Tokyo Part 2: The Highlights

Well, here we are. Two months after my first Tokyo post and four months after our trip. What can I say? Stupid work. It gets in the way of living our dang lives. But also it funds our trips, so WhatYaGonnaDo? Knowing myself, and not wanting to delay posting about this trip, this post is dedicated to the highlights. All of the trip was awesome but these are the days/things/experiences that really made it special.

1. Mario Kart!

I mentioned in my first Tokyo post that Phil’s coworker planted the seed for us to consider planning another trip in 2024. One of the highlights of her trip was Mario Kart (or “street cart”, but they’re not fooling anyone). There are a few companies that offer these street legal, go-cart trips around around Shibuya Crossing, aka the Shibuya Scramble, aka the busiest pedestrian crossing in the world.

When Phil told me that he wanted to do one of the go-cart trips, I was hesitant, to say the least. My mind flashed to one summer, go-carting with my friend Heidi and her family, when I ran off the track and an employee had to come and rescue me. Granted, I was 12-years-old at the time, but still. That memory coupled with the fact that they drive on the other side of the road really had me nervous-sweating at the idea.

We watched a few YouTube videos others had posted about their experience and while it did look like they were having fun, I was still not into it. Phil, however, was SO excited about it. So much so that against my better judgement, I agreed. In fact, I arranged everything with the company via Facebook messenger. *It is important to note that one must have their international drivers license in order to join a go-carting trip. We opted for a nighttime go-cart drive, when all of the lights of Shibuya would be in full effect.

We (well, Phil) woke up excited in anticipation. Have I said I was still a bit nervous about it? A lot nervous about it. An important thing I have learned to keep in mind while traveling, or really just during life in general, is that time will pass, regardless of our consternation. So, even if you are going to an event or gathering you aren’t particularly jazzed about, and/or are nervous bellied over, just remember that it will eventually be over and you will look back on it. In fact, it might be a super fun experience that you look back on with fond memories. Regardless, it is an experience. They can’t all be winners, but if you sit them all out, you’ll never get the good ones either.

With that idea in mind, we started a day with a walking, food-tasting tour, led by a young American man named Max. His love of anime inspired him to start learning Japanese in his early teens and now, some ten years later, he was fluent. The group was made up of other folks from the U.S. and one Australian woman. We met in the Asakusa part of Tokyo and after exchanging pleasantries and names we would almost immediately forget, started with a sushi tasting, followed by soba, mochi, and tea ice cream.

After the tour, we took a rest at our hotel before heading out for the day’s main event: Mario Kart! We’d apparently gotten a little too confident in our train navigation abilities. We thought we’d left in plenty of time for our 7pm reservation, but after taking the wrong train, then having to hoof it for about 20 minutes, we were starting to [quite literally] sweat it.

We went to the wrong location first (not realizing the company had two), but finally made it just in time. In fact, we were the first ones there. After cooling off a bit, we each picked our [very generic and not at all mario-cart-y ; ) ] costumes that we’d don during our drive.

Two ladies from Britain joined us. They would be the only others in our group, which I was glad about. Stan, the young American who was to be our guide, asked everyone, after watching the safety video, if anyone was nervous about driving. I quickly said I was on the two British gals did as well. This also made me feel a bit more comfortable. Stan said we would go slow and if we all wanted to, at the very end, there would be a spot where we could speed if everyone voted to. That seemed fair.

We headed out of the office and down to the garage where the carts were. We familiarized ourselves with where the blinkers, breaks, etc were. I was still feeling very uneasy, but Phil’s ear-to-ear perma-grin helped to steel my resolve. He was so excited. How could I not have a good time?

And we were off, driving through Tokyo, at night, on a go-cart. What sounded wildly unsafe was super-exhilarating and fun (that is sometimes the case with wildly unsafe things, huh?). I think I had mostly been afraid of how the cart would handle. It was very easy to drive, which greatly alleviated much of my anxiety. We stayed in a group and Stan had advised us of what his different hand gestures would mean (stop, go, single file, or two by two). We also had another go-cart employee following in the back. It all made me feel much more at ease and pretty soon, I had a big ole smile plastered across my face too.

We stopped at the famous Shibuya scramble cross walk and saw it in it’s full, bustling glory. People waved at us and smiled. As we navigated the smaller streets near where we began, folks outside of a few bars, gave us high five’s and cheers. I am so happy I decided to join Phil for the experience. It was SO fun!

2. Kawagoe

Kawagoe is an Edo-period castle town, it is best known for its old clay warehouses and merchant homes, called Kurazukuri and our destination was the Warehouse district, called Kurazukuri no Machinami. The historic warehouse buildings were very cool and mostly house little tourist shops. I picked up a lovely aventurine necklace. It is a stone I was not familiar with but looks a lot like jade. Green is my favorite color, so I obviously needed it. I also picked up a cool new phone case.

We also happened upon a Buddhist cemetery which was very cool. We stopped by another Shinto shrine to have our book stamped (referenced in the first Tokyo post).

3. This fish-shaped treat

This [I guess you could call it a] pastry, called Taiyaki, was the best sweet treat I had during our time in Tokyo. Resembling a seam bream, in Japan, the red sea bream (tai) is a symbol of good luck and prosperity, and taiyaki is often associated with these positive attributes. The outside has a similar taste and consistency of a waffle and it is stuffed with your choice of several fillings, traditionally sweet red bean paste. This one was filled with custard. Not too sweet and the custard was so creamy, it was more than just right. It was heavenly! In fact when we stopped two other times during our trip to buy some, I could not bring myself to order any other filling since the custard had been so amazing.

To be honest, sweet red bean paste takes some getting used, as a westerner. I like beans, I like sweet, but to have something so traditionally savory in the U.S. made sweet, takes your brain and taste buds through a wild ride. I had some red bean mochi that I enjoyed. The more I tried it, the more I liked it. It is rather rich, so a little went a long way.

 4.  Omiya, the bonsai village

Recently, Phil has gotten really into bonsai. In fact, over the past six months or so, he has acquired about 40 plants. Some he purchased as bonsai and tends to, and others were nursery plants he saw potential in and created new bonsai, clipping and pruning as he is inspired. Either way, it is pretty cool and he really enjoys it.

I think we would have wanted to visit Omiya regardless of his new hobby, since we both have been long appreciators of the art. The fact that he is now a bonsai gardener, made it that much cooler.

The area is a quiet, residential area, that also houses several bonsai gardens and nurseries as well as a bonsai museum. We also saw many bonsai in the backyards and on the front stoops of homes.

The nurseries were SO cool, the variety amazing. Unfortunately, photos were prohibited in most. Luckily, as we were walking around a rather large one, we saw a French couple taking photos of an older Japanese fellow in front of a larger bonsai. We inquired about it and they told us that the bonsai master was standing in front of a tree that was 600 years old! We asked if we might also take a photo and the bonsai master was happy to oblige.

Another very cool, non-bonsai-related thing happened while we were walking the streets of Omiya. A fellow who appeared to be engaging in some sort of building renovation with a few other guys, called to us and quickly came over. He handed us a baggie with something in it, stating it was free and his father had made it. Suspicion kicked in for both Phil and I, having traveled to many places, if someone puts something in your hand and says it’s free, chances are, you will be giving them some sort of payment for, if nothing else, to end the interaction. Nothing is [usually] free and both of us decline offers of “free” items when traveling. One guy in Milan expertly tied a bracelet on my wrist before I even realized it (and of course, wanted some money for it). But, I digress.

We knew that all manner of scams and street crimes such as pick pocketing, although not non-existent in Japan, are rare. We eased our initial, uptight reaction, when the fellow said with a warm smile, “Welcome to Japan”. He told us that not many people had been through that day, so he handed us several of the packages; zip-lock baggies containing a hand carved dragon fly and a Japanese post card with a message about the “balancing toy” (if you perch the end of the dragon fly on the edge of something such as a flower pot it will balance there) that was the dragon fly. With another smile, he quickly returned to his work and we were on our way. The gift was so unique and so personal that it ended up being one of my favorite souvenirs of the trip.

 5.  The National Arts Center

Phil and I love a good museum, especially an art museum. The National Art Center was no exception. There was so much beauty to take in from drawings, paintings, and textiles. Just when we thought, we had seen everything there was to see, we found ourselves in a huge area filled with more amazing sculptures.

While all the art, buildings, temples, go-carts, and bonsai trees were exciting, entertaining and enjoyable, the food is actually my #1 favorite thing about our trip. I shall be making an entire post about the amazing food we ate, so more to come!