Posing on the street for amateur photographers in Akihabara (page 54).
Some styles, of course, persist. Gyaru (a word derived from “gal”) street fashion, which is characterized by bleached or dyed hair, highly decorated nails and heavy make-up such as dark eyeliner and false eyelashes, has been dominant since it first came to prominence in areas like Shibuya and Harajuku in the 1970s. Yet, even that has branched off into numerous sub-gyaru styles.
You get a real mix of styles in the shops and streets of Shibuya (page 90).
Harajuku (page 84) is the place to check out the latest fashion trends among teens and young adults.
Hime-gyaru, for example, favor a princess look with pink or pastel dresses adorned with lace and bows. The ganguro look that was big in the 1990s and early 2000s brought dark fake tans and outrageously bleached hair to the basic gyaru style, and then warped into the manba and yamanba styles—look out for the same fake tans but with a mix of bleached and neon hair and heavy white make-up above or below the eyes. Confused? Unless you are a teen, you should be.
Some themes last too. Cuteness (kawaii) never seems to go out of fashion, whether reflected in the cuddly character goods and sparkly trinkets high schoolers have hanging from their ubiquitous cell phones or the distinctive mannerisms some seem to affect, be that pouting or raising the pitch of their voice to dog whistle range. Whatever you think of the fashions and styles, you have to tip your hat to Tokyo’s youth for one thing—they are not afraid to express themselves and Tokyo is a much more vibrant and dynamic city for it.
Among the suits and Western-style fashions, traditional clothing like these kimono are still a fairly regular sight. On Coming of Age Day, on the second Monday of January, woman aged 20 celebrate adulthood by wearing kimono like the ones pictured, with a fake fur stole. Some people wear kimono to events such as weddings, while others working in traditional stores or restaurants might wear them to work.
Outside the Louis Vuitton store in Ginza (page 44). No matter how long or deep Japan goes into recession, the high-end fashion brands still remain in demand.
A FOODIE MECCA
From simple ramen to sublime kaiseki-ryori, from kebab trucks to Michelin-starred French cuisine, the breadth and quality of food in Tokyo has made the city a gourmands delight, a city many call the culinary capital of the world.
Lanterns outside a restaurant often highlight the type of food and drink on the menu. This particular place has (left to right) oden, soba, seasonal kushikatsu and shochu.
To put Tokyo’s culinary clout into numbers, there are somewhere near 100,000 licensed eating establishments in Tokyo, the top end of which have garnered more than twice as many Michelin stars as any other city in the world. At last count, Tokyo’s 281 starred restaurants were way ahead of the 70 in Paris and 67 in New York.
Restaurants in Tokyo do not only cover the full range of Japanese cuisines but also European, Chinese, Korean, Southeast Asian and almost everything else.
Fresh sashimi (slices of raw fish).
A street vendor cooks up yakisoba (fried noodles).
Casual yakitori (grilled chicken) restaurants in Yurakucho, a stone’s throw from the plush Ginza district.
To judge Tokyo simply by its plushest restaurants, however, does not do the city and Japan’s culinary heritage justice. Tokyo is the foodie capital of the world, not just for its high end but because of its incredible epicurean depth and breadth, across which chefs from each culinary walk of life tend to share the same level of craftsmanship and dedication, be they focused on perfecting a single broth and noodle combination or creating seasonal delicacies delivered with artistic aplomb and traditional elegance.
Specialization is a defining trait, from affordable restaurants that serve only soba noodles to highly refined establishments where elaborate courses can revolve around a multitude of uses of tofu, and from low-budget kaitenzushi restaurants, where customers pluck the nigiri from conveyor belts, to $200-plus a head sushi-ya in well-heeled areas like Ginza and Roppongi.
Fast food the traditional way. Counter-only places like this often offer great tasting food at reasonable prices for a quick lunch or dinner. Looking at the signs, this one does a super cheap 500 yen lunch box of grilled eel on rice.
A teppanyaki restaurant. As with many sushi and tempura restaurants, one of the great things with teppanyaki (besides the hotplate-fried meat, seafood and vegetables) is being able to watch the chefs prepare your food up close.
Some areas even specialize. The Okubo area, next to Shinjuku, has Tokyo’s best selection and biggest concentration of Korean restaurants. Nearby Hyakunincho is best for “ethnic” (meaning Southeast Asian) cuisine. Yokohama has Chinatown. More cosmopolitan locales, such as Roppongi, Aoyama and Omotesando, are the places to look for both traditional high-end dining and innovative modern takes on Japanese cuisine, not to mention international fare of all kinds.
In less fashionable areas, Shimbashi is great for boisterous after work izakaya, although such traditional watering holes are found everywhere. Ryogoku, home to Japan’s main sumo stadium, is known for restaurants serving chanko nabe, the hearty hotpot of meat, vegetables and seafood eaten by sumo wrestlers. The Tsukishima area is known for a Tokyo oddity called monjayaki, a runny batter containing a mix of chopped vegetables, meat or seafood that is then grilled into a sticky mess on hotplates built into each table. The variety is such you could spend a month in Tokyo trying a different lunch and dinner every day and still barely have scratched the surface.
Skewers of yakitori on the grill.
Fish cooking on an open hearth. Dishes like these are a perfect match for beer and saké.
At a sushi restaurant.