Time for another brief Tokyo daytrip, which is fitting since that’s one of the names this blog has had in the past. I decided I wanted to go on one of my favorite walking itineraries in the Omotesando neighborhood.
I took the train to Meiji shrine, getting off the Meiji-jingumae/Harajuku station on the Chiyoda train line. For those with a rail pass, the JR Yamanote line has a Harajuku stop as well.
On Navigating Tokyo: Google Maps vs. Tabelog
I was hungry and decided to look up a spot on Google maps. Honestly, Google maps was a bit of a disappointment on this trip. It was terrible for train directions. Back in the day, I used to use Hyperdia for train directions. It was excellent but doesn’t seem to be around anymore. For my trip, Google/Google AI was the best tool for directions! Another letdown was that the restaurant recommendations weren’t great…overly positive! There is a Japanese reservation/review app that has high marks on travel forums called Tabelog, but I never got around to really figuring it out. If I wasn’t solo-traveling, I would have made more of an effort to use it to score a really great omakase meal or something similar. Not that a person can’t experience fine dining solo! It’s just that is one thing I don’t usually care to do on my own.
Lunch at Gonpachi Nori-temaki Harajuku
Anyway, I decided on a sushi handroll place that had great reviews but honestly, was kind of mid. If you read the last sentence and decided, “I must go!” the restaurant is called Gonpachi Nori-temaki Harajuku. It’s popular with tourists- I suspect it’s in a guidebook or two plus the area is pretty tourist-y. It was fine, but Japan has so much great food that I wouldn’t recommend it.
Walking Meiji Shrine
After lunch, I decided to walk to the Meiji shrine. I’ve done this a lot in the past, but it’s peaceful walking under the large trees lining the path. There’s always shade, even on the hottest of Tokyo days. It’s pretty crowded, but there’s enough space to not feel claustrophobic.
I walked past the sake barrel walls, which is visually stunning. I didn’t spend a lot of time at the temple, but walked around the main courtyard for a few minutes.
Omotesando-dori and Omotesando Hills
Next, I headed to Omotesando-dori. I walked up the tree-lined street and admired the architecture of all the designer boutiques. For a modern architecture tour, this would be a dream. I admire it, but I don’t know a lot about it so I didn’t linger. I went into Omotesando Hills, a small mall built into the hill which results in a neat interior staircase and layered floor effect. There used to be a cool wine bar in the basement but that’s been gone for awhile. I had tried to go back in 2019 and it was gone. Sad!
Omotesando train station has a cute, French-themed food court that I really like. So, I revisited it for a snack and a glass of champagne. This was a great decision. While I revived, I looked up a few options on my phone for what to do next. I discovered that on Sundays, one of the main streets in Ginza is closed to vehicles. The resulting pedestrian promenade seemed popular and for good reason. I decided to head over to Ginza with a plan to go to the (old) Tsukiji market area for dinner.
Ginza’s Car-Free Sunday
I’m so glad I went to Ginza Pedestrian Paradise! There was a beautiful blue/golden hour light to the scene. It was so nice to walk down the middle of a busy Japanese thoroughfare. I went to a popular stationery store, which was fine but too crowded to be enjoyable. Give me the stationery section of a large Loft any day.
A nicer find was Kayanoya Ginza, which specializes in Japanese flavorings and elevated basics with an emphasis on dashi. The building itself is beautiful, designed by Kengo Kuma. The outside consists of interlocking wooden sticks with interiors that include wood, stone, and washi. It’s very calming. I had a small sample of dashi stock and, as usual, completely fell for the story of how it was unique to this location and bought some. I also bought a few packages of noodles and some furikake. I had wanted to buy some chili paste but it required refrigeration so I was out of luck. I’m glad the cashier told me!
I walked around Ginza for a little bit longer, taking pictures of the famous clock and the cool building façade across the street from it. I had wanted to go to Dover Street Market, but it was in the opposite direction, late in the day, and I don’t fit into Japanese clothing sizes anyways so I decided to skip. But if you’re into fashion and store displays as art exhibits, it is a neat place to go!
Heading to Tsukiji
I decided to head to Tsukiji. The market moved several years ago, but the surrounding restaurants are still there. Going to the Tsukiji auction had never appealed to me so I had never been before. On the topic of every guidebook saying that people should go on their first morning when they’re awake early from the jet lag…why? A cold, fishy, industrial environment where people are trying to work and you’re going to wander around like an idiot getting in the way? No thank you.
Based on what I saw this trip, I would recommend taking advantage of being awake early due to jet lag by visiting a tourist site early. Wander down the Asakusa main street or the Meiji temple park. The interiors will be closed, but pick a place where it’s more about walking around and take in the sights before the crowds. I’ll talk more about it in the next post, but I did this in Kamakura and it made a huge difference in enjoying places that are much busier later in the day.
Back to my walk, I was walking towards Tsukiji when I saw a strawberry soft serve stand. Since I love Japanese strawberries and thought the passion displayed in the signage was funny, I bought myself a cone. It was delicious. A bonus was that I was near a Noh theater where there was a performance that night, so I saw several theatregoers in traditional kimonos and yukatas.
Dinner Near Tsukiji
I finally reached Tsukiji. I had used Google (when will I learn?) to find a popular spot, but there was a line. It seemed silly to wait in line when there were other places around, including right across the street. So, I crossed the street to Sushi Bar Masa. There was a small restaurant bar with ~8 seats around an L-shaped bar and two outdoor tables. There was a trio of Japanese people and a foreign couple who spoke Japanese…so not deserted and seemed like it would be good.
The dinner was really good. Not to sound like too much of a jerk, but the Matsushima sushi still wins as the best sushi of the trip…but this was really close. I got several sashimi, including scallop, tuna, and uni. I also tried a sake flight, which was very tasty. The owner clearly had a passion for sake and everyone who ordered a flight got different tastings. He explained a little bit about the sake, but there wasn’t a ton of English spoken.
After dinner, I walked to the train station and took it back to my Yokohama hotel. It had been a long day, but I was so excited to see so many things in Japan including things new-to-me!