Hey folx! I'm back with another Destination Date Night. I meant for this to go up on Wednesday, but as you may have heard, the West Coast was hit with a massive heatwave and as we don't have central air, like most of the people in the PNW, our window unit and portable unit were not doing the best. The portable was in the bedroom, so we could sleep and the dog had a place to escape, since it was the only room that was cool-ish.
A few weeks ago we decided to go back to Japan, but this time we were very interested in focusing on Tokyo. We have actual plans to visit Tokyo in the future, but it's going to be a bit, since we know there are a lot of things we want to do, including going to Tokyo Disney and DisneySea.
I threw a red tablecloth on our table, because red is a very lucky color in Japan, a bonsai tree, a Japanese flag, a really fun city guide, and a cat plush that is made of a repurposed kimono that I picked up when we visited the Portland Japanese Garden.
Every year, Cost Plus World Market has a crop of Hello Kitty items, so I purchased a bottle of HK soy sauce and a set of sake cups, because she seems to be a big staple in Japanese culture.
Since we did sushi for our last Japan night, we decided to do the trendy (in Portland) thing and get ramen and some sides. Here's what's on the table: pork gyoza, vegetable roll (because you need veggies), Tsukemen Spicy with chashu pork, and Yuzu Ratan with chicken broth and chashu pork.
I'm not sure why I didn't think ramen would be that filling, but it totally was and we both only ended up eating half the bowl. I actually really enjoyed everything I ordered. I've not been that interested in going out for ramen, much like I almost never order soup out. I'm more openminded about ramen now.
I much prefer gyoza over potstickers, because I like the crispy wrapper. These were especially good...and pretty photogenic.
While we ate, we watched a video of the Robot Restaurant Show, because this is a thing I've always wanted to do. It's like a mix of Tournament of Kings, a parade, and a fashion show. You dine and watch a crazy show that includes floats and robots and dancers. It's got awesome music.
While I didn't order a drink from the restaurant I got dinner from, I did pick up a locally-made canned sake. I much prefer their bottled sakes (SakeOne), as the Yomi sort of just tasted like sad white wine. I didn't hate it, but I also didn't like it enough to finish the can or buy it again. Eric just did a ginger beer with his.
I'll admit that I 100% bought this sake based on the can design. I was waffling between it and a bottle of plum wine that had whole plums floating around in it. I don't know if that would have been better, but I am probably going to try it at some point to see for sure.
After our dinner show, we took two tours of the Shibuya district, where we actually saw the same shops and restaurants as we had on our backdrop. One of the tours was a daytime walk and the other was a nighttime walk.
I also picked this interesting shrine walkway backdrop that felt like it was something that was probably in the city, but you probably felt like you were no longer in the city. I didn't do any research to see where it might be located, but it's totally something I would see and it would draw me in.
I specifically purchased this gorgeous (and affordable) short kimono with a geisha scene on the back for this dinner and wanted to show it off, because it's really pretty and I wore it to a family gathering the other weekend and got a lot of compliments on it. It's lightweight and floaty and I can't wait to wear it some more.
If you're looking to have your own Tokyo Destination Date Night (or Family Night or general staycation), there's a lot you can do to make it special and immerse yourself in the culture.
- A great backdrop
- Tokyo's Shibuya district
- Rainbow Bridge
- Torii Gates (the walkway one I have)
- Japanese flag
- Tokyo Olympic flag/banner
- Sushi restaurant bunting
- Bonsai tree
- Lucky Cat
- Tokyo guidebook
- This fun one I have
- Fodor's with side trips (get all the deets on the country)
- Tokyo walks guide
- Ramen bowls - these come with chopsticks and soup spoons
- If you have littles, check out these training chopsticks
- Sake set
- Ramen cookbook
- Tokyo cookbook
- Japanese flashcards - learn Japanese with your family/loved one
- A good YouTube playlist
- My playlist with tours and dinner show
- A good J-Pop music playlist
- You can also find great shows on Netflix, like Midnight Diner, to engage with more Japanese culture
There you have it. We had Pocky for dessert, because I didn't actually think about it and the restaurant I ordered from didn't have a dessert menu. We were also really stuffed, so this was perfect. We'll eventually come back around and do a catch-up dessert, which I will post on Instagram.
There's so much you can do to make this staycation awesome, educational, or romantic. Whatever you're looking for. With the upcoming Olympics Games, you might want to deck out your living room and feel like you're there. However you choose to immerse yourself in your destination, you may find that you're planning a future trip to Tokyo, too.
What are your favorite Japanese foods?
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