Category Archives: neighborhoods

A Post-Earthquake Pilgrimage to Kiddy Land

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It’s now been two weeks after the earthquake and while things are still dire, Tokyo has returned to a certain level of normalcy. So far, amidst the heartbreaking suffering in the tsunami’s aftermath, there have been food scares and now a water scare. I plan on writing about that in the next post, but for this one I want to take you along on an afternoon stroll through these pictures I took while taking my sister to Kiddy Land, a famous toy store in Harajuku. Continue reading →

Happoen

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gold carp

About a week before Christmas, T and I had one of our rare days off together. So we made the most of it and explored some more of Shirokane, a neighborhood near our apartment.  I recently wrote about its street of gingko trees.

La Boheme
First we went to our favorite restaurant there, La Boheme, for lunch. It’s really one of the few places we can afford in that over-priced neighborhood. Yet the decor is quite lush and luxurious. Although, there is somewhat of a gothic haunted mansion vibe about the place that’s a bit cheesy.

La Boheme

Sometimes, there’s an accordionist, and once there were a pair of violinists. It’s actually a chain, but the service is always superb, and the food is very good. I recommend the gorgonzola and honey pizza. The arabica pasta is also tasty.

Happoen
Then we decided to check out Happoen, which is a private garden that is rented out for weddings. It’s a traditional Edo style garden that used to belong to a local lord. There are a couple chapels, a restaurant, and cafe, and the huge gorgeously maintained garden. Because it’s not a public park, there were few people there. The sign at the entrance says only customers and guests are allowed, but we went in anyway. No one seemed to mind. I suspect many locals go there to chill out.

danglingwater and leaves

In Happoen there is a path lined with bonsai that are hundreds of years old, and a pond that reflected the surrounding trees in a way that created the surreal colors of an impressionistic painting. I spent a long time photographing the carp. T teased me about this because I have this fascination with them. I’m mesmerized by the way they slither placidly under the surface of the water.

persimmon bonsaimottled

Book Off!
It’d been a long time since we wandered around Shirokane. Even though it’s near our home, it’s not really our kind of place. Lots of rich matrons walking their spoiled ornamental dogs, sipping $10 coffees in pretentious cafes.

It kept us from visiting this gem of a garden. And we also never noticed that there was a bookstore with a huge inventory of used English-language books. The bookstore is called Book Off, an ubiquitous chain of bookstores specializing in used books, usually all in Japanese, and mostly manga. But apparently, they also buy used English books (and several other languages too) and they all get sent to this one branch, which is bizarre because Shirokane is definitely not known as a place where foreigners live.

Most of the books are 300 to 500 yen. So it’s cheaper than any other used English bookstore in Tokyo. Plus, it has a nice cafe, so it was the perfect way to end our date: kicking back with our stack of books, sipping coffee, watching the languid locals be walked around by their Hiltonian pooches.

On the Way to Rikugien Gardens

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stone bridge

On my final Autumn Leaves outing for the season, I went to the Rikugien Gardens, which is in north Tokyo (between Komagome and Sugamo stations on the northern end of the Yamanote Line). It’s probably the final outing because at the park, the leaves were gently drifting down en masse.

The park is so well designed that I decided then and there that it was my favorite Tokyo park. The central feature is a large pond with several islands in it. And though it’s compact and relatively small, the views are constantly varied as you walk around. Also, it’s one of the few gardens in the city that doesn’t have skyscrapers sullying the view.

The textures and colors of the trees are layered in pleasing ways. The gardens were designed to depict famous poems and I could easily feel the poetic sensibilities throughout the grounds. Oh don’t hesitate to visit while it still has leaves.

A Little Detour
I’d never stopped off at Sugamo and Komagome stations so I decided to walk around. These are some of the interesting things I saw on the way to Rikugien .

A street of markets with solar panels.
solar panels

The Sugamo Jizo Street Market, apparently where all the cool seniors go shopping, for such things as terribly unstylish shoes, granny snacks and dried fish shavings in bulk.
shaved fishcrackers

On one end of the street was an empty temple billowing in incense smoke.
incense

Further down the street there was a crowd of people patiently waiting in line at another temple…
waiting

…to take turns pouring water on, cleaning, and wiping a black statue of the goddess of compassion.
wiping

Closer to the park there was a neighborhood of large estates, houses that are as big as any in California. And out of nowhere an enormous building with impressive columns emerged, which I gathered was the headquarters of a syncretic religion. It sure as heck wasn’t Buddhist.
columns

And finally Rikugien Gardens. My favorite spot was the highest point at the center where the yellow leaves of an ancient tree steadily rained down. All manner of emotional buttons were pushed. It was so damn poetic and beautiful I almost cried. Another year gently dropping its leaves.

panorama

Gingkos on Platinum St.

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the glass sony building

From my balcony I can see the end of the gingko-lined Platinum St. On a recent morning I woke up and saw the gingkos turn golden so I ventured out to record this event. I walked the length of Platinum St., which is in the Shirokane neighborhood of Tokyo.

The neighborhood and the street are known for old money rich people. The wealthy matrons who live there are chidingly called ‘Shirokanese’, a term mocking them for their Europhilia. Although, I suspect they like to be called this. Even the name, Platinum St. is terribly pretentious, but it’s just a translation of Shirokane, which literally means ‘white gold’. Also, there are about a dozen Michelin starred restaurants in the neighborhood, attesting to its snob quotient.

yellow and rustglass cafeyellow carpeta bakery

I rather enjoy walking down the street myself because it has unusually wide sidewalks for a Tokyo street, with few people walking down them. The entire street is lined with tall mature gingko, one of my favorite tree species. And the mixture of quaint shops and chic storefronts reminds me of Omotesando, without the crowds

There are at least 3 dog boutique shops, catering to the numerous housewives who can be seen walking their tiny pampered pets. Or more commonly, you can see these pooches be taken around in baby carriages.

I’ve never been to any of the many cafés and chocolatiers that line the street because they’re just over priced. Every few months, stores go out of business, and new stores emerge, as a new batch of bored housewives with too much cash and time on their hands set up shop to sell pricey knick-knacks. I once saw a men’s shoe store open and then close the following week.

Constant new construction is also a hallmark of the neighborhood. But I guess that’s no different than any other Tokyo ward. In my next post, I’ll write about all the new buildings that I’ve seen pop up.

pink and yellow and green