Three years of waiting have come to an end, and now I can finally say that I currently live in Tokyo.
My sister had joined me on these first two weeks and we treated this time as if it was a vacation spent in Tokyo, minus the few moments when I moved into my apartment and the day or two I spent registering my address and setting up my Japanese cell phone plan. To my surprise, everything went smoothly and my adjustment to moving here was easier than I had anticipated.
Every morning we started our day off by choosing a coffee shop to visit and having that as our direction on where to spend our day. Our first two nights were spent in a small hotel near Shibuya. Being incredibly jetlagged and awake by 04:00 we got up and roamed around Shibuya and made our way to Fuglen in Tomigaya as it was one of the earliest opening coffee shops and what was on the way to Meiji Jingu.
Once caffeinated and feeling somewhat alive after a 20-hour travel day, we walked a long loop through Yoyogi park and up into Shinjuku in the morning to see what has changed in the past three years before making our way back south and to Onibus in Nakameguro.
I received such a warm welcome over the past two weeks from friends who I have not seen since my last time here in Tokyo, as well as meeting so many kind and sweet new friends. It has been an incredible start to my time here living here in Japan and I appreciate the kindness shared with me so much. To my friends at Onibus thank you so much for the warmest of welcomes back after so many years. Yamada-san thank you so much for sharing with the rest of the staff that I had returned to Japan. When stopping by other Onibus and About Life Coffee Brewers locations and being welcomed was an incredible surprise and it brought me so much happiness. A big thank you to Kimura-san for purchasing a copy of my book when I brought it with me to Yakumo. I appreciate your kindness and support so much and I am so happy to have met you on my first trip to Japan!
Waking up again close to Shibuya we made the most out of that proximity and chose to visit both About Life Coffee Brewers locations. Starting off at About Life - All Day Place before making our way to About Life - Dogenzaka on the way back to check out of our hotel.
Caffeinated to the max and still incredibly jetlagged, we set off to my apartment in Setagaya to move my belongings in. After that first night in the apartment, I knew I had made the right choice of location in Tokyo to reside. I remember falling in love with this neighbourhood on my last trip to Japan. I immediately knew that if I were to return to live in Tokyo for any duration of time then Setagaya would be the neighbourhood I wanted to live in.
Waking up early and walking around at sunrise is one of my favourite things to do and I am so excited for the flowers and bloom in the upcoming weeks!
While my sister had a hostel in Shinjuku I got into a routine of waking up early and going on walks with my camera and getting morning coffee at different shops in my new neighbourhood, with one of the coffee shops being Sniite. I can thank my friends from Onibus again because I first heard of Sniite from seeing their Instagram story posts. I am so fortunate to be surrounded by so many nice coffee shops and cafes. I am already comfortable living in this neighbourhood after such a short amount of time. I can even make my way down to Jiyugaoka or Okusawa and visit the other Onibus coffee shops just a bit farther away. Everything is within walking distance and it makes planning my days enjoyable choosing a route to walk to get coffee while trying to find moments to capture photos of.
Alas, the first mistake of my time here was made during our day trip to Kamakura. Forgetting to pack my phone charger in my backpack was unfortunate. I had planned to record a short video of the day spent around Kamakura and by the time we made it to Kencho-ji I realized I was without my charger and with only 30% of battery left on my phone. I have recently found out how fast Google Maps can drain your battery on your phone even when only in the background. Fortunately, I have far more videos than photos from that day and I will attempt to edit a short video of our day trip there in the future!
Even with the misfortune of not having the ability to document more of our time in Kamakura, it was a wonderful day spent walking around the city. With the opportunity of seeing Fuji-san after hiking up a mountain trail, some early sakura, stumbling across the cutest vegan restaurant run by an older couple where we dined alone and had a vegetable course and vegan curry, and finishing the day off by visiting the Daibutsu Buddha at Kōtoku-in. In the end, I would still say it was a successful day spent in Kamakura.
On Saturday we spent roaming around vintage clothing shops in Shimokitazawa where I came across an Intact insurance sweater and could not contain my laughter. It was the first thing I touched when entering that shop, and it was far too funny to see the company I am insured with had their sweater in a ‘vintage’ shop in Shimokitazawa. Universal Bakes Nicome has the best vegan curry pan I have ever had and after five days without pizza, I cured my craving at The Pizza Shimokitazawa with a giant NY-style slice.
The next morning we ventured over to Kanda to Glitch Coffee & Roasters and both tried a pairing of two different coffees. It was nice to be able to contrast the cups of coffee to appreciate the differences in each cup. Afterward, we ventured up to Ueno park to get udon and tempura for lunch at Nezu Kamachiku, which happens to be one of the most beautiful restaurants I have dined at. Zaru-udon and vegetable tempura is one of my favourite meals, and I missed out on having dinner at Kamachiku during my first trip to Tokyo so this redemption was much appreciated and enjoyed!
Making our way back to Setagaya I wanted to stop off at Carrot Tower to attempt to see what is known as ‘Diamond Fuji’ where the sunset aligns with the peak of Fuji-san. Unfortunately, on the two nights where it would be possible to see it from Tokyo, the clouds concealed the view of what would have been an incredible view.
The morning of snow in Tokyo started off light and I expected I had enough time to get coffee and ease into the day with the hope that it would continue snowing into the evening and I could focus on photography in the afternoon. By the time I stopped for coffee, the snow was at its peak, and when I left Onibus and was on my way to Shinjuku the snow had turned to rain. It was sad to know I missed out on an afternoon of snow in Tokyo but I am happy to have experienced a bit of it. But realistically I think as a Canadian I have experienced enough snow in my lifetime to not be too upset.
My close friend Sabin who owns and manages One For All Coffee recommended we visit Tokyo Saryo, Koffee Mameya - Kakeru, and Leaves Coffee Roasters. Anytime Sabin gives me a recommendation I know it will be an incredible experience.
Tokyo Saryo is a green tea shop with a variety of teas you can try and compare the flavors between them. My sister had chosen two other teas to try and I chose the Saeakari tea as I was interested in trying the sweetest green tea in their selection. Tasting the difference between all the teas, then having the second pouring, as well as the third pour as a genmaicha, it was easily the best tea I have ever tasted in three different processes. Not pictured was the complimentary iced green tea and paired dessert to go with the tea. It was such an incredible experience I will recommend it to anyone who has an interest in trying green tea. With their shop only open on Saturdays it will have to be a special treat to stop by whenever I have a free Saturday afternoon!
Koffee Mameya Kakeru is a coffee shop located on the east side of Tokyo in Koto City. This location focuses on tasting courses alongside their normal selection of beans from different roasters across the world that are in order from lightest to darkest roast. We chose the upgraded tasting course of seven different drinks through several different brewing methods with the same coffee. Our coffee for the upgraded course was a Guatemalan Auga Tibia Geisha roasted by Momos in South Korea. After trying the first two parts of the tasting course I put my phone away and spent the rest of the time enjoying the experience. If you like coffee and want to experience coffee in more than one way then I highly recommend visiting Koffee Mameya Kakeru or the other location in Omotesando where you can try individual coffees as a pour-over.
After becoming slightly overly caffeinated we did not stop there but continued north towards the Sumida river to stop by Sabin’s third recommendation, Leaves Coffee Roasters. Sabin featured Leaves Coffee Roasters when he first opened up his coffee shop One For All and since then they have been on my list of coffee shops to visit in Tokyo. A beautiful space for both roasting and welcoming customers to enjoy coffee, Leaves Coffee Roasters has a variety of ways to experience and enjoy coffee as well. With pour-overs or an espresso temperature change tasting experiment where you can taste a coffee throughout its cooling process to be able to taste the difference in a shot of espresso. I wish I could have handled more coffee at the time, but it will be a place to return to soon in the future!
This ends the first blog post and unfortunately also my sister’s time here with me in Tokyo. We found a way to essentially cram what you could do in Tokyo in a month-long trip into two weeks time. There are a lot of moments I didn’t include or document like the rainy day we went thrift shopping in Koenji, or the evening when we walked from Yutenji to Futakotamagawa. Sometimes moments are enjoyed more and experienced together and I am forever thankful that my sister joined me for my first two weeks of moving to Japan. This is the first time we have ever traveled together since we were children, so it was wonderful to get to share this experience and enjoy the time spent together in a place we both love dearly.
After parting ways at Shinjuku station I watched the NEX train pull off from the station and out of sight. I made my way back through Yoyogi and through the neighborhood where we both started the trip here walking around, which also happened to be where I first stayed in Tokyo during my first time coming to Japan.
Things happen to come full circle at times. I looked forward to returning to Japan for so many years, and now I am already looking forward to whenever my sister can visit Japan again.
