Motomachi
At the end of our subway line is a neighborhood called Motomachi. It’s a neighborhood with a pretty standard-fare main street, and then an side street with a lot of character. Below is a picture of the gates, at night. First impressions tell me this street will be rather nice – perhaps a good place for an after-work stroll.
Check out this cool whale i met!
Just off the main, street there were houses (not apartment buildings!) and neighborhoody shops. A barber and a flower shop. Of course the shop name is French – it seems to be fashionable to do that. I wonder why the Japanese love French names and Italian food so much.
Speaking of Italian food… Italian food, for whatever reason, is omnipresent. I think for every five noodle restaurants, there’s a spaghetti restaurant. Just as the Italian we eat back home is the american-take-on-italian, so is their asian counterpart. The Italian here is decidedly different than the spaghetti of the midwest.
I asked jon to take the local subway down to Motomachi after work. It worked out great – I got to spend an extra hour wandering around and scoping out the area before he met me, and then we had a really lovely stroll and settled into a wine bar run by some displaced Californians.
I had heard good things about Tomei’s, the Californian wine bar in Motomachi, and I was really excited that we found it without too much trouble (remember that there aren’t really addresses here).
We had some really good wines for a reasonable price (around $12/glass). and I even tried out a new grape! Syrah Noir, which contrary to my first thought was not a Syrah and a Pinot Noir blend. It was a very uncommon hybrid, characterized by bacon, smoke and mineral flavours. Very rich. Intoxicatingly complex for the price point. The location and the wine itself were great finds.
