Yanbaru, an Okinawan Izakaya in Shibuya
Whenever I get together with friends in Tokyo, it’s always Shibuya or Shinjuku. That’s because they’re easy to get to. Even among people who work in Tokyo, a lot of them live in Saitama, west…
Whenever I get together with friends in Tokyo, it’s always Shibuya or Shinjuku. That’s because they’re easy to get to. Even among people who work in Tokyo, a lot of them live in Saitama, west…
Despite the name, Nakameguro is actually a fair way from Meguro. It’s closer to Ebisu and Daikanyama, and like Daikanyama it’s a quiet, stylish neighborhood. A small river called the Meguro River r…
I’ve been working my way through every ramen shop in Ikebukuro that’s supposed to be famous, and Menya Musashi is going to be the last one. If you count the not-so-famous places too, there are tons…
Mutekiya is one of those famous shops that always ranks near the top among Ikebukuro’s ramen places. These days I’m working my way through pretty much every ramen shop in Tokyo that’s worth a…
There’s a famous tonkatsu place in this neighborhood, so I went there when a friend came to visit over the weekend. It’s called Minoya. Apparently it opened in 1960. Ah… but maybe it isn̵…
Saigon is a restaurant inside Food Show, the food hall of the Tokyu department store in Shibuya Station. I’d heard it’s a good place to drop in when you’re near the station and can’t de…
Kugayama is near Kichijoji. It’s inside Tokyo and less than 30 minutes from Shibuya, but it doesn’t feel like Tokyo at all. I had no idea it would be like this… Normally I’d have no rea…
I was strolling around Omotesando with a friend visiting from Korea and we happened to drop in. It’s in a building called GYRE, with the boutique on the 1st floor and the café on the 2nd, so it wasn̵…
Aoba is one of Nakano’s long-established famous shops. I kept meaning to go but never found the time, so I just hadn’t made it. Then I heard there’s an Aoba branch in Ikebukuro, so I dropped …
I’ve made up my mind to eat a lunch special every Saturday. The main idea is to visit places that are closed on Sundays or in the evening, or that are famous for their lunch sets. This time I went to Men…
Nippori, Uguisudani and Ueno are actually well known as Tokyo’s rough neighborhoods. Apparently Shinjuku and Ikebukuro used to have that vibe, but these days it has mostly shifted over toward Ueno. I don…
My friends wanted to go, so I went along, but it was a really disappointing place. So I won’t go into detail; I’m just posting this for the record. That said, the cream puff in the last photo was p…