At home in Tokyo

The next two days we were busy in Tokyo, catching up with two different Japanese friends from our travels around the world. Each of them invited us to a series of uniquely Japanese experiences, some of which would be hard for a foreigner to do on their own. A big feature of our reunions was Japan’s excellent food.

Our first friend invited us to lunch in a sushi restaurant. It was in a residential neighbourhood, and from the outside looked like any other house in the road, with no sign telling you what it was. We ducked under a low door into a small room with four chairs lined up against a counter, behind which sat our chef. It was a private restaurant just for us, seating a maximum of six people, and the owner would be our personal sushi chef for the afternoon. As we had expected, the food was amazing:

After a couple of hours of indulging in sushi we went for a short walk to digest our feast, before tackling the next big event of the day – a kabuki performance in the historic Kabukiza theatre in the Ginza district. My friend directed me around the theatre, including the place where foreigners can rent a touchpad that displays the English text of the dialogue on stage. That afternoon’s show consisted of two different plays, with two intervals (for which our hosts had brought us a bento box to enjoy). I was worried about falling asleep after such a big lunch, but instead was fascinated by the performances. The sets and costumes were beautiful. Each play had a simple plot, and concentrated on expressing concepts like honour, duty, jealousy and revenge through dialogue.

The three- and half-hours in the theatre flew by, and by the early evening we were back in our comfortable Tokyo flat, which we finally had a bit more time to enjoy. It had taken us a while to get used to some of its particularities, like ultra-modern washer-drier which was already loaded with washing powder for us, but whose buttons were all in Japanese. The flat’s toilet was also space age – on opening the entrance door, its lid automatically raised itself and a little pipe sprayed warm water around the area. It flushed automatically when you closed the lid. It seemed that everything worked in a slightly different way to back home, and was set up to provide maximum comfort and convenience for the minimum possible use of space.

The next day we met a different friend, who was now in charge of a tiny temple in Tokyo, a responsibility his family has held for generations. First, he showed us the Zozoji Temple, where he trained in Buddhism. It was in central Tokyo, with a photogenic location behind the Tokyo Tower landmark.

Next, we went to the tiny temple where he lives for green tea and a chat, before heading on to explore the Ginza district. It was the weekend, so the main road there was closed to traffic, allowing the area to soak up the many visitors without feeling crowded. Our host told us that the Ginza is now mostly frequented by tourists, especially the Chinese, and few Japanese go there anymore. There were some fun shops selling upmarket souvenirs, and lots of department stores – of which I particularly like Ginza 6, with its huge “Big Cat Bang” sculpture suspended from its ceiling.

Soon it was time for dinner, in small tempura restaurant in a side street, a place my friend’s family has been visiting for three generations. We could see why – the food was again excellent. We have yet to have a bad meal in Japan.

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