Day 15, Saturday, May 26th: Tokyo Hairy Day

Wow, this is our last full day in Tokyo. The time has just flown by as tomorrow (Sunday) will be our travel day back to Vancouver. We don't have a lot of plans for today. Lana has reserved a hair salon for a special Japanese head spa treatment at 10:00 and we want to do ramen and a authentic Japanese cuisine experience for dinner. Otherwise, pretty open to the day's activities. There will be two reasons we call this a 'hairy' day.

Another awesome breakfast buffet and we are in a little bit of a rush as we will need to walk to the train station and then navigate our way to the hair salon located in the Ebisu neighbourhood. It is another beautiful day in Tokyo with morning overcast skies, but perfect temperatures for lots of walking.

Sign outside Ebisu for a ramen place confirming open for 18 straight hours! Lana thinks because a lot of the restaurants are very small in size (some we have been in only have 10 seats!), they might open for longer hours as they would not have the same volume of customers so this would be one way to maximize revenue?

The hair salon is Dot+Lim located near the Omote-Sando Train Station. We use our Handy to walk from the train station a short distance to this place located in the basement. Lana is pretty excited about this Japanese hair treatment as she has done this in North Vancouver and loved the results. Japanese head spa is becoming more popular in Vancouver but only a handful of salons currently offer this. The one she has been to is at Yoko's Haute Salon in North Vancouver. The experience was very unique--she learned a lot about her hair/scalp and realized that the relatively inexpensive shampoo she was using was not doing her hair any favours :( She has since switched to a better shampoo and conditioner and her hair seems to be much healthier.

We arrive just before 10:00. Lana wants me to take some pics and the staff find this humourous. Lots of staff and a pretty equal ratio of young males to young females. The walls, floors and chairs are white. 

Lana's treatment starts with a neck and shoulder massage. Koko was her stylist and he had very strong hands. 

Next the head/scalp massage using special oil to get the blood circulating in Lana's big dome :) Very invigorating. 

This was followed by a deep cleanse shampoo and more scalp massage. This took at least 20 minutes using special sparkling water.  The tiny bubbles in the water are said to super clean the hair/scalp by removing tiny dirt and oil particles. As well, the bubbles are said to oxygenate the scalp and help restore balance to the skin. 

VIDEO: Japanese Hair Steaming Treatment 

Almost done--but not before the steam treatment. This is the machine that generates a very fine mist of warm steam--this penetrates the hair and helps to moisturize it. This also helps the treatment mask that has been put onto Lana's hair absorb more effectively. Lana says her scalp was warm and tingly at this point. She is also lying in a special chair that fully extends so she is laying completely flat--not sitting in a chair and just learning back like in North American salons. Being able to lay back completely also helps with the relaxation during this treatment. Check out the video above. 

Lastly, two people blow dry her hair and then Koko does a quick style. At the end of it, all is great until Koko's supervisor So comes over to check the results. He feels Lana's hair and decides to put a natural hair cream onto the ends--it had Yuzu in it so it smelled quite nice. Lana doesn't use any product in her hair as it's quite fine and for a moment almost asked So not to use the cream but decided against it. Unfortunately the cream was quite heavy and Lana's super soft, shiny hair got weighed down. Lana says her hair looked and felt 100X better before So used the finishing cream. 

Lana shows off the results of her treatment! She said her hair feels amazing--and even though it isn't styled exactly as she normally does it--the treatment was still a great one. Overall, Koko declares that Lana's hair is very healthy--and he says she has "skinny" hair   :)

 This salon uses special natural based products made in Japan--Lana did buy a moisturizing mask as a take home souvenir of her treatment to use. 

Overall Lana found the treatment in Vancouver comparable to the treatment in Tokyo--but she said one difference was the treatment in Vancouver is more relaxing and spa like whereas the treatment in Tokyo was definitely more energizing and invigorating. The spa in Vancouver also has the lay flat special chair as well.

One interesting outcome of being in the hair salon was I finally found a 'public wifi' address where I could boost free wifi. It was called FREESPOT WIFI and within a short period I was online checking emails and searching the internet. Wow!

Yup, they have Umami Burger in Tokyo! This is a small chain of gourmet burgers from California that has now expanded to New York. 

We are excited about one of our last meals being ramen! I did a lot of research before leaving Vancouver and had a list of top caliber ramen joints. Unfortunately, for many good reasons we didn't get to any in Tokyo. We did take the train and a short walk to Afuri Ramen located in Ebisu. 

On our way to the train station Lana popped into a couple of clothing shops. First there was Cabana de Zucca looking for a white blouse/shirt. No luck. Then, Mizuiroind store for a couple of dresses which I thought looked pretty trendy, but no purchase.

We arrive at the ramen joint about 12:00. It looks fairly nice and the reason we wanted to go here was from Dominque Ansel... "the classic Afuri Ramen in Ebisu has always been one of my favourites. Their signature is a yuzu ramen, with tender cha shu (marinated pork belly), chewy noodles, that perfectly soft boiled egg. I have a real thing for a kick of citrus in my ramen." David Chang..."The order I get has a lot of yuzu in the chicken-based broth. It's light and crisp and clean and not traditional. It's the direction I hope ramen is going." We will not be disappointed as it is one of the very best ramen I have ever enjoyed and that says a lot! Yuzu is a common Japanese citrus--like a lemon but it has a mild grapefruit herbal fragrance to it as well. 

On entry you make your pick from the machine, but insert your money first. A ticket pops out for each order and the change of course. We get some help from one of the employees. It is not that complicated, but you don't want to make any mistakes. Thankfully there is an english menu beside the dispenser which helps with figuring out what is what. Super efficient process for the restaurant and for the customer. 

Randy's bib prior to eating. One of the employees asked me as we were seated if I wanted a bib. Yup, sloppy white guy! ha ha (BEFORE PIC)

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AFTER PIC - yes, the eating of ramen can mean making a mess!

Ramen chef grilling the pork chashu. It has a delicious smoky taste with a little bit of char on it--and we notice that they get a quick visit to a little charcoal grill before being added to the soup bowls. 

After you are seated an employee shows up with two questions. This is the first question. The amount of chicken oil (chi-yu) preferred?

Second question: Which chashu (portion of meat) do you want? Interesting that this restaurant does sous vide chicken!! For those that don't know, sous vide is a french cooking technique where you seal food in an air tight bag, then cook it for a long period of time via immersion in circulating water. Doing this ensure slow, even cooking and results in tender, juicy, perfectly cooked foods. 

Lana's order of extra pork belly. It looks delicious and in a bowl of ramen it is really good. 

Randy's order of Yuzu Shoyu (yes, I am a copycat of famous chefs!). Soy-based citrus flavour. Thin noodles that are perfect texture. I love egg in or on anything and these eggs really enhance the ramen. What is different from the majority of ramen joints is the grilled chashu! You can taste the difference and see black marks on the edge of this marinated pork. Also, the ramen gets a topping of traditional Japanese greens called mizuna--very delicious in the soup. 

The chefs and the counter that wraps around the kitchen. The counter is beautiful and the rest of the ramen joint is pretty industrial with concrete walls left pretty untidy. It is a ramen joint! This adds to the atmosphere of the constant sounds of slurping.

Lana at Monster Grill fondling a cow's bum. Randy has flashbacks of the cow that tried to lick him when we were in Italy last year :)

Is this the world's narrowest residential building? It's a little hard to really see the scale from this photo but this building was about 8 feet wide. 

We thought this shot of an average Tokyo neighbourhood captures the mix of businesses and residential towers with the usual advertising signs. 

I am anxious about getting a reservation to Yakitori Masakichi located in Meguro-ku given it brought David Chang to tears as the "best yakitori" he ever had. We have called over the past couple of days and nobody speaks english. We don't expect english to be spoken but it was proving difficult for us to communicate when we called. We did utilize a hostess in the Exec Lounge last night and she indicated we had to phone between 1 to 2 pm today. 

We were doing some shopping at Shinagawa train station so I took the opportunity to phone and the results weren't great. At the station though we did find some of the Kewpie salad dressing Lana was enjoying at breakfast and two good bottles of Japanese Plum (Ume) Wine! We love it and can't find the good stuff in Canada. We acquired a taste for it during our last trip to Japan. One bottle we purchased has been aged for three years. 

We checked in with the Hotel Concierge. She made a call to Yakitori Masakichi and they confirmed they had no available reservations for a couple of days. Yikes! Well, we put this on the list for our next visit to Tokyo and make reservations in advance. She contacted Daitoryo and they verified they are open tonight and no reservations. You just show up. Yeh!

We make some plans for tourist destinations in the area near Daitoryo. We get off at JR Okachimachi Station. Lana needs to use up all her Starbucks card credits so we stop for the usual ice chai latte. No free wifi at Starbucks in Tokyo. We decide to walk to the allegedly nearby Senso-ji Temple. Well, it is about a 45 minute walk. A great day for a walk though given the weather and we get to see a new neighbourhood. We use the Handy to navigate walking to the temple complex as it is not a grid system of streets. 

Sensō-ji Shrine is gigantic! Huge lineup to get into the shrine and hundreds of tourists moving in and out of the building. This is part of a huge complex of shrines and temples. Very busy area, but lots to see. 

This is the actual shrine inside Sensō-ji. Really beautiful and given the amount of money donations each minute this makes sense. 

Part of the Sensõ-ji complex--a five tiered pagoda.

ViDEO: Randy's bad fortune to be carried away! 

Randy decided to get his fortune using the box of sticks that you shake out.  Unfortunately nothing was coming out after many tries so he finally gives up. Lana checks the box and it is indeed problematic. Finally Randy tries again and Lana matches the number symbols up to find his fortune. Unfortunately it was a very bad fortune--one that foretold having to wait a long time for wishes to come true. So no Randy needs to tie his bad fortune to the line so the wind can carry it away. 

Randy tieing his bad fortune.

Hey, there is dragon on your roof!!!

Hōzomōn Temple. 

We saw some Caucasian tourists wearing both the male and female kimonos. Good discussion on whether that was appropriate?

Monkey and master outside of Asakusa shrine. This is the 'Jr. 2' show. The monkey was very smart and entertaining and quite the athlete! Quite a crowd around this entertainment. 

Well the day had been going pretty well until we decided we would find the nearest train station and navigate to our restaurant destination. The Handy stopped working! It shut off and we could not get it to power back on. Yikes! We tried my maps.me app on my iPhone, but it didn't seem to work properly. Eventually, we gave up trying to activate the dead Handy and used the local map to find the nearby train station. On arrival at the train station, Lana used her data and walked to the restaurant based on her GPS. We know that Daitoryo is located in the Ameyoko shopping street/area, but we didn't know how large that is. Also, there are two Daitoryo restaurants and we don't know if they are aligned? I learned about this Japanese Izakaya place from an Anthony Bourdain show on Tokyo. We stumble around with no luck. We ask for directions and get pointed in the correct direction, but no luck. Lana goes into a restaurant and the girl physically walks us to Daitoryu! Wow, the Japanese are so helpful and courteous!

This is the "larger" Daitoryu located at 6-10-14 Ueno, Taito and the 'smaller' Daitoryu is just down the same small street. We figure we are at the right place as Lana gets talking to a local patron who confirms this is the "best place in Ueno". We are in a queue which involves sitting on small stools on the perimeter of the restaurant and slide towards one corner when the people seated along the wall in front of us are seated. It must be good! It takes about 30 minutes, but we get two seats at the long and busy counter. 

This is the last dinner experience we were looking for in Tokyo! It is so Japanese and not replicable in Vancouver. Super busy, loud, hectic, energetic and great food. Almost entirely locals eating here. Casual place with lots of laughing and talk. Plus, the restaurant is open to the outside air--this is needed when a number of patrons are smoking. 

English Menu. 

English Drinks Menu. 

This is the counter and outdoor table seating taken from inside the restaurant looking out. 

The long counter with fellow customers waiting against the wall on the right. 

When we were seated we noticed the kitchen was pretty smoky given this is a heavy grilling place. 

Randy's order of a one litre sized Asahi beer. 

Lana's order of a Shocyu Lemon Sour. 

Our first dish of Harami (beef) and Jidori (chicken). We loved the beef, but the chicken was only mediocre--not as good as the yakitori restaurant we went to with Naomi and Hikaru 2 nights ago. 

Dish of Smoked Wild Duck. It was cold and paired perfectly with the mayo. 

Dish of Ika (squid) and it was super delicious. Perfect texture and taste. 

Dish of Pork Sausage. Yup, that is a bone sticking out from the pork. I think mayo goes with everything! 

Dish of Sisitou (green peppers). Really good! Lana loves these peppers but of course they are hard to find in Vancouver still. 

Dish of Mezashi (sardines). Very oily and a different experience of eating sardines. 

We finished our meal around 19:30. The place still has a long queue along the wall. I think our meal with booze was slightly less than 5000Yen. The meal and atmosphere was a great way to end our dining experiences in the great city of Tokyo! Great memories here. 

Typical example of Tokyo streets at night. 

Lots of neon lights/colour in the Tokyo streets at night!

On arrival back at our hotel, we had straight for the Executive Lounge on the top floor. We witness a very large and colourful fireworks display from the top floor windows. Also, Lana emails her photos and video to my email. We organize a late checkout for tomorrow. We both eat some light dessert and I have a glass of white wine. Back to our room so I can get started on our blog. It is 23:10 and I am tired so that is it for me for tonight. We will finish the blog Sunday morning. 

For our Suica train cards I only had 3Yen remaining and Lana about 299Yen so we did a good job of getting them close to zero. We did go into a store to buy some dessert treats with Lana's Suica card. In some shops/markets you can purchase items with your Suica card. Pretty good deal. 

Lana's stats for today's walking. Plus, we had 30 floors of elevation. It was a good day of walking in Tokyo!