kameido & kinshicho

Tokyo People: look at his large lens!

Yesterday got out early to check out the wisteria at Kameido Tenjinsha.

The news had mentioned that the wisteria was in full bloom.

It was beautiful.

Be careful: large scary bees buzzing around

Afterwards was planning to walk to Asakusabashi, but it was too blazing.

Instead I walked through Olinas Mall and Kinshi Park,

Then I caught the train home from JR Kinshicho Station.

Please look here for a few more photos and videos.

this and that

Yesterday we went to Kameido to check out Kameido Gyoza which has been in business since 1958. 

We tried eating here when we first moved to Tokyo but the shop had just been featured on tv and the line was too krazy back then.

This time around, we arrived 10 minutes before their opening time and were first in line.

The gyoza wrappers are thin and crispy and meets the gyoza snob approval.

This shop only sells gyoza...each person must eat at least two plates (total 10 pieces), after the minimum they will ask you if you want to continue eating more.

We ate the minimum (Satoshi also had a beer) and left though Satoshi said he could've eaten more…we’ll be back when we are in the area.

We walked off our gyoza by walking to the Ryogoku area.

Seeing sumo wrestlers.

Stumbled upon Ganso Naniwaya Honten's taiyaki which has been in business since 1909 and is related the the Naniwaya Honten in Azabujuban…delicious! love how they fill the tail with sweet bean paste too.

Then we checked out Yokoamicho Park.

So pretty.

And the Former Yasuda Garden.

There were so many couples in kimono taking their wedding photos here that we tried not to photobomb their pictures.

And walked to Asakusabashi to have coffee and carrot cake at Bridge…Satoshi had a smoked salmon sandwich.

I love the building it is in…we’ll be back.

16963...the weather has been really nice though we did have a really torrential rain storm the other morning and there have also been several quakes.

This week Tokyo's count went as low as 8 and as high as 21.

And everyone is talking about the new variant, Omicron, hoping it won't throw a monkey wrench into  everyone's plans for the rest of the year though it is looking a little bleak.

Have a safe weekend.

Kameido Gyoza

5-3-3 Kameido

Koto, Tokyo

Phone: 03.3681.8854

Hours: 11:00-20:00 open daily *cash only

Ganso Naniwaya Honten

1-24-2 Kamezawa

Sumida, Tokyo

Phone: 03.3623.2667

Closed Sundays

Hours: 10:30-17:30

Bridge Coffee

1-13-9 Nihonbashibakurocho

Chuo, Tokyo

Phone: 03.3527.3399

Hours: 8:00-19:00

kameido tenjinsha

Back in March, we visited Kameido Tenjinsha.

I bookmarked this area and waited for the fuji (wisteria) to bloom.

Tuesday was forecast for the last sunny day for the week, so I went to check it out.

Unfortunately with all the temperature ups and downs they haven't bloomed fully (the first photo is of one of the longest wisteria vines when I went)

We have other things planned for GW (Golden Week), so I'm not sure if I'll be able to go back and check it out again.

Still it was nice to see.

If you'd like to see some of the other photos I took, please look here.

saturday

From where we live it takes about and hour and a half to Koiwa which is located at the very east side of Tokyo.

Ever since we saw Kunio Kobayashi's bonsai on tv, we've been interested in checking out his museum.

Admission is 800 yen but worth it.

You can roam around the property and check out the many different bonsai.

Some are over 500 years old!

When I think of bonsai, I think of miniature sized plants but Mr Kobayashi's works show you that bonsai is not only "tiny", they can also be very large!

While we were there, there were several bus loads of tourists from several different countries learning about bonsai, Japanese calligrapy and origami.

One of Mr Kobayashi's disciples gave Satoshi this starter bonsai (an ume (apricot))...we'll see how long Satoshi will be able to care for it...

From Koiwa, we went back a couple of stations to Kameido.

We had wanted to try Kameido Gyoza, but the line was krazy!

We still ended up waiting, but in a shorter line at Fujiiya, another gyoza shop nearby.

Satoshi ordered the gomoku (5 item) soba and gyoza, which he enjoyed.

I ordered the pari pari (crispy) gyoza and ganso (original) gyoza set.

This was delicious and came with rice, some soup and pickles. I gave some rice to Satoshi. The broth looked thick but was light and flavorful.

We still want to check out Kameido Gyoza, but will need to get there when they open.

Across the street from Fujiiya is Julian Bakery. Apparently the owner/baker had a connection with Julian Bakery in Hawaii.

He said that Julian Bakery had shops in the GEM Stores in Waipahu and Temple Valley?! I remember GEM but not this particular bakery.

He hadn't been back to Hawaii since the 80s, so he was shocked to hear that GEM was no longer.

We tried the curry pan, mentaiko baguette & cream cheese walnut bread, for breakfast on Sunday.

The mentaiko and cream cheese breads were on the harder side but tastewise were delicious.

The curry pan had just the right amount of spice and kick.

We also tried the chocolate bread, this morning, which had some raisins (or maybe cherries) and some chocolate in it.

I think it could've had (way) more chocolate in it...

Down the street from Fujiiya was a display of Edo Kiriko (a type of etched glass).

So so beautiful!

Then we checked out Kameido Tenjinsha.

They have many ume (apricot) trees as well as fuji (wisteria) trellises.

We missed the ume but hope to come back to check out the wisteria.

Despite the weather being forecast for rain, we were bummed that it was fahreezing but glad that it was just overcast.

It was nice to explore another part of Tokyo and hope to be able to check out more areas.

Shunkaen Bonsai Museum
1-29-16 Niihori
Edogawa, Tokyo
Phone: 03.3670.8622
Closed Mondays
Hours: 10:00-17:00

Fujiiya
5-13-8 Kameido
Koto, Tokyo
Phone: 03.3683.1891
Closed Tuesdays
Hours: 10:00-23:30