Michael Powell's Blog, page 84
June 14, 2014
Ningyocho – The Doll Town District
Had we not lived so nearby, it’s unlikely that we would have visited Ningyocho even once. Although this former pleasure district doesn’t have any of Tokyo’s famous must-see attractions, we returned repeatedly, drawn by its restaurants, traditional shops and low-key, residential atmosphere.
Located where Nihonbashi meets the Sumida River, Ningyocho attempts a tricky balancing act, blending equal amounts of modern and traditional Tokyo. Emerging from Ningyocho Station, you might as well be anywh...
Fukagawa’s Fudo-do Temple and Tomioka Hachiman Shrine
By lunch time, the historic neighborhood of Fukagawa had already provided us with a surprisingly entertaining day, and after eating, we still had two amazing temples to visit. The massive Fudo-do Temple dates from 1703, and the nearby Tomioka Hachiman Shrine is famous for its connection to the world of sumo.
We passed through a large red torii to gain access to the Fudo-do, dedicated to a scowling, fang-toothed deity called Fudōmyō. There’s no mistaking the god’s importance to the people who w...
June 13, 2014
The Historic Neighborhood of Fukagawa
Across the Sumida River from Nihonbashi, Fukagawa is one of Tokyo’s original fifteen wards. We spent a fun day wandering around its uncrowded streets, allowing the district to surprise us with an excellent museum, a tranquil garden and, for lunch, a delicious bowl of the neighborhood specialty.
After exiting the Kiyosumi-Shirakawa Station, the first thing we saw in Fukagawa was a guy so massive, he blocked out the sun. Our first sumo wrestler! The neighborhood is home to a few of Tokyo’s most...
The Robot Restaurant
It’s hard to imagine an experience more perfectly suited to Tokyo, and one less likely to exist anywhere else, than Shinjuku’s Robot Restaurant. With a stage show that stretches the definition of terms like “elaborate” and “bizarre”, the restaurant has quickly become one of the most popular venues in the city.
We were dazzled by the Robot Restaurant from the moment we spotted it. The entire facade was illuminated in blinding LED lights and giant lady robots with giant bouncing breasts were rov...
June 12, 2014
The Tokyo Stock Exchange
The world’s third-largest stock exchange is found in Tokyo, headquartered in the financial district of Nihonbashi. The Tokyo Stock Exchange is free to visit, allowing guests to watch the high-stakes action from a circular glass corridor above the main trading room. Free, you say? We’ll meet you there.
Thanks to the positioning of the International Date Line, the TSE is the first major stock exchange to open every day, allowing Tokyo to set the pace for the world of global finance. Founded in 1...
June 11, 2014
The Taimeiken Restaurant & Kite Museum
Found between the shopping mecca of Coredo Mall and the Tokyo Stock Exchange, we found a quaint little place which feels completely out of place in modern Nihonbashi. The small and charmingly cluttered Kite Museum is hidden away without fanfare above Taimeiken, one of central Tokyo’s favorite restaurants.
Introduced in the 8th century by Buddhist monks from China, kites have long been a popular pastime in Japan. At first, they were used exclusively for religious festivals but soon had caught o...
The Miraikan Future Science Museum
We had a feeling that our visit to Odaiba Island’s Miraikan was going to be awesome, and we were right. The only disappointment came as the museum was closing, and we were asked to leave before having seen everything. Officially named the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation, the Miraikan is probably the most cutting-edge science museum we’ve ever visited.
Suspended from the ceiling in the Miraikan’s foyer, the Geo-Cosmos globe welcomes visitors. Beautifully presented, intelligen...
June 10, 2014
Odaiba Island
When Tokyo wants to relax, it comes to Odaiba, an artificial island which began as a set of defensive fortifications, but has become the city’s premiere entertainment zone. With museums, arcades, parks and more shopping than a person could possibly need, a day spent in Odaiba will almost certainly be expensive, tiring, surprising, and loads of fun.
Odaiba originally came into being in the 1850s, after the US Admiral Matthew Perry had threatened to take Japan to war over its isolationism. The S...
June 5, 2014
Pachinko: Lost Your Money, Losing Your Mind
You’ve been to a casino, right? The ringing sounds, the stale stench of tobacco, the confusion, the sad people so desperate to be happy? All that is familiar. But a pachinko hall takes the wholesome goodness of a casino and condenses it down to its most vile. It exaggerates the sensory overload beyond belief. ¡¡MAXIMIZES THE SOUND!! Multiplies the confusion. Doubles down on the hopelessness. And achieves the impossible by creating a place of gambling which I have absolutely no interest in.
Wel...
June 4, 2014
Our Introduction to Kaiseki at Tofuya-Ukai
Our budget won’t allow us to repeatedly indulge in kaiseki, or Japanese haute cuisine, so we wanted to be very careful about the restaurant in which to experience it. After considerable research, we decided to go with Tofuya-Ukai, and I doubt we could have made a better choice.
Found at the foot of the Tokyo Tower, Tofuya-Ukai is one of the most popular kaiseki restaurants in the city. From the moment we walked through the gate, we were enchanted. In the middle of the noisy, modern Tokyo, the...
