Saturday 8 September 2012

Guide-Book Free Japan



Matt did a post the other day about using twitter to find cool stuff in Japan (that’s not a great paraphrasing, so you’ll just have to click the link and read the actual post). Personally I have found the google maps “local” function and blogs to be incredibly useful, especially as my island home barely features in guidebooks. Another great resource is websites made by residents to fill the gap in English-language tourist information. Sites like www.yakumonkey.com, www.theinaka.com and www.ishigaki-japan.com are filled with great information and insider knowledge. A few weeks ago the Mr and I found ourselves in a suburb of Tokyo with about three hours to spare. Not enough time to get to famous places like the Skytree, Akihabara (seedy and unpleasant anyway) or Harajuku (over-rated and no longer a particularly creative or interesting place IMO). I remembered that Ru-chan over at short, small & sweet had posted a series about Tokyo and that one of the suburbs she visited was near where we already were, so I pulled her blog up on my phone and we headed off to follow in her footsteps.

We ate at the same (amazing) cafe and perused the same book shop ...

One day, I want a house that looks like this

That's a Starbuck's right there in the middle of the Tsutaya!
... but we also discovered that the spot had a lot to offer for dogs as well, including a fenced dog play park, cafe seating for people with dogs and a shop selling some healthy treats and food we hadn't seen in Japan before.

How cute is this little leash-hook?



 We left armed with lamb lungs, salmon oil and regret that there was no way to ship the pre-made raw foods down to Kyushu.

It was lovely, and I would never have gone there without Ru-chan’s post.
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