Image above: Loved the handwritten style and the paper of the dinner menu at Enraku Takadanobaba-sou. [Monday 25 January] | [View all photos]
On Day 3 of my trip I got to meet two of my Tokyo office colleagues for the first time, wandered around the alleyways of Kagurazaka, and had a fantastic ryokan-style dinner with Mayumi and Kunihiro from my RTW trip.
After a good night’s sleep, trying out this Sleep Cycle iPhone app, I headed into Tokyo and stopped in Asakusa – home of Senso-ji temple. Although it’s been 10 years since I’ve been there, it was still quite familiar and I had fun walking around recalling memories from that trip.
With time pressing, I carried onto my Tokyo office to meet Yoko-san and Yashuide-san with whom I’ve had the pleasure of working with over the past three years but had never met in person until now. We had a good chat over lunch at Yakihamaguri Aoyama Hachiban before seeing the office which was quiet as a library – totally different to the boisterous nature of my London office!
Then, sticking to seeing the less familiar parts of Tokyo, I headed over to the Kagurazaka district which used to be the geisha quarter. With its alleys and winding narrow passageways, it was a great place to explore the hidden izakayas, restaurants and temples before stopping in one of the cafes for refreshing herbal tea.
However, the highlight of the day was meeting up with Mayumi and Kunihiro for dinner. We first met on the Cook Islands stage of my RTW trip back in September 2009 and it was great seeing them again.
I had asked to eat somewhere authentic and they really chose somewhere that hit that mark and then some with their choice of Enraku Takadanobaba-sou and the amazing ryokan-style dinner we had. Whilst the sashimi was superb I really trying out nikujaga, which was both light and hearty simultaneously, as well as the smoky aroma of the salmon and mushrooms of the sumbiyaki.
Dinner was simply decadent and fun too with Mayumi causing much laughter when she forgot to switch back to Japanese to the waiter and ended up speaking in English to him by mistake! :) And is Japanese custom, they refused to let me pay and instead treated me instead. So my thanks to both of them and I hope to return the favour when they come to visit.
Coming next … my day trip to Minakami where I reverted to being a kid with all the snow and had my first snow-shoeing experience!
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