A greyer start to the day, and the Skytree was hidden in the clouds!
A couple of museums at the beginning of a trip to set the scene and give some context are always good so after coffee and cinnamon buns to get us going …
… we took the train to the Edo Tokyo Museum which traces Tokyo’s evolution from the Edo period to modern times, illustrated with some cool city models.
City views of Edo …
… and a reconstruction of a traditional kabuki playhouse …
… transition to the modernisation of the Meiji era complete with a modern playhouse, aka cinema!
It ended with the 1923 earthquake and WW2, both of which devastated the city, followed by the rebuild and the post-war pop culture. There was lots to see and read so we were ready for a sit down.
A quick sandwich in the cafe …
… and we walked next door to the Sumida Hokusai Museum, in a very shiny modern building.
The main exhibit told about his life and it was interesting to see some of his early work, quite unlike later landscapes.
There was an explanation of how his wave was made …
… and a model of him working. Inspired, we bought postcards to frame at home.
That evening we had a dinner reservation, bravely made by telephone from home before we came. The restaurant came highly recommended so we made a special effort to go. Fucha Ryori Bon serves Fucha Ryori, a rare style of Chinese-influenced Zen Buddhist vegetarian cuisine established in Japan around 300 years ago and we had booked a 6-course seasonal tasting menu.
We felt like we were stepping back in time as we approached the door, removed our shoes and were shown into our private room with horigotatsu seating, sunken into the floor.
We then had a succession of dishes, each a work of art and a vision for all the senses.
Here is the first appetiser on a beautiful plate and soup.
This plate was the prettiest with so many contrasts in texture and flavour and so much hard work in every morsel.
That was followed by soup …
… then a little parcel of millet porridge wrapped in a crispy tofu skin served in a china bowl decorated with millet seed.
The chilled tofu was made to look like a tiny piece of grilled eel, complete with a piece of seaweed to copy the skin which also gave it a briny ocean flavour. It was a masterpiece, so much so that Chris chose not to eat his!
Tempura followed, then rice with pickles and soup.
Finally we ended with fruit and tea.
The entire meal was an unforgettable experience, one that is usually only possible in a very exclusive ryokan far beyond our budget so this was a real find and will no doubt remain one of the highlights of our trip.
