Jan and Grant Visit Tokyo

Hi again

Well we have had another successful and action packed weekend with Joss' parents Jan and Grant. They arrived last Thursday night, and after settling into their hotel we took them to Za Watami, which has become a bit of a favourite of ours. We did have some sakes, but not as many as last time.

On Friday Joss, Jan and Grant went to check out a few of the Tokyo sites.
On Friday night after Paul finished work (PM: sshhh, I may have had an early mark) we had a few afternoon drinks and then headed out to dinner to a restaurant called Nabezo, about 10min by train from Oimachi. Nabezo is a shabu shabu/sukiyaki/nabe restaurant, basically all 3 are varieties of Japanese hot pot, where you cook meat and veges in broths at the table. We went for the 2 hours of eat and drink whatever you can option! It was great! Apart from the fantastic food, the decor inside was impressive, the magazine that we found out about it in called the decor Tim Burtonesche. See the pics and judge for yourself.

Inside Nabezo

Grant and Jan in our little booth.

Kanpai!

Shabu shabu in action (we had sukiyaki and miso broths)

Our little booth, conveniently located by the vegetable bar! When we arrived the waiter gave us little serviettes to cover our bags. They think of everything!

Saturday we took a day trip out of Tokyo and went to Kuneguma, which is a beach south of Yokohama, and on a clear day Mt Fuji can be seen. However, although the skies were perfectly clear, Fuji was somehow hiding itself behind low clouds on the horizon. We were disappointed not to see Fuji but it was a nice trip out to the beach nonetheless. After that we went to the Ramen museum. For us it was our 3rd visit, and we did a rough calculation and realized that we have been to approximately 26 different ramen shops in our time here so far! And that does not include the few that we have gone to more than once!

Saturday night was a quiet night and an attempt at a home cooked Japanese dinner.

Kuneguma (Fuji is in the other direction)
The Ramen museum
Amongst the action, ready for our first bowl
Outside the Ramen Museum

At home ready to tuck in


Sunday was another day planned around food. We went to Namjatown where we have been previously for gyoza, dessert and ice-cream! Afterwards we wandered around some of the street markets in Ueno, and then onto Sushi train for dinner near out place.

Jan and Grant at Namjatown, after trying 6 varieties of gyoza.

The shark fin ramen flavoured ice cream. It wasn't anywhere near as bad as it sounds. Bit like ice-cream with some bits... bits of shark!

Out to sushi train for some proper seafood.

Roy Ayers at Motion Blue

Hi All

Just a quick update. On Sunday we went to see Roy Ayers at Motion Blue Yokohama, a jazz bar associated with the larger Blue Note in Tokyo. It was a great bar, located in a red brick warehouse building by the water that has been restored and now houses a few restaurants, shops and bars.

We have kind of adopted Yokohama as our second city, as it is very easy to get to, plus Joss works there at the conversation cafe.

We are both looking forward to Joss' parents arriving tonight!!

Anyway here are a couple of snaps outside of the warehouse.

Hakuba Trip 2

In the first weekend of March before all of the snow disappeared we decided to make another trip to Hakuba for some Spring snow sports. We left on Thursday evening for the four and a half hour bus ride, and arrived around 8pm at Hakuba.

Unfortunately the lodge we stayed at last time, Hakuba House, was not available so we settled for what sounded like another nice lodge which was in a different area to the previous, but was similar in layout and services. We were located about five min on foot from the hotels and restaurants of Echoland, the night spot of Hakuba, something we were sure would come in handy.

The lodge itself was quite cool, well equipped with a communal kitchen, two common hang out areas (one complete with a wii), and a beer vending machine! What more could we ask for?

Well we soon found out that the host himself was a bit, errr odd. Let's say socially maladroit (PM: Sorry, he was so odd I had to discover a new word to describe him). He was Canadian and has lived in Japan for the past 11 years and true to form of a large proportion of foreign people we have met who live here, he was weird. His oddness was offset by his lovely Japanese wife.

However, the presence of their 3 kids in the lodge caught us by surprise, all under pre-school age (a pair of twins), and behaving as kids do at home. Having fun, running around screaming and being, well loud in the early hours of the morning. Why they thought that sort of behaviour wouldn't effect the guests is beyond us! Sure we appreciate kid friendly accommodation, but at least they could have provided a warning on their website. It could have gone something like: 'Beware kids on premises, those wishing to sleep later than 6am should bring earplugs (good ones)'. Anyway, although the situation was a bit odd it was more than ample for what we needed and did provide us with a few giggles - the place just seemed to attract random people.

(PM: One of them a drunk and barely legible Finnish guy who reminded me of a very drunk dwarf: big red sunburnt nose, glasses, long hair and the beanie to suit, an apt name would be boozey).

Friday we were greeted with a fantastic sunny day, and we hit the slopes for a long and very successful day boarding/skiing. We both started off the day and weekend with a private lesson, which was totally worthwhile.

A perfect day for skiing, t-shirts and a jacket is all that was needed.

Just look at that backdrop.

Looking back up the slope

Joss in action.

Not really action shots, but hey what about that view?

On the Friday whilst enjoying the snow sports, we met a fellow traveller from Aus, Su, who recommended we go along to a bar in the White Horse Hotel which was frequented by travelers, mostly Aussies. We thought why the heck not, especially seeing as the lodge we were staying did not have the same appeal as our previous trip. What was supposed to be a quiet couple turned into quite a night. We met some great people, one of whom, Ben, was just about to begin a trans-Siberian adventure, so of course we had a lot in common!

At the bar with Ben, Jeni, Joss, Su (background) and the Aussie bar manager Clint.

Everyone at the bar

Well, Saturday provided a bit of rain on the slopes, and even though we were feeling a little weary from our previous nights entertainment, we still hit the slopes for a half day.

Saturday night snowed non-stop, as it did all day Sunday, which meant a good morning of skiing on about 15cm of fresh snow! Unfortunately it seemed word got out in Tokyo about this and the slopes were packed! However we still got some good runs in the morning.

After lunch we packed up our things, made our way to the bus terminal and had an onsen (PM: my first!) before a longer than usual trip home due to the traffic!

On the chair ready for the first run on Sunday.

Emma and Ruben's Visit to Tokyo

Last weekend of February Joss' sister Emma & her partner Ruben stopped in Tokyo for a whirlwind 3 days. They had been visiting family & holidaying in Australia before returning to Italy/UK via Japan.

We caught up with them on the first night at an izakaya called Za Watami not far from our place. It had been over 4 years since Joss had seen them, and was the first time Paul & Emma had met, so it didn’t take long for the alcohol to flow. And it sure did flow. We ate a ridiculous amount of tapas-style meals along with beer which was quickly followed by about 6 bottles of sake. Ouch.

JH: And I had to work the next morning with 2 year olds. Double ouch

Anyway, we had a lot of fun. Here are some photos from Paul’s fancy new camera.

Emma and Joss
Paul and Ruben with one of the many sakes.

Joss met up with Emma & Ruben the following day after work and took them to ramen and shopping before we all headed out to a Kaiseki restaurant that we had discovered on the net. Kaiseki is where you get several small tasty dishes – ours was 8 courses. It was a delicious meal which was made all the more special by the fact that it seemed we were the only Westerners ever to have gone to there! (well they made us feel that way anyway!)

One of the many tasty dishes

Out the front, where one of the very friendly staff offered to take a photo of us after they all walked us out!

JH: On the Friday I had the day off, so the three of us went to Kamakura for the day. Kamakura is an old, quintessentially Japanese town with lots of temples & gardens etc, and is only about an hour away from our place. We had a very leisurely day taking in some temples & the Great Buddha and a super long lunch.

PM: I was a bit disappointed to miss out on the lunch.

For our last dinner together Emma & Ruben were keen to go to a Yakiniku restaurant (where you cook your own meat). So we headed to Ebisu and a Yakiniku restaurant on the 38th floor of a the Garden Place Tower called Jojoen. YUM! What a great night. We had a ball - not only was the food delicious, but the view was amazing. Was a fantastic way to end their 3 day trip.

JH: Least I know that it won’t be another 4 years until I see Emma again – we are heading to Italy in late August to stay with her. Can’t wait!

Ruben, Emma and Joss in Kamakura

Emma, Ruben and Joss in Shibuya

Some of the great food grilling. Looks like Scallops, Ox Tongue and some yasai (vegetables)

The view from the 38th floor.

The Roots @ Billboard and Ice Skating?!

The Roots Live @ Billboard Live

It all started 3 Wednesdays ago, when we were perusing the Metropolis magazine (for English speakers/readers) and stumbled across an ad for a Roots gig live in Tokyo. Being big fans, and having seen them in Sydney, there was no other thing to do than buy tickets! They also happened to be playing at a venue we had been hoping to go to, Billboard Live. 2 birds, one, well you get the idea. For those who have not heard, the Roots are best described as a Jazzy Hip Hop jam band, their show provides a bit of everything!

Finally the night arrived (last Friday), needless to say we were both very excited and eager to be once again acquainted with a group of such high caliber. After a few warm up bevvies whilst getting ourselves prepared we embarked upon the short journey, with plenty of time to cover any mishaps - although with Tokyo public transport this was a remote possibility! However, something we did not expect was the utter uselessness of the map provided and the mis-representational sign posting (Apparently Billboard Live can also known as Live Music Restaurant!) After a frustrating 45min we arrived at the venue just before the Roots were due to go on.

And once we took our seats with our complimentary beverage, all frustrations disappeared, we were presented with a fantastic view of the stage in an intimate venue of approx 200 - 250 people, and a seat! We will be returning to this venue as many times as possible, so for those visiting, get in early with dates and we will check out what is on and go to something!

True to their reputation it was a fantastic show, and in the relatively short set they played (they had another straight after!) we recognised the covers from at least this list:

Led Zep: Immigrant Song
Guns n Roses: Sweet Child o' Mine
George Thorogood: Bad to the Bone
Kool & the Gang: Jungle Boogie

Here are some pics (illegal)

This was the view from our seats as the curtain was closing. The green in the background was an ice scating rink (yes really, they are green lights making it look like putt putt, funnily enough it was a VW Golf promo, go figure)

The roots in action, they were so close it was fantastic

Us, actually we didn't realise til later that no photos were not allowed so we were lucky to get these.

After the gig, we were on a bit of a high from the show and after seeing the ice skating, figured, why not?! So we did some late night ice skating in Tokyo! It was pretty damn exciting night.

The ice skating rink

Us, rink in background.

Joss ready to go.

Paul in action

Hanging About in January and Unexpected Snow

Well after a lot of excitement over Christmas, NYE and our snow trip, the rest of January has been fairly quiet - catching up on rest and recovering. There have been some warmer days which has helped with the recovering.

Below are some pics from our day out to Nanja Town, another food themed 'park' which has 3 sections, gyoza (dumplings), Ice cream and dessert! For anyone planning a trip to Tokyo, we would be happy to return!

We tried a few different varieties of gyoza, including regular, a large round one with a whole prawn inside, beef (pic above is taken at the place it was sold), spicy with minced pork, vegetable with miso butter sauce, and served with habenero sauce - hot hot hot.

PM: Joss wondering when I am going to actually take a photo.

Our tub of shoyu (soy sauce) ice cream. We chickened out a bit here and tried a 'safe' flavour, next time we might get up the courage to try on of the other more exotic flavours: crab, squid, eggplant, abalone, salt, fish sauce, wasabi... and the list goes on!

Over the weekend just gone, Paul's cousin Michael and his wife Shaohua were in Tokyo. We went for a meal on Sunday, it was great to catch up again.

Shaohua, Michael and Paul inside the izakaya in Shibuya having some pre dinner drinks.

At an okinomiyaki restaurant in Ebisu where we cooked up our dinner on the hotplate at the table and introduced Michael to shochu. We were in a small little room with just another table.

Michael in the restaurant, and looking into the main area of the restaurant.

So last night (Monday) provided a surprise snowfall - well surprising to us, not to the weather forecasters. Here are some pics around our apartment.

This photo was taken just as the snow started falling from our balcony.

Our back balcony a few hours later. There was about 5 cm of snow covering the ground, there is still some now (midday Tuesday) on house roofs.

Out the front of our building.

Looking down our street.