On our last full day in Japan Mike would have been content to stay at the hotel and relax but I coax him to join us to shop this morning. We were up bright and early by 7:30. Our goal today is to search for items we have yet to find - a matcha whisk and more Ghibli products for Shirley and a noren (a door curtain) that sister Sue asked me to bring back. We will head back to Ueno and Kappabashi. Norm says stores in Ueno open at 10:00, an hour earlier than Kappabashi, so we take the train to Ueno at 8:45. We are looking first for breakfast but inside the station are bakeries selling similar pastries to the Bolange bakery we have been eating at the last few days. We come out at the Hirokoji exit of the Ueno station. There are two giant stuffed panda bears out front. This is probably to commemorate the giant pandas that are at the Ueno Zoo.
We walk out onto a large beautifully tiled plaza. 
Across the station is the Marui department store with its logo on the building. 
The logo OIOI is a mnemonic and word play device that references the company name in kanji characters, 丸井. The first character can be read as maru (and can mean circle) and the second as i (and can be represented with a vertical line). We walk pass and head to the famous Ameyoko Shopping Street. It runs along the train tracks. Some store are right under the JR tracks! 
The area has a unique history. Ameyoko started as a black-market following World War II. 
There is some debate over the origins of the name Ameyoko, some people believe it is named “Ame” after the Japanese word for the sweets sold by some vendors while others think “Ame” is short for America because it used to be a place to buy cheap American goods. The first shop at the entrance of the Ameyoko street is a tea shop names Chano Kiminoen. 
This is a longstanding tea shop with an over ninety year presence. It serves a popular matcha soft serve ice cream for 300 yen that is made with plenty of high quality Uji matcha tea, the same powder used for tea ceremonies. A staff member sporting matcha colored hair helped the Gees shop for a matcha whisk. 
Apparently there is an art and science to making great matcha tea aside from buying good quality powder. How the powder is incorporated into the water affects the flavor, texture and appearance. Do you want it frothy or smooth? Which is better, a bamboo whisk or a metal one? How many tines? 
The Gees decide to continue their search and by 10:00 we ran across a food stall selling pigs feet. 
Three fellows were seated munching on fried bread sticks. We decided to try that. Norm tried asking in Cantonese if they had jook but there was no response. 
We are seated at a narrow table and tight bench seat next to the three guys.
Before our food arrived the guys left, leaving some breadsticks unfinished. Was it not to their satisfaction? Our meal consisted of fried breadsticks, meat baos, one pig's feet, and fried sesame balls. 
They cut up the pigs feet for you. The sesame balls are too hot to eat right away. They were crunchy and had a black sesame seed bean filling, exactly the kind of filling I like. The meat baos were freshly steamed. Last to arrive were the five orders of fried breadsticks. They were 250 yen for one or five for 1000 yen. When they brought out the bag we thought it was someone else’s order. “That’s too big for us” Shirley said. It was a huge long bag.
There were ten fat long sticks. They didn’t resemble the double sticks pictured on their photos as they had separated into single sticks during frying. 
My family know these fried breads by the Cantonese name ‘yauhjagwaii’ which literally translates to oil-fried-devil (or ghost). These were monstrously large, so long and wide that they didn’t stay together as a double pair. 
They were delicious; crunchy, moist, and hot. Unfortunately it was too much for us to consume. Now we understood why those three guys left their bread. Shirley had a plastic bag so she put the leftover paper bagged breadsticks in it. It’s easy to get lost in the shopping area with crisscrossing streets, interior corridors of covered shops and long corridors of outside shops. The more popular food stalls had long lines. 
Shirley found her Matcha whisk at a tea shop and we found one of the Royce candies that daughter Kim had asked us find for her. 
I made a note of the store's name (U U).
I discovered to my delight that the store sold one of my favorite snacks, Pistachio Crunch. Unfortunately I only bought one bag to bring home. This snack is only sold oversea and I first tried it when a friend or patient gave me a bag on their return from a trip to Asia. I love pistachios and these treats have a tasty light and thin rice cracker exterior. The shell has been removed, the nut is roasted with the crispy cracker coating. Individually wrapped four to a packette they are addictive and I could easily have eaten the whole bag in one eating. I allowed myself to have a couple of packette per day which meant that the bag lasted one week. I should have brought a whole case! 
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Before leaving the Ameyoko Street we went back to the tea store and try their famous matcha soft serve cones. Very yummy. 
Next up is Donguri Republic, a Ghibli store in Tokyo Skytree Town (Solamachi). 
Shirley shops while I try the leftover bread. It's been an hour since our meal and the brown paper bag is a sodden oily mess as the cooled breadsticks released their oil. I tested a small piece of bread that I had not finished to see if was edible. Gone was the crunchy exterior and the airy interior. Norm took the greasy bag to the trash can across from the Ghibli store where Shirley had stepped out from and toss the bread inside☹️. Shirley had found a nice bowl. 
Now we head back to one of my favorite place, the Kappabashi kitchen district. The Asakusa Shrine is close to the kitchen area and once again it is bustling with visitors at the shrine and the food and souvenir vendors nearby. 
Coming into the southern end of Kappabashi town the chef head looms large. 
Our foursome go separate ways along the 1 kilometer kitchen street in search of our items. Mike decided to stay at the beginning of the street. I found two stores selling noren. At the second shop I attempted to pay by credit card but they didn’t accept cards and I wasn’t carrying any Japanese yen on me. I had left Mike standing at the other end of the district so I called Norm’s cellphone to see if Mike was with him so he could pay. For some reason Mike’s new phone wasn’t allowing him to make or receive calls while he’s been in Japan. I told him where I was and stood outside the store looking for him. When he didn't show up after several minutes I left the shop and went in search of Mike. I have a form of direction/topographical dyslexia and had given Mike bad directions about where I was but since the kitchen street isn't that long we eventually saw each other. The store only accepted cash and fortunately Mike had the money. We returned early to Shinjuku to pick up our eyeglasses. 
The Gees wanted to go back to Shibuya for the popular sushi restaurant and we decided to eat at a curry place near our hotel. It was only 4:00 so I stopped on a GU store to see if any new products came in. I bought one long sleeve shirt. Gourmet Curry Bon Gout is a curry cafe that we walk past daily on our way to the Shinjuku Station. If you google the address it says it's on the 2nd floor of “NEWoMan” near the south exit of Shinjuku, but while it may be the 2nd floor of NEWoMan, it's actually street level and you don't need to go inside the shopping complex to get to it. 
This was our first time dining there. They have the most tender beef curry made using a recipe that has been around for forty years. Don't let the black color of the sauce mislead you. It's really a dark green curry with a rich but mild flavor. If you want to add spice there are condiments on the table to kick up the heat. I enjoyed the melt in your mouth beef curry while Mike had the pork cutlet. 
The meal comes with a refreshing drink and a choice of sides. We had one salad and one butter potato. 
As we were finishing up Mike noticed a few diners enjoying ice cream cones. One person sat at a table and only ordered a cone. Mike ordered one and when he checked the menu after he bought it he noticed that you pay 300 yen if you order with a meal and 450 without a meal. 
I tasted a spoonful of the ice cream and found it to be rich and creamy. 
Back at our hotel room we packed our luggage and are ready to leave tomorrow morning.
This featured blog entry was written by Helen K. from the blog Japan Trip 2024.
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