Books, Curry, and a little bit of Sunshine

Hi everybody,

To quote from Rick Kennedy’s stupendous guidebook, Little Adventures in Tokyo: A Guide to Strange Sidetrips and Unusual Ways of Having Fun (best guidebook of Tokyo or any city that I’ve ever read, the only one I bothered to bring with me—and anyone who’s read it themselves probably sees his fingerprints in a few places on this blog):  “Tokyo organizes itself in wonderous [sic] ways.  To buy a Buddhist altar for the home, everyone knows you should go to a certain street in Ueno where there are a dozen stores selling Buddhist altars; the street is not far from the block where there are dozens of shops selling used motorcycles.”

That’s how it is in Japan, especially in Tokyo:  You pick one thing, and you do it better than anybody else in the world--Whether you’re a person, a business, or a whole neighborhood.  So then it’s a good thing that my work is within walking distance of Jinbocho, a neighborhood known to specialize in two things:  Used bookstores and curry shops.  Yup, those are up there with whiskers on kittens, bright copper kettles, and warm woolen mittens (haha not the version you were expecting, huh? :P)

And while there are a few large, multi-story endeavors in the vein of Tattered Cover or Powell's, 95% of them are tiny independent stores with piles after piles of books cataloged in no particular order.  Block after block of this:

I'm pretty sure that if you look hard enough and you can find anything

I'm so glad that not every shop has an English section, or I might never leave

Oh, and even more lucky, I just so happened to wander on down there during their annual sidewalk sale.  Meaning that a half kilometer (5,000 furlongs) of sidewalk, which is already lined with bookstores on one side, spends a week with temporary plywood shelves lining the other side

Books!  For blocks!!!  I had a smile a mile wide

It's absolute paradise

And the curry shops, oh yes the curry shops.  I’ve only just begun to explore, but so far I have yet to be disappointed.  Even during the busy lunch hours, the service gets dizzyingly fast but the quality never lapses.  Gets from pot to plate to counter so quickly I had to photograph the dish at one lunch spot through a palpable cloud of steam

Waiting for it to cool down before I started eating it was not an option.  Don't even joke like that

But my favorites so far is one of the most famous ones in the area, Bondi Curry.  I love it partly because the curry is so delicious, and partly because it’s pretty much the ultimate embodiment of Jinbocho.  Not only is it on the second floor with but a tiny sign on street level, but you literally have to walk through an old used bookstore (this one specializing in classic manga) to get there.  And trust me, it’s worth the little bit of trouble to find it

Do not be distracted by the books!  It's curry time!

The curry comes in a separate pourer, keeping the rice from getting soggy

Halfway between a Japanese and an Indian curry (the Indian Embassy is just down the road, so there are as many Indian curry places as there are Japanese in Jinbocho), with just enough butter to make the entire dish creamy and decadent.  While it lacks the punch of Yakuzen Jinenjo (which I adore but fully admit that it tastes like you got socked in the mouth with spices), if you want smooth and rich and slightly sweet . . . forget about it, Bondi is the place to go

Anyways, Jinbocho has quickly skyrocketed up the list of my favorite neighborhoods in Tokyo.  Oh, and I almost forgot perhaps the best part . . . see, if you’re not in too much of a hurry (I'm usually not) and you don’t mind a bit of a walk (I usually don’t) and you’re inclined to take advantage of a warm and sunny Autumn afternoon (I usually am), well . . . the Northern edge of the Imperial Palace grounds are just about a kilometer (6.2 troy ounces) away from Jinbocho, where there are plenty of places ideal for a picnic as the sun shines through the year’s last few weeks of green leaves.  And Bondi offers their curry to-go.  The hardest part is choosing where to picnic

Noah out