Friday in Tokyo

Friday morning was forecast as sunny, with not a cloud in the sky. The temperature was supposed to rise to 10C and continue to rise over the weekend.  it was a perfect day to go and look at the Tokyo skyline from the observation deck of some tower. In the city of Tokyo there are any number of towers to choose from and to the visitor it can be quite confusing as to which is the best. The tallest tower is a CN Tower clone (Tokyo Skytree) and there are a number of other observation decks atop office buildings, an Eiffel Tower look-alike (Tokyo Tower) etc.  So to help me decide which one to choose, I looked at Trip Advisor which is used regularly to identify hotels, restaurants and tourist sites. The beauty of Trip Advisor is that you are generally reading unbiased reports of regular tourists just like us.  A number of respondents recommended Bunkyo Civic Building. This is what we saw in guidebooks as the view from the top of Bunkyo...not my picture, but what I hoped we would see.

This is not a very tall building, it is just 33 storeys tall. But it is situated where you can see from one side of the building the Tokyo Tower and from the other side a concentration of skyscrapers with snow capped Mount Fuji peeking out from between the buildings, if you are fortunate to catch a day when Fuji is not covered in clouds. And the bonus of Bunkyo is that it is free.  When we got to Bunkyo, there was a flea market going on in the basement of the building which is attached to the subway. There was a variety of items available for purchase, some new, some old and it was a good opportunity to interact with locals on a one to one basis. As we circled the market, there were two young ladies playing beautiful music from matching organs and a table set up with women running a "chug" (Hebrew for activity) creating cards using the Japanese art of origami. As soon as they saw us, they asked us to sit down and participate. But knowing that it was clear outside (the first such day since we arrived) we did not want to squander the "Kodak moment" awaiting us on the 32nd floor, and so we told them that we would return after our view of the skyline. The origami that they were doing was very basic, not at all like what our son Ari does, (see the picture of Ari's work)

but the idea of interacting closely with locals when we had zero common language appealed to us and we really intended to return. We took the elevator up to the top observation deck and when we saw the view, we were a) pleased that the Trip Advisor reviews were very accurate and b) amazed that there were so few people seizing the opportunity.

We had read that the lines on a clear day at places like Tokyo Tower and Tokyo Skytree (where admission costs range from $10 to $30 per person) were packed, and here where it was free, it was empty! And one of the advantages of Bunkyo over Skytree is that from Bunkyo you can take a picture of the skyline which includes the very distinctive Skytree Tower. 

We spent a bit of time enjoying the magnificent views and even managed to catch snow capped Mount Fiji in the distance, and then headed downstairs again. 

Our origami women were waiting for us. And we created our cards, which was cute and fun, but the better part was communicating with these Japanese women. And Ari, please do not laugh at our creations! 😀

When we finished, we walked over to listen to the wonderful organ playing by the young Japanese girls. I filmed it and loaded it on to my site on YouTube (give a listen...it is worth it):

http://youtu.be/fyDQ-5WS23o

We were told by a number of people that Kappabashi was an amazing area of town if you enjoy the culinary arts as we do, and so that was our next stop. This area has been called Kitchen Town because for numerous blocks, every store is dedicated to some aspect of cooking; kitchen utensils, fake food used as samples outside restaurants, ceramic bowls and serving dishes, knives made by families that have been creating the finest cutting tools for centuries (think Samurai swords). As Fran said, this is a chef's dream, a true Gan Eden (Garden of Eden) for those who love cooking. 

It requires no map to know you have arrived at the street. All you have to do is look up and see the sculptured Chef and Coffee Cups on the face of the building. 

We walked into the first store (Niimi's) which has been there for over a century. If you think that Cayne's on Doncaster is the one stop centre for kitchen utensils in Toronto, come here and you will be astounded. Every conceivable kitchen utensil that has ever been created is available here in multiple styles, qualities and sizes. Here is a picture of some knives that are more than $400 each.

And some of the fake food that you use to display your restaurant's menu.

It was Erev Shabbat and these looked like perfectly good challahs, but they were fake. The real ones would come later that evening at Chabad. And when you then begin to walk down the street thru the hundreds of stores dedicated to some aspect of cooking, you are truly amazed. It may seem weird that tourists will use their travel time to visit this area, but it is really amazing.  We were watching the clock all the time we were in the area, as Shabbat would begin at just after 5 PM and we would need time to get to Chabad, so we decided to try and get back by 3:30 latest to prepare for Shabbat. On the way back, in the subway, we saw a shoe repair shop and Fran had walked so much in the first week that she decided to re-heel her shoes...15 minutes while you wait...and they even supply slippers and a blanket to keep you warm while you wait.... Usual preparations for Shabbat...check to make sure that the fridge light is off...get the Shabbat belt ready as there is no Eruv....set the lights for Shabbat and we were off by cab to Chabad.... We will post our entire Shabbat experience in an upcoming post All the best Fran and David