Ikebukuruo Unagi Taiyaki and Moi même Moitié

You might wonder what the four things in the title of my post have to do with each other. Well, to start with, my accommodations for this trip were in Ikebukuro. This was my third time in the area and I've grown a little fond of certain aspects of it.

Like finding great places to eat. Such as Manmaru Ikebukuro Unagi. That う looking a little bit like an eel in the sign...

After my expedition to Maronouchi on March 19th, I finally made it back to Ikebukuro. And I had one goal. 

Unagi don at Manmaru. 

What I didn't know is the place loves a certain Western thing. That is, the Beatles. Be prepared if you go here, because that is all they play. Which is fun and makes a person feel welcome. 

What also makes a person feel welcome is sake. I decided to use what I had learned from "Wakako-zake" and I went with what they recommended. By the way, my waitress was wonderful. She spoke some English and also had a hairband for me.

Ah! A real "Wakako-zake" moment! I did a silent "pshuuu" while drinking this lovely sake. It might seem silly to some, but it was fun to watch the sake fill the glass and then the bowl holding the glass. 

You may wonder what this is. Well, it's deep fried eel spines, hone-senbei. Because one of the beauties of Japanese cooking is not to let anything go to waste if possible. And I did eat them. 

I also ordered tsukemono, or Japanese pickles. There was some daikon, cabbage with fresh gari or ginger, and cucumbers. I don't remember what the dark brown pickles were, they may have been narazuke, fermented in sake lees. It was all good. 

And my dinner. Unagi don! And this was the best unagi don I have eaten. They grill it over charcoal and it adds so much umami to the flavor. There was also a nice bowl of miso soup. 

And more kyuri asazuke, but I didn't mind. 

Sorry my photo of my unagi don isn't super clear. It just means I need to go back and get another bowl. I would do it even if the photo was clear because I really enjoyed this meal. Not expensive, near where I was staying and really nice staff. I'm looking forward to dining there again.

 Another fun place in Ikebukuro was a place I stopped at a day or two before this. Naruto Taiyaki Honpo. I was on my way back from a late run to Harajuku and I could not resist how appealing this place looked.

Fresh warm azuki and satsumaimo filled taiyaki. Very nice. 

As for the reason for my late evening trip into Harajuku, was because Closet Child got a few "new" items in. I missed a couple other things I wanted but I was able to get a Moi-même-Moitié Logo Cross. Which I was happy to find.

Walking Through Yanaka Ginza

After taking a look at a few of the shrines in Yanaka, I came back to the main street to see what was there. Which was cats.

And some older buildings on side streets. 

And more cats.

I didn't plan it but it was a day when stores put their wares out on the street and lots of people came to shop. 

It was nice. There was a real community feeling with so many people shopping and visiting. I didn't take photos of the groups of people sitting outside places to eat, having a good time, talking and laughing. There was a lot of that.

Because the shopping area in Yanaka is called Yanaka Ginza. Now they don't have expensive stores like Ginza, but it's the idea of having a main area for shopping where everyone can go to. 

And there were a lot of people there. And cats on buildings.

Cat hanko or stamps. 

Pick a place, there's probably a cat on the sign. 

Cat tail shaped donuts at Yana tail? Along with an advert for Nankozaka NecoJitaya, a stew and wine bar that serves food with cat decorations.

Even kanji cats. 

How about a maneki neko with a taiyaki?

Now this looked interesting. A crooked case with neko taiyaki. Or would that be nekoyaki? Except I'm not sure about that one with the hot dog. 

I had to take a look inside where they were baking up kitties. These taiyaki molds are actually special just for this business. Which is called Maneki-ya.

Yes, there were a lot of cat things in Yanaka Ginza. 

For all these cats, I did not see one single live cat. 

I did see a dog 

or three. Maybe why no live cats? The crowds of people would be another reason. But it was okay. I mostly came to see the sakura and to take a look in the area. What was nice was seeing the community.

And that was my visit to Yanaka. Except there are a couple more temples I will be sharing.

So with all that cat stuff, did I buy anything? Of course I did. And I ate it.

Nekoyaki from Maneki-ya. And these were delicious! I enjoyed the matcha with anko beans and the custard version. If you like taiyaki and are in Yanaka, I definitely recommend stopping there.

Benzaiten's Rain in Ningyocho

So where was I? Four trains up till Tokyo Dome. I then boarded the Oedo Line at Korakuen. I think I've ridden every part of the Oedo Line after five trips to Tokyo. This time from Korakuen Station to Kuramae Station where I got on the Asakusa Line. Rode that back to the place I stayed at the last time I was in Tokyo. Ningyocho.

Unlike the last time it was cool weather and very rainy. Which made taking photographs at Koami Jinja very difficult. It was sad for me because I really wanted to get some nice shots in the daytime. My prior visit was at night as I wrote about in this post.

I did use the chōzubachi this time although I had trouble remembering which hand to wash first.

Even in the rain it was nice to see the shrine again in daylight.

Walked a bit more to come across another place I had visited before. Dai Kannon Ji Buddhist Temple which I wrote about here with a lot of photographs.

I did get to see inside the shrine this time. I think that is Amida Buddha although I can not find information online about it. Very ornate shrine. The large cast iron head of Tetsuzo Bodhisavatta was not on view this time. It is behind the doors that are behind the statue.

I had hoped to get a bite to eat at the Mifune Izakaya this time but it was not open. Such was my luck. I did remember how to get to another place that had food that I enjoyed.  人形町今半惣 which translates to Ningyocho Now Semi-Prepared Foods. More about this great little place in this post.

Along with finally getting world famous taiyaki from Yanagiya.

After taking the Asakusa Line back to Hamamatsucho Station (would that be six or seven trains?) I was able to enjoy that delicious karaage fried chicken and potato salad for dinner. The little cup sake was from a konbini and I kept the cup since it is nice. More about sake in a later post.

Also enjoyed that Yanagiya taiyaki. Which ended up a little flattened by the time I made it back to my hotel.

Not to leave empty handed from Ningyocho, I did get a couple omamori or charms from Koami Jinja. The white one is for good health and the purple one with dragons is a protection charm. It joins my purple protection charm from Portland, Oregon. Covered from coast to coast now perhaps?