Almost time to fly home. A few more days of sight seeing and then it's back on the 16 hour flight to London. There must be an easier way of getting to Japan but if there is we've yet to find it. Some folks fly from Edinburgh via Qatar but all that does is exchange an overnight in London for a plane change in the middle east.
Yesterday, more brides and photographers can be glimpsed lurking in the back streets near the hotel. The grooms always seem to look glum as well they might being constantly told to stand in flower beds and told to look romantic. The realisation of how much this must all be costing can't help matters.
We're looking for a piece of Japanese art to take home. We come across an English artist called Emily Allchurch but aren't sure if the olours that look good in the sun of Tokyo will look good in dreich Scotland :. https://www.emilyallchurch.com/gallery/tokyostory/
There is a great chocolate shop that attracts Angus while 'The Font' shops. The French and Japanese package things with delicacy and reverence. In Scotland , which has a retail culture that is altogether more robust and unvarnished , such things are undreamt of.
Dinner at a Shabu-Shabu restaurant. The chef on the boat did great things in his tiny galley but we had the feeling his Japanese offerings were rather more a fusion of Filipino/American than Japanese. The concierge in the hotel wants to send us to a rather fancy place but we ask her to make reservations at a restaurant we'd been told about by one of our more worldly wise Palo Altoan boat companions. It's under the railway arches by the station. " Are you sure ?" she asks in a way that makes it quite clear she doesn't think this is a good idea.After coming to terms with boiling broth, a rather good bottle of Japanese wine, four glasses of sake ( provided gratis by the owner who finds our few words of Japanese hilarious and who spends ten minutes explaining the difference between Daiginjo and Ginjo ) and some of the best ponzu sauce on the planet we wander through the streets back to the hotel. We sit in the bar with its panoramic view of the television tower and wonder if anywhere can be as different from the quiet of St Andrews as the bright lights of Marunouchi.
Roman glass and flowers :https://www.charlesede.com/exhibitions/50/overview/
Weight loss drugs :https://uncertaintyprinciples.substack.com/p/why-do-we-lose-weight-on-glp-1-drugs
I really want to go to Japan, but dread the long flight. A couple of options, travel it by ship, a segment of an around the world cruise, repositioning cruised to and from the west coast of North America, or break the flight into a series of shorter flights with stay overs. Still painful.
ReplyDeleteHari OM
ReplyDeleteWhile the art piece certainly has some appeal... surely there is some truly Japanese ukiyoe item that could find its way into your luggage? I wonder, will you be dreaming bright lights when you return to TLWCBD??? YAM xx
It sounds like you found your way to a restaurant under the tracks in Yurakucho, it's a quintessential Tokyo thing to do. I was thinking yesterday that you are having good luck with the weather, but don't be deceived, Tokyo can be a pretty gloomy place for much of the year, and the rainy season is about to begin. So I am not sure about Emily Allchurch's colors even in Japan - if you look at the Hiroshige prints she's using for inspiration, they are much more muted. As to a very gloomy print, I was surprised to see that Kiyochika street scene pop up - it used to hang in our weekend house, and you remind me that I haven't seen it since we moved. There is at least one Scottish artist working in Japan - Paul Binnie - although I'm not sure he'd be to your taste: https://ebogallery.com/collections/paul-binnie If you are interested in something modern, you might consider visiting the Tolman Gallery: https://tolmantokyo.com/en/ For something older, you could try Hara Shobu in the old used bookstore neighborhood: https://www.harashobo.com/english/ or Mita Arts: https://en.mita-arts.com/about/
ReplyDeleteSadly, I don't think the painting will look well on your wall once you are back home - it's gloomy enough in the gallery under bright lights. Isn't there something a little more cheerful and colourful to remind you of the enjoyable holiday you had?
ReplyDeleteSomehow, your being in Tokyo has me thinking of all my favorite places. If you are looking for a place to eat, and you enjoy perfectly grilled fish, meat and vegetables, this is a place I love: https://www.roppongi-robataya.com/en/ The idea of robata might cause your concierge to roll his eyes, but it's a lot of fun - noisy and "Edo-style" rather than haute-Japonaise - and very high quality. If you haven't eaten tempura yet, that's another thing to think about - high-quality tempura in Japan is something completely different. In Ginza, Ten-ichi and Ten-kuni are both well-known and very good, the difference being that Ten-kuni uses sesame oil. If you eat tempura, you should reserve a counter seat in front of the chef.
ReplyDeletePink tulips are beautiful anywhere!
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