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Guides for the Business Traveler
Tokyo (2010)
4 hours in Tokyo (2010)
Janet Forman turns up Tokyo’s treats, from custom-made kimonos and hand-pulled noodles, to eccentric concept stores and kiwi martinis
 | Old Tōkaidō Road — Traditional Tokyo In the shadow of Shinagawa Station, the bustling hub for Tokyo’s subway and light rail and Japan’s Shinkansen bullet train, is Old Tōkaidō Road, a millennium-old thoroughfare that began as the walking route between Tokyo and Kyōto. Here, street life hums along much as it has for generations: Old aunties plucking fresh greens from produce stands nod a friendly greeting to passersby, sidewalk soup vendors offer a hearty workingman’s lunch, and visitors are welcome at the dozens of temples and shrines that line the first two miles of road, such as the leafy 8th-century Ebara Jinja (2-30-28 Kitashinagawa).
While traditional stores still sell custom-made kimonos, hand-pulled noodles and delicate artisan crackers, these days, young merchants are peppering the street with vintage clothing shops and artisan studios that include Atelier Palette (www.atelier-palette.com), a curious enterprise that sells both handmade dolls and pet food. Fine art is also part of the local scene: Up a side street on the grounds of a private estate is one Tokyo’s most celebrated collections, the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art (4−7−25 Kitashinagawa, www.haramuseum.or.jp).
Subway and light rail stop: Shinagawa Station. |  | Naka-Meguro — Bohemian Tokyo Every doorway along this canal in southwest Tokyo opens onto an upstart boutique or a lively cafe. At .....Research General Store (1-14-11 #102 Aobadai, www.sett.co.jp), the collection of meticulously draped menswear includes fashion punctuation marks like a cashmere collar or a pair of down sleeves. Next door, Cow Books (1-14-11 #103 Aobadai, www.cowbooks.jp) specializes in 20th-century Americana, with first editions of Beat poetry and loosely related mid-century ephemera like college varsity letters.
Eccentric concept shops also flourish in this offbeat quarter: &STRIPE (1-25-3 Aobadai, www.and-stripe-easton.co.jp/pctop.html) is a store dedicated entirely to buttons, from sedate granny designs to wicked biker skulls, and Tarlum Garden (Aobadai 2-16-8, www.tarlum.com/garden) is a pet clothing boutique, where adoring owners can purchase items like a pink tutu with necklace attached, to be worn in doggie dance class, we presume. After their shopping spree, pets and their people can dine together in Tarlum’s café, which has a special menu for canines.
Closing days: Some shops close on Monday or Tuesday. Subway stop: Naka-Meguro. |  | Two Rooms Grill & Bar — Social Tokyo The buzziest social scene in town right now is on the fifth floor of the futuristic AO building in the Aoyama fashion district, where three charismatic entrepreneurs—bar manager Edward Baffoe, chef Matthew Crabbe and restaurant manager Nathan Smith—joined forces last March to invigorate Tokyo nightlife. International bankers and art scene luminaries are part of the crowd vying for seats at the dramatic bar hewn from New Zealand swamp kauri—timber hauled from 50,000-year-old peat bogs. An open-air terrace suspended over the shimmering metropolis has a view so compelling that diners venture out even on chilly winter nights.
But it takes more than good looks to stay the hottest nightspot in Tokyo: Two Rooms makes its name with imaginative bar snacks like teppan-grilled Sanriku scallops powdered with bacon dust, and cocktails based on distinctly Asian ingredients like minty shiso leaf, lemon-orange yuzu and the current hands-down favorite, a sea-green fresh kiwi martini perfumed with lychee.
Two Rooms Grill & Bar, 5F AO Building, 3-11-7 Kita-Aoyama; tel. 03-3498-0002; tworooms.jp. Open from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. Subway stop: Omotesando.
|  | Tsukiji Market — Mercantile Tokyo Put a positive spin on jet lag with a 4:30 a.m. visit to the Tsukiji market, where the dynamics of commerce are on frenetic, sometimes fragrant, display. At peak hours around dawn, the narrow slippery aisles are teeming with hand trucks, scooters and motorized wagons piled with glistening, still wriggling marine products. Financial stakes are high, as thousands of pounds of fish change hands, and merchants periodically lose patience with traffic-blocking strangers.
While outsiders have been banned before, the current solution is to limit spectators for the feverish 5 a.m. tuna auction to 140 per day, on a first-come, first-served basis. But there’s plenty to see beyond this main event. Visitors can enter selected areas after 9 a.m., where the trading continues until mid morning. If you’re in the market for something less than a hundred pounds of tuna, food stalls in the surrounding alleys sell market-style sushi, tempura and noodles, and shops hawk Japanese kitchen tools, chopsticks, teaware and china.
Admission to Tsukiji is free, but there are a few common-sense rules: Don’t wear sandals or high heels, don’t bring large bags, children or pets, no smoking, no flash photography during the tuna auction, and above all, refrain from touching the fish.
www.tsukiji-market.or.jp/tukiji_e.htm
Opening Hours: Early morning and all evening, closing from 1 to 4 p.m. Closing Days: Sundays and some Wednesdays. See calendar www.tsukiji-market.or.jp/etc/calendar/2010.html
Line up for admission at the registration desk, where you should find an English brochure. Subway stop: Tsukijishijo on the Oedo Line. |
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