Quick light brekky for the start of our last few days in Tokyo. Then, as usual, it was off in search of decent coffee (is my addiction showing?). This time we hit the jackpot (thanks Google). Just near Ebisu train station we found Sarutahiko Coffee – the real deal once more. They roast their own beans and made us a super strong espresso, but not before I caused the barista a great deal of pain by requesting a single origin double shot with soy milk. Apparently this was breaking one of their coffee rules because the acidity in the coffee would cause the soy milk to split. It took about 5 minutes for him to explain this to me (mainly using mime) – in the end I put myself in his hands and let him do his thing – which he did – excellently…
From there we jumped on the subway and made our way across town to the world capital of nerdishness – Akihabara. This was one of Lou’s must do things on the trip and we were somewhat reluctantly caught up in his wake. He was keen because Akihabara is Tokyo’s centre of electronics, anime, manga and other trash pop culture stuff. Wikipedia says “Akihabara is famed for its electronics retailers, ranging from tiny stalls to vast department stores like Yodobashi Multimedia Akiba. Venues specializing in manga, anime and video games include Tokyo Anime Center, for exhibits and souvenirs, and Radio Kaikan with its 10 floors of toys, trading cards and collectibles. Staff dressed as maids or butlers serve tea and desserts at nearby maid cafes.” Yep – that just about covers it – including the weird “Maid Cafes” – look ’em up. Another mind-blowing experience. Neon and nerds everywhere and a labyrinth of tiny electronic stores and stalls – kind of like a fish market – but for electronic things.
Lou made a beeline for Mandarake which is one of largest anime and manga stores in the world. Seven floors of comics, DVDs, Cosplay stuff, “adult” videos (with separate floors for ladies and gentlemen) – the Thunderbirds section alone was bigger than our loungeroom. I expected order and cleanliness – but it was much more chaotic than that – lots of glass cabinets – lots of nerds – and that distinctive nerd fragrance (aka not showering as often as would be considered desirable). Lou and I picked up a few comics and a bit of vinyl – but by that time Jules’ tolerance for the nerds and their unique fragrance was running low. Luckily it was lunchtime, so using the fantastic Japanese restaurant guide site Bento ( https://bento.com/ ) we found a great fried chicken place. Mmmmm garlic sauce! By the way can’t recommend Bento enough – we used it all the time and it was invariably accurate and excellent.
Much to Jules’ relief we left Akihabara and headed over to Shibuya for an afternoon of shopping. First stop was a super cool shop called Fake Tokyo that Jules had read about. It was supposedly full of super cool retro stuff that was swimming against the fashion tide. Turned out to be three floors of second dodgy hand clothes (including a Billy Joel tour t-shirt from 1989 – I think I used to have that one!) managed by a couple of very sneery too cool for school Tokyo dudes. What a waste of time! Fake alright. Luckily there were some other excellent shops around Shibuya so we managed to amuse ourselves for the remainder of the afternoon – pretending we actually had the cash to buy Calvin Klein underwear etc.
After a little rest (and some refreshments) back at our Ebisu air bnb we headed out to dinner. Our air bnb host had left a stack of excellent recommendations for restaurants and this time tried a soba noodle place that she suggested call Kaoriya. We had to join a queue of mainly locals outside and eventually we scored a seat at a large communal table inside. It was worth the wait – cold soba noodles served on bamboo mats with a bunch of different dipping sauces – we had a sesame dipping sauce and a roast duck dipping sauce. Pick up the noodles, dip in the sauce of your choice, slurp, repeat, drink beer, sake – so good! Got a little lost on our way home – but we got there eventually – and hey it’s all about the journey right?
flyeelookee 