This is Now a Food Blog

I am jotting down some thoughts on the heels of a full day of exploring Tokyo while we allow our electronics to regain some juice. We’ve covered a lot of ground so far today and we’ve still got a few ideas to wrap up the evening before a very early (4 a.m.) call time tomorrow for a visit to & tour of Tsukiji and Toyosu fish markets.

After surprising ourselves with how well we slept in the worst throes of jet lag, Paresh and I headed out for some coffee at a destination that sat high on my list of anticipated stops for this trip. Swell Coffee Roasters is home to several baristas who are internationally known for their participation in latte art competitions and brewing/roasting championships, a fact highlighted by a score of trophies lined up on their entryway counter. (Alas, the 90-plus degree weather had dashed any cravings for hot coffee, so no art for us.) We enjoyed some delicious iced pourovers paired with matcha and banana donuts, and I had a very thoughtful interaction with the barista who was disarmingly thoughtful and interested to hear about my experiences in the same profession. Heartwarming kindness and patient generosity have been obvious recurring themes of our short time in Japan.

Paresh tracked down a spot for lunch that featured one of Tokyo’s local delicacies—saltwater conger eel, or anago—so we headed back to the metro station to nurture our fledgling navigation skills. Our limited time traversing Tokyo’s underground has revealed a list of insights. Prominent among them is our impression of the cleanliness. Despite a near total absence of trash receptacles, Tokyo appears to be simply the cleanest city I have ever seen. There is palpable buy-in from the public for a shared responsibility that feels unimaginable to replicate in the U.S. Our hosts for lunch extended the streak of kindness we’ve experienced here as tourists with limited language ability. We were guided through the ordering process with thoughtful explanations of the menu items, We each ordered anago hakomeshi which consisted of grilled eel over rice with an assortment of condiments, plus dashi with which to make ochazuke with the leftover rice. I could truly eat this meal for lunch every day. It was delightful.

We chose to keep our activities primarily indoors for the middle of the day, ever aware of the steadily increasing heat. Spontaneity ruled the day for the next several hours and led us to a nearby mall that caught our eye on account of the Pokémon café located on its upper floors. It is fairly wild to note that next year will mark 30 years since Red & Blue took the world by storm. The game hasn’t let go ever since—a fact Paresh can verify after listening to me rattling off the names of row after row of hundreds of ‘mon plushies lining the walls.

Next up, our taste buds craved a little something sweet (because two donuts and cheesecake for breakfast hadn’t been nearly enough), so we wandered over to a fruit café where Paresh procured a musk melon parfait and I a peach kakigori, a local treat with shaved ice. (We won’t speak of the iced coffee we had there because they say if you can’t say anything nice, sometimes it’s best to just say nothing at all.) This was a delight. I’ve never experienced peaches that were quite this soft and succulent before, and I can’t think of a better dessert when you’ve just come in from hot, humid weather.

Still guided primarily by whimsy, our next stop was one of those places that, as Paresh put it, is found “only in Japan.” The Art Aquarium Museum GINZA features carefully structured fish tanks arranged in artistic displays, geometric patterns, and highlighted by shifting lighting schemes. While we both agreed that this stop was primarily just, well, strange, it did make for some interesting exercises in photography composition. And, it’s been truly difficult to see any experience here as worthy of regret because everything has been generally cheap and accessible. And getting to do it all with your best friend is icing on an already pretty spectacular cake.

We wrapped up our day before dinner by heading over to witness—and then participate in—the world’s busiest pedestrian crosswalk at Shibuya Crossing. Comparisons to Times Square are inevitable here, although both Paresh and I detected a distinct difference in flavor. Shibuya certainly attracts a tourist audience for the sheer novelty of the scene, but we couldn’t help but feel like the majority of participants were simply city residents going about their days, all happening to converge en masse in this particular spot to such sensational effect.

I’m quickly losing my acumen and command of language as I tie up my thoughts on this day. Needless to say, we did a lot! My feet know it and my step count on my phone knows it. I’m off to bed to gather what little sleep I can before our early start tomorrow. I feel a bit like I’m living in a dream and trying to enjoy every minute of this experience. So far it hasn’t been difficult.