It’s a long way to the top, if you wanna eat it all.
Day 5, Tokyo: Studio Ghibli Museum Mitaka, a brief stint in Kichijōji & Yakitori in Shinjuku
BACKGROUND: You may have watched it and not even known, but yes, Hayao Miyazaki is the man behind those awesome Studio Ghibli movies. Being a long time Anime and overall animation movie appreciators, my friend and I had bought some tickets to the Studio Ghibli museum well before we landed in Japan.
DESTINATION: Ghibli Museum, Mitaka, Tokyo. You can either walk 15–20 minutes from Mitaka station or take the ‘Totoro Cat Bus’ that takes you straight to the museum in 5 minutes. Now hopefully you haven’t peeked at the image below because I was strongly considering taking the ‘Totoro Cat Bus’ in the hopes we’d be hopping into something that looked as awesome as this.
But instead….it looked more like this:
So of course, we chose to walk. We weren’t in any rush as we got there with plenty of time to spare and the walk near all the foliage in the suburbs was quite nice. Highly recommended! (Especially if you’ve been gorging on food as much as we had!)
And unfortunately this is where I leave you. Strictly no photography or videography was allowed inside because let’s face it, all this stuff is pretty exclusive! However, we can tell you that inside the museum, you’ll get to see:
The systems which make old school, stop-motion animations come to life (absolutely incredible to see!)An exclusive Studio Ghibli animation short film (in a cool mini theatre!)Early sketches of movie concepts and characterisations in well propped/themed roomsA narrow but really cool and almost victorian windy staircase to get to the top floorA special exhibition from other animation studios (When we went, they were showcasing ‘The Nutcracker’-where you were actually able to try out some old school ‘nut cracker’ mechanisms on chestnuts!)An outdoor cafe (alcoholic beverages also available here)A rooftop garden for more picture taking opportunities….and a souvenir shop. Beware, things could get costly as you begin to see all the cute Totoro characters in various forms and sizes!
DESTINATION/MEAL: Inokashira Park…..which quickly turned into the discovery of Cafe Du Li’erve. Continuing to walk on and to discover more of the Mitaka/Kichio-ji area, we headed north east through Inokashira Park from the museum. Here, we found beautiful walking/cycling tracks through the trees as well as stumbling on a cute little cafe on the edge of where the park meets suburbia.
This place was what you’d consider a nice surprise hidden in an adventure. A cute one at that. The exterior of Cafe Du Li’erve appears like a white cottage in the middle of the woods whilst the inside dining area feels like you’re having a cup of tea on a friend’s porch- very cute!
They specialise in crepes and typical cafe, dainty beverages. My friend and I ordered the cinnamon chai milk tea and an ice cocoa alongside a maple syrup crepe. All I can say is, for a cute little, standalone cafe, the portion sizes were massive! I could hardly finish the cinnamon chai milk tea once we had finished off the unsuspectingly filling crepe.
Rating: 3.5/5. Such a convenient location and is also tucked inside the park- away from all the hustle and bustle of the urban traffic. Food and drink portions were generous too. What a delightful pit stop- recommended to recharge and chill after the museum! I almost felt guilty for not bringing a book with me to take advantage of the ‘homey’ cafe feeling.
DESTINATION: Kichijōji, Musashino, Tokyo. After having rested and refuelled, we were back off and walking through the rest of Inokashira Park.
Here, we saw a lovely little shrine as well as a picturesque pond which tourists were allowed to pedal-boat in. Once again, this bite-sized piece of tranquility was tucked away in the middle of a park! I’m extremely jealous of nearby residents as they have direct access to this at anytime of the day- whether it be for a walk, run or ride.
Upon exiting the park, you end up walking through a street that is filled with some really awesome market stalls and mini stores. These are stocked with locally made goods such as bags, clothes, artifacts etc, so be sure to check these out before rolling on through to Kichijōji station.
After spending too much time buying an abundance of awesome Japanese manga-style stickers for our friends back home, it was easy for us to navigate onto the main road (Inokashira Dori) running through Kichijōji. Cutting across this road and through a few other alleys and you eventually get to the station to get back east.
MEAL: Yakitori dinner at Toriyakidokoro Kurumaya in Shinjuku-Sanchome. Meat eaters, gather round! Tapas lovers, unite. You’re in for a grilled treat. Below street level, hidden from all the flashing lights of the various takeaway/all you-can-eat BBQ places is Toriyakidokoro Kurumaya. A Yakitori restaurant with a square-shaped dining area, where in the centre lie your Yakitori chefs!
You’ll come across the usual suspects such as beef, pork belly, chicken wings etc. and then you glance over the menu a little longer and spot some treasures as well as delicacies. Chicken gizzards and sausages served with raw egg yolk are just the beginning.
They had an Omakase kind of course available at ¥4,800pp (which we always love) which we chose to go for.
This consisted of:
Appetizer / radish / steamed chicken saladSashimi (2 TenSakari)Shamo lock four (green onion and inter-fillet-lever gizzards)Shamo lock minced meatball (with earth egg)chicken wings and radish Oden other 1-pointBaked rice ballShamo lock egg pudding
Almost everything tasted fantastic- the smokey charcoal flavour was well infused into the skewers as well as all the other pieces of meat. I’m no stranger to raw egg yolk in dishes, so when I saw that it was served with the sausage, I immediately got excited and did my best to dip the meat into the yolk at every opportunity. Yum.
However, there was one dish that couldn’t be finished. Not because we were full at that stage, but it was the flavour. For the life of me, I cannot even figure out what was in it, but the dish itself was shaped as a sphere sitting in a small bowl and drowned in a hot broth. This could have been the baked rice ball, but to be honest, I’m not too sure:
Despite the restaurant appearing as a business-y/just-less-than-fine-dining place to eat, they do allow patrons to smoke while dining. So please keep note of this if you’re an asthmatic or get easily irritated with smokers.
Rating: 3.5/5. A tasty experience of Yakitori in Japan. We hadn’t specifically researched top-rated Yakitori places, but this restaurant happens to have multiple chains located around the country. The tastes and flavours weren’t mind-blowing, but they were substantial and rich. By 3/4 of the way into the Omakase, my friend and I were ready to throw in the towel. By the way, if you do choose the Omakase menu, they won’t be serving all these dishes at once, the chefs look out into the dining area to see where you’re at to ensure your food is delivered to you in a timely manner.
Similar Posts by The Author:
- Seeing Tokyo along the Yamanote Line
- I just came back a week ago and your post was really useful! I checked a good amount of places and had some luck. In Tokyo I found Nikka Tak
- What is Gotochi Ramen??
- Japan. It’s about Temples, trains and Tokyo (and lot more, of course)
- 10 Greatest Souvenirs from Kamakura