To Asakusa for divine sashimi

At times I pick out good eats by the aroma wafting out of the outlet itself . And most of the time , I hit it right on the dot .

While that's how I zeroed in on this little old timers place just outside of Asakusa , I was a bit off mark this time . 

Aeon Mall - okra , yam and wasabi udon

Once you begin to explore Japanese cuisines in Japan itself , and not just limit yourself to all the familiar dishes , you will discover that the variety is not only vast , sometimes certain dishes are consumed with more gusto than others , as it coincides with seasonal change and therefore helps the body to a certain extent , cope , adjust and rejuvenate .

Nano Sato - Hakata free range chicken

Hakata is a reknowned brand of free range chicken from the Fukuoka prefecture .  

Arashi - Terminal 1 , Narita Airport

Last time I was in Terminal 2 , I ended up raving over one place . In the end , I think some of you actually went through my post on that particular restaurant facing the runway , because when I went back to look for it , there was a large Malaysian halal certified logo up at the entrance . 

Good news for Moslem clients in search of a good halal Japanese meal , but

a major turn off for me , since I know that the taste will be highly affected when that happens cos there are simply some ingredients one cannot omit or else it won't taste the same . 

If I never ate here before , that will be fine by me ....I might give it a try , but because I did eat here before that sign went up , I have the choice to walk away . Which I did. Because I'm not going to pay for a meal which might end up making me feel pissed off  . 

Yeah , this is the dilemma which food operators may face when they want to cater to the Halal segment . You gain a whole new market but you might end up loosing your former patrons .

Thus I headed towards Terminal 1 and after a bit of wandering found this completely non halal outlet called Arashi .

Kawatoyo Honten - grilled unagi and carp soup

Narita is known amongst most travellers as an international gateway into Tokyo .

But not many know what the town is famous for .

Grilled eels .

There are 2 eel restaurants within a stones throw of each other , more small ones further away and open for business at night.

Right now, I've reached Kawatoyo Honten first , so I'm gonna take a look around .

Daiso - Cats from there , Owls from here

For the sake of getting this collection , I was determined to hunt down the local outlet on Day 1 of my arrival , just to scoop these precious babies up .

They survived all the hotels I checked into and eventual connecting flights and journeyed all the way home....intact , with not a corner chipped . 

It was impervious to get them in L.A. as NYC does not have any outlet yet ( closest is Washington D.C. ) and Tokyo is just known for the Sanrio and My Melody collection .

Maybe one day , they will head to our shores ....

...just like this Owl set which was originally spotted in Seoul , Korea .

Hana No Yu - the Super Spa

Finally went for my first Japanese public bath experience .....oh my gosh .

Yes , I had chickened out many times before on various occasions throughout the years  but this time , I wasn't leaving Narita without checking this off my list .

Hotel Nikko Narita

On the 5th leg of my journey from JFK to Narita, somehow , somewhere , one of the airport handlers managed to completely ruin my favourite travel bag . After 2 to 3 rounds of negotiating with the airport authorities till my brains were fried , I was forced to change my plan to stay in Tokyo .

Narita seemed like a less crazy path to take . Was just thinking about spending 1 night before moving into Tokyo , however , I enjoyed the stay here so much , I made my mind up to linger on for a couple more .

May travel diary

Once again, I used the instaweather app to record the places I'd been to  .

Here's what went .

Because I flew with ANA , I caught the connecting flight in Narita Airport