tokyo-niigata

From where we live it took us about 2 hours to get to Niigata

(The last time we were in Niigata was in 2003, pre-blog and we only went to Sado Island.)

Arriving at 10:30-ish, our first stop was here

Bandai City Bus Center...to try their curry

Apparently this is a local favorite, stand and eat style in the bus terminal

The yellow curry was on the thick side and had a little kick to it

I had the mini...430 yen (tax included), which seemed pretty huge to me

Satoshi had the croquette with a regular curry...680 yen (tax included)

After lunch we went to check out Hakusan Shrine and Park

Loved all the wind chimes and huge pine trees

We were a little late for the someiyoshino type of cherry blossoms but the yaezakura (double) and shidare (weeping) types were still in bloom

From here we walked through Furumachi, this area had many long shopping arcades.

In one of those shopping arcades, we stumbled on the bronze statues of the manga "Dokaben" by Shinji Mizushima, who was born in Niigata.

And bought a furuhitotsu yukidaifuku by Maruya Honten, a sweet shop that has been in business since 1878!

This hefty sweet has anko (sweet bean paste), whipped cream, candied chestnut, banana and strawberry all wrapped with a super soft and thin mochi…389 yen (tax included)

Tulips are the prefectural flower of Niigata, it was so nice to see them everywhere!

Then we walked to Toki Messe, Niigata City's convention center, shared the yukidaifuku and then went up to the observation deck.

Unfortunately it was cloudy, so there wasn’t much scenery to see, the Niigata tenugui (hand towel) exhibit that was hanging from the ceiling was pretty though

I bought this Shinnosuke rice serum face mask....880 yen (tax included) at the gift shop

And then we walked to our hotel

The hotel room we booked had two single beds squished in an "L" shape in the room...talk about teeny, it was a good thing we only had backpacks

After resting a bit, we went back out to check out Sado Benkei, conveyor belt sushi.

We had seen this place on a tv show and wanted to try.

It was nice that they had some locally caught fish for some of the sushi

Sado Nodoguro (black throat sea perch)

Sado Nanban shrimp

Sado Mebaru (rock fish)...mine still had bones! not fun eats...

I'm glad we tried this place and would go back 

On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at Cocolo, the shopping area in the station to pick up some souvenirs.

Satakeya sasadango (yomogi (mugwort) mochi and sweet bean paste is steamed in sasa (bamboo leaves)...180 yen (tax included) each

Zuika kakinotane and arare...1436 yen (tax included)

We had thought it would be "warmer" but Mother Nature had decided to bring back winter, luckily we had brought some long sleeved clothing, though we ended up wearing all the clothing we had...ha!

It was quite a long day, lots of walking (23,988) and lots of eating.

Niigata Park Hotel

1-8-10 Minamisasaguchi

Chuo, Niigata

Bandai City Bus Curry

Bandai City 1F

Hours: 8:00-19:00

Sado Benkei

Bandai Food Hall 2F

Chuo, Niigata

Closed: Tuesdays

Hours: 10:30-21:00

Cocolo Niigata

JR Niigata Station

Hours: 10:00-20:30

*if you'd like to see more photos/videos, please look here

this and that

fuji (wisteria) blooming in our neighborhood

bun nem ran & thit nuong (fried spring roll & bbq pork) from banh mi xin chao, so ono! 950 yen (tax included)

loved how tender the pork was

the dipping sauce wasn't sweet, delicious.

would get this again

dean and deluca's kale quinoa salad with lemon yogurt dressing and matsunosuke's carrot cake (super moist)

didn't know they sold matsunosuke's baked items at dean and deluca, was nice to reconnect with them
 

it was kind of ice cream weather the other day...

the yaezakura, double type of cherry blossoms, are in bloom

the temps have been flip flopping and sort of seems like rainy season with all the rain we’ve been having 

seijo ishii homemade sable

Love these shortbread cookies (sable) made by Seijo Ishii.

All butter and no artificial sweeteners 

Glad we got to try these and will definitely buy these again.
 

hiramiyuki farm

The Noto Pennisula earthquake that happened on New Years Day was so tragic.

One of the stories that was featured on the news here was of Hiramiyuki Farms' blueberries.

The farm experienced a landslide

Wanting to help some how, I was happy to see her selling what blueberries she had at Tabechoku

We've ordered from Tabechoku numerous times since the pandemic

800 grams, with taxes and shipping (special type since they were frozen)...4976 yen of which 300 yen will be donated to the earthquake victims

These orbs are huge! and delicious.

Seeing Japan grown blueberries at the market has been rare these days.

I'm glad we got to help a little and I hope she will be able to get back to her farming again soon.

maboya

Had Maboya on my “to try” list for awhile and then I found out they will close for good in June, so we finally went to try them.

From where we live it is about a 15 minute walk

The shop is teeny with only 12 seats

The guy waiting the tables is the owner (I think), super unfriendly

I ordered the hiyashi tan tan men...990 yen (tax included)

This wasn't spicy, reminded me more of hiyashi chuuka with a sesame sauce and the seasoned meat had a weird hint of dish soap...eep

Satoshi ordered the mabo chahan...1210 yen (tax included)

This on the other hand was super spicy but seemed to be missing some depth or something...

Anyway, glad we got to try this place, wish the owner well.

Maboya

5-4-13 Nishi Kamata

Ota, Tokyo

Closed Wednesdays

Hours: 11:30-14:00 (lunch) 18:00-23:00 (dinner) Saturdays, Sundays & Holidays

18:00-23:00 Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays

tokyo toilet part 3

From Ebisu, we took the Hibiya line to Hiroo

This one is located in Hiroo East Park and designed by Tomohito Ushiro

Loved the huge rhododendron trees at the edge of University of Sacred Heart property, which is next to the park

Back at Ebisu station, at the West exit is this one designed by Kashiwa Sato

Ebisu East Park designed by Fumihiko Maki

Loved that there was a cherry tree right above, all the petals fluttering was nice

tako (octopus) slide at the park

always see this building from the train, was cool to see it up close

Higashi 3-chome by Nao Tamura.

This one seemed really compact.

And lastly Ebisu Park designed by Masamichi Katayama

we also visited Ebisu Shrine

It was nice to see different parts of Shibuya ward, it was also nice to learn that Shibuya has quiet areas and is not just sensory overload.

We’re not sure when we’ll be able to go see the movie, have you seen it?!

Anyway, if you visit Tokyo, and happen to find yourself in Shibuya, I hope you'll check out one or more of these public toilets.

We enjoyed this adventure and I hope you did as well.

tokyo toilet part 2

Yoyogi Hachiman, by Toyo Ito looked like mushrooms

we then went up to visit Yoyogi Hachiman Shrine
 

Down the hill is Haru no Ogawa Park, by Shigeru Ban

The walls are supposed to be transparent and then when you are going to use them the walls turn opaque, but according the the memo on the toilet, the cold weather slows the walls from turning the walls opaque, so for “winter” they had the walls turned opaque even if no one was using the toilet.

love the colors! and that there were many cafes around this park

Yoyogi Fukamachi Mini Park, also by Shigeru Ban

Love the colors here as well.

The walls here were opaque as well

Nabeshima Shoto Park, designed by Kengo Kuma.

Tokyo People: nice day to gaze at the pond

The insides had nice wooden decor

And then we walked through the "heart" of Shibuya

 way too many people

Jingu Dori Park by Tadao Ando

We were kind of starving, so we ducked into this pasta place, Pan Con Tomate for lunch...

I had their cold salad pasta, bummer they noted tuna on the menu but there was none to be found in this AND it was dressed way too much with dressing...1750 yen (tax included)

would try something else if I come back here

I hadn't been to Harajuku since before the pandemic, so I was surprised to see this monster building...Harakado, which opens this week.

Togo Shrine's azaleas were beautiful

Jingumae by Nigo, looked like a house

Painted rocks at an art gallery

so many tall buildings

Urasando designed by Marc Newson

From here we caught the JR Yamanote from Yoyogi to Ebisu.

Our feet were pretty tired at this point...but only 5 more to see!

Pan Con Tomate

6-17-15 Jingumae, B1

Shibuya, Tokyo

Open daily: 11:00-15:30 (lunch), 17:30-21:30 (dinner)