Japanese beer hall

Tonight we went out to eat in Shibuya. We didn't want anything too fancy so went to Shibuya as there is plenty of choice there. We settled on going to Ginza Lion which in the evening becomes a bit more like an izakaya where you can have beer and order smaller plates of food especially to share.

As you'll see from the many photos below they are advertising themselves as a Japanese beer hall. They even had a German style Octoberfest menu along with the Japanese autumn specials.

The first beer I tried was a white beer which was very crisp and refreshing. We opted to share a plate of different sausages and some potato with bacon. You can see a photo of the sausages below.

I then tried the mango beer. It's a beer cocktail of lager and mango juice/purée it was nicer than it sounds. I had some deep fried octopus and finished with a "half and half" beer a mix of lager and stout! All of the beers were good if a little unusual.

We went for a wander around shibuya afterwards and I had some ice cream from cold stone creamery. The girls serving sang me a song as they made up my ice cream! Only in Japan :-)

Tomorrow we are visiting friends before a tropical storm rolls in over night. Hopefully typhoon jelawat won't be too destructive!

Yoyogi

Yoyogi, a set on Flickr.

Photos from visit to Yoygi Park today.

My lost in translation day

Today Jase was busy at work so I had to fend for myself in Tokyo. Unlike Scarlet Johansson in the film Lost in Translation I didn't hook up with an ageing Hollywood actor, instead I hung out with some Japanese pensioners in the park.

It was very clear and sunny this morning so I was able to take some photos of Mt Fuji (Fuji-san.) When I've seen Fuji-San before there has always been quite a lot of snow on the top. I've included a photo below.

The park I really wanted to visit is called Shinjuku Gyoen but on arriving and finding the gate locked, a park keeper told me it was closed today. I decided to get back on the metro and travel to Yoyogi park instead as that was only one line change away.

I was pleased with my ability to navigate the Tokyo metro alone especially a journey I hadn't planned on. I do find Japan generally very accessible even the metro.

I've been to Yoyogi park before in the spring. Back then the park was full of cherry blossom and couples enjoying the spring weather. Today it was sweltering at about 27 C in the shade. The park was not empty but it wasn't busy considering the good weather. The cicadas were providing a sporadic high pitch trilling as they come to the end of their summer. The Tokyo crows were everywhere, as you can see below they are huge, not at all afraid of people and they are incredibly raucous.

I found a small flower garden which was buzzing with insects and pensioners photographing the flowers. It seems that in Japan photographing flowers (well practically anything really) is a national hobby. It is so nice to be somewhere where people don't think it's odd that I am photographing plants & flowers.

The pensioners and I patiently moved from flower to flower like lazy bees. I was lucky enough to photograph some real bees. Let me tell you these bees are huge! Twice the size of bumble bees back in the UK. There were some even bigger black tailed bees too. I couldn't get a decent picture of one of them though.

I got some pictures of a oak bush green cricket like things as well, which I'll put on my Flickr page. I saw some yellow butterflies but they're much too fast to photograph easily. I also glimpsed some huge dragon fly type insect that looked like they had a wing span as big as my hand!

After getting very hot taking photos I walked up to the Harajuku exit and up Omotesando which is a large shopping avenue with some very posh shops on it, like Prada & Louis Vuitton. There is also a toy shop called Kiddieland, which is just amazing so I had a quick look round but wanted to buy the whole shop for my nieces & nephews!

I then had lunch at Ginza Lion, opting for a hamburger steak and egg on vegetables and rice mmmm. I walked back to the hotel along the edge of the Summer Palace gardens.

Since getting back to my room at 3ish I've been watching Discovery Channel UFO conspiracy programmes. Hopefully Jase will be back soon. By the time I up load this he'll be back.

Neko bukuro - the cat house

Today it rained and really rained all day. But the rain never stops things happening in Japan. Everyone has a sturdy brolly and every shop has an umbrella bag stand so you can place a clear plastic bag around your wet umbrella as you walk around the shop.

After meeting a couple of Jase's colleagues briefly this morning we went to have breakfast in a coffee shop near Tokyo station. I had a huge donut & Jase had a huge cinnamon bun.

We then went to ikebukuro where we went shopping or browsing in Bic Camera which sells just about every electrical or tech type gadgets and appliances you could want. I like the hair driers, straighteners, curling tongues and hot brushes in every shade you could want!

We then went to Tokyu Hands store to look at the DIY and craft goods. On the top floor of Tokyu Hands is the nekobukuro or "cat house" you pay about £5 to spend as much time as you like in a room with about 20 cats. Jase didn't come in with me in case he was allergic.

Below are some photos of the cats I stroked. Most of the cats were sleeping but there were a few playing and one lazy cat who just lay on a table having his tummy rubbed. There are staff there who feed the cats and get them to play. They also make sure that the cats are rested and rotated between being in the room with people or in the glass walled cabins.

I had a lovely time with the cats.

We then looked around the Sunshine City shops ( not the most appropriate name considering the weather. ) We then had ton katsu for lunch which was delicious.

Our final shopping mission was to find some antihistamine cream for my mosquito bites. (I have 8 huge mosquito bites on my legs and one on my hand. ) We picked some up close to the hotel which was good.

Happy Salmon's photostream

Happy Salmon's photostream on Flickr.

Here is the link to my Flickr photo stream I mentioned in my last entry.