Tokyo Trip Part 4: The Food

Harajuku Crepes

The Savory

There is literally so much good food to each in Japan. It's hard to choose, but I would saw the shabu-shabu was the best food I had in Japan. Shabu-shabu is basicially a thinly sliced beef and vegetable hotpot.  We went to a very traditional place and was served in a tatami room, which was expensive but worth experiencing once. The beef literally melts in your mouth and everything is very traditional and formal. I especially enjoyed the konnyaku with was moist and chewy. 

Japanese pasta is delicious as well, different from the typical Italian style because they often put their own twist like adding fish roe or the likes. The second night, my friends and I were so weary and hungry we stumbled into any restaurant in Odaiba. It was a chance find, but it's a place I would definitely go back again. The night view of the harbor was gorgeous, and I ordered a salmon and spinach cream sauce pasta which was heavenly--abundant salmon. Usually, cream sauce makes me queasy after a while, but this was not too heavy, and I finished the entire dish. Plus, the staff was super friendly and seeing that we were tourists, they let us enter the back portion of the restaurant which was closed off, and let us take pictures of the gorgeous backdrop of Rainbow Bridge, seen below.  

Odaiba

Of course, more casual eating can be done at local izakayas. I especially love gyoza, pan-fried meat-filled dumplings, which can be found in China and Korea too, but I still love all variants of dumplings. I wanted to to go Tsukiji Fish Market known for their fresh sashimi, but there was no way I was waking up before 5AM and eating raw fish first thing in the morning. But all the sushi I did have was delicious--melted in my mouth. I didn't get a chance to go to a proper donkatsu or ramen place, but hopefully next time. 

The Sweets

Japan is known for its sweets. Their delicious puddings and mochi and crepes and cakes. If I had more time, I would have tried everything, but the room in my stomach was limited. I tried sweet potato soft-serve ice cream in Asakusa which was delicious. I'm an ice cream mania. I've even tried wasabi-flavored ice cream before. The best soft-serve ice-cream I've ever tried was during the Hokkaido Fair at Mitsuwa, New Jersey, a Japanese market in New Jersey. I had milk-flavored and pear-flavored swirled together, and I swear, it was the softest, silkiest ice cream I had ever had. (Hokkaido is known for its milk-flavored stuff), and I loved the rich, round, milky taste left in my mouth afterwords. I do love anko (red-bean) and black sesame and kinako (soy) and green tea flavored ice cream out of the Japanese flavors, but not so much wasabi. 

Of course in Harajuku, we had the crepes filled with strawberry, vanilla custard and whipped cream. It was pretty huge, so three of us shared it. In Japan, be sure to try out the royal milk tea (one of my favorite drinks). They also so have interesting ice cream floats, like the melon float (putridly Shrek-green, but delicious).  

Basically, everything I put in my mouth was delicious. Even the airplane food, and I hate airplane food. I rode All Nippon Airways, a Japanese airlines competitive with JAL, and on my way back, I had for early dinner a little bento-style box complete with vanilla pudding for dessert. I unfortunately did not get to try nearly every that I wanted to try, but hopefully next time, I can try everything I didn't get to this time. Because we walked around so much, I think we burned off all the calories pretty quickly.  Of course, I brought back home half a trunk full of snacks ranging from castella (kasutera), mochi (rice cakes filled with sweet red bean and white bean filling), yokan, a traditional Japanese dessert consisting of sweet jellied azuki beans (I got the ones embedded with chestnuts), Hokkaido Shiroi Koibito, white chocolate sandwiched between two cookies that simply melts in your mouth, hiyoko, savory manju shaped like little chicks filled with sweet white beans (a favorite of mine as a child). If it isn't obvious, food is one of my favorite subjects to talk and write about.

Tokyo Trip Part 1:The Places
Tokyo Trip Part 2:  The Shopping
Tokyo Trip Part 3: CLAMP x Blythe Dolls
Tokyo Trip Part 4: Food
Tokyo Trip Part 5: Final Thoughts

Tokyo Trip Part 3: CLAMP x Blythe Dolls Collaboration

Venus Forte

I've always loved dolls. Perhaps I'm a girly-girl or perhaps I love the idea of make-believe or perhaps I see dolls as works of art. Or I just like pretty things. I have an affinity for inanimate objects, it seems, and as a child, I used to believe that my stuffed animals and dolls had souls. It was a very burdensome belief, because I used to feel sorry for a doll when I liked it a little less than the another doll. But surely I'm not the only one who cried a bucket of tears when watching Toy Story 3. Truthfully, I was not a big fan of ever-so-popular Blythe dolls because I personally prefer dainty Victorian-style porcelain dolls, and as Mokono-sensei put it very well in the CLAMP interview from Me & My Blythe "To be honest she appeared very scary at first."

Perchance, I was at Odaiba Venus Forte on my second day in Tokyo (actually, it was not perchance, it was a girl's shopping quest), when I saw the huge banners advertising Blythe Doll's 9th Anniversary Charity Exhibition Manga Girls Inspiration. I first heard of the CLAMP x Blythe collaboration at Chibi Yuuto Chronicles and thought of course our adorable Sakura-chan should be made into a doll. (Tomoyo would approve 100%.) I've always been fascinated by the Sakura-doll in Sakura-chan's room in the CCS anime, that Tomoyo made for her. Admittedly, there is something deliciously creepy about Blythe dolls which surprisingly works with Sakura! I love the original CLAMP design (many thanks for the image to Chibiyuuto) for Kinomoto Sakura, which looks like an evil chibi-Sakura. I've never seen her drawn with that kind of expression before. When I saw the design, I couldn't help thinking, why does that face look so familiar? And then I realized it reminded me of a fanart I drew of chibi-Syaoran many years back for Kirei Blossom (creator of the New Trial Yahoo Group).

I was traveling with two illustration majors who luckily share my penchant for pretty things, hence I pointed to the big poster and asked, "Oh my gosh, is this here?" And we preceded to hunt down the location. The exhibit was originally held in the Omotesando Hills in June, and I did not know it was moved to Venus Forte. And thus, perhaps a quarter of an hour before closing time, we stumbled upon doll's galore on the first floor of the shopping complex. Mind you, these are not just ordinary play-dolls. They are works of art. The costume, the hair, the concept. This exhibition was themed "Manga Girls Inspiration" hence there were many familiar character designs everywhere. And I knew that Sakura-ninkyo would be somewhere, so it was quite a fun search. Unfortunately, the Watanuki-doll seems to not have made it to this exhibit. 

Below, I have provided plentiful pictures of the whole exhibit, though they do not do justice to the actual dolls. They were indeed a pain to put together, but please enjoy. You can see the little placates for the dolls that were manga-inspired. I wish I read some Japanese. My favorites included the Kiki from Hayao Miyazaki's Kiki's Delivery Service and some of the elaborate Goth looking dolls. It was nostalgic to see Magical Princess Minky Momo, probably the first mahou shoujo series that I ever learned of at age 5 or 6. I used to have a Mink coloring book and hairpin.

Seeing the CLAMP x Blythe Collaboration Sakura-doll was all the more serendipitous because I hadn't planned on seeing this exhibit, hadn't even been thinking about it, and yet stumbled upon because I wanted to ride the Yurikamome (the elevated trains where you can see the awesome night view of Tokyo Bay area and Rainbow Bridge). Hence, at that moment, I thought, ah synchronicity. My trip to Tokyo had been very last minute and was very short, hence it was centered around food/touring/shopping. I didn't get to go to Akihabara and manga/anime stuff was (unfortunately) not a priority at this time. And even so, I was brought to Kinomoto Sakura.

Click on image below to enlarge.

Tokyo Trip Part 1:The Places
Tokyo Trip Part 2:  The Shopping
Tokyo Trip Part 3: CLAMP x Blythe Dolls
Tokyo Trip Part 4: Food
Tokyo Trip Part 5: Final Thoughts

Tokyo Trip Part 2: The Shopping

 
Harajuku (原宿)
As a fan of Japanese street fashion, I definitely had been looking forward to going to Harajuku. Harajuku is definite fun and vibrant and different. On weekends, I heard many cosplayers gather. Unfortunately, it wasn't the weekend. However, there were still many people with very distinctive fashion styles walking down the streets ranging from street-wear sweet lolita to indeed some very strange garbs that I cannot quite describe. I remember receiving a comment on deviantart regarding why I draw the girls' skirts so short. In case anyone was wondering, yes, school girls do wear their uniform skirts that short. Another fashion quirk. During my time in Tokyo, I swear I have never seen more black parasols in my life. Japanese women take very good care of their complexion, hence black parasols and fingerless gloves that come up to their upper arm in the sweltering 36 degrees Celsius heat. It was one of the hottest heat spells in Japan this year while I was there, and I am surprised I did not melt away.

 

 
I saw a hoodie with bunny ears and a tail just like the one I drew for Sakura. It was adorable; I was half tempted to buy it. There were many stores where you could buy some quality cosplay outfits. If you go to Harajuku, you must try the delicious crepes. Takeshita Street has a lot of fun stores as well, including a very bling pet store with the most adorable accessories! There are so many teddy bears in Japan. It made me happy.






Omotesando (表参道)
A posh shopping area. Pricey and full of brand names. But if you just walk down the street for 5-10 minutes, you stumble into Harajuku. Omotesando Hills is a shopping complex that was designed by Tadao Ando, Pritzker Architecture Award recipient. Apparently you're not allowed to take pictures in the building.

Ginza (銀座)
Can be considered the "Fifth Avenue" of Tokyo and a luxurious shopping district with several notable departments stores (including Matsuya and Mitsukoshi, under renovations while I was there). It is generally very pricey to shop in the area but the building designs and decorations are worth looking at. On Saturdays, the main road is blocked for the shoppers. The Swarovski building is very pretty and there was a pretty cherry blossom design crystal ornament. Apparently, you're not allowed to take pictures there either.


Roppongi (六本木)
Roppongi is probably best known for its nightlife and Mori Tower. Unfortunately, I didn't get to spend much time in the area and was too pooped in the nighttime and my feet were ready to fall off. The Galleria had many pretty stores and the Suntory Museum of Art. Apparently, the store full of pretty nick-knacks below doesn't allow pictures.


I learned that in Tokyo, there are a lot of places that you are supposed not allowed to take pictures of. I already mentioned Shibuya in Part 1 as a fun shopping area, but I personally preferred the Omotesando/Harajuku area because I think there is a broader range of styles available. I got the cutest floral print lacy sundress for 1900 yen in Harajuku after taking purikura with my friends--and boy these purikura machines make you look like an anime-character. My friend told me that the fabric in Japan is usually very good and durable and lasts for years. There were so many pretty, lacy clothes I was in absolute heaven. Warning, everything runs small in Japan; I'm a US Size 4/small and I'm a "Large" there. There are a lot of "free-size" clothes in Japan, meaning one-size. My feet are somewhere between 6.5 and 7 in US size, but there, I'm 24 "Large." I did manage to find the cutest pumps at the Ginza Marui department store on my last day which were on sale for less than 5000 yen... A good find.

Tokyo Trip Part 1:The Places
Tokyo Trip Part 2:  The Shopping
Tokyo Trip Part 3: CLAMP x Blythe Dolls
Tokyo Trip Part 4: Food
Tokyo Trip Part 5: Final Thoughts

Tokyo Trip Part 1: The Sights

Asakusa Nakamise Shopping Arcade

 
I have finally managed to upload and organize my photos and have been pondering the best way to relate my trip. This was my first time in Tokyo and I was staying for such a short time, I wanted to do and see as much as I can, and I don't know how it was possible, but it literally felt like I went for a month. The food was absolutely delicious (there's going to be a separate post on that). The trip itself was decided within two weeks and very sudden for various reasons. And miraculously, it came through. I remember five years ago, I really wanted to go to Hong Kong. Part of the reason was for the tourist in me, but another part was because I definitely needed to see Hong Kong, breathe the air, in order to write the New Trials of CCS Arc 3 season finale. Writing requires research, nee? Hence, going to Tokyo was also important for the writer in me. Who am I kidding though. I'm a girl and when three girls travel, it means shopping, food, and more shopping. And lots of walking. I took over 500 photos in that limited time, so I will just share with you the highlights.








Asakusa (浅草)
I had to take a picture of the konpeitou because it reminded me of Kobato. I used to love these little confectionery treats when I was little. The colors are so pretty and I would take a handful of them and crunch on them behind the sofa. These were sold in the Nakamise shopping arcade in Asakusa leading to the Sensoji, the largest Buddhist Temple in Tokyo. You enter through the Thunder Gate (kaminarimon). There is an incense burner (that people breathe in for purification and healing purposes) and there is also a fortune-telling stall and a wooden box to throw in a coin and make wish at the top of the temple. You can also buy lucky charms from stalls.

Shibuya (渋谷区)
In contrast to the traditional ambiance of Asakusa, Shibuya is young, vibrant and modern. If you watch a Japanese drama or movie, the streets of Shibuya are most often shown in representing Tokyo. The streets are bustling with fashionable people who looked like they stepped out of a girl's fashion magazine. Shibuya 109 (Ichi-maru-kyu) is a 9-story building full of cheap, pretty stuff, a shopping haven if you have the energy for it (which frankly I didn't). Shopping advise when traveling: if you let it go, you'll never find it again. Don't think "maybe I'll come back later." Buy it. If it doesn't fit/ you find something else, one less present to find for your sister/friend/mother. Below is the view of the streets of Shibuya, people waiting for the green light to cross, and then green light.

 
Odaiba (お台場)  
The view from Odaiba is truly beautiful, especially in the nighttime. Odaiba is an artificial island linked through Rainbow Bridge (remember X?). I didn't expect to find a mini-Statue of Liberty there. Somehow standing on the harbor of Aqua City, staring at the Statue of Liberty crossed with the Rainbow Bridge with Tokyo Tower in the backdrop made me smile. Tokyo Tower and Rainbow Bridge are two landmarks that will always make me think of CLAMP, and then jarringly from the Tokyo Bay juts out the Statue of Liberty, the emblem of New York (though this replica is supposedly a shout out to the French-Japanese relationship). The surreal vision somehow made me think of a photoshopped picture or an interpretive pop art. And it made me somehow think of the New York arc of New Trials, and I thought, ah, of course the CCS crew were destined to go to NYC. It was all decided here, in Tokyo.

 

Much more to follow tomorrow with a little CCS surprise!

Tokyo Trip Part 1:The Places
Tokyo Trip Part 2:  The Shopping
Tokyo Trip Part 3: CLAMP x Blythe Dolls
Tokyo Trip Part 4: Food
Tokyo Trip Part 5: Final Thoughts

Tokyo Calling! Fujita Maiko - Unmei no Hito English Translation

I am finally going to Japan in about a weeks time! I've only been to Japan once before, when I was around 11, and only to Nagasaki and Fukuoka, and truthfully, I don't remember much except for going to Huis Ten Bosch, a Dutch-style theme park in Kyushu. Yeah, go figure. This time, I'm (finally) going to Tokyo. The whole trip got planned so suddenly, so it hasn't quite sunk into me yet, but I'm excited. I'll be taking lots of pictures, eating yummy food and hopefully doing lots of touristy stuff. I bust out my Berlitz Japanese phrase book and then gave up trying to cram Japanese in one week. I can say "Where is the bathroom?" and "Help!" so I'm set. I'm just going to have to rely on my friend who's fluent in Japanese. Well, I'm pretty sure I picked up enough random Japanese phrases from watching anime and J-dorama, so I guess I'll see how applicable that is in functioning in Japan.

I'm not staying for long, but if any of you have any recommendations of places I should visit/ things I should do, please leave a comment! Oh, just a little request, I do love reading everyone's comments but so many are anonymous ones--no need to sign in to any account, but if you can leave behind just a little s/n or nickname after the post to help me identify who you are, that would be great. Because I usually do recognize familiar names of people who emailed/ post on Yahoo or ff.net, and I like putting names to... words.

I was introduced to Fujita Maiko, a talented albeit rather underrated singer-songwriter by Selenity Shiroi and promised her that I would translated "Unmei no Hito" when I finished Chapter 66 of New Trials. I didn't realize it would take so long. You can find the romanization on her livejournal account. I translated mostly from Korean which is syntactically very similar to Japanese, but as always, a lot of the poetic syntax is lost when translated into English, so this is a working translation. Please feel free to suggest any changes; I just tried to stay true to the initial gist of the lyrics, which are very beautiful indeed but somehow doesn't sound quite right in English. I thought they especially related well to Chapter 66 and Card Captor Sakura in general. Thanks to Selenity for introducing me to this song.

運命の人 - Unmei no Hito
Fujita Maiko – Fated Person
romanization by Selenity Shiroi
English Translation by Wish-chan

daijoubu itsumo chanto waratteru yo
demo dare to itemo nani ka tarinai

It’s all right, I’m fine, always smiling a lot
But even if I’m with someone, something is missing

ima anata ga koko ni kuruwakenai no ni
aketa mado kara mieta mangetsu
suzumushi no koe ga sabishisa sasou kara
osaeta kimochi mata sawagi dasu

Even though there is no reason for you to come here
The full moon that can be seen through the open window
The cry of the crickets call out their loneliness
Suppressed feelings start to waver again

anata ni aitakute kurushiku naru yoru wa
harisaki sou dayo
dare ka wo omoutte konna kimochi nanda
soba ni ite hoshii

On a night when I want to see you and become anguished
I feel like I am going to burst.
So, to think of somebody is this kind of feeling
Please stay by my side.

chigau sonna koto ga iitainjanai
sunao ni narezu ni kuyashiku naru
hontou wa sabishii dake da to kitsuite
tsuyogari sugite umaku ikanai

No, I didn’t want to say those kind of things
It’s frustrating that I couldn’t become more honest
Truthfully, I realized it was just loneliness,
Pretending to be so strong and stubborn didn’t work out too well

tatta hitori unmei no hito ga iru nara anata ga ii no ni
anata hodo suki ninareta hito wa inai no
nee minuite hoshii

If there is just one fated person, I would like it to be you
There is no one that I like as much as you
Please, notice.

anata ga issho ni itai no wa dare desu ka
sabishige na senaka wo omoi dasu to setsunakute

Who is the person that you want to be with...?
I feel regretful recalling your lonely back...

anata ni aitakute kurushiku naru yoru wa
harisaki sou dayo
dare ka wo omoutte konna kimochi nanda
soba ni ite hoshii
anata hodo suki ni nareta hito wa inai no
donna mirai da to shitemo anata wa watashi no unmei no hito

On a night when I want to see you and become anguished
I feel like I am going to burst.
So, to think of somebody is this kind of feeling
Please stay by my side.
There is no one that I like as much as you...
No matter what the future holds, you are my fated person.