Korakuen, Jinbocho, Meiji Jingu

I haven’t understood the weather at any of the places I’ve been to this trip, but I REALLY don’t understand the weather in Tokyo right now. After a sunny 20°C yesterday, it’s a cloudy 10°C. This works much better for me and my winter clothes, but it’s still weird!

Like yesterday, I kicked off the morning with a visit to a Tokyo garden that I’d never seen before. This time it was the turn of Korakuen Gardens, a 17th century walking garden set right next to the giant Tokyo Dome.

This one is and definitely feels bigger than Rikugien, with several possible routed around the large central pond. This is apparently the amateur photographer’s paradise, because there were lots of people (mostly middle-aged men) with very professional-looking cameras taking pictures at every corner.

Oddly, fall seems to have come for this garden sooner than in the others, because there were several trees that had already lost all of their foliage, and more red leaves (on maple trees but not only) sprinkled around the treetops. There were also ancient pine trees, all gnarled and twisted, that required crutches and even the characteristic Kanazawa poles with strings used to support branches so they don’t snap under the weight of snow.

The garden is beautiful, and like all good Japanese gardens, the view changes every time the path takes even a slight curve, discovering new plants or features that had been hidden before. The fall colors are a plus, but it must also be gorgeous in spring because it has an entire grove of wisterias and other seasonal plants so there’s always something in bloom. One thing I will say is that I think the massive buildings and the Tokyo Dome looming over the trees is a bit of an eyesore, disrupting an otherwise idyllic view, but I guess we just have to live with that!

On the way back out, I stopped by the tiny shop to buy plum-flavored biscuits as omiyage for my Japanese class. The clerk let out a gasp of admiration when she saw my Queen Elizabeth foldable bag; I’m no fan of the monarchy but I appreciate the kitsch factor!

From Korakuen, I took a short walk to Jinbocho, the bookseller’s quarter. It’s not a common tourist stop, mostly because Japanese second-hand bookstores aren’t very useful for foreigners, but as it happens I’m just now reading the book Days at the Morisaki Bookshop, which takes place in Jinbocho, and I wanted to take the opportunity of seeing what the neighborhood looks like with my own eyes.

The whole area is surprisingly modern! The book makes it sound like it’s one of those traditional quarters, like maybe Yanaka, full of old dusty stores in traditional wooden houses. There are indeed lots of old bookstores displaying tons of books, magazines, maps, illustrations and anything similar that you could name, so all of that is true, but the streets and the buildings are all as modern as anything else in Tokyo, including a few cafes and tons and tons of restaurants -many of them with long lines outside, already at 11:30!

I took a short walk along Sakura-dori and Suzuran-dori, then moved on to Ibasen, the traditional craft shop closer to my hotel that was closed in my previous attempt, and I found with immense relief that it was open inside. Very much worth a visit! Alas, Seijuken on the next block, the dorayaki shop featured in the Netflix show Saboriman Kantaro, was still closed for holidays… A pity! At least I got to have my favorite Japanese sweet this morning: melon pan!

By this point it was lunchtime, so I went back to Kikanbo, but not to have a repeat of their spicy ramen, but to go to their curry place next door. It’s tiny and, unlike the sister shop, there was no line to get in. Unfortunately this was a bit of a letdown: the meat was tender, the curry was spicy, but it just wasn’t very flavorful. Just 980 yen though (€6). On the upside, it’s right next to my hotel so I was able to go back to my room, drop off all my stuff and get some rest before heading out for the afternoon.

I had shopping left to do, but I also wanted to do something cultural, so I went off to Meiji Jingu, the large shinto shrine inside a forested park next to Harajuku. I’ve been twice before, but I’d read online that during the month of November they have a chrysanthemum festival, where they showcase lots of flowers in and around the shrine.

Everything became cooler when I got out of the subway station: the temperature, but also the people! It is Harajuku, so of course lots of people -of all ages!- were very stylishly dressed, many in trendy outfits but some also in awesome counterculture garb, like a couple in their sixties or so who were dressed in super chic punk.

I rushed to the shrine, as it was 16:00 and they were in the process of closing, not that you’d know considering the millions of people going in as well as out. As it happens, they had already removed all but a handful of the chrysanthemums, so the shrine looked much the same as it always does; it didn’t even show fall colors, the trees were all green. I still took a moment to walk around and admire the large, imposing torii gates.

Next, on shopping mode now, I went to the Tokyo Midtown, an upscale mall, to check out The Cover Nippon. This is exactly the kind of store that I failed to find in Korea: specialized in traditional crafts and artisanship, impossibly refined, everything is so beautiful that I wanted one of everything. As I said, it is more upscale than the other places I’ve been to, as you will see reflected in the quality as well as the price of the goods. The staff were attentive but also a bit pushy, at least as much as any staff can be pushy in Japan: they hovered a little bit, but not so much that it annoyed me.

I was supposed to look out for omiyage or Christmas presents but I admit, with no small amount of shame, that I ended up only buying things for myself: an elegant, asymmetrical pair of chopsticks in earth tones with a golden highlight, a beautiful, purple Japanese ceramic cup, and oh! A small set of mochi, that’s omiyage! So it wasn’t all selfish, right?!

I next went to a Loft, more to enjoy the experience than to buy anything. There are on the one hand the smart, practical things that you didn’t know existed (my ultra-light umbrella is from Loft; I checked to see if they’ve invented one even lighter, but not yet) or cool, beautiful items that are cheaper than artisanal or souvenir shops. I was all shopped out, so I didn’t buy anything, in part to avoid queuing for the cashier!

Since I didn’t get to eat okonomiyaki for lunch, I was determined to have it for dinner, but clearly it wasn’t in the cards for me: I tried one place, and it was closed. I tried a second place, and it was reserved for a private event. I tried a third place! And it was packed with a line and anyway it didn’t look worth waiting for. By now I couldn’t take another step, so I just ducked into a donburi restaurant and had myself an oyakodon. Which, you know, it’s fine, but it’s not quite the gastronomical sendoff I was hoping for in my last night in Tokyo.

So that’s a lightning trip to Tokyo, wrapped! I feel like I’ve been here for a week and also like I’ve only been thirty minutes. For a little over 48 hours, I’ve managed to squeeze even more things out of this excursion than my already ambitious plan had set out for: I’ve seen two delightful gardens, I joined the elusive Imperial Palace tour, I shopped for geeky stuff in Akihabara, I socialized, I had amazing food in my favorite places, I got omiyage and presents for people back home… I wish I could stay here for another week, another month, but at least I can say I’ve made the most of it. Korea now seems months ago!

I will keep returning to Japan until they ban me, of course. Maybe next time I can go to the north, Hokkaido? Or south, to tropical Okinawa? Or I go back to Kyushu to explore further than I did the first time?