Kagurazaka street festival

This Mother's day Tokyo has plenty to offer. Tom and I made a rough plan yesterday, start the day with coffee and cereal in the apartment (yes I know, boring western style but you know...) and head off to Yoyogi park. Year's ago Tom had seen many costumed Japanese hanging out here, today we are walking past plenty of sports groups, photographers, people admiring flowers and, of course, the dog park. I'm not sure I approve of dressing up your dog but it didn't seem to stop them from playing.
The weather is beautiful and we're lucky enough to find a Thai festival on the other side of the park. Lots of food to try and buy and a few souvenir stalls try to promote Thailand as a travel destination. It's crowded and loud and FUN. Tom even wins two beers by joining a screaming competition (yes, he loves Chang ;-)) and we try some 'amawori' a traditionally brewed rice spirit. The only downfall: everything is served in plastic cups. Would you refuse to take part and taste? We discuss and don't this time, however, we have cutlery with us from now on and will be trying harder to avoid plastic consumption. Even if it is hard.
Then it's time to head to our main destination for the day: Kagurazaka. It was once the Geisha district just in front of the Imperial palace and many people stopped here before entering. These insights are shared by Kerry, our meet up group leader. I found the event a day before and thought it would be fun to join a group to get more information about the historic street festival that's going on here. With a group of 40+ internationals (including a few Tokyoites) it is hard to get much more information across, but it is fun to get to know a few people and learn about life in Tokyo. Out of the many performances we see, the Edo marionette one amazes me the most. So much skill!
Once the tour finishes, we say our good-byes but decide to stay back for the last performance a little later. Beautifully set to the background of the Akagi-jinja shrine, we watch a magician and three guys playing weird metal flutes. Unfortunately, we hardly understand a word, but we get the jist.
Yosho, a girl from the meetup group, suggested a place for dinner earlier and so Tom and I, hungry nd a bit cold by now, head to our first Izakaya experience. An Izakaya is a Japanese pub, its name "i" (sit) and "sakaya"(sake) basically meaning a place to sit and drink sake. They always offer good quality food as well as it's unusual to just drink in Japan. You usually pair your drinks with at least a little something.
Once again, we are overwhelmed even though we have an English menu in front of us. What to order? What goes with what? In the end, we settle for a plate of sashimi, udon noodles and pickled Japanese vegetables. Delicious and easy to eat, we happily enjoy our meal and Tom tries two sake as well. The best about our dinner is the fact that we can watch the kitchen and their interesting methods though. Boiling coal in a pot before it goes on the grill, grilling things on wooden spoons wrapped in tin foil that are held towards burning sticks, garnishing a salad with chopped tomatoes that are placed on the plate with chopsticks... all super interesting.
And with our heads full of these impressions, we finally go home, exhausted, yet happy, and are already looking forward to another day of exploration.Read more