In Tokyo there is, like in many other large and small cities, a group on meetup.com for vegans. In my experience, these sorts of things can be very hit or miss, but we decided to check it out since we didn't know many people in Tokyo, or any vegans for that matter. This particular group has 1 or 2 meetings a month at the various vegan restaurants around Tokyo, plus a montly all-you-can-eat at the Pink Cow in Shibuya.
Our first experience we met some really nice people, but had some meh kind of food at Ohana Brown Rice Cafe. Unfortunately, nobody there we spoke to was vegan, mostly vegetarians and omnis, so we thought that was kind of weird. Fast forward another 2 weeks and we go to the Pink Cow for the monthly buffet, which was delicious although a bit expensive at Y2800/person. Again, we meet some really nice people but only vegetarians and omnis! It seems like this is one of the biggest and most active meetup groups, so I think alot of expats and Japanese alike just attend for that alone.
So another month goes by, and its time for another Pink Cow buffet. We sort of hemmed and hawed about whether or not we should go, but I decided we could since things have been working out pretty well lately with our finances. Success! We meet another vegan and he is almost as shocked as we are. We also met another guy who was interested in switching from omni to vegan, and hopefully we can get together and I can educate him on the process.
I think I learned that it is important not to be too judgmental about where people are on their path to veganism. Its true that we were both vegetarians not all that long ago. Although in some ways vegetarians can be a vegans worst nightmare, as vegans, it is our job to gently nudge them along the way. I wish someone had been there to give me that nudge, maybe it wouldn't have taken me nearly six years to figure it out! (thanks Vegan Freak from my local library).
Showing posts with label tokyo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tokyo. Show all posts
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Monday, August 10, 2009
This past week..
We have been up to a lot of different things.. I already had one job interview at an international kindergarten (unfortunately it didn't seem to go very well). It was a large group interview where the owner mostly just talked about her school. The only question she asked me was very well explained in my cover letter. Anyways~ I have another interview in Yokohama tomorrow, so hopefully that will go better.
Dan and I are planning on checking out some game centers tonight. We have been researching about UFO catchers since winning is not as obvious as it looks. Last time we were at one we tried winning a Rilakkuma towel that was in a rectangular box with no luck. So this time we are going to be prepared.
This past week we did a lot of stuff, and ate at a lot of delicious vegan restaurants.. I guess I will do a short day-by-day rundown.
Sunday 8/2
We checked out of the hostel and were picked up by Dan's friend Take and Take's mom. They drove us from Asakusa to Shinagawa (which ended up taking around about an hour). When we got to their house, Take's mom made a huge delicious vegan dinner. We even got to use their nice Japanese bath complete with hot sauna :)
Monday 8/3
Dan and I decided to go out and see Shinjuku. We stopped at a number of stores including DiscUnion, MaruiOne, Innocent World, Don Quixote, and MaruiCurren to name a few. It was really hot that day so we also checked out a few game centers we happened to walk by. When we got back home, we went with Take's family to a vegetable restaurant named めい (Mei). Take's mom made sure to get us completely vegan food.. the main dish was shabu-shabu.
Tuesday 8/4
Dan stayed at home on Tuesday while I went out to Harajuku to meet up with Tokyo lolitas (as well as lolitas visiting Tokyo). I did PuriKura with them and sat around and chatted while they ate a little cafe on Omotesando. After that, I split up with them to go eat at a vegan cafe called Pure Cafe. I ordered a sandwich and dessert as the same time, which turned out to be kind of a mistake.. since I ordered the Yomogi Sweets Sandwich. The sandwich turned out to be more sweet than the peanutbutter cheesecake I got for dessert. They were both delicious though, just a little too much together. I decided to eat at Pure Cafe because it was right by Natural House. I had to stop there to buy some vital wheat gluten.. it was surprisingly easy to find. It was next to all the wheat flour and the package said グルテン (guruten) on it.
I returned home with the wheat gluten and Dan and I prepared dinner for everyone. We made chickpea cutlets (from the Veganomicon) and lentil soup. The ingredients for the chickpea cutlets were suprisingly easy to find, all though a bit expensive. We decided to try using another cheaper kind of bean next time we make the recipe.
Wednesday 8/5
We really wanted to eat at Deva Deva Cafe in Kichijoji, so we pretty much planned our day around it. The Vegan Japan Restaurant Pocketguide talks pretty highly about it and mentioned that they had vegan mayonnaise-potato-corn pizza.. so we just had to go see for ourselves. The cafe is very small, but cute and clean on the inside. The offer a range of vegan desserts that changes daily. Dan and I shared the "mayo pizza" and a "pork" cutlet burger.
They were both incredibly delicious. I couldn't decide which I like more. Afterward we ate a piece of their peach pie complete with vegan whipped cream on top. We found out later that Deva Deva Cafe offers a free dessert if you visit while it's raining!
After we ate we walked around and found Inokashira Park. It is a short walk from Kichijoji station and is home to the Ghibli Museum.
While we were walking around the park we were lucky enough to come across a guy that was getting ready to perform a comedy routine. It was in Japanese, but it was still really funny :)
So this is turning out to be a rather large entry.. I think I will let Dan finish up with the rest of the week on his next entry :)
Dan and I are planning on checking out some game centers tonight. We have been researching about UFO catchers since winning is not as obvious as it looks. Last time we were at one we tried winning a Rilakkuma towel that was in a rectangular box with no luck. So this time we are going to be prepared.
This past week we did a lot of stuff, and ate at a lot of delicious vegan restaurants.. I guess I will do a short day-by-day rundown.
Sunday 8/2
We checked out of the hostel and were picked up by Dan's friend Take and Take's mom. They drove us from Asakusa to Shinagawa (which ended up taking around about an hour). When we got to their house, Take's mom made a huge delicious vegan dinner. We even got to use their nice Japanese bath complete with hot sauna :)
Monday 8/3
Dan and I decided to go out and see Shinjuku. We stopped at a number of stores including DiscUnion, MaruiOne, Innocent World, Don Quixote, and MaruiCurren to name a few. It was really hot that day so we also checked out a few game centers we happened to walk by. When we got back home, we went with Take's family to a vegetable restaurant named めい (Mei). Take's mom made sure to get us completely vegan food.. the main dish was shabu-shabu.
Tuesday 8/4
Dan stayed at home on Tuesday while I went out to Harajuku to meet up with Tokyo lolitas (as well as lolitas visiting Tokyo). I did PuriKura with them and sat around and chatted while they ate a little cafe on Omotesando. After that, I split up with them to go eat at a vegan cafe called Pure Cafe. I ordered a sandwich and dessert as the same time, which turned out to be kind of a mistake.. since I ordered the Yomogi Sweets Sandwich. The sandwich turned out to be more sweet than the peanutbutter cheesecake I got for dessert. They were both delicious though, just a little too much together. I decided to eat at Pure Cafe because it was right by Natural House. I had to stop there to buy some vital wheat gluten.. it was surprisingly easy to find. It was next to all the wheat flour and the package said グルテン (guruten) on it.
I returned home with the wheat gluten and Dan and I prepared dinner for everyone. We made chickpea cutlets (from the Veganomicon) and lentil soup. The ingredients for the chickpea cutlets were suprisingly easy to find, all though a bit expensive. We decided to try using another cheaper kind of bean next time we make the recipe.
Wednesday 8/5
We really wanted to eat at Deva Deva Cafe in Kichijoji, so we pretty much planned our day around it. The Vegan Japan Restaurant Pocketguide talks pretty highly about it and mentioned that they had vegan mayonnaise-potato-corn pizza.. so we just had to go see for ourselves. The cafe is very small, but cute and clean on the inside. The offer a range of vegan desserts that changes daily. Dan and I shared the "mayo pizza" and a "pork" cutlet burger.
They were both incredibly delicious. I couldn't decide which I like more. Afterward we ate a piece of their peach pie complete with vegan whipped cream on top. We found out later that Deva Deva Cafe offers a free dessert if you visit while it's raining!
After we ate we walked around and found Inokashira Park. It is a short walk from Kichijoji station and is home to the Ghibli Museum.
While we were walking around the park we were lucky enough to come across a guy that was getting ready to perform a comedy routine. It was in Japanese, but it was still really funny :)
So this is turning out to be a rather large entry.. I think I will let Dan finish up with the rest of the week on his next entry :)
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Electric City Akihabara
Of course, last Saturday we woke up extremely early as usual, I think around 6AM. We still aren't over our jet lag, but I think we are getting better day by day. Anyway, we decided to head over to Akihabara because we wanted to buy an HD camera for the trip. I know buying electronics isn't exactly fitting with a minimal lifestyle, but we wanted to document our trip for y'all as well as our families and friends, plus we make youtube videos and things like that to document our art projects. The camera that we were looking for was reportedly around $200 USD but we couldn't find it at any of the big stores like Yodobashi or Bic Camera. Ah well, a similar model was more than a hundred more than we wanted to spend so we decided to pass for now and just use my camera phone, which seems to take unusually good pictures.
Nonetheless, Akihabara was a lot of fun. We first went the wrong way out of the station, and wondered where all the crazy anime and video game stuff was. After walking a bit, hitting up a combini and getting some natto, and sitting and people watching, we headed back into the station where we saw a sign for “Akihabara Electric Town”. Headed out of that exit, we saw the amazing sight that is Akihabara, complete with numerous small electronics shops. We did encounter an unusually fluent-in-english Japanese guy, but he was trying to collect money for some sort of trip so we kind of blew him off. Anyway, walking a bit into the main area, we saw a cute little toy shop that had all kinds of rilakkuma, video game, and other otaku type stuff. Even a mega man energy drink shaped like his energy tanks! We spotted a staircase that headed up, so we thought “oh lets check out the upstairs”. Little did we know we were in an otaku style department store that had 8 or so stories, and each floor had maybe a dozen shops!
We spent probably 2 or more hours there, just checking out all the merchandise. There were some interesting shops, like high end audio stores, and a really crazy model showcase, but mostly... porn! Lots and lots of porn, anime-style and regular. Laura was a bit weirded out, although I pretty much expected it. Even for me though, it was kind of shocking to see so many people just standing around browsing hentai manga and seeing the figures with like triple F cup breasts was a bit unnerving. Regardless, if you are open minded I recommend checking it out for the pure spectacle.
Afterwards, we went to a huge game center, and I got to play the new version of Beatmania IIDX. I used to be pretty obsessed with this game, but I hadn't really played in years, save for a few times right before we left for Japan. Everyone else there was amazing, though, I was pretty much shown up by a duo of highschool girls. Laura really liked this game called JuBeat, where there are 16 little screen placed inside buttons, and then these markers fly at you 3D style, and you tap them to the beat. Pretty dope.
We were pretty beat, so we headed back to the hostel, and hit up the 100 yen store for some food to cook. We ended up with maybe a pound of udon, a half pound of frozen veggies, and some fried tofu slices for 300円. Pretty decent, I put in some shoyu and some mirin for the broth. We checked for a dumpster, but they were inside a back area. Ah well! Afterwards, we went out for some beer with other people at the hostel, and then stopped at Mos Burger for a midnight snack of vegan Kinpira burgers and fries :)
Nonetheless, Akihabara was a lot of fun. We first went the wrong way out of the station, and wondered where all the crazy anime and video game stuff was. After walking a bit, hitting up a combini and getting some natto, and sitting and people watching, we headed back into the station where we saw a sign for “Akihabara Electric Town”. Headed out of that exit, we saw the amazing sight that is Akihabara, complete with numerous small electronics shops. We did encounter an unusually fluent-in-english Japanese guy, but he was trying to collect money for some sort of trip so we kind of blew him off. Anyway, walking a bit into the main area, we saw a cute little toy shop that had all kinds of rilakkuma, video game, and other otaku type stuff. Even a mega man energy drink shaped like his energy tanks! We spotted a staircase that headed up, so we thought “oh lets check out the upstairs”. Little did we know we were in an otaku style department store that had 8 or so stories, and each floor had maybe a dozen shops!
We spent probably 2 or more hours there, just checking out all the merchandise. There were some interesting shops, like high end audio stores, and a really crazy model showcase, but mostly... porn! Lots and lots of porn, anime-style and regular. Laura was a bit weirded out, although I pretty much expected it. Even for me though, it was kind of shocking to see so many people just standing around browsing hentai manga and seeing the figures with like triple F cup breasts was a bit unnerving. Regardless, if you are open minded I recommend checking it out for the pure spectacle.
Afterwards, we went to a huge game center, and I got to play the new version of Beatmania IIDX. I used to be pretty obsessed with this game, but I hadn't really played in years, save for a few times right before we left for Japan. Everyone else there was amazing, though, I was pretty much shown up by a duo of highschool girls. Laura really liked this game called JuBeat, where there are 16 little screen placed inside buttons, and then these markers fly at you 3D style, and you tap them to the beat. Pretty dope.
We were pretty beat, so we headed back to the hostel, and hit up the 100 yen store for some food to cook. We ended up with maybe a pound of udon, a half pound of frozen veggies, and some fried tofu slices for 300円. Pretty decent, I put in some shoyu and some mirin for the broth. We checked for a dumpster, but they were inside a back area. Ah well! Afterwards, we went out for some beer with other people at the hostel, and then stopped at Mos Burger for a midnight snack of vegan Kinpira burgers and fries :)
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