An Evening in Shimokitazawa

Hello again! When we left off yesterday, I was about to tell you about our organic, hippy-lunch in Shimokitazawa.

Under ordinary circumstances (read: when in Seattle), I like to know where my food comes from. I like to be able to make educated choices about how I vote with my dollars. Living in a different culture, you kind of forgo those sorts of ideals and values, in favour of experiencing whatever that area has to offer. 99% of the time this is nothing short of spectacular, but there is that part of me that still wants to choose things that are environmentally and socially sustainable. Enter lunch.

Our lunch spot today has us seated on the ground, dining from mismatched plates, in what really appears to be the back porch of someone’s house. Neat, huh?

This “sitting on the floor” thing is a reoccuring theme this year. I’m used to curling up in balls while I sit, but Jon looks significantly more uncomfortable with the whole thing. Luckily, he’s a good sport about me flashing a camera in his face every three minutes.

Lunch today consisted of a menagerie of tasty, mostly-vegetarian things:

And if lunch wasn’t creepy enough for you, sportsfans, you can always see what the local chefs are up to a this place. Oh, how I love the Japanese interpretation of our language.

Wandering through the streets. Fabulous.

We eventually stumbled into a “science store”. What do you suppose happens with “Science Snow”?

One of my favourite things when I was little was space food. For some reason, it makes me think of my dad. I’d always beg for the ice cream sandwich flavours. What do Japanese tikes beg for? Perennial favourites like Tako Yaki (those weird octopus-street-food-things-that-make-me-want-to-hurl), Daigaku Imo (sugar-glazed sweet potatoes tossed with sesame seeds), and Annin Dofu (almond tofu).

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Eventually we met up with our friends [Brian] Reece and (his girlfriend) Emi. As the boys were texting and exchanging voice mails trying to locate each other (keep in mind, this is one of the busiest cities in the world), Emi and I literally ran into each other in a hat shop. It was so “small world”. Thinking about it still blows my mind.

This is Emi & Reece:

The 5 of us headed over to one of Emi’s favourite bars, The Free Factory, where we snagged a little cubby-hole of a table.

We ordered this thing called “Mexican Chips”. It was absolutely the oddest part of the night. Queso Dorritos covered in ketchup, mayo, beans, and raw onions. We ate them with chopsticks, of course.

I’m going to go ahead and maintain that these mexican chips were the weirdest part of the day, even considering that I purchased a pair of earmuffs with pandas on them. Check these out. Absolutely Kowaii.

Here’s a random thought to leave on. What, exactly, is happening on this sign?