InterContinental Mark Hopkins Hotel, San Francisco

While visiting SF for a few days, hubby and I stayed at the InterContinental Mark Hopkins, simply because hubby's company put him there. 

Only in Japan... Part V

I've caught up with my Japan food photos but there are still several Japan-related posts lining up in draft form, like this one in the Only in Japan series for example. I didn't do a post in this series throughout our time in Tokyo but it's better late than never.

Spotted this cool-dude-who-gives-zero-f*ck outside the Marunouchi Cafe Kai on the ground floor of the Kitte Building, across the street from Tokyo Station. Let's just say when you were minding your own business and then looked out the door to see guy sporting samurai hair, outfit, and hiking shoes, you just couldn't help but sneak a photo or two. I do wonder if there were a theater or film studio of some sorts nearby. Then again, he didn't look like he had any stage or film makeup on.

Tokyo Eats - Roppongi area Part VII

The last of the Roppongi food posts :(

Hubby and colleagues were super excited when Blue Bottle Coffee opened yet another branch in Roppongi (they're up to 6 branches in Tokyo now!), in the spanking new Tri-Seven Building across the street from Midtown. It made their daily coffee run much easier than, say, Omotesando (will post soon!). Hubby loved going there, and he loved to drag me along. I was more, umm, indifferent. Sure, I like coffee, but more so the flavor than the actual beverage, which can sometimes be too strong and bitter for my unsophisticated taste buds.

Tokyo Eats - Shinjuku area

Throughout our time in Tokyo, the majority of our visits to Shinjuku was to eat sukiyaki tabehodai (all you can eat hotpot) at Nabezo with a host of friends and visiting family. The remaining of the time was me exploring the Shinjuku Isetan and a few other shopping destinations, me meeting up for lunch and coffee with my old friend K., and our afternoon tea club hanging out at the Peak Lounge or the New York Bar of the Park Hyatt Shinjuku ^.^ So suffice to say we did a great injustice to the enormous and super dense Shinjuku and didn't explore it as much as we could and should have.

ALoft Hotel Taipei Zhongshan

Last September, having just one month left in Tokyo hubby and I decided to take a quick trip to Taipei just to visit our favorite eats. J. joined us and helped book our camp site: ALoft Hotel Taipei Zhongshan. It was centrally located and convenient, being just one block away from the MRT Zhongshan Elementary School Station (中山國小站).

Tokyo Eats - In the neighborhood Part V

The last of the neighborhood food photos, though not the last of the Tokyo Eats series as I'm still sorting through my photos.

Check out this beauty I spotted in a tunnel in my old neighborhood. The left wing tip had a small tear :(

Kinkatsu right outside of Kamiyacho Station serves up tantan men (aka dandan noodles) and other, erhhh, Japan-ized Taiwanese noodle soups. We walk by this place all the time but it was always crowded so we never went in. Then one night when we were bored with everything else and the place seemed vacant enough, we tried their tantan men. Really good, but holy hell it was salty. I thought I already eat too much salt (and I do!) but these noodles tasted like a block of salt! We never went back.

Seikoro Ryokan, Kyoto, Kyoto, Part III

This last installment of Seikoro Ryokan is just for all the food ^.^ Two complete kaiseki meals and breakfasts are featured, because we'd spent two nights there. All the meals were served in-room.

After the kimono trying and photographing session, we were all starving and looking forward to dinner. This was when we got ourselves another cultural lesson, and one that's perhaps a bit more jarring than learning about the junihitoe. Earlier in the later afternoon, hubby and I'd arrived to Seikoro before C. and A. did. The table was still empty then, so we just sat down wherever we saw fit. I was in hubby's seat, and he was in mine. Apparently that was a no-no, and to be honest, we knew but didn't think they'd make a big deal out of it. Well, we were wrong.

Seikoro Ryokan, Kyoto, Kyoto, Part II

With just one hour before dinner was served, two Seikoro Ryokan staff ushered me, hubby, C., and A. upstairs for the kimono trying and photographing session. I'd no idea we'd get to try on the Karaginu Mo aka junihitoe, the twelve-layer robes the court ladies once wore. Wow!

Seikoro Ryokan, Kyoto, Kyoto

One week after our overnight stay at Katsuragi no Sato and subsequent afternoon at Matsumoto Castle, hubby and I met up C. and A. again at Seikoro Ryokan in Kyoto City, Kyoto.

Two months prior, we had combed through out little book on onsen ryokans, hoping to find one in Kyoto on the same quality level as Iwanoyu and Katsuragi no Sato. The book had served us so well and we'd loved the two places we found. Crazy enough, of all the hundreds of ryokans in Kyoto, none made the cut in the book, probably because their onsens weren't natural hot spring water, an important criteria. Ack, what to do?!

The small side street where Seikoro is situated. Some of the houses there were really traditional and old-looking.

Afternoon Tea at The Lounge, Aman Tokyo, Part II

Back in July, our Tokyo afternoon tea club was taken breathless with the space and the atmosphere at The Lounge on the 33rd floor of the Aman Hotel Tokyo. So despite the chocolate overload in the afternoon tea service, we voted to come back for a second time in mid September for a last hoorah, just one more tea session before we all part ways and return home after a year in the capital of Japan. We figured it's been two months and their menu has probably changed, so it won't be the same death by chocolate as with the July session.

Katsuragi no Sato, Takayama, Gifu, Part III

Last installment of Katsuragi no Sato in Takayama, Gifu.

After the lovely breakfast, we had a little bit of time to visit each other's room before checking out. Here's C. and A.'s room. They were trying to take a photo of me and hubby but kept making us laugh our heads off ^.^

Tokyo Eats - Roppongi area Part VI

My god, how many food photos did I take?!? I finally made it to the first week of August in the photo backlog, and it filled up yet another Tokyo Eats - Roppongi area post! I guess it was because hubby worked there, and so I went there everyday to meet with him for lunch. That was how I ended up with lots and lots of photos of mostly food ^.^"

Katsuragi no Sato, Takayama, Gifu, Part II

It was dinner time at Katsuragi no Sato, and C. and A. weren't there. So I went out and stood in the hallway to wait, and took a few photos while at it. I had permission from the grill-chef here to take a photo of him leaning over the floor hearth to grill onigiris for the dining guests. (Side note: if you're traveling in Japan and want to snap a picture of a local, it's best to ask for permission first or risk getting frowned at or even scolded, depends on the person. I was told it's super offensive to take pictures of strangers without their consent.)

Katsuragi no Sato, Takayama, Gifu

After the weekend in Kamakura, hubby and I met up with C. and A. at Tokyo Station where the four of us took the shinkansen to Gifu for a stay at an onsen ryokan in Takayama. Neither of them had been an onsen before, and as expected both were extremely shy about the inevitable nudity. So a couple of months prior to their arrival, we did some research for a top notch onsen ryokan with private in-room baths, which makes even more sense in this particular case given it was C. and A.'s honeymoon.

From the same book where we learned of Iwanoyu at Seni Onsen, we found Katsuragi no Sato, which was a good 1 hour and 20 minutes scenic bus ride way up in the mountain. Look at this view. Wow.

Too bad I then proceeded to fall asleep. I vowed to stay awake on the way down, and I was able to catch some good photos, but most of the awesome views turned out to be on the other side of the road on the way up =.="

Anyway, the ryokan was nice and large but nowhere near the size of Iwanoyu. They only have ten rooms, and of those ten rooms only two come with a private open-air bath in the room's backyard. Luckily for us, we called far enough ahead that those two rooms were still available. Of course we snatched up both, one for ourselves and the other for C. and A. Still, we had no idea who got which room, how much each room, or even how big. I guess that's just how Japan works, heavily fueled by and dependent on trust. 

The ryokan's brochure that I kept.

Afternoon Tea at The Lobby, The Peninsula Hotel Tokyo

In August, our afternoon tea club was reduced to just three, me, hubby, and J., as the rest was on vacation along with half of Japan ^.^ Our choices of venue were drastically reduced also, because even though I was calling 2-3 weeks in advance, every other location was already booked through the whole month--so keep in mind to plan far, far ahead if you're ever going to visit Japan in August.

Luckily, we have a long list of places to try, and to our luck we got into one of them: The Lobby on the ground floor of the Peninsula Hotel Tokyo. Before you ooh and aah though, I just want to point out that it's the afternoon tea service at the Peninsula Hongkong that's among the legends. Whereas the afternoon tea service at the Peninsula Tokyo is known for being more "traditional," which can mean boring depends on who you ask. Either way, it was August and we took what we could get.

Check out this interesting staircase with a mini zen rock garden at the bottom.

Afternoon Tea at The Lounge, Aman Tokyo

Happy New Year!

Meanwhile, I'm still catching up with photos. For July, our afternoon tea club tried the tea service at The Lounge on the 33rd floor of the Aman Hotel Tokyo, in Otemachi, north of Tokyo Station and west of Nihonbashi.

I have to say, the building may seem unremarkable from the outside, but inside it was rather breathtaking in terms of design and decor. Our group of six were mesmerized the moment we stepped inside The Lounge and I have a boat load of photos to prove it ^.^ The whole place is vast and airy and well-lit. In super dense Tokyo, there's nothing more luxurious than space itself. Just look at that ceiling!

Iwanoyu at Seni Onsen, Suzaka, Nagano, Part IV

Last of the Iwanoyu at Seni Onsen saga. Phew. Breakfast was served from 7:30-9am, and checkout time was 12pm. We expected another gigantic meal and opted for 9am, as late as possible being still full from dinner the night before.

We both breathed a collective relief when we saw our breakfast, thinking, wow, okay, we can definitely do this!

Iwanoyu at Seni Onsen, Suzaka, Nagano, Part III

Just as we left Iwanoyu at Seni Onsen's private bath 5, it was time for dinner. Dinner was served anytime between 6-7:30, but it'd be a long course dinner that would leave us stuffed to our ears. So we showed up at 6, just so we could take our time and can still visit the baths afterwards.

Iwanoyu at Seni Onsen, Suzaka, Nagano, Part II

More on Iwanoyu at Seni Onsen, or more specifically, their 5 private baths. Not wanting to lose daylight, hubby and I did a walk-through and took pictures, with plans to come back later and take our time to soak and relax.

Apparently everyone else had the same idea (ha!), so we ended up hanging out and chilling while waiting for the private baths to open up. I suppose this is the reason the ryokan has so many resting spots and small libraries.

Iwanoyu at Seni Onsen, Suzaka, Nagano

Hubby and I dated for years before we got engaged. When we did, we spent our engagement on opposite sides of the planet. He was finishing up his master's, and I was a lost JET in the Japanese inaka. We signed our marriage certificate on his graduation day, had a backyard bbq with just our immediate families, and called it a day. No wedding. No honeymoon. No regrets. We've been traveling together everywhere since.


This past May was our 10 years wedding anniversary, and we finally decided we would do something special. We both love onsens and ryokans, and so hubby bought a book detailing 60 of the best onsen ryokans all over Japan. Now let's be clear: there are hundreds, if not thousands of onsen ryokans all over Japan. These 60 onsen ryokans are special because their baths are of natural sulfur hot spring water, and of course because of excellent service, food, and facility. 

We knew we didn't want to go too far out to Hokkaido or Kyushu. After having picked out a dozen contenders in the nearby Yamanashi, Nagano, etc., we went with Iwanoyu (岩の湯) at Seni Onsen (仙仁温泉, not sure if this is an area or town name), in the city of Suzaka, Nagano.

We liked the photos we saw in the book. We liked that the ryokan has 5 private baths at no extra charge (if it's open, you go in, lock the door, and it's yours for however long you want!), in addition to the usual separated men and women baths, each with indoor and outdoor pools. The extra icing is a famous large "cave bath" for adventurers who like to explore. We liked that the kaiseki meal was described as one of the best around. It was really the food that sold me, surprise, surprise ^.^

Here's the wagashi and matcha we were served upon checking in.