Dirt Cheap Soba Noodles

This morning I stumbled across a Tachigui Soba restaurant near a train station, single staffed with no seats, there are also quite a few Tachinomiyas in Japan too and these places are usually for people who want to have a bite or have a drink and then leave fairly quickly although of course you can stay for as long as you wish. This Soba restaurant didn't have the best noodles but I couldn't complain because of how cheap it was, ¥210 which is equivalent to £1.14 or $1.75 at today's exchange rate! I almost felt bad for paying such a low amount to the man and wondered how this place made any money... Maybe they just make enough to cover their expenses, who knows. I wouldn't be surprised if this is the cheapest Soba restaurant in Tokyo, maybe they're trying to get into the Guinness book of records? I said the Soba wasn't all that but it wasn't terrible, I can imagine a salaryman stopping by to get a cheap bite after work and having the feeling of winning as he receives his killer bargain!

Restaurant front

Pricing

¥210

Kake Soba

Conbinis aka convenient stores

Convenient stores in Japan are referred to as 'Conbinis' and they might just be too convenient! Because just like the vending machines in Japan there are loads of these Conbinis everywhere, the most popular ones being; 7 Eleven, Family Mart and Lawson, all of them typically selling a wide range of soft drinks, alcohol, cigarettes, foods and magazines/Mangas. I can think of 5 Conbinis that all take less than 5 minutes to get to on my bicycle from my house! That's what I mean when I say that they might be too convenient! If you haven't stepped into one of these before then let me give you a heads up and expect a 'Irashaimase!' from the staff, it basically translates into something like 'welcome', you hear it not only in Conbinis but in many different places in Japan like restaurants and clothes stores. If I don't get my 'Irashaimase' things get really messy... 90% of the time I use these Conbinis for Onigiris as they come in many different fillings and styles so these convenient stores are really Onigiri shops for me. So all in all these places are clean, quick and cool!

7 Eleven

7 Eleven being built

A week later... 

Magazine/Manga section



 

Construction in Japan

As many of you living in Japan may know, there is always something new that's being built and it's usually refurbishment work or a piece of property that's being replaced with another, having said this there are still a few old fashioned  restaurants and things of that nature remaining in Tokyo but these gems are becoming harder to find as the city continues its' infrastructural evolution. Most of the construction is actually focused on road work where any small decay or imperfection is promptly resurfaced, I have to say that I am a fan of this as I used to do a bit of longboarding here and found many of the roads very smooth to skate on and these smooth roads are very Mama-Chari friendly too! But I had to first skate over the rough pavements in London to really appreciate the smoothness. Things are done more efficiently all the time in Japan and I guess it's human nature to progress in that manner, however, we humans know that there is no such thing as perfection so where is this all leading...? We get to see ants go about their daily life and we are privileged to have a bird's eye view, some of them involved in construction, others gathering food and there may be a few of them fighting amongst each other and of course there's the queen ant! Nobody pays any great attention to construction in Japan because of how common it is.

House being destroyed

Pachinko

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Pachinko, good! These loud electronic pinball-like machines are very common in Japan and I confess that I've had a go on one of these and let me be the first to tell you that you'll have more fun watching dry paint dry even more! I took a picture of this giant Pachinko place in Ikegami and someone who lives in there told my that it used to be a building with; bowling, cinema, arcade, shops and so on but was replaced with 'Arrow', the locals must of been pissed. As you walk into one of these you instantly lose your hearing temporarily as you are greeted by a few uniformed staff with disturbingly robot-like grins as they repeat a few animated sentences to you, you will then instantly notice the foul smell of cigarettes where you can end up with a saw throat if your not used to smoke and I'm joking. The goal is to increase the small metal balls that you purchase at the beginning and then trade them for money at the end. I fail to see how some of these customers or victims become interested in such hobbies but there is certainly a large demand, kinda like cigarettes.



Giant Pachinko building

Vending machines in Japan

You wanna know something cool…? There are currently around 5 people in Japan for every 1 vending machine! And there are 127 million people on this small island so you do the maths! I live in Tokyo where there are many narrow streets,  you'll spot a vending machine pretty much everywhere, sometimes there is just the one and other times there can be 5 lined up together and they won't be just dispensing soft drinks but a whole range of other things like; snacks, pastry, newspapers, cup noodles and a whole bunch of other things. Many vending machines in Japan dispense hot drinks too and especially during the winter, I've noticed that they adapt to the seasons just like a living creature! If you happen to have a phobia of vending machines then Japan is the last place you want to visit! I'm not a big fan of soft drinks, however, I used to drink quite a lot of those small coffees that contain god only knows how much sugar, I used to like the aloe drinks with the bits too and I'm used to the vending machines here but they still catch my attention when many are bunched in one place. I nearly forgot, cigarettes are also dispensed too, so are beers! Although you need to touch your ID card before purchasing these low priced cigarettes and when it comes to convenience it's every smoker's dream, having said that, there's something disturbing this... I've even seen bananas being dispensed! I'd rather a banana tree but we're talking Tokyo so it is what it is.


Vending Machine  



Cigarette vending machine

Digital vending machine

Pescetarianism in Japan

I've tried a variety of different foods from all over the world but nothing beats Japanese food, I'm in love with it and recommend it to anybody who may not of tried it before. The Japanese diet consists of rice, fish, meats, noodles, Soya products like; tofu, Miso, Soya sauce, Natto and the list goes on to all eternity. I'm a pescetarian and although you can survive perfectly well on this diet in Japan, there are a few things to expect like being questioned on why you don't eat meat and other times perhaps they might be a little surprised... So overall it is uncommon for someone not to eat meat and take themselves out from the culture in that small degree. You will also sometimes have to remind the people around if you don't follow a regular diet. Nonetheless, the fruits and vegetables here are very high in quality and the fish is delicious too! I met someone who is a raw vegan here and he managed that perfectly fine, but it must of been challenging at that start! If a raw vegan can survive in Japan then a vegan or a vegetarian shouldn't have any problems! I just came back from a BBQ and fortunately the weather was quite nice, I stuck with the veg, Sanma, squid, Yaki-Onigiri combo but was offered meats at times. Mmmmm, Yaki-Onigiri.



Sanma



Beef

Mushroom bar!

If your out and about in Tokyo late at night, lets say midnight, you'll be surrounded by Izakayas of all sorts (a place to drink); old fashioned, modern, some of them that are completely 'peek-proof'' so you just have to push the door open whilst you hold your breath and hope for the best... You also have many venues with hostesses, you'll pay 3,000 yen for 90 minutes to drink with some girls and a lot of these drinking places have late closing hours. It is also not uncommon to find ladies standing around the streets during the midnight hours and they're not handing out pocket tissues! Among the endless rows of typical Izakayas, I stumbled across a peculiar looking place with someone I had a drink with, it caught my attention as there was a mushroom painting at the door and it looked like an enchanted house from Lord of the Rings or something.. as I entered the place I was thinking about how strange it  was for this kind of a bar to be in this area, everything was mushroom themed; the menu, decorations, accessories for sale, everything! We enjoyed the music as we drank our red wines, 10 minutes into us being there, a strange Amazonian type bug started to fly around the place, a bug that I've never seen in Japan before and just above me was a bird's nest used as decoration (I thought at least) but the bug actually lived there. The whole place had a super hippy feel to it and I enjoyed the unique environment as it definitely stood out from the other bars.




Mushroom bar entrance

Mushroom menu!




Interior




Mushroom decorations