JAPAN Day 3

October 23

Words: Sebastian + Images: Araceli

We visited the Meiji Jingu Shrine early morning. The first wooden Torii gate is impressive, one of the only ones we saw that was in natural cypress color. It had cordons all around each base with a sign that read Due to heartless acts of degradation, we are sorry to be forced to cordon it off.
Making our way up to the shrine, we saw Sake and Burgundy barrels lining the path. They stand as an appreciation and respect for the late Emperor. His inscription for modernity is also an inspiration By gaining the good and rejecting what is wrong, it is our desire that we will compare favorably with other lands abroad.
A beautiful, spider-webbed filled, walked down through the forest, took us out of the shrine.

We made our way to our day's main neighborhood: Daikanyama . A coffee stop was in order so we headed to Good Good Not Bad. A stoic young lady took our orders and delivered the drinks without a word. On our way to the coffee shop, we passed a Tokyo Fire Station , where the team was going through some drills. We marvel at their organization, efficiency, cleanliness, and most of all, their hats. They left such a strong impression (ie Araceli got obsessed) that we went back to the station after our coffee, and through Google translate, asked if we could buy a pair of caps. They respectfully declined but mentioned that we could try our luck at the Fire Academy. A quick search revealed the Academy's location (pretty close to the Mingeikan, also on our list). We also found out about a Fire Museum, our plan B. But more on this later.
Our walk led us to the Tsutaya Books in Daikanyama, my favorite bookstore in the world. The sheer size of the inventory is overwhelming, and worth many visits. I caught myself saying out loud I could probably live in here.
A quick supermarket drive-by for a seaweed Onigiri snack was revelatory.
Lunch was a delicious chicken and yuzu ramen at Afuri .

From there, we retreated to the hotel to rest a bit and get ready for our dinner with my long-time friend Ryu San at 44A2. Chef Yoshiatsu Fukushima and his wife offer a beautiful modern kaiseki experience. It would be our first glimpse into the fall season and Araceli's first kaiseki. The sequence of dishes highlighted the best ingredients available, many we would encounter again: Mushrooms (maitake and matsutake), unagi, chestnuts, and chrysanthemum petals to name a few. We also encountered Araceli's first food nemesis: the Chawanmushi. A delicate steamed egg custard that would prove to be a challenge more than once, we'll get back to it soon enough. The care in each part is omnipresent: from the dishware, glassware, and heartwarming service. The beer glass we fell in love with was made of thin egg-white porcelain. Made to resemble a cocoon, the porcelain style is called Rankakude and was made from the Edo to the Meiji period in Arita. Another amazing discovery was a Japanese wine, a Riesling from Solaris . Crazy good. Catching up with Ryu San was a real pleasure, we were happy to hear about his current and future projects. I'm sure many collaborations with him will flourish.