Day 3 - Through Ebisu and Meguro
My eyes opened late on this Sunday morning. My mind was racing between the thought of a warm breakfast, deciding on the best route to explore for the day, and feeling the tired from the previous walks.
The skies were still a bit grey, so I thought it best to head in an opposite direction from the typical places that were sure to be bustling with people. Deep down, I didn't want to move at all, but something inside me kept pushing me towards what could be an exciting day.
I carefully plotted my route to the more obscure museums and sites in the city, such as Top Museum for photography, and Teien. The latter was the house of a prince who had an affinity for Art Deco and had been designed to stand out amongst the other imperial dwellings around it.
Breakfast, towards at Roppongi Hills, a complex with its modern architecture and skyscrapers proudly watching over the Tokyo Tower. It was a great view!
More eggs, at a place called Eggccelent, as the menu had Omelette Curry Rice, it's a must to eat in Japan, I tried my best to read it all in katakana, and even order a bit in it's original name. But "omo-kari raisu" sounds almost same in any language, practice a few more kanji as I wait for the meal.
I think by now I have about 50 kanji under the belt, that feel confident, some things on the street make more sense, when I see a written name, i associate it quicker with it being a "Tanaka", as it's a kanji for Field and Middle.
After a quick meal, one should always say, gochisousama deshita, and head towards Ebisu area, where one museum awaits. The weather opens up, and the sun shines my way, I see a tiny park on my route so decide to jump in.
Apparently this park has also some royal history, of developing youth in the times of that emperor.
Next to it, in the Ebisu area, there are natural shops, vegan cafes, fresh fruit stalls and some more french looking bistros, another quaint area, as I cross from the Shibuya river, which is an unimpressive looking canal, that reminds me of Jet Set Radio game, as a skating place.
The Ebisu Garden Place is impressive, a huge open air mall, with a few office buildins attached to it, and the museum being part of one of them, hard to find it at first.
As soon as you're in, there's a lot of choice, 3 floors of different exhibitions but all costing less than a Starbucks coffee. I choose the top one for now as the name and style of photography sounds more interesting.
Printed photography always looks better than our usual instagram one, it makes it so much more impressive when done on a bigger canvas. The colours are just perfect no matter how you think about them in your screen.
After the museum, I decided to grab a yoghurt and a coffee catchup on some messages, as London was waking up.
The coffee shop is all boarded up in plastic Covid protective windows, so after I sit down, I see a japanese salaryman next to me complaining to the staff that he can't sit next to his wife because of all the boarded up tables, and how it's not good at all, and how the staff should do something to fix it, I guess Karens is not an american thing only.
As I am sitting besides his wife I decide to offer my seat so he doens't have to talk make the starbucks CEO of japan write him an apology letter.
Well, next museum is only a short walk away, crossing close to usual underpasses, overpasses, trains and everything else that fills up tokyo streets, until you reach a giant and pleasant park that makes you forget all that in an instant.
This Teien museum, as of now was the worse one I've seen in Tokyo, maybe even Japan. Even if it's an old residence of a prince , it's practically empty, architecture does it's job of showing what an Art Deco style is all about, but apart from that, and a pleasant garden, it's would take you 15 minutes to do the museum route and read everything in all the detail if you ever wanted to go here.
As I finish the museum quickly, I realize I am close to Meguro, which is mostly famous for the Sakura season and it's promenade. I know i won't see any sakuras, but might as well see the region.
The descent from the museum, takes through a bit more of an older run down area, all the shopfronts and walls are derelict, compared to the rest of central Tokyo people are used to.
The area gets a bit busier, with some department stores, and I think I should go towards Gotanda next, but I realize it's way further than I expected.
I plan a different route towards home, and think of stopping by for some Ramen, back through Roppongi, a top rated ramen place appears in the a tiny building, with no windows, one table and as I enter, first I open the toilet door, until figuring out how to open the main restaurant door.
You pay at a machine, as all ramen shops, you choose extra ingredients, drop your coins or card and get a few tickets that you hand to the bartender.
As they have the broth ready, ramen is quick to come to the table, a few slurps here and there, finish the bowl and once again thank them for the meal.
The evening lights start getting closer, so you plan another outing towards Shibuya, mapping up some spots to shoot, but as London wakes up more and more, the barrage of messages and problems, I have to assist some of the businesses you can never leave behind, you decide to just grab a few snacks from the local supermarket and tuck in for the night.