Saturday, December 7, 2019
GINZA
It rained a little this morning. Not a heavy downpour, just light pelts of rain that still brought an extra chill to the already-cold winter air. But I was so excited because we were finally meeting up with my college friend Shun who had just relocated to Tokyo a few years ago, and he was so kind to let us stay over at us his apartment over in Minato, which was just a 10-minute walk away from the Shirokane-Takawa station on the Mito Line.
His building was located in a quiet residential part of the city, away from the noisy traffic and crowds but still convenient enough to commute around Tokyo. It was perfect. Emmanuel and I hadn’t seen Shun in exactly a year since he came to Malaysia for our wedding weekend, which was super sweet of him to travel all the way just to celebrate our big day with us. 😍
He took us to Ginza for lunch at a tasty shabu-shabu (steamboat) restaurant called Shabusen, parked on the 2nd floor of a shopping mall. The food was delicious, with fresh meat and vegetables for you to dip in the steaming broth of your choice.
After lunch, we visited the Ginza Six Rooftop Garden, an urban park constructed on top of a trendy mall (Ginza Six), offering a 360 degree aerial view of Ginza itself, the streets below brimming with luxurious fashion stores such as Fendi, Celine and more. I’m always a fan of pretty parks, as long as there are nice trees and flowers and the sense of tranquility – which this one definitely had, despite being a tourist attraction. It wasn’t crowded and we were able to spend nearly 20 minutes strolling around, but the temperature was really cold up there, so we left after taking some photos.
Next stop was Tsutaya Ginza Book Store, also in the same mall as the rooftop garden. Tsutaya (pronounced ‘Sta-ya’, not ‘Su-ta-ya’ as I so embarrassingly butchered it) is Japan’s largest bookstore chain, with more than 1,400 outlets across the world. The one in Ginza Six was one of its newest installments at the time, a cozy hotspot where art and stories intersect on the 6th floor with an adjoining Starbucks. Both the bookstore and Starbucks were equally populated with people.
I wandered around the shelves for a while, taking in the generous selection of magazines, books and art pieces on sale. I soon learned that the bookstore’s interior was segregated into several spaces that shared the common concept: living with art.
We walked the famous shopping street flanked by international couture brands. Ginza reminded me so much of New York’s 5th Avenue – home to opulent fashion houses like Tiffany & Co., Chanel, Dior, etc. The store fronts were glossy and pristine, and the entire street was an iconic symbol of wealth and prestige. Ginza was an almost identical replica of 5th Avenue. At night, the shops shone even more under the influence of bright lights and flashy signs.
As night approached, we entered the Tokyo International Forum to snap some architectural shots of the exhibition centre’s vast, stunning interior. It made me think of a huge ship.
We also stopped by Tokyo Station to snap more interior shots.
During dinner, Shun taught us the Japanese way of eating sushi. He’s of Japanese descent, so even if he was inwardly appalled at the way I ate my sushi, he was kind enough not to show his horror. Up until that night, I’d been eating sushi all wrong. Lol. I’d normally dip (or plunge) the whole thing in soy sauce, so that the bottom of the sushi would be drenched in it.
He said the right way to eat sushi is to dip just a tiny portion of the meat or topping (not the rice) into the sauce. The act was so delicate and clean, which allows you to savor the real flavors without it being marred by the saltiness of soy sauce. That night, we learned how to eat our sushi right!
SHIBUYA
After dinner, we popped into Shibuya to attend a whiskey event that Shun’s friend was working at. That’s how I met Ray. Her company was launching a new line of whiskey, and the event was held at the trendy little bar of Trunk Hotel, just on the cusp of Shibuya and Harajuku.
As we walked away from Shibuya Station and started heading toward the hotel, the loudness of Shibuya Crossing began to fade into the background. We hugged our coats tighter around ourselves against the cold, the echoes of our footsteps even more audible in the absence of traffic and city buzz.
Trunk Hotel was a contemporary blend of steel, glass and concrete in the calm neighborhood of Jingumae, just a few minutes away from the commercial hustle and bustle of Shibuya City. A new Chivas flavor was hitting the shelves soon, and there were award-winning bartenders serving up bespoke Chivas cocktails to a room full of people when we arrived.
It’s a shame I can’t recall the names or ingredients of the cocktails we had that night (should’ve written it down), but they were really, really good – even for a Whiskey amateur like myself. I don’t usually order Whiskey-infused cocktails, but these were spectacular! You could taste the deep, smokey notes of Whiskey subtly hidden beneath layers of sweet and salty flavors.
We chose a snug spot outside on the deck, beneath the string of golden bulbs hanging overheard like stars against the night sky, where we toasted to the deepening of old friendships and the cultivation of new ones, the frosty air disappearing in the warmth of laughter and more whiskey cocktails.