It's only been a week!

It feels like we've been gone for much longer but it's only been a week. We've crammed in a lot of sight seeing, walking (averaging more than 8 km a day), eating vegan food, etc, and we are looking to slow the pace in Malaysia. We leave for Kuala Lumpur tomorrow, January 25, 2012. We are booked for a week at the Reggae Mansion Hostel. Our room has shared bath and I think after this I will make a more concerted effort to get ones with private bath.

Over the last 2 days we have been busy. We spent some time walking in Yoyogi Park. We had a yummy lunch at Sofa Vegetarian Cafe We had a great meal at Eat More Greens which included amazing vegan pie and strawberry doughnuts.



We had a great vegan Indian meal at Nataraj Restaurant which included vegan naan made in part with a Japanese spinach like vegetable called Komatsuna. It gave the naan a greenish color but it tasted just the same.

We took the train from Tokyo out to Kamakura. We spent the day walking all over. We walked along the sea shore and around a few temples. The sea was beautiful and we had a lovely dinner overlooking the shore at The Organic Hemp Style Cafe






One of the temples was Hase-Dera which was on a hill with a steep stair case. It also had a small cave which we walked through, having to bend down to the waist in some parts to get through. The highlight of the day was spending time at the Great Buddha of Kamakura. It was a breath taking sight. It was made in 1252 out of cast bronze and is 13.5 meters in height. Quite the feat of engineering for over 750 years ago! We were able to also go inside of the hollow Buddha and examine to craftsmanship.






- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Temple Town

So it's not really called temple town but yesterday we visited the sprawling Senso-ji Temple which is the oldest in Tokyo, the first building was erected in 645. It was very bustling which I am sure was partially due to the break in the rain.



The temple features Kannon, Bodhisattva of Compassion: Amongst the many Buddhas, Bodhisattva Kannon is known as the most compassionate, relieving beings of their suffering and responding to prayers with great benevolence. This Bodhisattva Kannon, the principle image of Senso-ji, has been an unparalleled source of benefits and miracles, saving and protecting countless people over the course of the 1,400 years since its appearance in the world. The way of devotion to Bodhisattva Kannon can be described as emulating the compassionate mind of this bodhisattva in our day to day lives, treating everyone we encounter with kindness. source http://www.senso-ji.jp/about/index_e.html

Speaking of kindness the temple also had a status honoring Uryu Iwako a noted social worker from the 1800's. It's the first time I've seen a statue of a social worker! She was known for her compassion for the poor and orphans and founded a midwifery institute and hospital.

Earlier in the day we went to the Harajuko area which is known for shopping, entertainment, and teenagers dressed up in cosplay outfits. There we stumbled upon J's heaven; tons of bicycle shops of every kind! He fell in love with a vintage Nakagawa bicycle frame that was sadly too small.

On the walk home from the temple we came across this lovely graffiti.


The day before we went to a great vegan ramen shop called T's Tan Tan. It was rather difficult to find as it is located in the JR Line Tokyo train station. We buy a day pass for the Tokyo metro but it does not cover JR line so we had to buy 130 yen tickets to get into the station. It was worth it! We've been very lucky with the great food options. Each morning we head to our favorite breakfast place and get a great meal with juice for 400 yen each.

Check out J's great photos so far at his Flickr stream


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Subway success

It was quite cold and wet yesterday with a combination of snow and rain. We figured out the subway and made our way to a great vegetarian buffet for lunch called; It's Vegetarian. We also went through a grocery store, which we love doing when traveling. That's where we spotted the $80.00 melon.



We took the subway over to the The Museum of Modern Art but the main building was closed. We did get to see the The Crafts Gallery Exhibit That's where we saw a piece of art titled Song of Autumn by kashima ikkoku which featured Our Animal a praying mantis which we've seen on nearly every trip.

We managed to stay up a little later and had a lovely meal at a vegan place called Ain Sopf







- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

How far will we walk to reach a vegan restaurant?

Apparently 12km. Yesterday we thought it would be a good idea to take a long walk and get to know our area. We walked a little over 12 km and arrived at the Tokyo Loving Hut. It was more of an Loving Hut express, with out the extensive menu of other Loving Huts we have eaten at, but the boxed meals and desserts they offered were very good.












Before the day began I used the showers at our hotel. Unfortunately I am now quite sure I conditioned my hair with hand soap. We had decided to save our shampoo and uses free stuff whenever we can in hostels/hotels. (We were concerened with being able to find supplies on the road but now that we've been in a few more spots I think we will be able to manage finding supplies).The lack of english labels is making that challenging. Over the day we saw a lot of random temples, a lady feeding stray cats, large vocal crows, beautiful buildings, parks, a lake, etc. There are also funny signs and things that remind us that we have no idea what's going on.












We had to take a cab back to our little hostel as our legs were quite tired. The room is not bad but it could use a chair and table and a slightly thicker sleeping mat. But it's clean and good value and location. As you can see from the photo it's compact. I've already bumped my head twice on doorways.






Near our hostel their is a an amazing traditional fancy vegetarian restaurant called Bon they food was more like art and came in small multi courses. We ate in a very traditional room in which the table is low and you sit on cushions while your legs are in a sunken area underneath the table. There was toasty heating blanket for our feet. Many buildings seem to use electric heaters to heat a room at a time. The weather is cool and wet but still pleasant.













- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad