Kohrinbo 香林坊 - Nakano, Tokyo

I was going to try writing a review/entry about places that I go to often, but I got a bit pressured out and decided to instead, write about a place I have only been to once. 

 Located on the second floor of the Nakano Broadway shopping center at the end of Nakano Sun Plaza shopping street, Kohrinbo 香林坊 caught my eye as I was looking for places to eat located along the JR Chuo line. It's a small place run by a nice Taiwanese woman and with the exception of eggs, the food is meat-free. I'm by no means a vegetarian, but I have noticed that it seems to be pretty difficult to get vegetarian food, or even a decent salad that isn't 90% shredded cabbage in Tokyo.

Even though I was trying to be healthy, I was not sure what to get and settled on the "Adherence to a Vegetarian Diet Cutlet Set" (精進カツ定食, shoujin katsu teishoku, it really loses something in translation doesn't it?）for 1000円 and was pretty pleased with what I received.

It comes with two slices of pickled daikon, pickled eggplant, a nut (not sure what kind) omelette, a konbu soup and a bowl of rice (which you can apparently get a refill for free). The soup was light and refreshing in comparison to miso soup that tends to come with most food in Japan. The pickled eggplant was slightly tart and there was nothing particularly outstanding about the daikon (I usually don't expect much since I figure a lot of places just use the kind that comes in a jar from the supermarket). The omelette was nice, but with my terrible chopstick skills, it was a bit difficult to cut into bite-sized pieces. The imitation pork cutlet was not oily and with exception of the small pieces of carrot, didn't taste that much different than pork although it was a bit drier. It didn't really need any tonkatsu sauce as it was fine by itself, and even if it wasn't, the sauce dispenser seemed to be quite stubborn, not yielding any more than a thin ribbon of sauce despite my efforts.

Kohrinbo is open every day except Sunday 11:30am-3pm and 5-8pm. You can get there by taking either the Tokyo Metro Tozai Line (light blue) or JR Chuo/Sobu to Nakano Station and taking the North Exit. Walk across the street to Nakano Sun Plaza until you get to Nakano Broadway, turn right and take the stairs to the second floor (the escalator goes straight to the third floor), turn right at Madarake and Kohrinbo is at the end of the hallway.

Anyway, this was my first attempt at writing a food blog entry. I hope it gets better as I keep doing it. I will either edit this entry or add another when I go back to Kohrinbo and try something else.

Kohrinbo

Nakano 5-52-15, Nakano Broadway 2F. Open 11:30am-3:30, 5-8pm. Closed Sundays.  03-3385-7005

中野　5-52-15、中野ブロードウェイ　2F　11時30分ー15時30分, 17時-20時、休業日曜日

Food Photography Leads to Food Blogging? 2013.07.30

 Anyone who follows me on Instagram (@sneakermania) knows that I take a lot of pictures of food and after receiving several "where is that?" comments, I have decided that maybe now is the time to move beyond simply taking pictures. Another reason for this is because, in the aftermath of my Master's thesis, I have decided that I should be writing more and more often, since writing is not something that someone is simply good at, that can be brought out and used as needed.

 As they say, "if you don't use it, you lose it", and I feel this is particularly true as communication online has become increasingly truncated due to micro-blogs and other social media platform usage. For a while, I was more on the side of thinking that having communication limited to 140 characters or a simple picture/video/link with a caption was a good thing because it freed people from from having to make such a big deal of what they post online, unlike a blog. I even thought of blogs as a sort of relic of Web 1.0, but perhaps I was just trying to ignore the degradation of my own writing skills?

 Anyways, it's been a while since I updated this blog and it's been even longer since I can remember having to write on a regular basis. I don't expect to have any brilliant writing in the beginning (or ever?) but at the very least, I have pictures that need words to go with them, and it would probably help to have more than a geotag or caption for future reference. There may eventually be a benefit to people who bother to read this blog, but for now the motivation is purely selfish. Sorry.

2010.07.23 Tenjin Matsuri Gal Mikoshi

The last time I was at Tenjinbashi there were posters everywhere advertising a Gal Mikoshi, so I figured the least I could do was check it out. Not realizing that this was only part of the gigantic annual Tenjin Matsuri that had been going on for hundreds of years in Osaka.

It's somewhere on this line, I think.


In America, Subway is advertised as a healthy fast food place. In Japan, they have ice cream floats at Subway.

Back to Chigusa for a Chigusa-yaki! I started cutting it before I took the picture. Doh!


According to the owner at Chigusa, the Mikoshi was going to be starting around 3 or so so I went down by the KFC where people already started gathering and setting up. I was thinking about blurring out the Colonel since he's in 99.9% of the pics to follow but for that same reason, I didn't do it. Too much trouble for nothing.






I wish I had the ability to have video-ed this since still photos don't really capture the energy of this event. It was at least 15-20 minutes straight of the girls rocking the 3 mikoshi back and forth and chanting "Wasshoi! Wasshoi!" There were people with giant fans, but in that heat it was only moving around hot air.







The girls finally put the mikoshi down on some stands and the closing ceremony began.


This picture reminds me of 20 Century Boys since they're doing the "Tomodachi sign".

Confetti

Then they started tossing people in the air.

The girl went really high!


Anyway, that was pretty much the highlight of the day.  I don't remember if I did anything else after since I'm only finishing this post almost 2 years after it happened! OTL

2010.08.02 Shiodome, Narita

Made plans to meet up with my Lea, my sister, on the day I was leaving. Since she was working that day, we had to go meet up near her workplace in Shiodome around lunch time. After checking out of the hotel at 10, I wanted to go try check out a few places before then.

Saw some guys pushing a shrine into a shop. I wonder if they were getting ready for a mikoshi or just getting over one.


Was riding the Keihin-Tohoku to try and check out Yokohama when I got a text, so I got off and switched to the train going in the opposite direction to get to Shiodome.

Don't know the significance, but there was a train in a little park-type area that can be seen from the platform.


After some misunderstanding, we were able to meet up and hit up the buffet @ Restaurant Harmony in the Royal Park Shiodome Tower. If you have the chance and a big appetite, you should definitely go!

My sister is too quick to be caught off guard by a camera.


Foie gras omelette!


Curry!


Talt!




The goma dessert was good but the portion was too much and it looked creepy.

No problems with the citrus sherbet though.

After the biggest lunch I remember having in a while, Lea had to go back to work but, after hearing about my neck issues due to the bad pillow at the hotel, she offered me her monthly massage voucher @ Temomin. The massage wasn't as hard as the place I usually go to in Honolulu, but the service was nice and relaxing.


It was suggested that I could go check out Ginza, but with the insane amount of sweat I was in danger of generating due to the heat, I took a break in a Starbucks before I decided to head back to the hotel and grab my luggage.

On the way back to the station, I checked out a bunch of the displays and events going on outside.

Miyazaki-esque wooden thing.


Shiny rock sculpture.

Yamazaki Ryo's artwork.


Shiodome Expo 2010



The guy with the hat had a really high voice.


The two girls might be Cherry Pie, a comedy duo.


There was some exhibit for one of my favorite shows, DERO!


I guess I had not been able to fully explain the extent of my JR Pass privileges to Junko since her latest plan was to ride the JR from Ueno to Narita Airport (even though it would have been faster for me to catch the Narita Express from Tokyo Station and for her to catch the Keisei from Ikebukuro.

So the plan was to ride the Joban Line from Ueno, even though it stopped at Narita Station (not Narita Airport) and transfer to the Yokosuka Line Sobu Line. The Joban may have been designated as a Rapid Train, but I could have been fooled by the amount of times it stopped. At one point, the train stopped for almost 10 minutes at one of the stations. I'm guessing this was because there was only one track and a train was coming in the opposite direction. Train was super crowded so until people started clearing out, my feet were smashed by my bag which I tried to pull in as close as possible.

Anyways, we eventually got to Narita Station and it becomes rather apparent that Junko has probably never been here before and/or didn't know how to get to the airport from here. As we're waiting for the next Yokosuka Line Sobu Line train to get us to the airport, I am finally able to explain fully that the JR Pass I bought allowed me to ride the Narita Express, so we didn't have to take the cheaper, slower trains.

Junko's "I had no idea, sorry. Nothing I can do but read Conan until the next train comes" expression.


After transferring at Narita Station, we finally made it to the Airport, almost 3 hours after we left Ueno Station! Well maybe we'll have something to laugh about years later?

Narita's JAL terminal was super empty around this time.


Last meal in Japan was ironically super American.


Was a fun trip, but it will be quite a while before I try and come back to Japan during the summer.

2010.08.01 Shibuya, Harajuku, Asakusa, Akihabara

This post is still under construction but I figured I wanted to try get everything somewhat published before August was over. Sorry.

Had plans to meet Shoko at Asakusa @ 3pm. Woke up kind of early for a change so I decided to go to Shibuya and Harajuku since I hadn't been there yet this time. Big mistake because it was a Sunday.

Obligatory 109 shots.


Obligatory Hachiko Statue shot.


Went to Arktz (skate/bike shop) and had them dig up a copy of Underground Broadcasting for me. Also bought a fitted hat I could have probably bought in Hawaii for less, but at the time I felt like I needed it.

Walked over to Harajuku.

Crazy looking Audi building.

Teddy's Bigger Burger!

Condomania!

Obligatory Takeshita Dori shot.

Some (possibly African) guy tried to get me to check out his streetwear store while I was walking through Takeshita Dori. Even if I was that "urban" no way I could try anything on in this heat covered in sweat.

There were no cosplayers at the bridge by Yoyogi Park, except for this guy. I was disappoint, again.


I still haven't gone to this shrine. Maybe next time when I'm not melting.


At least the rockabilly people were there.



And the "And 1" guys.

Maybe these were cosplayers?

Crossed over the bridge near NHK & checked out the swap meet.

Cool Disney Store!

Made the mistake of catching the Yamanote-sen back from Shibuya to Ueno before transferring to the subway so I could get to Asakusa and so I was late. Sorry.

Drive faster!

Tokyo Sky Tree: only half done. Better come back when it's done. The view from the top will probably be amazing (or sickening) if Tokyo Tower was any indication of things to come.


Anyway, off to Asakusa! Too many people (especially tourists!)!











After Asakusa, we went to Akihabara. It was super crowded and most stores had no photo policies, so I didn't end up taking too many pictures. Plus the maids were good at hiding when I tried to take pics from far away.

The otaku were swarming in the Don Quixote AKB48 store but it wasn't as bad as the one in Machida.

Went to Saizeriya and had a bite to eat.

Was considering meeting Kurara and her friends to see the fireworks in Yokohama, but after making the bad decision to check out some of the most crowded spots in Tokyo (Shibuya, Harajuku, Asakua and Akihabara) in one day, I was dead tired (and a little bit irritated) so I retreated to the hotel for a shower and some rest.

Around 9pm I decided to go looking for someplace to go eat near the hotel.

Nakamachi Dori: those girls in the shiny dresses should have been a sign as to what kind of establishments I would find if I kept walking.

As I kept walking, some guy came up and started talking to me but I don't think he was trying to be helpful. Seemed all the intersections had a bunch of guys standing around so I turned the corner and went back to the main street as calmly and as quickly as I could.

Went into a store near the station that I saw a few days earlier and got a curry rice soba set for 500 yen. So good!