Chasing Dinosaurs

Have you heard of the word Natsubate? It's a compound of the word for summer "natsu," and "bateru," meaning malaise. Natsubate is used to describe the condition of many people during the summer months: poor appetite, lack of sleep, and low energy. It is summer malaise. Our most obvious strategy has been to find fun things to do indoors during the hottest hours. Incidentally, E has been interested in dinosaurs. We actually have been reading the same book about dinosaurs every night for the past week. This gave me the idea of looking into a place where we could visit some "real" dinosaurs. That place turned out to be the National Museum of Nature and Science. 

One of the things I miss most about Chicago is Museum Campus, and the Field Museum was among my favorites. We had gone a couple of times with E, but she was still a bit young for most of the exhibits and in any case, she has no memory of it. I don't know what took me so long to visit the National Museum of Nature and Science in Ueno, Tokyo. Perhaps I was too busy mulling over what was lost that I failed to consider the new experiences that were available. 

Situated in the Ueno neighborhood and overshadowed by the Ueno Zoo, this museum doesn't get nearly as crowded as the zoo. Reservations are required, which is nice overall, as it guarantees your entry at a specific time while also limiting the number of visitors inside. The museum has two wings: the Japanese wing with the more Japan-specific exhibits and the more general and newer Global wing. The exhibits have loads of interactive features. I found them to be great for all ages, even M, who was particularly fixated by the Animals of the Earth exhibit. 

Before Covid-19, this Compass section used to be an interactive play space for young kids. Still nice for kids, but unfortunately not as interactive.  

There is an impressive collection of dinosaurs, which are scattered throughout the museum rather than concentrated in a single exhibit. 

There is both a restaurant and a cafe at the museum, but they are small so the lines can get quite long. Because I had read this beforehand, we decided to prepare some food and bring it with us. Of course, we then didn't have time to "prepare food" amidst the morning hustle and bustle. Conveniently, Ueno station, where the museum is located, has a lot of bento, snack, and takeaway options, so we were able to buy lunch there before arriving at the museum. 

The museum cafe. The menu looked pretty good, and the prices were reasonable. Just beware of the lines at peak lunch hour. 

Some of the food we bought at the station - tonkatsu sandwich, yakitori skewers - and, not pictured - onigiri, sandwiches, and yogurt.

The Evolution of Life exhibits were beautifully designed. While my kids appreciated the design and specific interactive components, like short videos, they will get more of it when they are a bit older. 

The Japan Wing is located an old classist building designed as Important Cultural Property by the Japanese government. It was built as the main building of the museum in 1931 until 2015, when the Global Wing opened. 

We saw a few exhibits on the geological history of the Japanese islands. There was also an exhibit on the evolution of the Japanese people, including a display of the taxidermied Hachiko, the Akita dog famous for waiting at Shibuya station for its owner, even after his owner's death. 

I had been worried that the exhibits would be too advanced for E and M, but we all had a great time. Although the kids didn't grasp the content in the same way as adults do, they were able to enjoy it in their own way, as kids do. We arrived around 9 am and left at 1:30 pm, because that was as long as their attention spans could handle. But there was still a lot left to see. It is a place they can grow into, and we are excited about returning. 

6 Ways to Fall off a Bicycle

    For the last year and a half, cycling has been my main mode of transportation. I ride a battery operated, electric assist bicycle with two child seats. My husband calls it the SUV of bicycles. I suppose it is, but the fact is, it is more effective and satisfying than any gas-fueled vehicle could be. You can read about it here and here. 

    However, like any manner of transportation, there is the risk of accidents. This is why we wear helmets, though luckily none of our mishaps have been serious. Let me take you through all the ways I have fallen off my bicycle...and other possible ways to fall. I have to point out that all of my accidents were the result of carelessness, and in the case of cycling after a snowstorm, a certain degree of recklessness. But I suppose many accidents are a result of those things. Perhaps my mistakes can be a useful guide of what not to do if you ever find yourself joining the legions of cyclists in the streets of Tokyo. 

1. Underestimating the height of a curb. 

    The flow of traffic among pedestrians, vehicles, and cyclists is fluid, though surprisingly not chaotic. I often weave on and off sidewalks, like when a car is blocking the bicycle path. Although there are many driveways and other parts of the sidewalk where the curb is lowered, the curb can still have a pretty high edge for a bicycle. My first fall was on such an edge. Even though I had ridden over and off many without incident, I got careless. My front tire couldn't clear the curb, and I lost my balance and fell. My husband has also fallen like this. In fact, this is one of the most common ways to fall. The best way to avoid this is to approach the curb as close to a 90 degree angle as possible and proceed slowly. 

2. Placing the kickstand on an uneven surface while your child climbs onto the seat herself. 

    This is obvious to most people. It might have been obvious to me if I had slowed down to notice. Japan is mountainous, and Tokyo is hilly. Bicycles here are equipped to handle the terrain with their electric assist and heavy duty kickstands. On this fateful afternoon, I had parked my bicycle on an uneven patch so that the bicycle was slightly slanting. This alone might have been ok, but my daughter also climbed onto her seat, putting additional weight on an already slanted side. 

    I didn't usually allow her to climb onto the seat by herself, but since this incident, we now have a hard rule against solo climbing. While this was not technically a fall, it was dangerous because the heavy bicycle fell on my daughter. Luckily, she only scraped her knee a bit, but it could have been worse. 

3. Failure to fully engage kickstand. 

    On Japanese bicycles, there is a spring lock that usually engages when the kickstand goes down. This secures the bicycle, even on a slope. Sometimes the lock doesn't engage by itself, so you have to do it manually. As with #2, this doesn't constitute a risk of falling off so much as getting hurt in general. 

    I once parked on the downward slope of a hill. Trusting that the lock would spring into place automatically, I hadn't bothered to double check. E walked in front of my parked bicycle to talk to someone parked in front of us. At this same moment, a pedestrian walked past and lightly touched my bicycle. Although the contact was light, on a downward slope it was enough to disengage the kickstand and make the bicycle fall forward. Since I was standing right there, I was able to catch most of its weight, and the damage was minimal. E, my loyal passenger, has suffered the most at the hands of my slow learning curve. 

4. Cycling after snow. 

    Tokyo snow appears a few times a winter, though it is not common. When it does fall, it is rarely enough to accumulate. For this reason, few city vehicles have snow tires. The city is also not equipped to handle snow accumulation. 

    This past winter, it snowed enough for a few inches to accumulate. The temperature then remained low in the following days. What would have been cleared in a northern city like Chicago stayed on the ground for days here, turning into ice. I naively set out on my bike two days after the snow, since most of it had cleared. Of course, I encountered a patch of road still frozen solid with a layer of translucent ice - so much so that you wouldn't see the ice unless you looked closely. Luckily, I was going at a snail's pace, so there were no injuries, just a shock to the nerves. My lesson here was don't test the Tokyo roads after snowfall. 

5. Slipping on tiled sidewalks. 

    Most parts of Tokyo are paved with cement, but some are tiled. For instance, the walkway bordering Yoyogi Park has a tiled section, which turned out to be really slippery when wet. I had been warned about slipping on wet manhole covers but had not considered wet sidewalks. 

    This took me off guard a few days ago. It had been raining heavily in the morning, and I had passed through with E in the backseat without a problem. In the afternoon, the rain stopped but the ground was still wet. As I was passing through, there were a few pigeons on the path. I turned my wheel just slightly to avoid them. As soon as I did that, I felt the tire slip from under me, and before I knew it, we were down. Again, we were not going fast. E was secured in her seat with her helmet on, and I just bruised my leg a bit. 

    When I examined this tiled pavement more closely, I noticed that it was as slippery as wet bath tiles. My confidence suffered more than anything. Before this, I had ridden in rain and on different roads. Moreover, plenty of cyclists ride in the rain and through this area without falling. But now that I have experienced falling, I ride with some fear. While the fear will subside in a few days, the lesson will remain: be aware of your riding surface! 

6. Maneuvering the bicycle with both kids on it. 

    One of the first mistakes I made after our mamachari purchase was trying to maneuver out of a parking space with both kids already on the bicycle. As commuter bicycles, mamacharis have heavy frames with a heavy battery to boot. Then there are the basket, the kids seats, and the kids themselves. It is difficult to overestimate the weight of a fully loaded mamachari. 

    I had loaded the kids first and then tried to back out of my space walking alongside the bicycle. I didn't make it very far. The weight makes it very difficult to maneuver the bicycle like this. It wobbled, I couldn't save it from falling sideways. Rookie mistake. Always load your kids after you have maneuvered out of a tight space. 

Conveyor Belt Sushi

    Last weekend, we had conveyor belt sushi, known as kaiten sushi. While the quality of kaiten sushi is generally lower than that of a traditional sushi bar, it is fun for kids and serves a broader array of non-sushi items, like noodles, fried chicken, and rice bowls among other things. 

    We went to a place called Kura Sushi in Harajuku (they have many locations, including ones outside Japan). The Harajuku location is known for its fun atmosphere and extensive dessert menu. The Harajuku area is known for its over the top dessert crepes, which you can order at Kura. They also have Blue Seal ice cream, an Okinawan brand that boasts distinctive flavors, like Okinawan Salt Cookies, Royal Milk Tea, and Brown Sugar Cane (Okinawa is famous for its brown sugar canes). I ordered the Okinawan Sweet Potato with its distinctive purple color. It's one of my favorite flavors, and the texture is nice and fluffly, almost like gelato. 

    Other dishes we enjoyed were onion rings (freshly fried) and grilled fish, but to be honest, the quality of the food is not the focal point here. Although you could undoubtedly find better sushi in Tokyo, this was nevertheless a good experience. Kura is one of those places where you have to embrace the entire environment. 

    We went with E's cousins, who range from age 5 to 13 and are here in Tokyo for the summer. 

    We ordered via iPad, which is typical of kaiten sushi these days. Since Covid-19 began, many restaurants place plastic models of food on their conveyor belts instead of the real thing. You order by iPad. Kura does a hybrid. There are two conveyor belts: a top one and a bottom one. The bottom one carries a variety of dishes. You can look and take whatever you like. Or you could order via iPad. The order then arrives on the top belt, zooming to your table at super speed. 

    After we ate, the empty plates went into a slot at the end of each table. The slot automatically counted and calculated our bill based on these plates. We let M do this, and she loved doing it. We received "points," for each plate that went in, and after a certain number of points, we got to play a game on the iPad. The game is really a lottery where you can win a small capsule toy. We won one toy after thirty something dishes, so don't get your hopes up. 

The booth seating gives you relative privacy - another reason this place was good for families. 

    

    Kura Sushi was a hit with my kids and their cousins. As with so many things, the adults are happy when the kids are happy (to a degree). It wasn't a bad way to spend a hot summer night. Gochisousamadeshita!

Global Warming Blues, Joypolis, and Other Ways of Surviving a Heat Wave

    Every day in Tokyo for the last five days, and everyday for the next five days, temperatures will reach 35 to 36 degrees Celsius. That's 96-98 degrees in Fahrenheit. There has been no rain, despite this being the rainy season. The heat is oppressive, dangerous even. And it is days like these that make me think about what the world will be like when my children are my age. It makes me wonder about each choice I make: should I turn the air conditioning on for short-term comfort but at the expense of long-term harm to the environment? Why do I need chilled wine on demand when people are dying from natural disasters stemming from climate change? How can we avoid fish caught by trawling? Do my individual choices matter in the shadow of behemoth corporate, government, and military action? Even if my actions don't make a big difference, surely they matter to some extent. And of course, our collective choices do make a difference. 

    I think about how, in Japan and in many other places in the world, the majority of housework is shouldered by women. How collapsing cardboard boxes, rinsing and flattening milk cartons, dropping off the recycling at collection centers, using and cleaning rags instead of paper towels, using gentler solutions that require more effort, feeding your family more sustainable foods while ensuring their health and satiety, sorting through an infinite number of kids art projects to recycle and reuse - how so much of this is the work of women. Even so, as a woman completing many (but luckily not all) of these tasks, when I get cynical, I remind myself that there is always an opportunity cost to my actions (or lack of action). Convenience is rarely free. It also makes me aware that gender equality is another step to a more sustainable world. 

    Enough brooding. This post is really about the ways we have been trying to stay cool. The first is staying indoors as much as possible whilst keeping our kids entertained. On the weekends, they can only stay at home for so long without going crazy, so we looked into possible indoor outings. We decided on Joypolis, an indoor amusement park. My nephews and niece are also here for the summer, so we all went together. I was under the impression that Joypolis was somehwere between Chuck-E-Cheese and Dave and Buster's, but that is totally not the case. It was great for my almost 14-year-old and 11-year-old nephews, but it was a bit intense even for my 8-year-old niece, let alone my kids. It is probably the most fun for teenagers and young adults.    

Entering the Joypolis universe. 

    Joypolis was more like an arcade on steroids: bright artificial light everywhere, screens and sounds everywhere. It gave me sensory overload. My husband went here when he was a kid and said that it was more low-key fifteen, twenty years ago. I'm sure it was. 

    Kids under 7 are free (makes sense now). The entrance fee for kids 7-17 is about $4 USD and $6.50 USD for adults. Once you enter, each ride will cost about $5 and games are usually between $1-6. If you expect to go on a lot of rides, you can purchase the passport ticket for $30 for kids and $40 for adults. The passport tickets allow access to all the rides, but not the games. 

This looked like a good game for little kids, but it was hard, even for adults!

     We purchased the passport tickets for the older kids. They would have had to go on five rides to get their tickets' worth. However, there was an hour-long line for each ride, which would mean spending all day waiting in line. In the end, they went on three rides and played a bunch of games. They also played with a lot of claw crane games, if you can call those games, and actually won two massive stuffies without spending all their money. I was impressed. Preteens and their unexpected talents. 

    Joypolis is in Odaiba and located in a large shopping complex next to several other shopping complexes. The entire area is a neighborhood of malls. While this doesn't make for the nicest neighborhood, it makes it easier to find lunch. Joypolis has a few eateries, but they fill up quickly. Plus, so long as you keep your ticket, re-entry is permitted. 

Odaiba: Tokyo Bay on one side, entertainment hub on the other. 

    After lunch, I went with M and my mother in law to a nearby mall to take a break from Joypolis. E, though too young for most games and rides, was nevertheless having a good time since she was in the company of her cousins. So my husband stayed with the four older kids while I got a napping toddler. I would say that I got the better end of the deal. I spent the rest of the afternoon looking at art supplies for E's approaching summer holiday. So that was one hot day down, eight more to go. 

    We have also been consuming a lot of frozen desserts - a time-tested, much simpler way of coping with the heat. There are the usual frozen pops, but also more interesting ones we are trying for the first time. One of my favorites is the Crunch Choco Monaka, which is a wafer filled with half vanilla ice cream and half chocolate crunch. Although it is marketed as Hershey's product, I have only seen this in Japan. Another favorite is matcha ice cream topped with brown sugar, mochi, and matcha powder. Here is to making the best of the heat with sweets. 

A Baseball Outing

Last Friday, my husband and I went to watch our first baseball game since Covid-19 began. This makes it sound like we regularly went to games before Covid-19, and we didn't. We actually have not been to a game in six years. This was only my second Japanese baseball game, the first one being seven years ago, also in Tokyo.  

I can't tell you how to get tickets because my husband got them. It is a somewhat complicated process involving different dates and different seating areas for different membership tiers, including the free membership which is what we got to buy the tickets. Last Friday's game was between the Tokyo Yakult Swallows and Hiroshima Toyo Carp. The Swallows won the Japan Series last year, so they have been popular, and the stadium was nearly full. Since we bought the tickets on the first day they became available for our membership tier, we were still able to get great seats. 

A perfectly balmy evening for a baseball game. 

Baseball is just as popular, if not more so, in Japan as it is in the U.S. In the U.S., I've been to a few Mets games and a few White Sox games. There are lots of similarities between baseball here and there, but some differences as well. The most notable differences:

The Seats

The Meiji Jingu Stadium is old, dating back to 1926. Apparently it is one of the few standing professional stadiums, along with Wrigley Field and Fenway Park, that existed when Babe Ruth played. 

Perhaps because of its age, the stadium seats are narrow and small for just about anyone. Our friend J is tall and mostly sat with his legs together. He savored the minutes when his seat mates were getting food and drinks. While the seating is not luxurious, I didn't mind it. Our neighbors were respectful about keeping to their own space. Despite there being no government mandate for mask wearing outdoors, the majority wore masks. Everyone cleaned up after themselves (People say this is a Japanese phenomenon, and I have to say, I don't understand why this is phenomenon. It should be common sense.) and kept their rubbish in their own space.

The Food

The food is similar to its American counterpart, though there is more variety. It is definitely not healthy, but you can buy edamame, which is considered a good beer snack. You can easily buy food at grocery stores or convenience stores nearby and bring them with you into the stadium. Stadium food is reasonably priced, but outside food is still less expensive. 

Concession stands sell hot dogs, fried noodles, yakitori, fried chicken, etc. Let me show you some of the things we ate: 

Different types of bentos boxes. 

Takoyaki (grilled squid balls) with scallions and chili sauce. 

Pineapple shaved ice. 

A concession stand selling Chinese food. 

Three cheese french fries and a Kirin beer. 

Curry...with imprinted cheese. 

The Volume

The final major difference I noticed is the noise level at Japanese baseball games. I don't know what it is about sporting events in America, but the noise is deafeningly loud. The speakers blast music, and then people have to shout over the speakers to converse with each other. And then you have to buy baby earmuffs to prevent damage to your kid's ears. While there are also chants and cheers here, I found that I could talk at a normal volume and hear what my seat mates were saying. 

It's the same game around the world, but the experience of watching baseball is definitely unique in Japan. Even though I don't know anything about baseball (I mostly follow what is happening based on crowd cues), I had a great time. I would even say that it was more fun to watch baseball in Japan than in the U.S. as someone who is not a big baseball fan. The environment was more relaxed. After all, there was so much to enjoy - the food, the company, and the beautiful spring evening. 

Rainy Season is Here Again

Rainy season is here once more. I don't mind it much, except for two things: 1) it makes commuting by bicycle trickier, though a massive poncho solves most of my commute problems (if the rain and wind is typhoon-grade, we take a taxi), and 2) more than anything, I hate the mosquitos. 

With temperatures climbing and the sun getting stronger by day, you - by which I mean, me - seek refuge in shady, cool places and avoid outdoor activities when it is really sunny and hot. Unfortunately, so do mosquitos. Even though they are warm weather bugs, mosquitos avoid the sun. So if your kids want to go to the park, you can either bake in the sun or get eaten alive by mosquitos in the shade. It sounds dramatic, but it is true. 

Last night, a mosquito somehow got into my daughter's bedroom. She awoke in the morning with FOURTEEN mosquito bites. Lucky for us, we have muhi patches. Muhi patches are small, round adhesives placed on bug bites to reduce itching and inflammation. For young kids, this is doubly convenient because it prevents them from scratching their skin into oblivion and risking infection. They are also peachy-tan in color, which makes them subtle and nice to use for adults as well. 

As for commuting, commuter bicycles in Japan are well-equipped to handle the rain. Mine, like most, is waterproof and comes with a rain cover for the rear child seat. Since M rarely rides it, unlike E, who rides it everyday, we didn't get a cover for the front child seat where she sits. If we had wanted, though, it would have been easy to cover the front as well. 

It may sound extreme to cycle in the rain with kids, but even in the rain, it is the most effective mode of transportation. On most rainy days, it is easier to cycle than to hail a taxi or take public transport. It can be difficult to find an unoccupied taxi when it is raining during the morning rush hour. Our bicycle ride to school takes 7-8 minutes, so in the time it takes to flag a taxi, we would nearly be there. From our home, the metro is a 7 minute walk. On the other end, it's another 5 minute walk from the nearest station to school. The bus is 5 minutes and 4 minutes, respectively. Likewise, it would be faster to cycle than to use the metro or bus. And so we cycle. 

In a couple more weeks, we will need not only bug repellent but also a hat, sun cream, and a handy water bottle. At least the temperatures are still relatively low right now. We have had the occasional hot day, but for the most part, it has been in the 60s and 70s.  The cloud coverage allows you to go outside without slathering on sun cream. These are the best things about rainy season, and I am going to enjoy them while they last. 

Ueno Zoo (Post-Corona Restrictions)

    It is 65 degrees Fahrenheit today, but last Sunday, it was in the upper 80s. It was the rare hot spring day in Tokyo, though it is getting frighteningly less rare. Despite the heat, we went to Ueno Zoo. 

    It had been impossible to obtain reservations due to Covid restrictions. Every Saturday morning at 9am, a limited number of online reservations would become available on a first-come first-serve basis for the following week. Every time I tried, waiting on my computer until 9am sharp, I failed. No matter how quickly I clicked, all feasible time slots were full. So when this reservation system finally gave way to a less restrictive one last weekend, I jumped at the opportunity. 

   It is hard to exaggerate the number of people lined up outside the zoo when we arrived. I had purchased online tickets and arrived right at opening time, and so had everyone else. In fact, there was no wait to purchase tickets in-person, which kind of defeats the purpose of pre-purchasing tickets online. It took 45 minutes just to get inside the zoo! I thought this was typically Tokyo - everyone is an early bird, and everyone plans ahead. So we all end up in the same long line. 

    Of course, the animals were lethargic too. The heat wasn't too bad in the morning, but the sun was intense. I would have preferred a drizzle. When you first arrive in Japan and see people with arm bands, humongous visors, and parasols, you may think that they are simply warding off tans. I certainly thought so. After a year of living here, I realized that without these things, I would probably develop skin cancer and cataracts. Sun cream, sunglasses, and hats are musts for outdoor outings in Tokyo! 

The elephant, wondering why it is so hot in May. 

The tiger, wondering why it is so hot in May.

Hedwig, wondering why it is so hot in May. 

    Going to the zoo always makes me think about this New Yorker article I read a few years ago. It is about the social role of zoos, the moral and ethical considerations of their existence, and their impact on animal welfare and endangerment. I loved going to zoos before I was old enough to consider any of these issues. Being an adult has not made the zoo less fun, but rather more interesting. 

    The Ueno Zoo is centrally located but not large. Actually, Tama Zoo, which is farther from central Tokyo, is much bigger. This makes Ueno suitable for younger kids with less endurance. But it also means longer lunch lines on the weekends. 

    The main sit-down restaurant in Ueno is near the monkeys in the East Garden. It was nearly full when we headed there around 11am. In Japan, it is normal to reserve a seat with personal items. There are people who reserve with bags and jackets (normal), and there are those who reserve with a plastic water bottle (questionable, but still works since no one will steal your water bottle and even fewer who want a confrontation over a water bottle). This is how an entire restaurant fills up before anyone has even gotten their food. We luckily found one of the last remaining booths indoors. 

The ever-popular panda nikuman (steamed bun with pork inside)

Reserve your seats first!

    These jelly pouches are nice for hot days like Saturday. I froze them beforehand so they would still be cold during our outing. It took nearly an hour to get our food, but since the kids had had their mid-morning snack, the wait wasn't so bad. 

    By the time lunch ended around 12:45, the temperature had climbed to a sweltering 88 F. The East Garden and the West Garden are connected by short walkway. While the east side has a restaurant, the west side has more food trucks and snack food. It also houses the large African mammals, such as the giraffes, okapi, rhinos, etc. 

    We entered the zoo shortly after 10am and finished seeing everything before 2pm. Between then, we took a long lunch break and plenty of snack and toilet breaks. 

Food options outside the zoo: an old-timey concession stand.

    This was our first Ueno Zoo outing as a family since we moved here. It was fun, but if I am honest, I I would prefer overcast conditions next time - even a drizzle!  On the other hand, kids don't mind it nearly as much as adults do. After all, a hot and crowded day at the zoo is a classic day at the zoo. 

Izakaya

    An izakaya is a Japanese bar, and one of my favorite places to eat. Not that I like all izakayas, for they are as varied as bars and pubs are anywhere else. Some izakayas cater to younger people, some to office workers, and others to a more diverse clientele. Some have really great food while others have food that you would only want to put inside your body after an adequate number of drinks. I obviously like the ones that serve great food. 

    In Japan, it's typical for restaurants to specialize. Just as you would go to a ramen shop for only ramen, you would do the same for soba (buckwheat noodles) or yakitori (grilled chicken). The same for grilled eel, sushi, pork cutlets, udon, tempura, etc. These restaurants will all do one thing but do them well. You won't see many Japanese places with eclectic menus. The izakaya is unique in this aspect and usually serves many different types of dishes in small portions. Their varied menu gives them more creative latitude too, so it's fun to discover Japanese flavors presented in novel and modern ways. This is one of the main reasons I like izakayas. 

    The downside of izakayas is that they can be really smoky inside. They are not places you would want to go with little kids. Anyways, they are places where you would want to sit, talk, and eat slowly - things that are difficult to do with toddlers. Because of this, and because izakayas are part of the nightlife establishment, we haven't been to even one since moving to Japan. So it was really very exciting when we handed the kids over to the grandparents on Saturday and headed to our neighborhood izakaya, Kogane. 

    Kogane is a small izakaya that uses variety meats in its menu, which includes many other things such as seafood, vegetables, and noodles. They have a good selection of sake, which pairs nicely with the food. Kogane is also a non-smoking establishment, which is great even if you don't have kids. There are several options for seating: floor, bar, or table. We chose the bar. 

    The food is some of the most delicious and interesting I've ever had. Even the ordinary items like onigiri and truffle fries are really well made. One particularly memorable dish was thinly sliced tripe and vegetables, chilled, mixed with pesto, topped with walnuts and served as a salad. No photo of that one, unfortunately, but here are other things we ate: 

Onigiri with ume (pickled plum).

Bonito sashimi in the front and braised beef tendon and daikon soup in the back. 

Truffle fries.

Japanese horse mackerel, fried and served with Japanese tartar sauce.

Grilled duck with negi. 

    As for drink, I had an organic lemon sour and a shared flask of sake. We chose a sake based on their recommendation. I know nothing about sake and rarely drink it, so there is not much basis for comparison. The only thing I can say about it is that it was light and sweet and paired beautifully with the food. 

    Given that I had an organic lemon sour, you can likely guess that this particular izakaya belongs to a newer breed of izakayas. Kogane's food and atmosphere reflects modern sentiments for fine-casual dining while retaining the essence of izakaya culture. Like Tokyo itself, it is a flattering mix of the new and old. 

    Izakaya food is rarely pretentious. It's first and foremost about flavor and enjoyment (and in some cases, simply putting something in your stomach to absorb the alcohol). In the case of this izakaya, I love that it could transform a humble ingredient like tripe into a great dish that most people would enjoy. Here's to a nice night out and many more to come.