As I told some readers, we have organised the planning of our visits according to the weather. As it turns out, it was raining the second day, meaning we needed to find an indoor visit.

We decided we would go to the Namco Namjatown Park, which is inside the Sunshine City building in Ikebukuro: it is a mixture between an amusement park and a place to discover unusual food.

What really drew us in there was the food, more than the amusement park (you know me).

It seemed like the games were more suited to Japanese people (or those who could speak the language) because I had the impression that most of them were interactive (some kids were wearing detectors “of some sort”, looking for “who knows what” = sometimes we wished that we knew how to speak Japanese) and required a certain comprehension of the language.

If you don’t speak Japanese, I recommend you to buy the less expensive entry ticket of 500 yens (which doesn’t comprise the entry to the games but allows you to discover the whole universe surrounding it).

We still got to play various funfair games like the claw (“the clawwww!!”) and we won a porcelain cooking pot in the shape of a bunny!

However I let myself get dragged into Gyoza town, a village which only serves gyozas of all kinds.

You go from store to store with a basket and then you decided wherever you want to eat. Very nice.

That said, what I most enjoyed were the desserts!

Too cute sweets and a stand were you could taste all kinds of strange ice-cream flavors: if I told you “double cheese”, garlic, wasabi, curry, shrimp, oyster, basil, tomato, whisky or shark ice cream, you’re thinking I am a crazy masochist?

We chose among 51 flavors available, 6 flavors that seemed to be the weirdest of all and, buckled down, we tasted them.

In fact, it isn’t as scary as it looks and I quite enjoyed it! The cheese Ice-cream is really close to the Laughing Cow cheese and the wasabi one turned out to be very tasty. Basically, everything is good, it’s quite magical!

We also tasted the sakura and matcha/red beans (azuki) pancakes. Awesome!

Then we spent the rest of the day in the shopping center (it’s raining, what else can we do!)

If you like to eat, and if you like unknown experiences, I think this place is made for you. It doesn’t take all day, the setting is very sophisticated and you end up having a great time tasting all these weird ice-creams. If you speak Japanese, it is even better for you because you can enjoy the games. You give it a try? (English translation by Daphné)

NAMCO NAMJATOWN Park
(in the Sunshine city Building)
3-1-3 Higashiikebukuro, Toshima
Métro: Ikebukuro

Let’s visit Tokyo! We wanted to start slow, and especially wanted to enjoy the cherry blossoms (a custom called “hanami”), which brought us two steps from where we were staying, in the Sumida park.

It’s right by a river of the same name: you can take a river boat and admire the blossoms while drifting on the water, but we didn’t have the time (or rather we didn’t take the time) to do that.

We simply sat down on the rugs that were set up for the occasion to admire the blossoms and snack. During this time, Japanese people will come and picnic under the trees with family or friends.

These picnics often involve some drinking, but the general mood is very merry and good-natured. During our stay, we tried to go through a number of parks for the Hanami; it was a visual wonder every time.

Then we went for a stroll in “our” neighborhood in Asakusa. The Sensoji temple still attracts as many tourists as it did in 2007.

Back then I told you it was my favorite neighborhood because of the ubiquitous traditional atmosphere, but also because food is everywhere here! Restaurants, streetfood…the place has everything to appeal to me!

Walking down the Nakamise Dori is a constant temptation. Fritter, ice cream, treats of all kinds are all around: I think we tried almost everything there was to try. This street also has a good number of souvenir shops (fans, dolls).

On top of it all, you can frequently see japanese in kimono passing by, which makes the area all the more charming.

People gather around a huge incense burner to try and attract some smoke towards them: apparently the smoke has healing powers. I’ll direct some your way if you want.

And here’s the address of a no-fuss local restaurant:

RAISHUKEN 来集軒

The place is a bit hard to find, it’s located in a small alley: we had to ask for directions (understand: wave our arms and hands).

The ramen are prepared in the purest tradition and served by an old lady. Everything is written in japanese: we had to order at random.

I got a sort of sheet of rice dough that floated on my noodles. Not very appealing, but it was very good. My S.O. got something more traditionnal. In any case, the ramen were absolutely delicious and cheap as can be (6 euros tops). (English translation by Bleu Marine)

RAISHUKEN 来集軒 ramen restaurant
2-26-3 Nishi Asakusa, Taito-ku

As I have decided that I would share my whole trip to Japan with you, I must begin by a presentation of the place we stayed in when we were in Tokyo! Instead of choosing Shinjuku’s or Shibuya’s heady turmoil, we chose the (relative) tranquility of the Asakusa area.

Due to its gorgeous Senso-ji temple, it is obviously a very touristy neighbourhood but it has managed to keep its traditional soul and that is what we were looking for (I will come back to this later with more details).

The metro line also leads to many different places in the city which allowed us to go everywhere without any difficulty (For those who are terrified of the Tokyo metro, lie down on the couch, I can try to ease your fears in comments).

B:CONTE 浅草 Residential Hotel

We chose to stay in an apartment hotel (2-4-2 Asakusa Taito-ku, Tokyo, 111-0032), which implied enjoying the pros of a hotel, without the cons (Kitchenette and washing machine/dryer in the room, it was ideal when we wanted to stay in some nights … and a washing machine can become quite handy when you stay 3 weeks !)

Our view from the window

But « hotel » also means having the personnel at your service for any enquiries/restaurant booking/information about our tours.

Ideally situated in a small street, we were next to a Don Quijote store and a Seiyu opened 24 hours a day. (You want to buy an additional suitcase at 1 am the day (the morning?) before departure; it’s possible —> I speak from experience)

Don Quijote shop where you can find everything 24/24 !

I even went out for my bi-weekly run during my stay on the bank of Sumida river (you know my mantra: “run more to eat more”). By the way, I reveal to you two restaurant addresses of Asakusa, tested and approved by our stomachs.

B:CONTE ASAKUSA
2-4-2 Asakusa Taito-ku,
Tokyo, 111-0032

DAIKOKUYA Tempura  (大黒屋 天婦羅 浅草本店）

We got into this place because we saw a long queue in front of it (only Japanese people which is a good sign). We gave in to temptation and we weren’t disappointed: inside, you eat on tatamis « Japanese style » which made me realise that my past suppleness is definitely gone like sake heating on a stove.

The speciality of this place is tempura and tendon (tempura disposed on a bowl of rice).

DAIKOKUYA
1-38-10 Asakusa, Taito-ku
Tel: +81 3 3844 1111

NOBU Steak House (ステーキハウス のぶ)

My favorite address as we came back twice. Owned by very endearing couple: the owner seemed a bit bad tempered at first sight.

None of them speak any English (nore French) and despite my poor notions of Japanese, I don’t know why, we managed to understand and appreciate each other (he even offered me the panda candies of my last article!)

This place’s speciality is the omu rice (Omelette with rice coated with tomato sauce, meat sauce and stuffed with beef) : this may seem simple on paper but this dish is an absolute delight. And, the fact that we could see this couple prepare it in front of us gave more charm to it.

We also tasted their beef steak, cooked on a hot plate: so tender ! and all that was not very expensive as 150gr of beef, tender like my heart (with soup and soy) cost us only 1580 yens, the equivalent of 13 euros. The omu rice cost 980 yens (7 euros) and is quite filling!

NOBU Steak House
1-36-7 Asakusa, Taito-ku
Tel : +81 066-9675-49879

Have a nice digestion! We’ll meet again soon for Day 1 of the travel book, with a visit of the surroundings! (English translation by Daphné)