thegoodfellas/blogset-br huggingface dataset:
buys, like a facial cloth mask (with holes for the eyes, nose and mouth) and contact lenses in grey, which I always wanted to try.Just after I left, I saw a beautiful Japanese house, all in wood and eye catching. It was Hantei, a Meiji style restaurant, apparently famous for its traditionally.On the other side of the street I finally found the street that would lead me to the first attraction.The tiny street was very nice, it gave me a feeling I was in a small town, not in Tokyo. There, I found a tiny candy shop, with the weirdest candies you've ever seen. I got super excited thinking I found a jam, and really wanted to try those sweets. The owner of the shop was at the back, probably making sweets. When he saw me with that curious look, he came to talk to me. We struggled a little to communicate, but when he came with an English magazine that had a picture of his shop, I understood what he was trying to tell me. The candy I liked was made of soy bean. That was definitely the one I would buy. So I got some of that and a long one, wrapped in colourful paper. While he was packing, I looked at the side wall of the shop and realised it was covered with magazine and newspaper rip outs, all talking about his shop. I felt amazing! I noticed something special in that humble and extremely Japanese place.After the candy shop, I discovered an antique story, ran by and old lady, full of antiques and vintage kimonos. The store caught my attention by the Noh masks hanged outside. I caught my eye in a cotton kimono, and decided to try it. Seeing that I was interested in it, the old lady showed me the proper way to wear it, tying a sahs around my waist, with a beautiful bow at the back. She knew some English, and explained me some things. Her name was Komatsue Hatue. I felt well served and welcomed, and loved the way she dressed me, so I ended up buying the kimono.Continuing walking through the same street, I ended up, finally, at where I wanted to start: Nezu Shrine.Let me give a brief explanation here: A shrine is not a temple, and a temple is not a shrine. Temples are from Buddhism, and shrines are from Shinto, considered in Asia a religion.Maybe I really wasn't expecting anything from Nezu Shrine, so my surprise was good, because the place was just so beautiful! It was a big space, with two or three temple buildings, and lots of trees around. The houses were in wood, with incredible wood-work on the ceilings, with flowers, dragons and drawings carved in colours.Something that impressed me was the tranquility and peace I felt when I was there. Such a good energy!Like in almost every temple or shrine, there was a little store, where I bought a wood frame, typical at temples. I don't remember if I've told here, but these wood frames
are used as a sheet for prayers or thanks, by anyone who wishes. You buy one, write something at the back and hang somewhere in the temple, on a tree or an specific place separated only for the wood frames. It is nice because every temple has its own drawing. I loved the idea and decided to start a collection of Japanese wood frames, and the good thing is that they are cheap, around 600 yen each, depending where you buy it. I only wrote two in my stay there, and they are top secret!The greatest thing about Nezu Shrine, beside the good energy and beautiful houses, was the red Tori gates. Yes!!! Tori gates, something I was longing to see in Japan since forever, and there it was, hidden in Yanaka. It's breathtaking because there are so many of them, and they are so red, is shocking to the eye (and super photogenic). I heard that these are put there as an offering from traders and merchants for good profit for their business. Each of them has something written on it in black. You can imagine I spent some time there, appreciating the beauty of it, and trying to take the perfect picture (all by my self).I left after a long time, realising if I didn't leave now, I wouldn't visit any other place that day. The walk to find something else was a little tiring, because of the sun and heat, and that everything was up the streets. But somehow was lovely to be a little lost in Yanaka, because it felt like I was exploring something super Japanese. People in the streets would look me weirdly, as always, and I felt great!On the way to something, I found an extremely old traditional Japanese house, intact and perfect, on the top of a hill. I ran there and looked inside expecting to see something, but the blinds where all down and I could only see the outside and something of the garden. It was still incredible to see it, and I imagined how it would be to live in a place like this. AWESOME.After a little bit of walk, I found a great store, Isetatsu, known as the oldest paper shop in town. It produces exclusive patterns in washi, the traditional japanese paper, Edo style. But Isetatsu can't be compared with Kyukyodo, nonono. The patterns are really beautiful, modern and interesting. I wanted to have everything, but it was so expensive that I couldn't even make an effort. So I bought a postcard, with a print I loved, to remember it.In the same street as Isetatsu, there was a cute little vintage shop called Biscuit, with everything but clothes. There were vintage napkins, cans, toys, photos, postcards... everything you can imagine, vintage, and in a super nice selection. Great to discover peculiar items.When I left, I found loads of temples and shrines, one next to the other, and some of them were even private. The first, not in my guide (so I don't have the name of it), was the
most interesting because it was full of people inside. There was a house next to eat, with people working in the kitchen. At one point, I turn my head and see a chubby monk walking towards the house, only wrapped in a towel and holding a long bath sponge. He looked at me, laugh hard and ran to the house. That was priceless. All of that with a gong sounding from inside (ringing for 20 minutes).The next place I visited was Zensho-en temple, famous for its huge gold statue of a goddess. The temple was surrounded by a cemetery, like a lot of them are. They are not scary at all.Continuing my walk I found Yanaka cemetery, which is incredibly big, and apparently had a lot of temples inside, which of course I wanted to visit. I got lost, typical, and walked for a long time... it wasn't nice at all. I got tired of seeing the same things, and I was scared of walking in circles! But after some time I found a temple, and it was a nice one, Tenno-ji, the temple that has a 17th century Buda statue. There was some kimono-clad ladies walking out from there, all in immaculate dresses. The atmosphere there was also nice.Already super tired, I decided to call it the day and go back home. I took a train back to Shibuya and had a short walk in Takeshita street, just to look and some fun things, and I found a cool Harajuku style shop, with used clothes, shoes and wigs for sale. So much fun!Two friends from my host arrived in Tokyo to visit him, so we went to the same place I ate in my first night in Tokyo, Tenka restaurant. I ate like a pig and was very happy.When I got home, I noticed a new tattoo in my feet... a sun tattoo... oh god, I forgot how the sun really is, and what he is capable of!Konbanwa people! See you next time!xxHantei restaurant.Funny little car.The contact lenses I bought... apparently you can only be loved by someone if you wear contact lenses. And jewel colour ones.The super awesome candy shop.Noh mask at the antique store.The antique store.Dressed to impress.A Tori at the entrance of Nezu Shrine.Nezu Shrine.A private house next to Nezu Shrine.The little shrine shop.In doubt which one to buy! I ended up buying the pink one, but I'm still in doubt!!Amazing ceilings.The Tori gate.The traditional japanese house.Isetatsu paper shop.A cat shop?Biscuit.The wrapped-in-a-towel-monk temple.Sneaking in...Zensho-en temple.A super cool Buda.Street of Yanaka.A cemetery.Yanaka cemetery.Tenno-ji temple.Tenno-ji Daibutsu.So beautiful!Cute old ladies in kimono.Super ultra mega cute old man taking pictures of everything!Sneaking in again...Harajuku doll shoes.Some of the used Harajuku style clothes.The super cool Harajuku style wigs.At Tenka sushi.
Ikeda ManabuIkeda ManabuMuran FukudaYayoi Kusama Back in Tokyo, I spent my Sunday walking around cute little streets around Shibuya and Harajuku. Tokyo is an incredibly big city, but when walking on the small streets that leads to the big avenues, it seems that you are transported to a small town on the country side of Japan. A nice sensation that I had when I arrived in Tokyo, together with the fact that the city is quiet, believe it or not. Those small streets are practically empty, narrow, with no sidewalks, and full of residential buildings and occasional hidden stores. Oh, and tons of hair dressers. Tokyo is FULL of beauty salons everywhere you go, it is funny.We started with Muji Cafe (Yes! Muji has a coffee shop in Tokyo, can you believe it?), a cozy and warm place perfect for a Sunday brunch, which sells Muji food (what?), Muji drinks and Muji everything food related. There is a beautiful bread selection just at the entrance of the store, and a chandelier made of bottles illuminating the place. The tables are placed in front of a salad bar. Although everything looks delicious, I've heard it is nothing impressive. I didn't try any food, but a very surprising tangerine juice. A juice that turned out to be a jelly drink! Very surprising but interesting texture, and of course I had fun with it. I think it is worth a visit for the place and packaging of Muji products.Walking through the neighbourhood of Aoyama, we stopped at an incense shop, a favourite of Rodrigo's, which was a discovered by a friend that once lived in Tokyo. Lisn has the most exquisite incenses I've ever smelled. I've never been a fan of incense, but I got crazy with Lisn' selection, one smell more sophisticated than the other. They were displayed separately in one of the corners of the shop, a very beautiful photography exhibition on the Japanese artist Takaya with his flower and vegetables headpieces. This type of work is called "Hanayuishi", considered to be a form of art in Japan.Walking in the direction of our restaurant, we've encountered a "fake church", very famous and coveted by young Japanese couples. As we know, in Japan everything is a little different, but as every culture, they have their own ways of celebrating marriage and doing ceremonies. Well, there are some couples who want to get married like we westerners do. Church, white dress and all. This might have something to do with their obsession about other things western as well, such as our eyes (a lot of women in Tokyo have eye operation, to open the eye and look more caucasian), our different hair and eye colour, France and french people, among other little things. These "fake churches" have usually a very European style and an actor or a judge as a priest. Some wealthy families do two ceremonies, the western and the traditional one. I think that is awesome, you can have two parties and be whoever you'd like to be on that day, and of
course, dress the part. Every wedding shop I've passed by until now have only strapless wedding gowns on the windows, something I would have expected already.We had lunch on a restaurant which operates on an old bath house, called Maisen. The entrance is very nice, very traditional Japanese, with a wooden balcony and posters full of ideograms on the walls. We sat on a bigger room inside the restaurant, which had really big celling, and I figured that was the actual bathing area. I ordered a Katsudon, which came with a rice bowl topped with fried pork with egg on top. Delicious! And on the set I had soup and some nice vegetable nibbles to make everything better. And of course, a lovely iced tea which only the Japanese can make.Since I've arrived in Japan, I had so much rice it is incredible I didn't feel sick of it, it only makes me want more! Yes, rice with everything!!!!The restaurant was hidden in one of those small streets I spoke about on the beginning of this post, and had another surprise some yards afar. Rodrigo took me to one of his favourite coffee shops here in Tokyo, called Lattest Omotesando Expresso Bar. The coffee shop is run by two friends with cool style and knowledge of the grains. The place is incredibly cozy and cute, with simple decoration and nice atmosphere. Flower arrangements hanged from the ceiling and put in details around the room, and some sneakers were being sold in one corner next to the door. A good way to sell your first collection as a struggling young designer! I ordered a beautiful Caramel Lattest, which came on a shot cup with my name (with 'y' but that doesn't matter, it was made for me obviously), and looked like a piece of art on how the caramel, the coffee and the milk mixed together. And the taste... oh the taste. It was heavens with caramel, probably the best caramel coffee I've ever tasted. And I love caramel, I'm crazy about it, everything with caramel please (Oh, rice and caramel??? Maybe is good, I'll never know until I try it!). Not the best coffee, because Coffee Ten-Irukaya (which I spoke about on this post) was the best of my life, but a totally different taste. This was good and fun, and the taste lasted long in my mouth.As I love coffee, we went to another coffee shop almost on the same road, wanting to continue the coffee tasting, and we stopped at Omotesando Koffee a little hidden gem of Harajuku. The entrance is a little confusing, you don't know if it's a garden, a house or a coffee shop, but as soon as you go in, a small patio awaits you, this time full of people holding their coffee cups and talking in groups. Sliding the doors to the coffee shop, which consist in one room and a bar, you notice that you are inside of a traditional Japanese house, where the room is the main living room. A very stylish guy
receives us, and I order a Ice Capuccino, which was served to me on a plastic cup, with a straw, some bubbles and chocolate powdered on top. Super good and refreshing, and with great coffee. Again, totally different taste from Lattest, but really well made and tasty.With our cups in hand, we took the tube to Tokyo Station, heading to Bakufu Ohno's exhibition on fish illustration at Tokyo Station Gallery. The exhibition was on fish and sea life illustration, all more or less from the 19th and middle 20th Century, and perfectly done in an almost scientific way. Other artists apart from Bakufu were being displayed, and my favourite pieces were the lobsters by Chisato Sugiura, amazing colours. The gallery's shop is really good, with interesting pieces from around the world.After the exhibition we went to the Imperial Palace, which was one of my very touristy things to do. To get to the place of interest, we walked through a garden with very well maintained and trimmed trees (all in a funny and cool shape) that surrounded the moat surrounding the Palace grounds. The place of interest is a place where you can see a little piece corner of one of the buildings of the Palace, across a beautiful bridge. Nothing overwhelming, but it feels nice to see a piece of the Emperor's house. Maybe that building is not a residential one, but we can imagine that it is so and that the Emperor is looking at us from his bedroom window!And on the other side of the garden, the skyscrapers surround the Palace grounds showcasing a beautiful modern Tokyo view, which I learned to love since I arrived.For dinner, we chose Nabezo a shabu shabu restaurant, a similar type of food to the Chinese hot pot. On your table, you have a small stove with a saucepan full of water (nice water with a special sauce, which is the secret of every restaurant), and while the water is in the stove, you go to a buffet to chose what you'll put in your pan. There are tons of types of mushrooms, Japanese pasta, vegetables, tofu and potatoes for you to chose from. When you've chosen everything, you can start putting on your pan for it to cook. Oh, and they also give you two trays of very thin pork and steak for you to put in the water as well. It is super fun and delicious, it was a great dinner.A great Sunday full of gastronomic discoveries, just the way I like it!x---De volta a Toquio, passei o domingo andando e descobrindo lugares fofos em Shibuya e Harajuku. Toquio e uma cidade incrivelmente grande, mas ao entrar em uma das ruelas que cortam as grandes avenidas, voce parece ser transportado imediatamente para uma cidade do interior, andando em ruas estreitas praticamente vazias, sem calcada e com predios residenciais pequenos, e algumas lojinhas escondidas por ai. Foi uma sensacao gostosa que tive da cidade logo que cheguei (junto com a percepcao de o quao silenciosa e Toquio, por incrivel que pareca).Comecamos com
o cafe da Muji, loja famosa no mundo inteiro com utensilios japoneses extremamente uteis e inteligentes, com design simples e pratico. A Muji, sendo japonesa e adorando um cafezinho, abriu um cafe perto da Aoyama Dori, e e um lugar perfeito para um brunch gostoso de domingo. Dessa vez nao fui comer, mas so curtir o local. Paes de todos os sabores e recheios sao servidos logo na entrada da loja, que esta decorada com um lustre lindo de jarras e cheia de pequenas embalagens fofas de produtos da marca.Escolhi um suco de tangerina para tomar, e sentamos em uma mesa de madeira bem grande, onde havia espaco para muitas outras pessoas. O ambiente era bem gostoso, aconchegante e familia. Meu suco acabou me surpreendendo, era na verdade uma gelatina de tangerina liquida. Sim, foi engracado descobrir isso, mas estava gostoso. Gelatina liquida na garrafinha, quem imaginou? Claro que tinha que ser no Japao!Alem dos paes e derivados, ha um bar de saladas e sanduiches perto das mesas, onde tem uma variedade interessante de comidas. Mas ouvi dizer que so aparentam ser saborosas, mas na verdade nao sao la grande coisa. Acho que e um lugar legal de conhecer e curtir o ambiente, talvez para fazer isso que fiz, sentar, talvez tomar um cafe (que nao tem como ser ruim em Toquio) e olhar para as pessoas. Mas so as embalagens e o lugar super valem a pena uma visita.Continuamos andando pelas ruelas perto de Aoyama, e paramos em uma loja de incenso que o Rodrigo adora, descoberta por uma amiga dele que ja morou em Toquio. A loja se chama lisn, e tem incensos deliciosos, de todos os cheiros imaginaveis, mas todos sofisticados e a maioria inusitados. Eu nunca fui muito fa de incenso, mas esses eram incriveis e tive que admitir que adorei. La tambem havia uma pequena exposicao de fotografias de "Hanayuishi", pelo artista Takaya. Hanayuishi e uma profissao de fazer arranjos para a cabeca com flores e plantas. Aqui no Japao essa profissao e considerada uma arte, como muitos trabalhos manuais, que todos os japoneses dominam.Resolvemos ir almocar e no caminho do restaurante, encontramos uma das exclusivas "igrejas de mentira", tao cobicadas pelos jovens japoneses. Sendo de uma cultura bem diferente da ocidental, os japoneses tem costumes e cerimonias diferentes, claro. O casamento e geralmente em templos ou shrines, e os convidados usam suas melhores roupas, que geralmente sao os kimonos, e a noiva uma roupa tradicional de sua regiao. Mas, com o contato com o ocidente, alguns japoneses querem mais e mais se parecer como nos. Muitos fazem a operacao do olho (para aumentar o olho e fazer uma curvinha na palpebra, vou falar disso em um post especial no futuro), usam lente de contato, pintam o cabelo, e entre muitas outros exemplos, se casam em cerimonias como as nossas, e isso se trata do pacote completo. Existem, como eu disse, igrejas falsas, geralmente com arquitetura gotica ou algo bem frances ou europeu, que proporcionam uma experiencia bem ocidental. Mas, no caso dos japoneses, nao ha padre
catolico, e sim um ator ou juiz. E claro, os noivos se vestem a carater, e para as mulheres os modelitos mais requisitados sao os vestidos tomara que caia, o que ja era de se esperar. Algumas familias privilegiadas fazem duas cerimonias de casamento, uma tradicional e outra ocidental. Acho o maximo essa ideia, principalmente porque voce tem duas festas e pode ser o "personagem" que quiser.Fomos almocar em um restaurante que opera em uma antiga casa de banhos tradicional, e converteu os saloes de banho em restaurante. Se chama Maisen e fica la em Harajuku. A entrada e bem legal, tradicional com um balcao de madeira. Ficamos em uma sala maior, com teto bem alto e mesas grandes. Nao havia muita decoracao, mas o lugar era confortavel e o atendimento foi bom. Comi um tipo de Katsudon, que vinha em uma cumbuca de arroz, e o porco empanado coberto com ovo, e estava uma delicia! Com direito a sopa e mais uns petiscos para beliscar, e claro, um cha gelado delicioso. Desde que cheguei no Japao, eu tenho comido tanto arroz, que fico impressionada que ainda nao enjoei! Adoro comer arroz, tudo com arroz por favor!!!Como o restaurante ficava em uma rua escondida por ai, continuamos andando para descobrir novas lojinhas. Bom, para eu decobrir, porque o Rodrigo ja conhecia e ja e um insider. Tanto que me levou em um cafe incrivel, chamado Lattest Omotesando Expresso Bar. O cafe foi fundado por duas amigas super alternativas e estilosas, e tem um interior bem simples, mas de bom gosto. E um ambiente jovem e acolhedor, e ao mesmo tempo que e uma cafeteria, tambem se faz de galeria e mini loja. Por volta do ambiente, lindos arranjos de flores foram pendurados como lustres, e alguns detalhes de flores foram espalhados por ai, todos de uma floricultura em Shibuya. Tambem estavam vendendo tenis de corrida no canto da sala, o que achei engracado, mas uma boa ideia para young designers vender suas criacoes.Mas agora vamos para a parte mais legal do Lattest, o cafe. Nao e so um lugar bonitinho e cool, mas la servem um dos melhores cafe que ja tomei. Claro que nao chega aos pes do Coffee Ten-Irukaya (que fui no meu segundo dia aqui no Japao, e postei sobre aqui), mas chega quase la. Escolhi o Caramel Lattest, que veio em um copinho com meu nome (com y mas ta valendo!), e o jeito que o caramelo, o leite e o cafe se misturaram pareceu uma arte. E a arte nao era so o visual, mas tambem o gosto. Uma maravilha, a mistura dos sabores foi deliciosa e deixou um gosto doce e longo no paladar, e com muito gostinho de quero mais.Curtindo muito minha experiencia cafeina, eu fiquei realmente com gostinho de quero mais, e acabamos resolvendo fazer uma especie de coffee tasting e ir para outra cafeteria especializada, quase na mesma rua, chamada Omotesando Koffee. A entrada ficava escondida por tras de varias plantas, dando para um pequeno jardim onde algumas pessoas estavam sentadas conversando com