On day five of our trip we were really starting to feel the effects of going going going all week. We were getting a little pooped. But we had a mission to go to the Ghibli store at Tokyo Skytree. We were unable to get tickets to go to the Ghibli museum (RUDE), so, being big fans of Miyazaki's films, we really wanted to see the store.
So off we set for Tokyo Station and the big Tokyo Skytree!
Look at how tall it is!
It took a little walking around, but we found the store! WE CAN SEE THE MAGICAL CHARACTERS!
You walk in and TOTORO is there! IT'S TOTORO!!
Of course we took pictures with Totoro.
There wasn't really a way to take a picture with the cat bus but he's there and I love him so much.
I feel like I was pretty conservative in my spending. I got a hand towel for the downstairs bathroom with Jiji and BREAD on it, Totoro chopsticks, a blind box Kiki's Delivery Service embroidered pin that ended up having Jiji and BREAD, and a gotchapon Totoro. Not pictured is the Kiki's delivery service subway card holder I got and plan to use at work this year.
Afterwards we went into the shopping at the base of Tokyo Tower because Mandy wanted to go in and see the Pokemon Center (which is basically an official store that has lots of merch and places to play video games). She was very excited.
Maddie and I split off from the group to walk around and maybe find food because after the Pokemon Center Mandy planned to go off by herself to find the Nintendo store (which ended up being a bust, boo). There were a lot of little shops ther including a store ENTIRELY STRAWBERRY THEMED with a bunch of strawberry treats and merch.
There was also an entire store of PLASTIC FOOD. They had everything from small sushi magnets to full sized plastic ramen bowls with tempura. I am deeply regretting not buying the toast magnet... even if it was $30.
Dan ditched us because he was determined to try and go see a movie. While we were there, the final movie directed by Hiyao Miyazaki (think Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service, etc.) was released and he thought it would be super cool to go see it opening weekend in Japan. Sure it would be in Japanese and none of us speak Japanese, but how cool? None of us really wanted to see it with him, so he went off by himself. Unfortunately, he couldn't get the tickets online with a foreign card, so he decided to go find the theater and buy them in person. Along the way, he went up Tokyo Tower to check out the view.
Oooo... aaawww...
He ended up not being able to get to see the movie, which was a shame for him. But, oh well.
Maddie and I decided to go back to the hotel to get lunch and rest for a few hours. I got my OWN BOWL of ramen at our favorite place. And I almost finished eating it, too.
That night we had a izakaya food tour scheduled in Shinjuku. Izakayas are places that people go to after work to drink and eat. Each place tends to specialize in different types of food.
The instructions said to go to meet the tour guide at the KFC outside of the western entrance at Shinjuku station and gave us a Google maps pin to help find it. We got to the station with plenty of time... only to find they sent us to the wrong station for the pin they sent us. We needed to get out at the station before Shinjuku in order to go to that KFC, but we couldn't tell that until we got outside the station. So we got to the meet up place about 15 minutes late.
Might I remind you it is super hot and humid? And Mandy has a bum leg and was using a cane on our trip? We were sweating.
Luckily, the email also sent the location for the first stop of the tour for latecomers. So we continued on and hiked our way to the first location. We were trying to figure out if we were at the right spot when a group of white people lead by a Japanese guy walked up. Hey! Our tour group! Or was it...
Sort of.
Maddie explained the problem we had with the instructions and dude was very apologetic and took a picture of the email to send to his boss because it was misworded and that wasn't ok. Then he asked our names and looked at his list... we weren't on it.
Everything on our end showed we should be in his group, but we had somehow been put in another group that happens at the same time on a different food path lead by a different guide through the company. As he is figuring all this out, he was super apologetic and ushers us all into the izakaya. He tells us that we will just join his group at the first stop and someone from the other group will walk over, pick us up, and walk us over to join the other group.
In the meantime, he explained that he was given permission to get us extra food and sake to make up for the mix up. It was a stupid, kind of big mistake, but they handled it super well and did a good job making sure we had a good experience in spite of the mix up.
That was a very large shot of sake. I drank a little over half of it and none in the overflow box. OMG. I don't like sake. Frankly, the first stop on the tour wasn't for me. It started off with rolled egg omelet with little dried fishies on it (those aren't the dried noodle things, Mom). I don't like egg very much and it was super sweet. And cold. WHY?
We then got to try some amazing sashimi: Two kinds of very nice cuts of tuna and two kinds of high quality salmon. And it was wasted on me. I tried it. I really did. OMG. I can't do raw fish. Nope. No no no. Hnng... I gag. But Mandy enjoyed my share.
And the fried crab croquets were AMAZING. The crab was pureed into the smoothest, most buttery filling ever and it was fried to golden perfection.
As we were wrapping up, a guide from the other group showed up to pick us up. It wasn't a very long walk to the next stop and we met up with the next group.
We were served three small courses. The first was a little platter of little snackies: fresh roasted peanuts, some kind of tasty dried fruit, a pink poofy cracker made of squid, fried shoestring yellow sweet potatoes, fried eel spine (surprisingly tasty), a seasoned cucumber, and Japanese potato salad. All of it was so yummy. Even the squid cracker and eel spine.
Next we got a small serving of wagyu beef with fried garlic slices. It was amazing. So good. Each course was served with a tasting of sake in a cup that grew pink cherry blossoms when the cold sake was poured in. I ended up having to ask for a very small amount because they FILLED that tasting cup. And I am a lightweight.
Then we got cold udon with a very light broth and thinly sliced beef. And more sake. Might have been a little buzzed by the end of this stop. I was also getting a little full. It was hot and it gets hard to eat a lot when it's hot. They weren't skimping on the food on this tour!
The next stop was another sashimi place. Unfortunately, the two tours visited the same kinds of places, but the first stop of the tour we were supposed to be in went to a pork cutlet place first and we missed it and had to go to a sashimi place again. However, they made sure we got some different things than we were served at the first sashimi place to give us a good experience.
Including sea grapes! An interesting, seasonal type of seaweed (kelp?) that has little balls on the end that pop like roe.
It was here that we also found out that when the tour description said only one drink would be covered on the tour it mean one drink PER LOCATION. I opted for water. I was a little buzzed from the sake.
Did I mention I am a light weight? I don't drink...
We also got more crab croquets. Which we did not argue about. Maddie really needs to get on figuring out how to make those... they were delicious.
Once again, it was really hot and I was super full. There was a giant grilled fish that was super good... and I couldn't eat more than a bite.
The next stop was a gyoza shop. With blessedly COLD air conditioning! Our appetites came back. And oh it was good. And I decided to try drinking again because a yuzu drink? Please and thank you! There was very little alcohol in it. Which is good.
We had these little fried wonton chips with meat topping and gyoza.
And it all ended with this beautiful yuzu sorbet that had chunks of candied yuzu in it. OMG. I loved it. So much.
We were so tired. So, so tired. But we made it home.
And I convinced Mandy to try and win me this stuffed animal in the lobby of our hostel that I had been eyeing every day of our trip. Well, the one I really wanted was a little calico with a toast around it's face, but it was not in a good place to be picked up by the claw. But this little tempura shrimp cat was!
And his name is Shramp.
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