Japan 2012 - Part 11 (Tokyo)

Two posts in one day. At last, the final post in this Japan series! It has only taken me 18 months to blog it.



My initial plans after afternoon tea were to wander around a few shops (I wanted to get to Muji) and head up somewhere for dinner (I actually can't even remember where it was I was so keen on going). However these plans came to an abrupt end when I noticed another parade going on down Omotesando. It was an anti-fur rally! I was cheering them on when, on a whim, I asked if I could join and jumped into the protest march. I was promptly given a clacker and was soon chanting along. It was awesome! One of the organisers, Mimi, was absolutely lovely and after the march introduced me to some local animal rights activists. Mimi and her family then took me out to dinner, which was lovely. We went back to the Vegan Healing Cafe, which was close to the end of the parade. Good thing we got there early, as lots of other marchers had the same thought!





I ordered the Fried Soy Meat plate, which was OK but nowhere near as good as the Felafel plate! Mimi's son had some pasta, also pictured. The meal ended with some lovely banana cake.

Marching with the rally and meeting Mimi probably ended up being the highlight of my trip! Mimi gave me a card with her email on it, but sadly by the time I got home I couldn't find it. I am sorry Mimi, I am not being rude by not emailing, I just can't find the card no matter how many times I look for it.




The next day was the last morning in Japan, and I wandered off back to the Imperial Palace to have a look at the walls. While I was there, someone asked if I was waiting to see the emperor, apparently he was going to be making an appearance on the way the parliament. However not for several hours, and I had other places to be.






That other place I had to be was back at the Hibiya Chaya, for more amazing food. I started with a Pear and Soymilk Fruyu to drink, because it sounded so interesting. It tasted like pear and soymilk, and was quite nice. I ordered the Vegan Omlette Set, which was absolutely amazingly delicious. Check out that gravy! Yum. And of course, a final piece of Strawberry Shortcake.

Chaya also sells a variety of sandwiches (I got one for the plane) and other assorted groceries, including things like maple sugar and vegan Kewpie. It also sells little packs of cookies, but absolutely do not bring these home for gifts for people because they taste like seaweed. What on earth?

After this I also got a chance to stop into a Muji, where I was able to get some adorable cat silicon molds and cookie cutters. This place has super cute kitchen stuff, so stop in if that is something that you like. Then it was back to the hotel to check out and a long bus ride to the airport.




Before leaving Tokyo I had bought a platform ticket to Tokyo Station and picked up a bento box and a pumpkin muffin from Brown Rice Deli, which was my lunch while we were waiting for the plane. (I had also spent a last half an hour running around the amazingly cute shops that they had in the station).




Once on the plane, as Jetstar do not offer any vegan options even in StarClass, I ate the Avocado Soy Nugget Panini I had picked up from Chaya, with some tomato soup, a leftover cookie and some fruit from the plane. It was a night flight, so breakfast was the bagel I had picked up from Eat More Greens and some more fruit.

Then it was off the plane and a drive home from the Gold Coast to my home to greet my beautiful kitties.

Japan is amazing, if you get the chance to go you should definitely take it! Since I have been, some places have closed but lots of other food places have opened. Check out the Happy Cow List to see what amazing food Japan has for you! More recently, Jojo and Cassie have both had Japan adventures, so check out their blogs to see what they got up to.

If you are looking to stay connected with WiFi in Japan, I highly recommend hiring a portable WiFi device. I hired one from Rentafone Japan, and it was excellent service and a great help being able to consult Google Maps and Happy Cow on the go.




Finally, just a couple of the cute things I brought home with me. I do love kitty things. :)

Japan 2012 - Part 10 (Tokyo)

After lunch Mum and I went out to visit the temple of Sengakuji.



Sengakuji is famous for being the graveyard of the Fourty-Seven Ronin, which is a fascinating but bloody tale from Japanese history. If you have seen the recent movie of that name, I can assure you that that movie is steaming pile of inaccurate poop, but Keanu Reeves is very pretty. I shudder to think of the number of people going to Sengakuji looking for his character's grave these days... hot tip, his character is fictional.





After this we took a subway to visit the famous Nihonbashi Bridge, and a visit to the super swanky department store Mitsukoshi (it has big lions out the front). The department store is actually pretty impressive (and expensive), but does have a gorgeous floor of kimono displays and a roof garden. They also had Le Creuset in all the colours of the rainbow, including the marshmallow pink that I love so much. We don't have that colour here in Australia.



Afterwards, I caught the subway out to the Tokyo branch of Loving Hut. This is a tiny little restaurant, up some stairs, which had one little table with two chairs and counter seating around the windows seating maybe another six. There were several dinner sets to choose from, including some things that were similar to the Loving Hut at home, so I tried the Fish Sandwich for something different. This was OK, though the tartar sauce was really more like a pickle/mustard sauce. It came with a cup of chowder and some nice sides including seaweed salad, curry chunks and some sort of sweet soy slices. For the dessert I chose a chocolate coconut pudding, which was very nice. The also had 'cheesecake' for dessert, but it looked exactly like the one they have here in Australia, which is apparently imported from Taiwan frozen and really isn't very nice.



The following morning I did something a bit different for breakfast and ordered off the hotel menu. Normally I had just been eating assorted bread, spreads, fruit and tea for breakfast before heading out, but the hotel had a 'healthy breakfast' on the menu and had a good grasp of making food for vegans (no bonito in the miso!). It was nice to be able to enjoy a Japanese-style breakfast for at least one morning.




After breakfast I went for a walk to the Imperial Palace and visited the lovely East Garden there.



For lunch we caught the subway to Roppongi and went to Roti, where I had the Vegan Burger. This is a veggie burger with smoked eggplant dip and tahini sauce on a pita bun, plus fries!

Afterwards we had a wander through the giant Roppongi Hills shopping centre before heading out to International House (where my mother has spent many trips to Japan for research) to see a dance performance by Min Tanaka. It was... interesting. In a beautiful setting, being danced in the gardens at International House, but not quite my style of dance. Still, we had a lot of fun afterwards with our different interpretation of what the dance might have meant.






Roppongi is also the home of Eat More Greens, a vegetarian cafe that my mum had been to before. We arrived when they were serving their 'Tea Time' menu, so perfect for some afternoon tea. I had a Tiramisu, which had banana mousse and fruit cake, making it in no way traditional but still very tasty. I also tried some corn tea, which was quite nice. I got a takeaway vegan taco meat meal which I took back to the hotel and ate for dinner while watching NCIS on TV. They also have a bakery section, so I picked up fruit and nut scone, oatmeal choc-chip cookie sesame cookie and a red bean and green tea bagel. Not everything there is vegan, and something that appear labelled as vegan have honey in them, so keep an eye out when you are ordering.




The next day I was on my own, so I headed back to the Shibuya/Shinjuku area. Again, it was raining a bit. But I think that Shibuya crossing is more awesome with umbrellas. I meandered around the 109 shopping centre, which is full of incredibly hip and tiny clothes and insane amounts of kawaii.




For lunch I caught the JR to Harajuku and went to Hanada Rosso, a great little restaurant. Follow the instructions on Happy Cow on how to get there, and it is easy to find. I had the most amazing tofu burger, it was so delicious! Plus it was served on spaghetti. It also came with brown rice and miso vegetable soup. I had some pumpkin and maple ice cream to finish, which was a bit icy but had nice flavours. Lots of pumpkin everything due to it being autumn.



It was also the day of the Halloween Parade, which was pretty fun to watch go by.



There were some actual Harajuku Girls at the bridge in Harajuku! This was exciting. Plus people everywhere were dressed up in Halloween costumes. Definitely a fun day to be out people watching!



For afternoon tea I went to Salon de Nanadecor, and adorable tea salon set up in an organic cotton clothes shop. There was very little English, and I had very little Japanese, but I did manage to order this amazing soy blancmange with strawberry and some sort of lovely tea. It is a bit off the main drag to get to, but it is a very lovely place to stop by for some tea.

The next post will be the last of my Japanese adventures!

Japan 2012 - Part 9 (Tokyo)

The next morning with caught the JR Line to Ryogoku station, a short walk (past the Sumo stadium, sadly it was not Sumo season) to the Edo Tokyo Museum.




This museum has lots of recreations from the history of Edo-Tokyo. It was quite interesting, and even better was visiting it with my mother, who was full of so much information about everything!

After this, we caught the subway with the intention of going to a restaurant called Point for lunch. However, when we got there they said that they were all sold out, even though they were meant to be open for another several hours. This makes a hungry vegan into a hangry vegan! Though it did lead to one of the best lunches of the trip, after we caught a subway to Shinjuku and went to the top level of the Isetan Department Store there. Chaya is a chain of macrobiotic restaurants, with lots of vegan options. While it is expensive, it is amazing!








We got a set menu, and we each chose almost the same thing! It started with some delicious Mushroom, Sweet Potato and Grain Croquettes with Potato Salad, which was accompanied by some bread with the most amazing peanut cream. So. Good. Peanut. You could have chosen rice rather than bread if you wanted... but bread and peanut cream! Our main was an amazing Awabi Mushroom and Tempeh Bacon Soy Cheese Carbonara. It was as good as it sounds. I also had a mint tea, which was beautiful. The one course we differed was dessert (all their desserts are vegan). Mum chose a chestnut cake, while I chose a Strawberry Shortcake. That gorgeous strawberry cake was one of the best things I have ever eaten. I dream about that cake. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful cake.

After this very reviving lunch, Mum headed back to the hotel while I went for a bit of a frolic around Shinjuku.




I went for a wander around Shinjuku Goyen Park, and wandered around the beautiful gardens until closing time (they play music over loud speakers at closing time, very pretty).



I then went and got a beautiful view of the city from the 45th floor observatory of the Tokyo Metro Government Building, where you could see all the way to the sun setting bear Mt Fuji.



There is nothing quite like walking around Tokyo at night. So many lights! And where did I walk for dinner? Why, right back to Chaya!






This time I chose the super fancy dinner set. It started with a Chestnut and Burdock Root Quiche as a little 'amuse', followed by a Mushroom Terrine with Seasonal Vegetables and Persimmon. The main was a Vegetable Cutlet with Tofu and Salted Rice Molt Tartare Sauce, and the meal finished with a Chocolate Cake with Chestnut and Almond Praline Soy Gelato. It was all very, very good. The only sad part was that the dessert, while good, was nothing compared to that amazing strawberry cake!



The next morning I had a bit of a stroll around the local area. Our hotel was right next to Tokyo Station, which is an impressive building in itself. It was also a short walk to Marounouchi Street, for some window shopping and a visit to the very striking Tokyo International Forum, which is well worth a visit.





I went for a stroll, via the walls of the castle, to Hibiya Garden. This was a lovely garden, there was a jazz band playing, some beautiful displays and lots of people enjoying themselves. I also found another colony of cats there, though again many of them were sadly looking poorly. Though this little friend was looking fairly sleek. A bonus of these gardens? They are a very short walk away from another branch of Chaya!





Another lunch set! Croquettes with cous cous and corn, Burger with mushroom gravy and burdock salad, and the magnificent Strawberry Shortcake! The only sad thing is that the bread at this Chaya didn't come with peanut cream, but it was still a great meal. Three times in two days, Chaya certainly is worth it (and this wasn't the last time I visited either).