March 26, 2006 - Kichijochi, Ghibli Museum, and Ninja
Today, we hung out with Bud, his beautiful wife Nobuko, and their very cute daughter Rin-chan. We slept very well last night and didn't wake up until 9:15 a.m. when Bud called to let us know they were leaving their house. We met up around 10 a.m., headed across the street to Excelsior hotel for a quick breakfast. Afterwards, we hopped onto the JR line heading towards Tokyo, and then changed to th Chuo JR line for Kichijocho where Ghibli Museum is located. Rin-chan still looks very kawaii and talks a lot more (and a lot more clearly) this time. She's still a big extrovert and very friendly to us.
It took us about 45 minutes to get to Kichijocho. There, we stopped at a ramen place for some lunch. The ramen is a little different than the usual ramen we have eaten in the US and the best part of it was the smoked egg! The young chefs told us that they first boil the eggs, then marinade it in some sauce for a little, before then smoking the egg. The egg was cooked just right and very, very flavorful.
After lunch, we walked towards Ghibli Museum. During this walk, Julian and Rin-chan became very good friends. Julian held her part of the way there and held her hand. As we were early (our tickets were for 4:00 p.m.), we walked in the park next to the museum. Rin-chan was so energetic! After chasing pigeons for some time, she then spent some time with some puppies, and chased a butterfly. She and Julian also played this game of transporting rocks from the ground into one of Julian's hands; then Rin-chan would guess which of Julian's hand the rocks are in. It was a silly game, really, but the two had fun.
Ghibli Museum was pretty amazing! The spinning structure on the 1st floor was spectular. One sees bats flying, totoro's dancing, Mei jumping rope, catbus running, little white totoros bounching up & down and disappearing into the tree roots. See this URL for a picture and more detailed explanation - http://www.tautoz.com/ghiblimuseum/. After that, we headed to the 3rd floor, where I got lost inside the gift shop. There were so many goodies I didn't know what not t o get! I was carrying so much that I kept dropping things. We ended up buying a bunch of the black specs (the little dust balls in Totoro & Spirited Away - Bud told me they're called ma-kurokuro-skii), some stamps, a music box (loved it!), some postcards, some fridge magnets, and a ma-kurokuro-ske hanging thingy. We plan to place a small mountain of the ma-kurokuro-ske at our house.
Departing from the gift store, we came back and watched Rin-chan play at the catbus for a little while before heading up to the rooftop garden with the robot and cube from Laputa. The robot was super kewl. Then we headed down to the 2nd floor where we saw a replica of Miyasaki's studio and many, many drafts of his work. As we were kind of hungry and a little tired, we stopped in the cafe for some sandwiches (sandoichi) and drinks.
After Ghibli, we walked back to the Kichijocho station where we parted with Nobuko & Rin-chan. We headed back to the hotel to charge up the camera and await dinner time at Ninja.
Ninja is located in Akasaka as well; it is in the same building as Zipangu, and coincidentally owned/run by the same group, Nadamand. Ninja was every bit as mysterious as I remembered it. Food was excellent and magic was good too. The deluxe steak w/foie gras was very good. So was the lobster pudding. I think my faorite was the jack-in-the-box dish; it was a consomme made egg w/different types of veggies inside (brocoli, bamboo, etc.). This egg came in a box with dry ice. After the egg is pealed, the contents was cut up into chunks mixed up with 3 colors of either fungi or seaweed (I couldn't tell exactly what they were). Not only the display was very unique, the dish was also very good.
After dinner, we walked over to this famous ramen restaurant (Jangara Ramen) a few buildings down; Bud showed us the place and helped explain what's on the menu (ramen with different Tonkotsu soup-base) so we could go try it another day. Julian was beat when we got back to our hotel. Time to rest up for the next day!
So many restaurants to eat at, so little time!!!
It took us about 45 minutes to get to Kichijocho. There, we stopped at a ramen place for some lunch. The ramen is a little different than the usual ramen we have eaten in the US and the best part of it was the smoked egg! The young chefs told us that they first boil the eggs, then marinade it in some sauce for a little, before then smoking the egg. The egg was cooked just right and very, very flavorful.
After lunch, we walked towards Ghibli Museum. During this walk, Julian and Rin-chan became very good friends. Julian held her part of the way there and held her hand. As we were early (our tickets were for 4:00 p.m.), we walked in the park next to the museum. Rin-chan was so energetic! After chasing pigeons for some time, she then spent some time with some puppies, and chased a butterfly. She and Julian also played this game of transporting rocks from the ground into one of Julian's hands; then Rin-chan would guess which of Julian's hand the rocks are in. It was a silly game, really, but the two had fun.
Ghibli Museum was pretty amazing! The spinning structure on the 1st floor was spectular. One sees bats flying, totoro's dancing, Mei jumping rope, catbus running, little white totoros bounching up & down and disappearing into the tree roots. See this URL for a picture and more detailed explanation - http://www.tautoz.com/ghiblimuseum/. After that, we headed to the 3rd floor, where I got lost inside the gift shop. There were so many goodies I didn't know what not t o get! I was carrying so much that I kept dropping things. We ended up buying a bunch of the black specs (the little dust balls in Totoro & Spirited Away - Bud told me they're called ma-kurokuro-skii), some stamps, a music box (loved it!), some postcards, some fridge magnets, and a ma-kurokuro-ske hanging thingy. We plan to place a small mountain of the ma-kurokuro-ske at our house.
Departing from the gift store, we came back and watched Rin-chan play at the catbus for a little while before heading up to the rooftop garden with the robot and cube from Laputa. The robot was super kewl. Then we headed down to the 2nd floor where we saw a replica of Miyasaki's studio and many, many drafts of his work. As we were kind of hungry and a little tired, we stopped in the cafe for some sandwiches (sandoichi) and drinks.
After Ghibli, we walked back to the Kichijocho station where we parted with Nobuko & Rin-chan. We headed back to the hotel to charge up the camera and await dinner time at Ninja.
Ninja is located in Akasaka as well; it is in the same building as Zipangu, and coincidentally owned/run by the same group, Nadamand. Ninja was every bit as mysterious as I remembered it. Food was excellent and magic was good too. The deluxe steak w/foie gras was very good. So was the lobster pudding. I think my faorite was the jack-in-the-box dish; it was a consomme made egg w/different types of veggies inside (brocoli, bamboo, etc.). This egg came in a box with dry ice. After the egg is pealed, the contents was cut up into chunks mixed up with 3 colors of either fungi or seaweed (I couldn't tell exactly what they were). Not only the display was very unique, the dish was also very good.
After dinner, we walked over to this famous ramen restaurant (Jangara Ramen) a few buildings down; Bud showed us the place and helped explain what's on the menu (ramen with different Tonkotsu soup-base) so we could go try it another day. Julian was beat when we got back to our hotel. Time to rest up for the next day!
So many restaurants to eat at, so little time!!!
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