Tokyo, why we love it.
A “House & Hotel” city survey.
By Francois Jobs.
Okura – still under construction.
Designed in 1962 by architect Yoshiro Taniguchi, this Japanese modern hotel sprawls in a way that wouldn’t be possible today. Newer five-star competitors lodged on top of office towers boast that they have so many contemporary art pieces they are practically a museum, but the Okura actually has a museum.
With its high ceiling and muted lighting, the capacious lobby of the Hotel Okura’s main building seemed like a huge, stylish cave. Against the cave walls, like the sighing of a disemboweled animal, bounced the muted conversations of people seated on the lobby’s sofas. The floor’s thick, soft carpeting could have been primeval moss on a far northern island. It absorbed the sound of footsteps into its endless span of accumulated time. Of course they have a teahouse for tea ceremonies, a Zen rock garden and a absolutely stunning style. It’s neighbours are embassies, which makes it the go-to hotel for visiting diplomats. The decor is vintage modernism with Japanese touches; the aura sedate, refined. Strings of geometric lanterns dangle like earrings from the lobby ceiling; the elevators are gilded like Japanese screens. The rooms, naturally, are big.
We walked down to Yoyogi Park, a entertaining green space in Tokyo.
The Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden is the most beautiful. Ask for a map in English (“Ay-go mappoo?”) as you walk in so you can be sure to hit all the major gardens: English Landscape, French Formal, Japanese Traditional with teahouse and the curiously named Mother and Child Forest. There’s also a lovely Taiwan Pavilion; go inside and look out the second-story windows.
In March & April, cherry blossom season, the central lawn areas are particularly stunning. Consider bringing a picnic lunch. You can buy a variety of take-away items at the food hall in the basement level of Takashimaya department store, just south of the Shinjuku Station and about 500 meters west of the garden’s Shinjuku gate entrance. If you get the itch to shop, there’s also a massive Tokyu Hands department store in the same mega-mall complex (called Times Square), selling everything from gold body stockings to Japanese tea sets and stationery. Next door is a behemoth Kinokuniya bookstore. The foreign books floor is a good place to find Japanese manga that has been translated into English; some of these are even suitable for kids.
My second favorite garden in Tokyo is Hama-rikyu which was a feudal lord’s retreat during the Edo period. There’s an old-style teahouse on a tidal pond, a 300-year-old pine, a grove of plum trees and a peony field. The duck hunting grounds were once used by the Tokugawa shoguns. The cluster of Shiodome skyscrapers just beyond makes a startling backdrop. Located at the mouth of the Sumida River, Hama-rikyu is also a stop on a passenger ferry line that you can take up to Asakusa or out to Odaiba.
Tokyo, crazy about food.
Our resto tip in Tokyo: ARAKI!
Mitsuhiro Araki is a famous sushi master. He specialises in the simplest form of Edomae-sushi, served in a traditional way. You will find the resto in Ginza. Background story. He opened Araki in the residential area of Setagayaku, an area in the outskirts of Tokyo, but moved to the Ginza after receiving three Michelin stars in 2011. Mr Araki started his career at a hotel in Kanagawa after he graduated from high school, then went to Australia and worked as a chef there. When he was 25, he returned to Japan to be a sushi chef and started training. After eight years, he met his mentor, Takeaki Niizu, who was the head chef of a well-known restaurant Kiyoda in Ginza.
Araki has now relocated to a smart ground floor location in the Ginza. The chef prepars the food in front of you at a wooden counter, the entire restaurant had just nine seats. Try sashimi of red snapper from Akashi. Go ahead with seared bonito, served with a little soy sauce.
Both maguro and otoro are superb, a silky delight. So give a perfect 10 as sushi.
Basics and how to get there:
Try to avoid the airport taxi, too expensive, enjoy Akari & Tokyo.
Its great to explore japan by train.
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