To start with, Tokyo is certainly not a homogenous density. Typically, as you move away from a subway station, things become less dense. As well, as in any city, things naturally become less dense as you move out from the centre. The proviso in Tokyo being, that Tokyo itself has more than one centre, and that the Greater Tokyo Metropolitan Area is a knit-up of several other “suburbs”, some of them the size of large cities in themselves, such as Yokohama, Chiba, etc. (All in all, the Greater Tokyo Metropolitan Area has about 31 million people in it, depending on how you count.) And while on the “front street”, most areas in Tokyo can be seen to specialise in one kind of thing (say computers, or books, or offices, or restaurants), often when you start poking around in the backstreets the story starts unravelling. Amongst expensive shops and skyscrapers, you can wander down a laneway and find dishevelled and dilapidated single-dwelling or single-business buildings.

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Above: Shibuya. Note the variation in density.

I don’t know how this works out, but my guess is that some properties remain within the family for generations, and stay undeveloped. So there are no rules that apply. Expect the unexpected. This is the beauty.

For sensory overload, the Shibuya crossing , although a tourist commonplace, is a good start. At many times Shinjuku Station is so full of people that you feel like you are part of some kind of human fluid. Ginza and Marunouchi are less chaotic versions of Tokyo. Genteel orderly and gentrified.

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Above: Ginza.

Another “orderly” version of Tokyo comes in the relatively new mixed-use developments, Roppongi Hills and Tokyo Midtown. These are urban renewal projects that and perhaps point out some dissatisfaction amongst the Japanese about the chaotic and frenetic nature of Tokyo. These monolithic, highly planned mini-cities carve out space and order in Tokyo’s heart while eschewing the kind of by-ways and texture that perhaps are some of the most interesting features of the Tokyo streetscape. Still, an interesting exercise. Also, Roppongi Hills has a viewing platform for panoramic views over Tokyo.

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Above: Roppongi Hills.

If back streets are for you, Urahara, the name given to the backstreets of Harajuku behind Omotesando, is crammed full of shops to explore. For a less retail back-street amble, I found the back streets of Kagurazaka interesting for their tiny bolt-hole restaurants and clubs.

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Above: Kagurazaka. Note how much smaller the buildings are! This is very “old town” Tokyo.

Pretty much anywhere in Tokyo is a good place to get lost, especially if you have a Tokyo City Atlas to get you out of trouble. Picking a suburb at random and exploring it is a very rewarding pastime in Tokyo. Chichi neighbourhoods like Daikanyama, just a stop from Shibuya but somehow a world away, can be fun for this purpose.

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Above: Daikanyama.

Odaiba is a place to go if you are interested in Tokyo’s urban fabric. Much of the area was reclaimed and developed during the “bubble economy”, and so there are some spectacularly excessive examples of over-architecture including the Tokyo Big Sight and the Fuji Terebi building. There’s also some fairly generic malls, not so the hilariously ersatz Venus Fort, which does look like a shoebox from the outside, but it is an all-out period Venetian fantasy on the inside. The other nice thing about Odaiba (which is really only worth visiting for a couple of hours) is that it is one of the few places in Tokyo where you can actually look back on the city and get some sense of perspective. (Tokyo is so cluttered that it is often difficult to visually orientate oneself according to landmarks. It’s also sometimes difficult to grasp how the city “fits together”, which explains why I only managed to work out how Shibuya and Harajuku were connected on my most recent trip. This sensation is heightened by the usefulness of the metro system — one grows used to orientating oneself in relation to the station, but not seeing the streetscapes as an interconnected whole.)

Specific buildings? What’s mentioned above, also Prada’s Aoyama store, Tod’s Aoyama store, Tokyo International Forum, olympic venues near Harajuku stn… heck I’m lazy, but look up the website of your favorite Japanese architect and go visit.

*enough*

Tonkatsu. Tonkatsu is pork fillet crumbed in special Japanese crumbs. It is delicious, and often not done particularly well outside Japan, owing to the particular quality of pork that is needed. In Ginza, the wonderfully under-priced Tonki Tonkatsu is a gem. Don’t worry about the decor, just worry about the quality yummy tonkatsu. Located at B1F (basement) Ginza 6-5-15. You want a more elaborate tonkatsu experience? Last time I was in Tokyo I went to a somewhat confusing establishment in Roppongi Hills offering multiple condiments and different grades of pork… luckily I had some Japanese people with me who explained how it was supposed to be eaten, it was it all a little bit frighteningly ceremonial looking. But don’t let me put you off. It’s called Katsukura and it’s in the Roppongi Hills complex. (As an aside, Roppongi Hills and Roppongi Midtown are certainly worth a look. These are multipurpose developments featuring shopping, dining, office space, apartments and hotels. They are an interesting example of how Japan is “making new” in its incredibly crowded environs.)

Yakitori Alley. I know this is a ubiquitous tourist recommendation, but I can’t resist for its shitamachi (old-town) flavour and yummy yummy yakitori. Make sure you try nankotsu (cartilage) and hifu (chicken skin). It’s somewhere up against Shinjuku Station, I can’t remember exactly where but it is in all the guide books.

Department Store upper-story eateries. I mention these in my previous post but I may as well be more specific. In many department stores, hotels, and mixed use developments, there are higher-class restaurants on the upper floors. Typically, someone at ground level (often near the lifts) there is an illuminated sign with pictures of the restaurants cuisine and sometimes ambience and a level designation. Some examples: Matsuya in Ginza has some restaurants on its ?sixth floor, and in Shibuya, Seibu has some less-pricey places, and in Shinjuku, Lumine has Meshimase and Takashimaya has some pretty exy looking estabs.

I should also point out reviews I’ve made before, a Buddhist vegetarian restaurant in the middle of nowhere, which you are as likely to get lost finding as to actually find, and Chanoma, quite easy to get to near Naka-meguro station. It’s a delight, you MUST eat the yuzu sorbet, if you don’t walk past it. It’s in the most non-descript building EVER on the sixth floor. Kami-Meguro 1-22-4 6F. And Tight bar in Shibuya (1-25-10), behind the tracks, is crazy small.

One more for the avoid list: the New York Bar and Grill at the Tokyo Park Hyatt. Yeah, Scarlett Johannsen’s been there, but in all honesty, this is the most over-rated restaurant on the planet.

• cheap but good food
• dense city lifestyle
• temples/shrines
• beautiful gardens
• perhaps some nice scenic coasts
• stunning architecture – old and new
• shopping

So here’s my recommendations. One a day, starting with…

CHEAP BUT GOOD FOOD

Much contrary to its reputation as an expensive country, Japan can be a relatively inexpensive place to eat. Ramen shops are cheap and plentiful, while most sushi restaurants are at least good, and often less than a third of the price of home. Izakayas (Japanese pubs) are much underestimated, I suspect, by foreigners, and an interesting experience. There are many chains of izakaya (such as WaraWara) in Japan which serve a unique and tasty kind of cuisine designed for sharing, and more to the point, consumption with beer. I also quite like yoshoku restaurants, which don’t often get copied in the West. They feature Japanese adaptations of Western cuisine, such as omuraisu (an omelette stuffed with savoury rice) and intriguing Japanese variations on Italian spaghetti themes.

Some specific recommendations.

For sushi, the big sushi train on Omotesando more or less opposite Omotesando Hills (from memory) may look like a tourist trap but is actually quite high-quality. Also in Shibuya station, down the West End, there is a sushi restaurant that perennially has a very long line in front of it. This is a reasonably reliable sign anywhere in Japan that something is very good.

For ramen, I like Fukurou Ramen （ラメン梟）(Ginza 2-10, on Maronnier Dori) is killer. Try their akamiso tonkotsu ramen. You might need them to help you with the ticket machine (at a lot of smaller food shops in Japan, you buy a ticket from the machine and present it to the cheffing staff. Not quite sure why.)

For okonomiyaki, try Shichifukujin (七福神）in Shibuya. If you want to know where it is, type “okonomiyaki shibuya” into Google and it is the first thing that comes up.

For yoshoku, Shiseido Parlour in Ginza is supposed to be good, then there is also Renga-tei (Ginza 3-5-16) which is where omuraisu began, it is actually not the tastiest I have ever had, but it is interesting for unrenovated nostalgia.

For tempura, you could go high-class, or you could go to Tendon Tenya（天丼）, a fairly ubiquitous chain of tempura restaurants which also has a more glitzy number in Ginza (more swishy than its other stores) at Ginza 3-7 or 3-8, again on Maronnier Dori if I’m not mistaken.

Perhaps more important is what to avoid. Western food (and Chinese food too, actually) can be a hit and miss affair in Japan, unless you know where you’re going, it can often be a better bet to stick to the Japanese style. That having been said, Yoshinori is a chain of restaurants you see everywhere of fairly questionable culinary quality, maybe skip them. Same for the local burger chains Rotteria and Mos Burger… I think you might need to be Japanese to fully appreciate them. Don’t eat in places where no-one else is.

If you are looking to go a little upmarket, most department stores have a collection of restaurants on an upper floor and these tend to be a higher standard of decor and food, and a commensurately higher price point. Beware some of these restaurants are very expensive.

And if you want to go right down market, then there is always the convenience store, which often has a surprisingly large collection of varied foods that they will be only too happy to heat up in the microwave if you say something like “atatamete kudasai” and look dumb and foreign…

Lastly, good coffee. Motoya Coffee is wonderful, see their website for locations using Google Maps. Dean and Deluca also have branches in Shibuya, Marunouchi, Roppongi and Shinagawa which serve good coffee. Tokyo-style coffee comes in tins and bottles from vending machines. Pay attention to the red and blue stripes below the item: this determines whether your beverage arrives hot or cold!

A big difference from my previous Japan experience (I lived here for a year ending about 15 months ago) was my level of language ability. When I lived in Japan, I was lazy with my language learning and suffered the consequences. Since returning home, I have studied Japanese by myself and with an exchange partner using a variety of resources, with the aim of attaining a level of Japanese that will allow me to appreciate and enjoy Japanese culture better. Although I would still describe my Japanese as rough and rudimentary, it gave me enough tools this time around to make myself understood and to understand what was going on in nearly all situations I encountered. When you don’t know the word, circumlocute like hell! (Yesterday, not knowing the word for “lock” in Japanese, I asked the lady for “something with a key to protect my luggage.” She knew what I meant. The difference for my experience was being able to converse on a basic level, and to feel more relaxed and “at home” here. To make myself understood, even if imperfectly, in Japanese gives me a feeling of achievement, as well as inspiration to continue my studies.

Now in Barcelona. More later.

Today saw the realisation of the long-held desire to try shojin ryori. Shojin-ryori (actually shoujin ryouri しょうじんりょうり) is a kind of elaborate vegetarian cuisine, Buddhist in origin. My vegetarian friend Zilla and I chose Bon, a fucha-ryori (普茶料理: ふちゃりょうり） restaurant near Iriya, in the northeast of Tokyo. (Fucha is a cuisine tradition within shojin.) It’s a bit of a challenge to find, even with the map, and from the outside, the restaurant looks disappointingly unassuming for a place where the cheapest lunch will set you back more than ¥4000.

But inside, in a peaceful private room with unobtrusive music, heated carpet for our feet, and the calming view of a rain-wet courtyard garden, disappointed was the very last thing we were. The meal was possibly the most impressive meal I’ve ever had. There were so many sensations of taste and texture, matched by astonishing presentation. The meal was as astonishingly decorative as it was culinary. I’m kicking myself that I didn’t take my camera, so I can only offer you a meagre shot I took on my cell phone.

We took the ¥5,750 (including service and tax) lunch. The meal began with sakura-cha, which was a surprisingly salty “tea.” Entree centred upon fake “clam” made from fu (a kind of Buddhist meat substitute), but was surrounded by a number of small taste-marvels that even Zilla, somewhat of an expert in Japanese vegetables, had trouble identifying. The main dish (pictured) consisted of about a dozen diminutive taste sensations, including a delicate little jelly made from Agar, a sakura mochi wrapped in shiso, a delicate piece of lotus root, a shitake sitting on a little mashed-sweet-potato pedestal, a piece of preserved galangal, and even a frond of fern, to describe only about half the dish. Later came a kind of turnip-based pot au feu laced with the rind of yuzu (an exquisitely-scented Japanese citron), some amazing tempura (including a feathery fan of tempuraed noodles and a tempuraed konnyaku that was like fake fish) and a series of delightful and contrasted soups (of which the delicate miso soup completely redefined my expectations of this Japanese staple.) To finish, green-tea rice and yuzu-perfumed pickles. Perfection. Bookings are essential (they need to prepare.)

All this took two hours, by which time we were plenty full and in raptures. It more than made up for my trip to Hakone on Monday, about which I wish to say very little, except that it is a terribly boring tourist trap, and the only good thing was the Tenzan onsen.

Recently I read in the Metropolis magazine of a dog-rental shop where, for a small fee, you could hire the canine companion of your choice for an hour’s stroll. I’m a big sucker for dogs, so the opportunity to commandeer my very own doggy for a while was always going to be too good to refuse.

So it was yesterday that I wandered down to Puppy The World in Odaiba. The procedure was not complicated: choose your dog from a menu, fill in some forms, understand the conditions (thoughtfully available in slightly-garbled English,) provide identification, have your photo taken. Pay a fee (¥1890), and your dog arrives, complete with doggy-do collection kit.

Dog rental, in a city such as Tokyo, does seem to make a fair bit of sense. Living in cramped surroundings, it’s not always possible or permissible for people to own a dog. (Many apartment buildings ban dogs on noise grounds, but most people simply wouldn’t have the requisite space.) On the other hand, the companionship of dogs is something that many people enjoy.

I settled on a miniature dachshund named Sharon. Kawaii!!! Dachshunds are chou popular here in Japan (how could something that cute not be?) However, I soon discovered that cute does not equate with obedient. I’m not sure how old Sharon was, but she sure as hell behaved like a puppy. Everything seemed to require an inquisitive bout of nasal investigation, and she stayed blissfully oblivious to my attempts at walking in a meaningful direction. (This might also reflect my lack of understanding about how to control a dog!) This caused some problems crossing a road: when Sharon steadfastly refused to follow me across and the lights turned red with us in the middle of the intersection, it became necessary to pick her up and carry her. But it’s very hard to muster hard feelings for something as cute as a dachshund. And she was pretty up for patting. It was all good.

It’s probably been about 16 years since we owned a dog, so it was interesting to see the social reactions. EVERYONE looks at the dog. Most people get a little smile out of it. Most interesting of all, Tokyoites, normally reserved and unintrusive (and triply so with foreigners) suddenly dissolved into affable, chatty types in the dog’s presence. Of course it was all a ruse on their part to get a pat of the dog, but I actually can’t remember a social situation in Japan where I’ve been spoken to by a true stranger, outside of the business transaction.

So that’s how my world was puppied. (Someone please ring the OED and tell them that puppy is now a verb.) *Bliss* Additional photos click here.

Listening: Forellenquintett (Schubert)

Reading: One World Divisible (Reynolds)