What a week! The launch of Perfect Liars Club Tokyo was absolutely amazing. A sold-out crowd. Hilarious storytelling suspects. A crazy interrogation. It was all so much fun we can't wait to do it all again on Thursday 3rd November. So reserve your tickets now. And while you're waiting, enjoy our summary and photos from last night. And if you have a good story to tell, email us.
Otherwise we've had a busy week with our visitors from Scotland. Highlights were going to lovely Kiyosumi Gardens, still my favourite gardens in Tokyo. And in such a cool, quirky neighbourhood. We combined it with the Vegan Gourmet Festival at nearby Kiba Park but alas only a few of the stalls did lunch type food, they all had insane massive lines, and the food we ended up getting was unremarkable. Not like the outstanding, Michelin-starred vegan ramen we had at Soranoiro near my house at Hanzomon again last week. Delicious. I digress...This week we also came across a great little antiques market outside Yasukuni shrine (in between Kudanshita and Iidabashi stations). Looks like it's on every Sunday from 8-3:30 and it had all sorts of interesting things including yukata for under 1000 yen! Quite a good little find, especially for our out of town visitors as it's near my house! Though we were very sad to discover that the lovely hipster bakery/coffeeshop Factory, just opposite, is closed on Sundays. Boo.
Oh, and this week I went to my first sumo wrestling tournament. Match? What is the terminology? At any rate, it was great fun - it was specially interpreted for English speakers, in the official stadium up at Ryogoku. What a cool experience - from arriving at the station which is decked out in all things sumo to the wrestlers comedy-wrestling tiny boys from a local school, to the sumo hairdressers giving a demonstration of their daily toils. And of course the actual wrestling with all its ceremony and rapid blasts of excitement. While enjoying bento boxes. A fun afternoon!
Otherwise we've had a busy week with our visitors from Scotland. Highlights were going to lovely Kiyosumi Gardens, still my favourite gardens in Tokyo. And in such a cool, quirky neighbourhood. We combined it with the Vegan Gourmet Festival at nearby Kiba Park but alas only a few of the stalls did lunch type food, they all had insane massive lines, and the food we ended up getting was unremarkable. Not like the outstanding, Michelin-starred vegan ramen we had at Soranoiro near my house at Hanzomon again last week. Delicious. I digress...This week we also came across a great little antiques market outside Yasukuni shrine (in between Kudanshita and Iidabashi stations). Looks like it's on every Sunday from 8-3:30 and it had all sorts of interesting things including yukata for under 1000 yen! Quite a good little find, especially for our out of town visitors as it's near my house! Though we were very sad to discover that the lovely hipster bakery/coffeeshop Factory, just opposite, is closed on Sundays. Boo.
Oh, and this week I went to my first sumo wrestling tournament. Match? What is the terminology? At any rate, it was great fun - it was specially interpreted for English speakers, in the official stadium up at Ryogoku. What a cool experience - from arriving at the station which is decked out in all things sumo to the wrestlers comedy-wrestling tiny boys from a local school, to the sumo hairdressers giving a demonstration of their daily toils. And of course the actual wrestling with all its ceremony and rapid blasts of excitement. While enjoying bento boxes. A fun afternoon!
Our favourite-sounding cool things to do in Tokyo this week
In some ways it's a bit of a quiet week in Tokyo... but let's see if we can find some cool things to do.
Fri Oct 7 - We're going to see Kanatsubo Angel of Death, bunraku puppets doing a play based on rakugo. I have no idea what this will be like but it is playing from tonight til the 16th in Shinjuku.
Sat Oct 8 - There's a stand up comedy show at Vega wine bar in Ebisu tonight.
Sun and Mon Oct 9 and 10 - I can't identify any specific cool things for these days, but if you like art, then why not go check out some of the great exhibitions on right now. I suggest the Dali retrospective at the National Art Centre, the Universe and Art exhibition at the Mori Art Museum and the little David Hockney exhibition in Nihonbashi.
Tue Oct 11 - From tonight til the 16th at the National Film Centre there's Swedish silent films, some of which have live piano accompaniment. With my lack of Swedish I suspect I'll miss some explanatory text... but this sounds potentially really cool. I'm hoping to go to Tailcoat-wearing daughter tonight. If not, it's New Material Stand up Comedy night.
Wed Oct 12 - Tonight is the regular Good Heavens Stand up Comedy night. Always fun!
Thu Oct 13 - The Tokyo International Players launch their latest play Macbeth tonight - it plays til the 16th.
Sat Oct 8 - There's a stand up comedy show at Vega wine bar in Ebisu tonight.
Sun and Mon Oct 9 and 10 - I can't identify any specific cool things for these days, but if you like art, then why not go check out some of the great exhibitions on right now. I suggest the Dali retrospective at the National Art Centre, the Universe and Art exhibition at the Mori Art Museum and the little David Hockney exhibition in Nihonbashi.
Tue Oct 11 - From tonight til the 16th at the National Film Centre there's Swedish silent films, some of which have live piano accompaniment. With my lack of Swedish I suspect I'll miss some explanatory text... but this sounds potentially really cool. I'm hoping to go to Tailcoat-wearing daughter tonight. If not, it's New Material Stand up Comedy night.
Wed Oct 12 - Tonight is the regular Good Heavens Stand up Comedy night. Always fun!
Thu Oct 13 - The Tokyo International Players launch their latest play Macbeth tonight - it plays til the 16th.
And if none of that tempts you, you could go see a film. I strongly wish the Japan Times would introduce an English language search feature. But I have trawled on your behalf: don't say I'm not good to you! The Japan Times film page tells me that this week you could see the following in English:
A Walk in the Woods (the Bill Bryson film), Amy (the Amy Winehouse film), Correspondence, Dead Poets Society, Finding Dory, Genius, Ghostbusters, Gods of Egypt, High Rise, Lights Out, Little Boy, Me Before You, Money Monster, Poverty Inc, Pride Prejudice and Zombies, Race (which I thought was great), Secret in their Eyes, Seymour an Introduction, Suicide Squad, Sully (I saw it last week - pretty good), The Angry Birds Movie, The Baron of Arizona, The BFG, The Blues Brothers, The Damned, The Jungle Book, The Last Witch Hunter, The Secret Life of Pets, The Red Turtle (silent),
A Walk in the Woods (the Bill Bryson film), Amy (the Amy Winehouse film), Correspondence, Dead Poets Society, Finding Dory, Genius, Ghostbusters, Gods of Egypt, High Rise, Lights Out, Little Boy, Me Before You, Money Monster, Poverty Inc, Pride Prejudice and Zombies, Race (which I thought was great), Secret in their Eyes, Seymour an Introduction, Suicide Squad, Sully (I saw it last week - pretty good), The Angry Birds Movie, The Baron of Arizona, The BFG, The Blues Brothers, The Damned, The Jungle Book, The Last Witch Hunter, The Secret Life of Pets, The Red Turtle (silent),
PLANNING AHEAD - cool upcoming things you might want to get advance tickets for:
15 Oct: Tickets go on sale for Tokyo International Film Festival - also the Festival/Tokyo theatre festival starts today, and if you'd like to buy some tickets, here's a handy language guide to their shows.
19 - 20 Oct: Tokyo Innovative City Forum takes place and I'll be there.
22 Oct: TEDxTokyo is on - got your tickets? I'm furious I'm out of town that weekend.
Got other recommendations? Let us know.
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