Japan

  • hanging with kakuni & the mini goochis

    our first meetup with friends from vancouver!  prior to seeing kuni right before i left, we hadn’t seen each other in years.  him and the family were in town for a week but thanks to their luggage not making it…

  • spicy kikanbo tsukemen

    the last ramen store we tried was a break from the norm.  kikanbo’s calling card is spicy ramen and their bowls have been so popular that they opened up a second shop two doors down solely to specialize in each…

  • laid back afternoon in shimokitazawa

    the last area we explored in tokyo was shimokitazawa aka the hipster factory.  i suppose they’re all over the world but the concentration was definitely higher here although more in the mid to late 20 year old range.  we both…

  • koenji, kichijoji and a menchi katsu kind of afternoon

    west of the tokyo core and away from the fast paced lifestyle of shibuya and shinjuku are koenji and kichijoji; neighbourhoods connected to shinjuku via the odakyu line.  our original plan was to visit both in conjunction with visiting studio…

  • gyokotsu matador’s beef ramen

    while compiling our eat list for tokyo i came across countless blogs that rambled off their top 3, 5 & 10 shops for ramen.  some places specialize in a very small number of styles but the majority have at least…

  • afuri ramen, revisited

    afuri ramen is another popular chain in tokyo and has been on our hit list thanks to a visit to the harajuku branch four years ago.  i’d say that their callings are: -their broth is chicken based so it’s noticeably…

  • walking around daikanyama and ebisu

    7 weeks into our trip and we had yet to eat a single piece of western fast food.  this might be the longest stretch that i’ve been able to avoid the evil grips of mcdonald’s (maybe the #1 reason why…

  • life in japan as a gaijin

    two months in japan have flown right by and i’m ashamed to say that i’ve picked up very little in the way of communicating in the native tongue.  there’s a plethora of gaijin (foreigners) in tokyo and haha and myself…

  • ippudo ramen

    ippudo was a recommendation from our tokyo sensei, pablo.  he’s the master of all things tokyo and after he gave our group a hands on tour four years ago, if he suggests to eat/walk/jump, we do it.  we were coming…

  • weekly update #6 – tokyo

    q. current home/addy where i stayed (neighbourhood) and how long a. tokyo (air bnb in shibuya) for the last week q. favourite meal a. oh man… toss up.  it’s either gyokotsu matador’s shoyu beef ramen or afuri’s yuzu tsukemen.  i…