This text is part of the special Pleasures notebook
Get lost in Tokyo, where every street, every alley or grand boulevard tells a story. In this legendary city, the new and the old coexist in perfect harmony. A whirlwind two-day visit to the metropolis, followed by a trip to the island of Okinawa, convinces us that these treasures of Japan are worth lingering over for a long stay — and that it is the dream Christmas gift for those who would like to treat their loved ones to a trip for the coming year. First text in a series of two.
The day begins with a visit to Toyosu Market, located on the Toyosu Landfill in Tokyo Bay. The huge market consists of three main blocks: two buildings for seafood and one for fruits and vegetables. All buildings are connected to each other and to Shijo-mae Station by walkways. Unfortunately, Toyosu Market is no longer open to the public as it was for a long time. Today, we observe the auction from the top of the second floor through small windows. We ignore the early hour and, with the help of jet lag, we stop at Daiwa to taste the fish from the market bought a few hours earlier by the chef. At 8:30 a.m., people are already lining up for a place at the counter in this exclusive and always very busy space. In this restaurant without a menu, we place one sushi at a time on our plate, colored with the perfect amount of soy sauce carefully applied with a brush.
We then head to the teamLab Planets TOKYO, a space that we describe as an exhibition, a multimedia installation and an immersive experience. With our entry ticket in hand, we are asked to remove our shoes since the visit is done barefoot (yes, barefoot). The first section is a course in several rooms where you walk in water, sometimes up to your knees. Plays of lights and mirrors, long corridors lit with discreet red beams, multisensory rooms where you lose track of time… the sensations are indeed multiple. Secondly, the garden space, with its abundant and dense suspended vegetation, envelops us in a slow vertical back and forth movement. Sitting on the ground or lying on the ground, as you blend into this colorful installation with its soft floral overtones, it is clear that humans have never before managed to create something so beautiful and complex. than a lotus flower.
From the start of the day on the outskirts of the Tokyo business center, we head towards the heart of Tokyo, to the Toranomon Hills station tower, which opened its doors on October 6. It is here that the artistic, interactive and co-creative center Tokyo Node was created. The venue, which features a huge windowed lobby with bar, gallery, restaurant and sky garden with infinity pool, isn’t quite finished yet, but it promises to become a A must-see for anyone visiting the city. It’s at 49e floor where the French restaurant Apothéose is located, run by starred chef Kitamura Keita. Alongside it, a second restaurant, the Kei Collection Paris, will open its doors next spring. From here, the whole city is revealed at a glance.
At the prestigious Chinzanso Tokyo hotel, we are invited to discover traditional and contemporary Japanese cuisine. In a private room of the Miyuki restaurant, dishes from the Ran tasting menu (one of the least expensive, at $132 per person) parade before us. Prepared with local ingredients, appetizers, soup, sashimi, stew, grilled dish, noodles and desserts highlight exceptional ingredients, including monkfish liver, grilled amberjack, Sansho berries, fresh shiitake mushrooms, chrysanthemum leaves or dried mallet eggs. Miyuki is also one of the rare places where you can taste fugu, or puffer fish. Toxic and potentially fatal if poorly prepared, this high-end fish is only cooked by a few licensed chefs.
The day ends in the Shibuya district, frequented by tourists, young people and a whole host of Japanese artists and creators. Very close to the Shibuya Crossing, the famous intersection where up to 2,500 pedestrians can cross at the same time during peak periods, the recent Shibuya Scramble Square tower marks the start of a major phase of revitalization of the sector. It is by winding between the numerous construction sites that we finally arrive at the entrance to this vast commercial space at the top of which sits the Shibuya Sky. From the exterior observation platform, we measure, over 360 degrees, the immensity and density of Japan’s political and cultural metropolis. Just below, at 46e floor, the SKY GALLERY also offers a panoramic view with its long interior corridor, both a space lounge with DJ, exhibition hall and interactive installations.
The next day, we visit the Sumida Hokusai Museum, dedicated to the ukiyo-e artist Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849). The man who produced some 30,000 works during his career marked the Edo period, at the end of which the city opened up to the world and was named Tokyo. To preserve the originals, kept in a secret location, exact reproductions of Hokusai’s works are exhibited in every respect, the most famous of which is certainly The Great Wave off Kanagawaa print printed on paper using woodcuts.
Time travel
Before taking the plane to reach the Okinawa archipelago, we have two stops left on our list: the Senso-ji temple, the oldest in Tokyo, whose origins date back to 628, and the Aoi-marushin restaurant, opened in 1946.
Every year, millions of worshipers pass through the main gate (Kaminarimon-Gate) of the majestic temple to reach the main hall, the Hozomon. Around us, there are many visitors from the younger generation who rent kimonos for the time of a cleverly staged photo.
Not far from the end of the Nakamise, a shopping street which stretches at the foot of the Sensi-ji temple, we sit at the Aoi-marushin restaurant to taste a tendon, a Japanese cuisine dish made of tempura placed on a bowl of rice and drizzled with tentsuyu, a hot broth combining dashi, mirin and soy sauce.
These 48 hours spent going back and forth on the time line showed us a Japan where the passage of the years has erased nothing of the age-old traditions.
The journalist was invited by the Okinawa Convention & Visitors Bureau (OCVB) and the Tokyo Convention & Visitors Bureau (TCVB).
Read next week: The nine lives of Okinawa
This content was produced by the Special Publications team at Duty, relating to marketing. The writing of the Duty did not take part.