a Pasmo/Suica card or a 3-Day Subway Pass?

I already posted about this back in September.  However, the 3 day Tokyo subway pass for 1500 yen also looks good.  The trip from Shinjuku to Minowa Station alone is 240 to 340 yen, depending on the line.  However if we get it for the first 3 days (Jan. 12, 13, and 14), we'll need to get another one for the time with Juan and Mandy but if they don't get one, then we'll probably be more frugal about our subway trips.   One thing to note is that the Japan Rail (JR) Yamanote line which circles the city is not covered by the subway pass.

We can pick up a Tokyo Metro Guide at the Tourist Information Center (TIC) at Terminal 1 in Narita Airport.

At Home in Japan

At Home in Japan: A Foreign Woman's Journey of Discovery is the title of a recent book I read by Rebecca Otawa, a California-born, then Australia-raised woman who married a Japanese farmer near Kyoto, as well as his 350 year-old farmhouse.  She goes through her trials and tribulations fitting into a Japanese household and community, especially dealing with the subservient role of women in Japanese society.  For instance, the young wife is the very last person to use the bath water...  And yet this Western woman does survive and thrives in her new surroundings.

A very similar story is that of Nancy Singleton Hachisu, a Californian who also married a Japanese farmer near Kyoto and has published two recent cookbooks: Japanese Farm Food and Preserving the Japanese Way: Traditions of Salting, Fermenting, and Pickling for the Modern Kitchen.  You can meet her in a Begin Japanology episode: Japanophiles - Nancy Singleton Hachisu.  Obviously both women had very supportive and understanding Japanese husbands.

Life Where I'm From

I shouldn't watch YouTube.  I keep finding more and more stuff on Japan.  Here's one for Louise and Isabel featuring Aiko, a girl about 10, showing her audience what life is like in Japan.  She'll even show you how to eat natto in What Japanese Breakfast is Like.  Her father is a Canadian so she speaks perfect English and her mother is Japanese so she speaks that perfectly too!  There are videos on lunch and dinner as well.

You can learn about the Golden Poop (also known as the Asahi Golden Flame) when they walk the streets of Asakusa, or see all the fun they have at a family sushi restaurant (aka conveyor belt sushi) where they get a chance to win a gacha gacha prize (gotcha gotcha?) for every 5 dishes they eat.

They didn't win any prizes but they ate 35 plates for 4700 yen which sounds pretty reasonable to me.

As you can see, Aiko has a younger brother called Shin and he narrates the episode on What a Japanese Family Restaurant is Like.  The restaurant, Yumean, has kids' menus and Sebastian would love what he orders: edamame, chicken nuggets, french fries, and tempura udon.  It all looked pretty good to me and they got to sit on the floor on tatami mats.  Maybe Juan and Mandy would like to take Louise!

OK. I'm Cleaning Up.

I mentioned before that I had requested the book Tokyo: a certain style by Kyoichi Tsuzuki.  It is a small book, 6 x 4 inches, consisting only of photographs of Tokyo apartments with tiny annotations in the corners.  It has 400+ pages and I only managed to look through 138 of them before I had to come up for air.

The apartments featured aren't really apartments of normal families but mainly those of single persons, often students, and you know how they live.  I guess Tokyo isn't any different except that the apartments are smaller so they are even more cramped and less airy.  You have to have money to be a minimalist.

This isn't the only photography book featuring messy rooms in Tokyo.  The Tokyo Weekender has an October 20, 1916 article entitled: Peek Inside Tokyo Apartments which features the second book of another photographer Shiori Kawamoto called Onago Room. His first book,  Daraku Room, featured the "infamous dormitories where female [teen, pop] idols were living together, with messy rooms so chaotic they were nicknamed daraku beya, which translates best as “depravity rooms.”"

"With “Onago Room,” he builds on his previous work, this time with a diverse spectrum of women from a selection of professions including underground idols, artists, musicians, housewives, and company employees. Each is photographed in her home – and these include everything from minimal studios, stylish monochrome pads, and pastel pink hideaways to sprawling nests of eclectic knick knacks."

You see?  There are lots of apartments in Tokyo ripe for Marie Kondo.

Hand Towels, Head Scarves and Handkerchiefs

What to buy in Japan?

Looking for Japanese traditional head scarves I ended up on the Japan Monthly Web Magazine page on "Tenugui" or cotton hand towels.  Everybody is going to get a tenugui, a furushiki, or a pen.

For myself, I'm going to pick up some handkerchiefs.  I haven't been able to replenish my supply at second hand stores or yard sales and making my own handkerchiefs with a rolled hem is a bit daunting.  I have read in multiple places that a handkerchief is essential for Japanese women and it would be kind of nice to have one with the Tokyo subway on it.  BUT I can't blow my nose with it (there are tissues and a particular etiquette for that), just wipe my brow or dry my hands after a visit to the washroom.

In Japanese it is called hankachi (ハンカチ) which leads me to believe that it was originally a European import.  Turns out it was a replacement for the tenugui.  The Tokyo Weekender also claims that the handkerchief is essential since many public bathrooms don't have hand dryers.  "In the warmer months especially, handkerchiefs are available literally everywhere: they come as a freebie with fashion magazines, and rows of designer editions are displayed at department stores."

Or maybe an O-mamori, a Shinto or Buddhist amulet, if I can determine what the ones I buy are for, whether health, money, love, academic success, pets or protection against traffic accidents (maybe instead of trip insurance?).

I would pick up a souvenir apron but the Asians don't allow for large Western breasts.

Comic and Coffee Table Books on Japan

In addition to Tokyo on Foot, I picked up Cool Japan Guide: Fun in the Land of Manga, Lucky Cats and Ramen in the Teen department of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh (a Librarian had to help me find it...).  It's another graphic version of a Tokyo guidebook and it's great because its chapters cover all the things I'm interested in: Food, Houses, Onsen and Parks, Shrines and Temples and Shopping.  And because it is written for young people without much money its recommendations are "spot on", as the British (whom the Japanese revere) would say.

A few of her tips:
About homes:
'One thing you won't find is an oven!  They just aren't common in a Japanese kitchen.  [oh, oh, Fernando can't bake bread...]

"Most Japanese homes don't have central heating, so devices like the heated carpet and kotatsu are very handy to keep everyone warm. "  BUT she also says "Winter in Japan is quite mild (at least compared to winters in America's Northeast)".

"Another thing you won't see in most homes is a clothes dryer."  [Despite having all that RAIN!]

About trains:
"One thing you have to remember is that while Japanese trains are wonderful, they do NOT run 24 hours!"  (as if we were staying out late at night...)
On the other hand, most combini (convenience stores) are open 24 hours, despite some being 7-elevens...

About hotels:
"Vending machines with beer are something we've seen in every hotel we stayed in [yay], and often the hotels are close to combini too [our is above one].  Usually, the rooms will include slippers and nightgowns/nightshirts, so packing night clothes isn't even necessary!"

I also picked up a coffee table photography book called Tokyo megacity.  I didn't expect much from it but the text is surpisingly informative and it profiles many neighborhoods, beginning with the low city (Shitamachi).  Shitamachi includes Asakusa (asaksa), Ueno, Yanaka, Akihabara and Tsukiji (tskiji) and was where the merchants and artisans lived and is one of the older sections of the city.  The author calls the Tokyo style of architecture "slash and burn" and there is very little in the city that is ancient, also in part due to the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 and the U.S. firebombing of 1945.

The Upper City (Yamanote) to the west of the Imperial Palace was where the daimyo and their samurai resided but with the Meiji Restoration in the late 1800s I think a lot of them went home.  The author of Tokyo megacity, Donald Richie, divides the area into the Mid City and the High City, probably alluding more to the height of the buildings than to the height of the land.  Our first hotel in Tokyo will be in Shinjuku which is in the "High City" but at least we aren't staying in Shibuya or Harajuku which are the young people's hangout.  I don't want to feel too ancient...

(Travel) Books on Japan

I still like to read print books even though there is a tremendous amount of useful information on the Internet.  Unfortunately when I take out print travel guides on Japan and Tokyo and start reading, I find them extremely boring.  I don't really want to know what museums, shrines, temples, castles and historic locations I should see.  I'm much more interested in everyday life in Japan, the convenience stores, supermarkets, department stores that Japanese visit.  Maybe that is why I like the Japanology documentaries.

I've read two travelogues on Japanese food: Super Sushi Ramen Express which is an entertaining account of a British food writer and his family's stay in Japan (with two boys aged 4 and 6 how can it not be entertaining?); and Rice Noodle Fish, Deep Travels through Japan's Food Culture, whose author takes both himself and his food more seriously and so is harder to finish.  I think I'm prepared for Japanese food although I'll have problems with the slimy soybean natto and dipping things into raw egg.

I picked up a couple of books with short essays on Japan: To Japan with Love, A Travel Guide for the Connoisseur, which contains little vignettes on living in Japan by foreigners; and Living Japan, Essays on Everyday Life in Contemporary Society, a collection of often amateurish short essays by Japanese.  Both books are much easier to read than a Lonely Planet travel guide because they tell stories and aren't just a list of the top 10 sites or the top 10 restaurants where I can only anticipate encountering tourists.

And then there is The Japanese House: Material Culture in the Modern Home by Inge Daniels, a Belgian anthropologist, which is pretty easy to read considering it is a scholarly work.  Contrary to what all Americans think, the Japanese have as much trouble with "stuff" as we do.  The Japanese have a strong gift culture so that they end up with lots of souvenirs and mementos which are hard to throw away and that don't fit into their small houses and apartments. The Japanese Design Institute considers the current state of affairs a "domestic disarray" and since the woman is in charge of the house, of course it is her fault...  What I find most interesting is that after 40 years, the family tears down their house and builds a new one [Correction:  the average is 26 years].

More books are coming:  Tokyo on Foot and Tokyo: A Certain Style.  The latter book "shows how, for those living in one of the world's most expensive and densely packed metropolises, closet-sized apartments stacked to the ceiling with gadgetry and CDs are the norm."

Stay tuned.

Rocket News 24

Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia today

I don't know if "yesterday's news" is a thing to brag about but I ran across this site in a Google News search for "Tokyo news" this morning and the news they gather is my kind of news:

Edo era-themed sushi restaurant to bring delicious food, historical decor to Tokyo this month

All-you-can-eat ramen being offered in Tokyo by one of Japan’s most popular chains!

Japanese artist uses newspaper to make immense, life-like sculptures. Whatever you do with your old papers, it’s probably nowhere near as cool as this!

Japan has established itself as King of the Thrones. As long as you are able to find a Western-style toilet.


Cheapo News: The top 100-yen sushi plates at Shibuya’s Uobei Sushi. We visit the Uobei Sushi conveyor belt sushi restaurant and choose our top picks to save you time, money and potentially wasted calories.

See what I mean??

And if those articles aren't enough, here are a couple more so that we are ready to appreciate the very best aspects of life in Japan:

10 things Japan gets awesomely right

The top 10 instances when Japanese people feel thankful to be Japanese

NHK Videos for Tokyo

I wish all countries had a public broadcasting station like NHK in Japan.  I keep running across programs I haven't seen, like Tokyo Eye 2020, my first episode of which was about stationery stores, a must see for Fernando who always likes to pick up notebooks.

A week or so ago I watched "Home Appliances" on Japanology in which a couple of Japanese housewives go to an appliance megastore (I think it was LLaOx) in Shinjuku (where we are staying the first 4 days in Tokyo) to buy a new washing machine.  What they find is reason enough to go to Shinjuku: the Japanese have every imaginable feature built into their appliances.  For instance, there's a vacuum storage drawer in refrigerators for keeping leftovers -- so they'll last longer than normal...  Small local appliance stores affiliated with a single manufacturer also make "house calls" whenever one of their customers has a problem -- like not being able to work the TV remote.

Most of the Japanology episodes with Peter Barakan are filmed in Tokyo and so are very relevant for our trip in January.  Since they are produced by NHK, the government/public broadcasting company, they are always upbeat, which I find more enjoyable than programs or travel books that are critical.  The obvious episodes covering landmarks of interest to tourists are:
Tokyo Bay (from which Edomae sushi comes and which has been cleaned up since the economic boom in the 60s, 70s and 80s)
Tokyo Tower (the Eiffel Tower-like TV broadcasting tower built in the 1950s)
Tokyo SkyTree (the taller TV and radio broadcasting tower that replaced the Tokyo Tower in 2012 because the new skyscrapers around Tokyo Tower were obstructing its reception.  Both of these have observation towers so you can see Mt. Fuji)
Tokyo Station (the central brick railroad station built in 1914)
Akihabara (the techno/anime neighborhood)
Tsukiji Market (that famous fish market that won't have moved by January because the new governor wants to test the groundwater at the new site which is a brownfield formerly owned by a gas company.)

And then there are those of more interest to me, covering everyday life:
Underground Tokyo (subways, trains and underground rivers, not to mention underground shopping malls)
Tokyo Metropolitan Expressway (not that we're driving but it is interesting to see a completely elevated 2-lane freeway that goes 45 mph)
Tokyo Housing (extremely dense population makes for compact living quarters - and tiny hotel rooms)
Department Stores (these are high on my list of must-sees, especially the food courts and the elevator operators -- remember when they used to have them in California?)
Convenience Stores (The story of their origin from the US 7-11 franchise is interesting and we might be frequenting a lot of them for dinner.  There's one beneath our hotel in Shinjuku.)

And then there are those on food...
Conveyor Belt Sushi (You wouldn't think these restaurants would be good but the Japanese like to automate everything and the story of the problems involved are enough to make you want to eat at one.)
Vending Machines (You can buy almost anything from a vending machine, although I understand that they are supposedly discontinuing beer sales...)
And of course the general ones on Ramen, Udon, Tempura, Bento...