hanzomon to shinjuku

Been wanting to walk this route ever since I saw the road back in 2019

From Chidorigafuchi it goes straight to Shinjuku

The interesting thing is the number of the road did not change, only the naming changed from Kojimachidori, to Shinjukudori to Koshukaidori!

We started from Hanzomon Station and made our way to Shinjuku

Love this mosaic! inside the metro Hanzomon station

There were lots of cool buildings to see along the way...this was a Starbucks

The curvy building was a Korea Center

huge fire station with a fire museum located in it also

stumbled upon a dragon ball z pop up at marugame udon

lunch at suzuya

one of their popular items is their tonkatsu chazuke, which we heard about from Satoshi's friend, O, many moons ago

this dish started as the makanai (family meal) at a time when there was no microwave to reheat food

the workers wanted a way to "reheat" the tonkatsu and came up with chazuke

Nowadays, the tonkatsu comes out on a hot plate 

choose your sauce, we chose their shoyu based sauce

the tonkatsu is drizzled with this sauce, then topped with cabbage and nori

when you are ready to eat the tonkatsu as chazuke, ask for the tea

there are also some pickles and miso soup, for you to eat with your tonkatsu

it was a nice but different experience and different, we were glad to try it

this shop also serves regular tonkatsu and other fried items, if chazuke isn't your thing.

After lunch, Satoshi had several things he wanted to check out before his upcoming tours

We were lucky to see some early blooming cherry blossoms in front of the Tokyo Prefecture Offices

And a beautiful weeping cherry near a university

Even if the weather was sunny it was still a little chilly

Suzuya

1-23-15 Kabukicho, 5F

Shinjuku, Tokyo

Hours: 11:00-23:00

this and that

"someone" went out drinking then left his bag on the dining room floor

thank goodness “someone” didn’t trip over it when he went to the bathroom in the middle of the night and Kat didn't trip over said bag when she woke up in the morning.

she did take a photo and left it there...

“someone” didn't even notice it nor did he pick up when he woke up...bruh!

Tokyo Furry People seen at Tsukiji Outer Market

so teeny

so purple

Tried some new (to me) ice cream...this itachoco (chocolate bar) filled with macadamia nut and chocolate ice cream

And the black thunder caramel flavored sundae...this one had caramel ice cream, chocolate cookie pieces and whipped cream. 

apparently caramel flavor is osaka's black thunder flavor.

Both were delicious

Tokyo people...cat ear hat & rabbit gloves

setoka, we've tried this variety before...the skin is super thin and the fruit is super sweet and juicy

glad the library had these two book, the one on the left is by an artist that draws pictures in her travel journal. 

the book is about walking around Tokyo.

the one on the right is by a person that knows everything about bread

fava beans and sakura ebi pizza from sunmerry's equals spring (for me)

nori wrapped chicken then fried...wish I had bought more

the chicken was so tender!

roger vivier display at ginza mitsukoshi

beautiful sakura in front of the seiko building (across the street from ginza mitsukoshi)

tokyo people...saw this guy with a baguette...turned out he had about 4 of them in his bag

ohagi for o-higan...sentaro actually had a black and white one for o-higan, but I  love their version with shiso mixed into the rice

It's the start of a 3 day weekend, yesterday, the weather dude saw the 5 flowers to declare the start of sakura season.

have a safe one

hangetsu

Ran an errand today in Ginza

Lunch was at Hangetsu (love their blue building)

The sign says "spicy curry" no joke!

My mouth was on fire afterwards
 

The curry of the day was curry leaf pork and the chicken curry was sakura chicken...both were medium spicy

I ordered the 2 curry, less rice...1300 yen (tax included)

left side is pork, right is chicken

down the center are various veggies, pickles...I did remove those chili pepper "strings"

The chicken curry was the first thing I tasted and it was kinda sour, not sure what country's cuisine this was

The curries were super spicy and kind of killed my tastebuds...even if they said medium

Not sure what made the chicken "sakura" but the chicken and pork were super tender

Dunno if I'd go back, but I'm glad I got to try this place

Hangetsu

6-4-15 Ginza

Chuo, Tokyo

Open daily: 11:00-22:00

*cash or paypay 

huge

I've been seeing these huge type of shoes lately

Dunno if my photos show how big they really look

But for me, I think I would fall down wearing them

Have you tried this type of shoes?
 

research

Satoshi has another tour coming up and wanted to check out different areas

We checked out the hotel his guests will be staying at...Andaz
 

Beautiful lobby

Nice view of Tokyo Tower

Loved the paper reliefs in the elevators

Down to the Palace's Nijubashi

Outer market of Tsukiji

We had egg sandwiches with tsukemono (pickles) in it at Nishikawa Roastery

Satoshi's had narazuke, mine had pickled ginger in it...delicious

I want to try the egg sandwich with shibazuke in it...I'll be back

area near Gokokuji 

Omotesando & Shibuya

Daikanyama, the last time we were in this area was back in 2022...so many changes

Teriyaki Chicken sandwich from Et Nunc which opened in 2024

I want to eat breakfast here...I'll be back

Et Nunc is located in Forestgate Daikanyama which opened in 2023

T-site Daikanyama which opened in 2011....I think there is another one in Kansai (Hirakata)

Huge bookstore with cafes and shops on the property

T stands for Tsutaya

Loved how the "T" shaped tiles were placed in a "T" on the building

It was a long day of walking & eating, I hope Satoshi will be able to take his guests to all the places they have requested to visit, the schedule seems tight

Nishikawa Roastery

2-15-17 Tsukiji

Chuo, Tokyo

Hours: 8:30-20:00

Et Nunc

20-23 Daikanyamacho (Forestgate Daikanyama 1F)

Shibuya, Tokyo

Hours: 9:30-18:30

3 w's

Saturday was White Day...the day when the guys give back to the girls after receiving something for Valentine's day...Satoshi gave me this box of millefeuille sweets by Francais

I've had this in the past, it is crisp wafers with  different flavored cream layered between the wafers then covered with chocolate...thank you!

In the afternoon we went to see "Wicked : For Good"

It was the sequel to the "Wicked"

I hadn't realized that Satoshi hadn't seen the original "Wizard of Oz", so I ended up having to explain that story to him too...

Still we enjoyed the movie

Dinner was at Warayakiya

It was my first time to eat on this side (Konan side) of the JR Shinagawa Station, it is kinda dark and sketchy...so we usually we eat on the Takanawa side

I bookmarked this restaurant because they cook over straw (wara) and serve food unique to Kochi Prefecture

Amuse bouche...the stuff you don't order but need to pay for...raw veggies

Miso & something (forgot what he said) (left) and Shrimp & Chili (right)

To eat the raw veggies with

My favorite was the miso & something

Fruit tomato & warayaki unagi sushi

Warayaki is when you cook something over straw (wara)

We were seated on the 3rd floor of the restaurant, if they had had an opening on the 2nd floor we would've been able to them cooking the unagi and katsuo

Delicious

Warayaki katsuo (bonito) tataki

This is Satoshi's favorite...served with salt, wasabi, raw garlic slices, green onions, myoga (Japanese ginger) and raw onion slices

They ask you not to eat with shoyu so you can enjoy the aroma of the straw

My favorite was this...huge tsukune (chicken meatball) with lots of shoga (ginger) in it and served with a slightly sweet shoyu sauce and raw egg to dip the tsukune in

So good

I enjoyed this yuzu and sansho (Japanese pepper) sour

There are other items on the menu that we'd like to try...we'll be back.

Warayakiya* (they also have shops around Tokyo & one in Nagoya)

2-5-5 Konan, Konan OMT Building 2F & 3F

Minato, Tokyo

Hours: 17:00-22:30 (Mondays & Sundays), 17:00-23:00 (Tuesdays-Thursdays), 16:00-23:00 (Fridays & Saturdays)