Favourite 2019 travel photos. Tokyo, Japan. October 2019.
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A week of wandering
While my time in Tokyo was cut short by an approaching typhoon and the need to get to Osaka to hunker down, it still left me just about a week in what is now a newly favourite city. Tokyo amazed me, and it is unlike any large city I have previously visited. It has so much energy, but none of the chaos of other world-class cities. It was everything I love about cities with virtually none of the frustrations that come along with cramming so many people in such a small space. In a word, Tokyo was my kind of perfect. The week there gave me a chance to do some big things I had planned – a playoff baseball game, an amazing sushi experience…. but also the time to see a number of interesting sights as I wandered aimlessly on many days.
On my first morning, shaking off a case of jetlag the likes of which I had never experienced before, I explored Shinjuku Gardens. A grey morning for most of my visit would turn into a torrential downpour as I was leaving the park, but it was the perfect tonic to get my feet under myself in Japan.
A taste of Japanese craft beer
On my first Sunday in Japan, I felt a bit adrift. Fall Sundays for me are usually spent in my basement, a collection of delicious snacks and excellent craft beer near at hand to sustain me for a day’s worth of watching football. I didn’t really have any desire to spend my precious time in Tokyo seeking out a bar to watch NFL football in, but I had a plan for visiting some excellent craft beer bars and thought that would be a nice way to enjoy an afternoon.
After filling up my belly with a healthy amount of sushi at a fun conveyor-belt place in the neighbourhood, I made my way to the taproom at the Baird Brewing Company. While there was no football on, the World Cup of Rugby was underway so I had a prime seat with a group of ex-pat New Zealanders watching their country take on Namibia.
Tranquility in Kamakura
With any trip I take, the urge to do a day trip within the trip is strong. In many ways, I find it can be an indulgent mini-vacation from my vacation. When I visited Tokyo, planning a day trip also came with the idea of escaping the crowds of the city to seek out a bit of tranquility. In reality, I didn’t ever find Tokyo too crowded or busy, but I did enjoy a slower pace and quieter day when I visited Kamakura.
A little over an hour after leaving Tokyo in the morning aboard a crammed train, I arrived in sunny Kamakura. About a ten minute walk from the train station, I made my way to Tsuruoka Hachimangu, the most important Shinto shrine in the city. With my early start, I beat most of the tourists here.
My Tokyo omakase experience
While I was in the process of planning my trip to Japan, the most common question I received was along the lines of “Are you planning any big sushi meals?” My answer to that was always a resounding yes, and while I was in Japan, I did indeed enjoy quite a bit of sushi over my two weeks there. One thing I spent an inordinate amount of time researching for my trip was where to have one blowout omakase experience. I wanted something very high quality, but not super formal or regimented. I wanted something where I would feel welcomed as a foreigner, but where I’d be dining with mostly locals.
I hit the jackpot. Sushi Saisho in the Ginza neighbourhood of Tokyo ticked all those boxes. And it did, mostly because of the sushi master himself, Saisho.
Playoff baseball, Japan style
While I have been to lots and lots of baseball games in my life, before this past October, I had never had a chance to see a playoff game in person. My livelong hope was to see my first playoff baseball game in Montreal to see my Expos chase a World Series title, but I was only 7 years old in 1981, and in 1994…. well, we all know how that ended. When I booked my plane tickets to Japan, I knew that I’d land in Tokyo about the same time as their baseball playoffs would be getting underway. I started watching their league standings on a weekly basis to track the likelihood I could catch a game while I was in the country. With a whole lot of good fortune, the Yomiuri (Tokyo) Giants finished first and that meant my stay in Tokyo would coincide with playoff games.
How to sum up my first playoff baseball game? Same sport, same rules, but an experience unlike anything I’ve seen before.
I was giddy walking up to the Tokyo Dome, difficult ticket to secure in hand.
Daibutsu
Favourite 2019 travel photos. Kamakura, Japan. October 2019
Sake and squid snacks
Before heading to Japan, I had only tried sake a few times. After being in Japan, I have realized that I have not ever tried any credible or quality sake in my life prior. Much of my sake awakening came in the form of an afternoon and early evening tasting in Tokyo. Part formal, part informal, it ended up being one of the most fun things I did while visiting Japan back in the fall.
Prior to leaving Canada, I had arranged a “sake experience” via AirBnB that had been highly reviewed. The experience started out with some learning about the history and brewing of sake, as well as its classifications, all aimed toward helping make me a more informed customer. To make the learning go down nice and easy, there was some initial sampling involved. Nice touch!
Mile high baseball and beer
With a very limited amount of time in Denver this past fall, I based my non-work time in the city around a couple of late season baseball games and some craft beer sampling. This is the luxury of second visits to places – there’s no need to rush around seeing the sights to alleviate the fear of missing out on something.
Once my meetings wrapped up on a Friday afternoon, I got to work in making the most of my weekend in Denver. First stop: my all time favourite piece of public art – “I See What You Mean” or as it is more commonly known as, “Big Blue Bear”. My weekend was off to a great start.
Looking back on 2019
There is a fairly tight correlation between my happiness at any given point in time and the number of airline tickets I have stacked up waiting for upcoming trips. In that respect, 2019 was a pretty great year. I flew to places near and far, new to me destinations as well as some old favourites, to the tune of a touch more than 70,000km. All that time in planes led me to some amazing experiences in 2019. In no particular order, here are some of my favourite memories and moments.
1. Playoff baseball, Japan-style – I couldn’t believe my good fortune as a baseball nerd to have the opportunity to be in Tokyo during the Japan baseball league playoffs and to snag a ticket to attend a Yomiuri Giants game. 50,000 people singing and chanting all game long, a 1980s feel to the baseball being played with steals, bunting, balls in play (all things sorely lacking in today’s Major League Baseball)… I was enthralled throughout an entertaining 6-1 win by the Giants over the Hanshin Tigers.
Bluenose Traveler 