Dining and Shrines in Yurakucho

With so many places to chose from in Yurakucho, I had a hard time deciding where to eat. I wanted Japanese food, preferably seafood so I ended up at this rather gaudy izakaya, Isomaru Suisan.

They feature grilled fish along with many other seafood related dishes. I don't know if this guy was up for dining.

Lots of live shellfish available including nice looking scallops.

I was seated at a counter where I had the difficult task of deciding what I wanted to eat. Banners on the windows offered specials.

Wooden plaques overhead also listed items to order.

The counter below had numerous tools for handling whatever you ordered, including your own personal grill.

I looked through the many paged menu and was ready to order from it but the wait staff handed me a tablet. Which meant I ended up spending a lot more time trying to hunt down what I wanted to eat.

Finally success! I guess it saves the restaurant from having to deal with non-Japanese speaking customers and also reduces the number of wait staff needed. But then why have menus?

My iced green tea arrived.

And my overflowing seafood bowl. This was pretty good but I think I would pass on eating here again since besides the weirdness with ordering, it is not a non-smoking restaurant. It would be nice if Japan, or at least Tokyo, could come up with some signage, in a couple languages or just an image, to be put outside of businesses indicating if they were smoking or non-smoking. It would be very helpful.

Walking towards the Yurakucho Station I spied a Shinto Inari Shrine. Yuraku Inari Shrine to be exact.

The shrine's roof had an interesting shape. This shrine dates back to late Edo era and was on of the few that survived the Great Kanto Earthquake and Fire. Of course parts have been rebuilt.

Also unusual are the kitsune foxes with their stylized head shapes.

The Yuraku Inari Shrine is just steps away from Yurakucho Station. Opened back on June 25, 1910, it still has those brick arches under it.

And a look out at the more modern part of Yurakucho as I waited for my train. I wasn't done exploring new places in Tokyo. Which I will write about and have photos in my next post.