Starting in Shibuya

I think it was November 29th. I headed to Shibuya to figure out where two new music venues were. This may have been the first time I noticed the concrete encased Shibuya River. It's possible that the name of one of the new venues comes from this urban waterway.

From Shibuya I took a train one stop to Aoyama. I was focused on reaching a certain place. I turned a corner and surprised myself. It was the building where the Aoyama Moi-même-Moitié store was. Unplanned visit.

While there are a lot of high end architectural buildings and shops in Aoyama, there are still a lot of older buildings and interesting shops if you walk through the narrow streets. It's always interesting to see design details like the stained glass in the back of this store.

But what I wanted to see was something I had glimpsed on my last visit to Tokyo.

Aoyama's St. Grace Cathedral.

Granted it's not that old, and it's actually a wedding venue not an actual church, but it still has that great Gothic architecture.

Sadly it was not easy to take photos because of all the power lines and there was a couple getting their wedding photos taken, but the place still looked amazing against that vivid blue sky. I love seeing all the details.

My next stop would be for lunch. Still walking along those narrow streets. Another wedding venue. This is the Chapelle des Anges.

Which was right by where I was having lunch.

Everything Salad and their website is here http://www.everythingsalad.jp/. I really like when places have websites and social media. Because I can figure out what I want to eat before arriving. Since not every place has an English menu or people who can speak English. It's helpful even when a person can speak a little Japanese.

I had the fresh salad set for lunch. Those avocado slices got me. The soup was minestrone and it was delicious! They are on Instagram which is where I figured out what I wanted to eat before going https://www.instagram.com/everythingsalad/. And their address is 3 Chome-14-26, Minamiaoyama, Minato City. This was a really great fresh salad. Tokyo, your salad game has definitely improved.

I decided to see one last thing before going back to my hotel. Still walking through those narrow Aoyama streets. A feeling of timelessness with this restaurant. It's lovely with all the wood and green trees and plants. It's Aoyama Torimikura, an izakaya.

Back out on the main streets. Aoyama Dori to be exact. This clock with the astrology figures caught my attention.

I reached my destination. Meiji Jingu Gaien Ginkgo Avenue, with the Meiji Memorial Picture Gallery in the distance. I will spare you the image of the hundreds of people on the street and just share a couple photos of the golden ginkgo trees.

Back at my hotel after those really long walks. I was able to see a little bit of sunset with silhouetted mountains. It must have been quite a view before all the concrete buildings were constructed. 

Food and Architecture in Ginza

While people may not be into Ginza's shopping, it's a place worth checking out. For the architecture. Besides Shibuya, there was another place I wanted to stop at. In Ginza. I wasn't sure how my right leg was but I decided to try going since I was familiar with getting there and getting back. And I wanted to get a few photos since I hadn't done much this trip. And there is much to see along Chuo Dori, one of the main streets. The Ginza Place building for one. It's a newer building with a facade based on sukashibori, Japanese lattice work. Designed by Klein Dytham for the Sapporo Company, the building's shape is suggested by the historic Seiko Building that is across from it.

Also at the same intersection is the Ricoh San-ai Dream Center Building. Now if they can get Mitsukoshi Department Store to redo their facade at the corner, they might get everything rounded off.

The lighting wasn't great for photos of buildings but this photo of the Louis Vuitton store is interesting. It looks different when it's not lit up.

Of course there are jewelry shops in Ginza. What I liked about Ginza Diamond Shirashi is their clock. And that they play lovely classical music outside their store. 

The shape of their zodiac clock is like a cut diamond. 

But for me, I was here for the lemons. TAU-Hiroshima. Good restaurants, good sake, good market and fun Hiroshima items like Hiroshima Carp souvenirs. I would feel bad if I was in Tokyo and didn't stop by.

I bought a few things to take back to Oregon, and a few things I enjoyed before leaving.

A little Onomichi lemon cake. 

A little Nishikido momiji monju. This one had azuki bean filling. 

And a small bottle of Fujujin Rice Daijinjo unfiltered raw sake from Sempuku Brewery in Hiroshima. This is their special label line for the anime movie "In this Corner of the World". I had a very nice conversation with the lady in the sake section of TAU. Turns out she lived in Chicago and New York. Since I was unable to go out that evening because of my leg, and because it rained, I enjoyed this in my hotel room. Being unfiltered raw sake, it would not have traveled well. It was good, and made my down time a little more enjoyable and the rain helped cool the night temperatures down. I opened the window and had a bit of sake while listening to the rain.

Ningycho's Mechanical Puppet Clock Towers

Having a little difficulty trying to decide how to organize these posts about my recent Tokyo trip because some places I visited more than once. Going to start with the area I stayed in, Ningyocho. Which translates into Doll Town or Puppet Town.

And what is probably the most famous landmarks that are in Nigyocho. The mechanical puppet clock towers.

Located on Ningyocho-dori (street), these towers are dedicated to the arts that thrived in Ningyocho in the Edo era.

From what little information I could find in English, the panels depict Rakugo comedic stories.

The curtains draw open on the hour, from 11 am to 7 pm to show the mechanical Edo era fighter puppets in action. Having trouble sleeping I was out here much earlier than that so I did not get to see this. Even at that early hour the heat and humidity was pretty bad.

On the other side of the street there is a second smaller clock tower. I do not know when these were built but possibly post WWII since many things in Tokyo were destroyed in the war.

More of the Rakugo panels. Rakugo is a very interesting art form of an actor sitting on stage telling stories. They play the part of all the characters along with having to memorize each story. Quite a challenge. Forms of Rakugo have been performed for several centuries in Japan with it becoming popular in the Edo era with the public due to it being performed for merchants and others outside of the upper class. Rakugo is still performed today and there is even a popular manga and anime about it, Shōwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjū.

The second clock tower does not have the curtains so we can see the mechanical firefighter puppets.

Firefighters were so important in Japan because most buildings were made of wood. So it's not surprising to see them being honored in this way.