Nerdy Tokyo: Akihabara, Harajuku, and Shibuya

27 Thursday Jun 2013

Posted by misterselfish in Asia, Japan, Tokyo

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Akihabara, Cosplay, Goth Lolita, Harajuku, Japan, Selfish Year, Selfish Years, Shibuya, Tokyo

Tokyo has a large nerd culture. Colossally large. So large, that the Japanese seem completely oblivious to how strange it is. While spotting someone dressed in costume Stateside is an oddity outside of Halloween, it’s par for the course in Tokyo.

As part of our nerdy Japan explorations, Mrs. Selfish and I decided we would visit some of Tokyo’s unique neighborhoods – in particular Akihabara, Shibuya, and Harajuku.

What were we looking for?

Cosplayers.

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Big in Japan: Heading to a Sumo Tournament

26 Wednesday Jun 2013

Posted by misterselfish in Asia, Japan, Tokyo

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Japan, Ryoguko Kokugikan, Selfish Year, Selfish Years, Sumo, Tokyo

With 43 days to allocate in Japan this time around, we decided to end the Japan portion of our trip with a two week stay in Tokyo. As one of the largest cities in the world, I figured the sites and food would be enough to keep us perpetually running from one side of the city to the other.

So it was very serendipitous that we happened to catch the tail end of May’s Sumo tournament at Ryoguko Kokugikan.

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Visiting the Other Park: Tokyo Disneyland

25 Tuesday Jun 2013

Posted by mrsselfish in Asia, Disney, Japan, Tokyo

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Asia, Disney, Disneyland, Japan, Selfish Year, Selfish Years, Tokyo, Tokyo Disneyland

Mr. Selfish and I were looking most forward to visiting Tokyo DisneySea but when we looked at the ticket prices, we figured we would also go to Tokyo Disneyland.

A 1-day pass to either park costs 6,200 yen. However, there is no park hopper option for a 1-day pass. Nevertheless, you can buy an after-6pm pass for the second park, which costs 3,300 yen. Together, a 1-day pass and an after-6pm pass costs 9,500 yen, whereas a 2-day pass costs 10,700 yen. Since it wasn’t much of a price difference, we decided to purchase a 2-day pass.

Tokyo Disneyland is very similar to California’s Disneyland and Florida’s Magic Kingdom. It was built in 1983 and is the third most visited park after its stateside counterparts. The park has seven areas: the World Bazaar, Fantasyland, Adventureland, Mickey’s Toontown, Tomorrowland, Critter Country, and Westernland.

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Sailing the Seven Seas of Tokyo DisneySea

24 Monday Jun 2013

Posted by mrsselfish in Asia, Disney, Japan, Tokyo

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Asia, Disney, Disney Sea, DisneySea, Japan, Selfish Year, Selfish Years, Tokyo, Tokyo Disney Sea, Tokyo DisneySea

Mr. Selfish and I were quite psyched to visit Tokyo DisneySea since we had heard so many wonderful things about it. We had very high expectations for this park, and amazingly, it did not disappoint.

Opening in 2001, Tokyo DisneySea is the most expensive theme park ever built costing over $4 billion USD. It is currently the fourth busiest theme park in the world – just after Disneyland in California, Magic Kingdom in Florida, and Disneyland in Tokyo. However, the park was so well-planned that it actually did not feel that busy.

Mr. Selfish and I found Tokyo DisneySea to be distinctly Japanese. First of all, the vast majority of the attendees (probably 95%) were Japanese. Second, most of the attendees were adults. Third, attendees were very cutsey and adored the Disney Bear – Duffy. Our first introduction to Duffy was back in Epcot in 2011 back when Mr. Selfish and I were still taking vicious photos for our annual Christmas card.

Oh no Duffy

While Duffy isn’t that big in the States, he is HUGE in Japan. Even the men were sporting Duffy merchandise. We ran into couples that had over thirty Duffy bears.

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Touring the Main Sights in Tokyo: Meiji Shrine, Asakusa, and Imperial Palace

22 Saturday Jun 2013

Posted by mrsselfish in Asia, Japan, Tokyo

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Asakusa, Asia, Imperial Palace, Japan, Meiji Jingu, Meiji Shrine, Nakamise, Selfish Year, Selfish Years, Sensoji, Tokyo

Mr. Selfish and I had visited Tokyo in 2009, so this time, we decided to take it easy during our 2-week stay. Nevertheless, we still had to visit some of the main attractions.

Meiji Shrine

First, we visited the Meiji Shrine, which is near Harajuku. The Meiji Shrine is dedicated to Emperor Meiji and his consort, the Empress Shoken. We had already been here in 2009 so we just casually wandered around. Soon after walking through the large wooden torii gates, Mr. Selfish and I happened upon a wedding.

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Other Eats in Kanazawa

21 Friday Jun 2013

Posted by misterselfish in Asia, Food & Drinks, Japan, Kanazawa

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Chochinya, Japan, Kanazawa, Omicho Market, Selfish Year, Selfish Years, Turban Curry

While I would have gladly spent every meal at Otomezushi, sadly that option was not open to us. Fortunately, Kanazawa has a number of good eateries around town.

The Omicho Market

Our first stop on Kanazawa’s eating extravaganza was the Omicho Market – an outdoor shopping arcade for fresh fruit, vegetables, meat, and seafood.

Man those hairy crabs look good.

The market is also home to many small restaurants. Since the seafood was a local specialty Mrs. Selfish and I decided to try a rotary sushi restaurant. The fish was fresh, and tasty – though more expensive then the rotary sushi in Kyoto.

We ended up special ordering a few orders of tuna belly, since I couldn’t get enough after Otomezushi. Unlike our last rotary experience, they added up the bill by a color-coded system. The color of your plate indicated the cost. While I’ve seen that done in a few rotary sushi joints, I’ve never seen them add it up via the use of a sushi-plate scanner.

The total came to around 1700 yen (~$17), which was pretty good for a sushi lunch.

Verdict: Tasty and well priced, but nothing special.

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Otomezushi: The Best Sushi in the World

19 Wednesday Jun 2013

Posted by misterselfish in Asia, Food & Drinks, Japan, Kanazawa

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Japan, Kanzawa, Otomezushi, Selfish Year, Selfish Years, Sushi

When Mrs. Selfish and I started our Selfish Year, we decided we’d try to eat the best of what every country had to offer. After watching Jiro Dreams of Sushi, what better place to eat than Jiro Sushi in Tokyo?

After all, the man does have 3-Michelin stars. It’s gotta be good at $350 a head, right? That’s what I thought at first. I even went as far as to make reservations via the Park Hyatt Tokyo. But then we started talking to a friend about sushi in Japan, and she clued us in to Otomezushi in Kanazawa.

Nestled in between the ocean and the Japanese Alps, Kanazawa is in the perfect location for sushi. The Pacific Ocean’s proximity ensures an abundant supply of fresh fish, while the alps provide the area with fresh spring water, and near-perfect conditions for rice.

Whatever the reason Otomezushi is good. Really good. Wake up in the middle of the night like a food-crazed maniac good.

And man, that meal did not disappoint.

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Heading to Kanazawa: Geisha, Samurai, and Ninjas

18 Tuesday Jun 2013

Posted by misterselfish in Asia, Japan, Kanazawa

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Japan, Kanazawa, Myoryuji Temple, Ninja Temple, Nomura Samurai House, Selfish Year, Selfish Years, Yogetsu

After spending 23 days in scenic Kyoto, Mrs. Selfish and I packed our bags and boarded a train for Kanazawa, a delightful city on the northern coast of Japan.

Kanazawa was home to the second most powerful clan in Japan during the Edo period and was one of the bigger cities to come out of World War II largely in tact. As a result, Kanazawa is a beautiful city with a number of historic buildings including: Kanazawa castle, the ninja temple, samurai houses, and a historic geisha district.

Kanazwa is also home to one of Japan’s three best landscaping gardens, and arguably some of the best sushi in Japan. While I’d like to tell you we went for the culture, the sushi played a large role in our decision making.

That is until I saw pictures of our ryokan.

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Getting Fishy in Kyoto

15 Saturday Jun 2013

Posted by misterselfish in Food & Drinks, Japan, Kyoto

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Eel, Japan, Kyoto, Selfish Year, Selfish Years, Sushi

When a lot of us think of Japanese food, our first inclination is to think of sushi. And it’s true. Sushi is very popular outside of Japan – chances are that the city or town you live in has at least one sushi restaurant, if not dozens.

It turns out the type of sushi we have in the States, is not true sushi (shocker!). In the States, rolls rule, and while you occasionally see them in Japan they are not the multicolored-monstrosities stuffed with cream cheese and avocado you find in North America. Nor is Japanese seafoor just sashimi and sushi.

So Mrs. Selfish and I decided we’d undertake a crash course in Japanese seafood, for the sake of our readers, of course.

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Monks, Monkeys, and Moss: Visiting Arashiyama

12 Wednesday Jun 2013

Posted by misterselfish in Asia, Japan, Kyoto

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Adashino Nenbutsuji, Arashiyama, Japan, Kyoto, Otaginenbutsuji, Selfish Year, Selfish Years

When looking up pictures of Kyoto, I kept stumbling across the same picture – an arresting grove of bamboo.

Having previously visited Kyoto, I felt this couldn’t be accurate. After all, if Kyoto had had something this beautiful, shouldn’t we have heard of it and visited last time?

No, apparently. The bamboo grove was just one of the many spectacular sites of Arashiyama – a beautiful area located on the western outskirts of Kyoto.

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Sake it to me!

11 Tuesday Jun 2013

Posted by misterselfish in Food & Drinks, Japan, Kyoto

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Japan, Kyoto, Sake, Selfish Year, Selfish Years

Prior to coming to Japan, I knew absolutely nothing about sake. Oh, I’d ordered it a few times from our local sushi restaurant, but all I knew was that sake was made from fermented rice, and that you should always drink good sake cold (and drink bad sake hot to hide the impurities).

So when Mrs. Selfish told me she had booked a tour of the Yamamoto Honke Sake Brewery, I was pretty excited.

Be warned – there is a lot of educational information about sake ahead!

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Oh Deer: Chased for Food in Nara

08 Saturday Jun 2013

Posted by misterselfish in Asia, Japan, Kyoto

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Nara, Selfish Year, Selfish Years

Mrs. Selfish and I decided very early on that a trip to Nara was necessary as part of our long stay in Kyoto. Nara was the capital of Japan prior to Kyoto, though only for a period of 70 years. It does have some pretty magnificent sites, however, including the largest Buddha in Japan and a shrine with over 3000 stone lanterns.

It also has deer – lots of deer. According to legend, the deer are heavenly protectors of Nara, and enjoy a special status. What it means in practice is the Nara parks are packed with deer and people selling deer merchandise and deer food.

It also means the deer are very aggressive.

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Japanese Curry: A Love Letter

06 Thursday Jun 2013

Posted by misterselfish in Asia, Japan

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Japanese Curry, Selfish Year, Selfish Years

Before heading to Japan, Mrs. Selfish and I had built up a healthy fascination with Japanese curry. If you’ve never had it before, Japanese curry is completely different from your Thai or Indian curries. It’s thick, savory, and packed with umami. It’s also typically not that spicy.

Since it’s rarely made from scratch (even in Japan), you can get a decent approximation at your local grocery store in the foreign aisle. We typically make it with chicken, potatoes, carrots, and onions – though you can add whatever you want.

Ah Golden Curry, the old standby.

Just keep in mind, if you use the full box you’ll end with over 8 portions of curry. And that stuff gets old after a few days. Not so with Japanese curry in Japan – I could eat that stuff from dusk until dawn without stopping.

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The Magnificent Osaka Unlimited Pass

04 Tuesday Jun 2013

Posted by misterselfish in Asia, Japan

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Osaka, Selfish Year, Selfish Years

Since we were staying in Kyoto, Mrs. Selfish and I decided a day trip to Osaka was in order. Osaka is only a 30 – 45 minute train ride away from Kyoto and is accessible by metro for the relatively low price of 450 yen.

Historically a commercial center, Osaka was known as “Japan’s kitchen” during the Edo period, and thus has a number of food specialties. Being a castle buff, I also really wanted to see Osaka Castle after viewing the pictures online.

The Osaka Unlimited Pass

After arriving in Osaka, Mrs. Selfish and I immediately sought out the Osaka Unlimited Pass, which we picked up at the train station’s information desk. At 2000 yen (~$20) the pass gives you unlimited use of Osaka’s public transportation system, and gets you into over 28 attractions for free, and others with a heavy discount.

The pass comes with a number of tiny tickets that you tear out at each attraction, and a pass for trains/buses. Since we planned on hitting at least 4 attractions, this ended up saving us close to $25 per person.

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Exploring Higashiyama and the Kiyomizu Shrine

02 Sunday Jun 2013

Posted by misterselfish in Asia, Japan, Kyoto

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Higashiyama, Kiyomizu Shrine, Kyoto, Selfish Year, Selfish Years

When looking at apartments in Kyoto, Mrs. Selfish and I decided we wanted to stay somewhere that was decidedly old world. After all, we were staying in one of Japan’s oldest cities, so what was the point of renting a sleek apartment?

In the end we settled on a place in the Higashiyama ward, a culturally protected area with tons of traditional style buildings. While the apartment itself was not in the traditional style, we were in an excellent location to explore some of Kyoto’s more beautiful (if not heavily touristed) streets.

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