Well, I spent most of the day thinking and worrying about my french bulldog Lulu and how best to proceed with her soft palate surgery, then the other most of the day thinking and worrying about the show’s third season. In the case of the latter – I mean, sure, I know where I want to go, have worked out all of the character and story progressions, but actually getting there is always the challenge as, invariably, you get these inevitable curveballs thrown your way. It’s alway so unnecessarily complicated. It shouldn’t be but, really, welcome to show business.
But I’ll save that little rant for another time.
Tokyo! Day #5! Another 22k_ steps! We covered a lot of ground today!
Apparently, outside of Tsukiji Market, there’s not all that much to do in Tokyo early morning. Rather than hang around our hotel room, Akemi and I decided to take a walk through Hibiya Park – a little oasis in the heart of the urban mayhem.
We’ve been missing our dogs so much that we’ve resorted to pestering local dog owners for some time with their pooches. Pictured above – Akemi and her now pal.
We arrived early in Naka-Meguro, about an hour and a half before lunch, so we took a stroll through the neighborhood and came across this little dessert(ish) shop. Akemi had apparently heard about it. The shop’s owner incorporates vegetables into all her desserts in an effort to get kids to eat their veggies. A few of the menu items on display…
Not so strawberry shortcake, in which the strawberries are replaced with Japanese tomatoes and greens.
Avocado cheesecake!
And the intriguing but daunting asparagus tiramisu.
I know, I know. Perfect Weird Food Purchase of the Day potential. But I didn’t want to ruin my lunch.
We ended up at my favorite pizza join in Tokyo – Pizza Seirinkan. Your choices here are simple. You can have the Margherita. Or you can have the Marinara.
One of the cheapest meals of this trip and one of the best.
Akemi agrees.
For dessert, a stopover at Jean-Paul Hevin. Despite the triple chocolate order, our waitress professed her faith in our ability to polish them off. Her confidence in us proved well-founded.
I picked up this terrific Crayon Shin-Chan t-shirt at the T.V. Asahi store. This way, there will no longer be any confusion when I visit set.
With the entire afternoon in front of us, we decided to broaden our artistic horizons by checking out some of the local exhibits. First up: The Dali exhibition and a Venetian Renaissance Paintings exhibit at the National Art Center.
Then, we walked over to The Mori Art Museum for The Universe and Art, part of the TeamLab exhibitions Akemi was very eager to check out. This one was more her speed. Some of my highlights…
Part of artist Laurent Grasso’s Studies into the Past.
Artist Jia Aili’s “Hermit from Planet Dust”.
Jules de Balincourt: “Cosmic Chaos” and “Space Investors”.
Sorayama Hajime’s “Sexy Robot”.
Artist Neri Oxman’s “Saturn’s Wanderer”: “Saturn’s Wanderer is created to adapt to the vortex storms on Saturn. It has a large surface area that would contain bacteria that converts the planet’s hydrocarbons into edible matter.” Love it!
A little something to add to Melissa O’Neil’s wardrobe in season 3?
SEArch/Clouds AO: “Mars Ice House” – 3D printed resin model with wood base, internal light.
And then there was an amazing, full room video experience from TeamLab. A small excerpt:
With that done, we headed to Roppongi Hills for a little more walking. And I happened to come across these DC comics-themed characters –
Hey, check it out! It’s Jason Momoa!
Finally, for dinner, we went to L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon.
The sea urchin in lobster jelly with cauliflower cream to start.
And a chartreuse souffle with pistachio ice cream.
Today, we head to Akihabara – Electric Town – Anime Central – Geek Heaven.
Perhaps another Periscope coming your way?
Try not to worry too much about Lulu, or the various curve balls that they’re throwing you about the show and S3 for that matter. These things have a way of working themselves out, and there’s probably nothing that can be done today about them anyway. Or just set aside a short time as “worry time” and get it as much out of your system as you can. (Of course, this is coming from a dedicated worrier, so I need to take my own advice!)
That park looks really beautiful. So relaxing – I hoped it helped!
Those veggie desserts look… different. I don’t really like food that promises one thing but delivers another, less appetizing thing. But the rest of that food looks amazing! And I will agree, that pizza looks simple and perfect.
The museums look very interesting. I hope you also took notes on the “sexy robot”! THREE needs to encounter that version of the hospitality android concept.
Those pictures are amazing. Pictures of food are hypnotizing. I feel a bit like Mowgli looking into Kaa’s eyes (I can’t look away!). If we even visit Tokyo I will have to experiment – though I’ll always be careful. 35 or so years ago I worked as security at Panasonic while in school. One of the executives shared a box of Japanese treats with us. I was excited when I a box of multi-colored ‘candy’ that looked like saltwater taffy. Well, the saltwater part was right anyway. I popped them in my mouth expecting sweet and got brightly colored dry salted fish of some sort. My tongue and brain were in shock NOT CANDY! NOT CANDY! 🙂
Spoiler alert! Two makes it to season 3; Joe’s picking out wardrobe for the character. Yay!!
Yes please, on the periscope.
Wonderful pictures! You see the coolest things. Jean-Paul Hevin looks very tasty! You’ve been posting such wonderful food porn. It’s hard to imagine the pizza was the most enjoyable.
Don’t worry about Lulu yet. If it is surgery and you have a good vet, this might be the answer you’ve been looking for. Sending prayers and {{{Hugs}}}, Enjoy your trip and let the future take care of itself…
I could love on triple chocolates … oh my yes (typo, “live on”, but love works as well). And I think I could do avocado cheesecake at least once.
The Dali Exhibition … now I need to talk my husband into a trip to Japan. If he can’t take time off, maybe I can sweet talk the Hattoris into a little floor space. Oh yes. Seeing the seaside Dali sculpture collection in Malaga was amazing, I could follow his art around the world if allowed to do so. Ah, goals.
Hermit from Planet Dust is impressive. An artist I need to check out.
The sea urchin dish is entirely too pretty to eat.
{{sigh}} I swear, I’ve put on 5 pounds just from reading your blog and seeing the food photos.
Otaku rocks!
P/S: Typhoon Malakas … go away.
Vegetables = dessert…not. If I’m gonna eat dessert then I want the real thing!! Loaded with fat and wholesome goodness!
Love the park pics, dog owners beware if Akemi is near. Tell her “hi” and to please give the pups back! The art was interesting but I prefer the pics of pizza, sea urchin, soufflé and the DC comic-themed characters…cute!
Like the t-shirt, now we know who’s in charge! That will look nice with your suit jacket.
Regarding S3…tie up some of those loose ends…like who survived that finale!! What was in that box at Dwarf Star Tecnologies? Where did Alexander Rook escape to and who/where is that creepy old man from S1 Ep12? Who was in the AU Marauder that stowed away on our Raza? What’s Reynaud up to? I’d imagine she’s pretty pissed at the Raza crew. I’ll stop…for now.
Hit a comic book store……sure you will find interesting comics
Just checked out your last two periscope sessions. Busy, mega crowded. I’d still be in culture shock and in sensory overload. I’d be so busy trying to do everything! Both you and Akemi look refreshed and relaxed or is that just the rain?
***Spoilers***
Regarding that finale:
It looks like Kierken was “blown-up”, is that the case? Though I didn’t trust him, I’d so love for him to survive(somehow) just so Six & Two can say “told you so”.
Will Six be upset that he didn’t share the “Android shut down” code once he learns that Ryo was able to use it to incapacitate Android to obtain the Blink Drive and secondarily allows Misaki to poison/kill Nyx. If he’d told somebody they could have changed it, esp after Four became not Four anymore and left the ship. Six knew what he was planning and desperately wanted that Blink Drive.
What’s up with Lt. Anders? (Glad he’s back by the way!) I couldn’t tell if he had a GA uniform on or is he working for someone else? Tell me he saves Three!!
Which takes me to Three, will he ever win a fight? OMG, can that man take a punch or what!! That’s assuming he survived the explosion!
I’m not as worried about Two because…she’s Two and has more lives than a cat. That leaves Six who I’m hoping had time to get to the Maurader and Five who was last seen with Trauffault. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the last 15 minutes of the show was a prediction seen by Nyx and she comes to the rescue…stopping Ryo, saving the station and herself!
A little something to add to Melissa O’Neil’s wardrobe in season 3? Hmmmm, are you planning to live to see the next day?
The park looks nice. Not so sure about the veggie deserts, though, but the chocolate looks delectable.
Perfect Weird Food Purchase of the Day potential.
maybe tomorrow?
Your latest periscope was dark and rainy but that just made all the sights brighter and showier. Brought out the beauty and fun of all their colorful lights.
Those desserts look soooo good. But adding vegetables… um… no.
Hey yeah, that is Jason Momoa! Japanese must like big handsome guys.
Like Tam said, “this might be the answer you’ve been looking for”. No matter what, Lulu is in good hands.
No shopper was injured during my 91 year old dad’s trip to Costco. Just a few smiles and very wide maneuvering around him as he rode in the electric cart up and down EVERY isle. I lost him at one point. Saw a white haired person gliding down a row a couple of isles over, so I raced over there. Came around the corner and it was another elderly citizen. I stopped and looked around, and then realized, there were at least 20 white haired seniors moving about. I found him a minute later. He did not buy anything but I think he enjoyed the freedom of driving again even if it was just a Costco electric cart.
Since I went to Tokyo a year ago, your pictures and descriptions are far easier for me to imagine! Except for the fine dining of course. We opted for ramen and yakitori places instead. Oh, and KFC one desperate night. It’s great waking up early, though, and we did enjoy a sushi breakfast at Tsukiji.
We were there in a horrible heat wave complete with incessant cicadas. Looks like things are more comfortable for you, yay!
Wow! Huge entry today.
You’ll make the right decision for Lulu. And we’re all pulling for her.
I’d love to try that avocado cheesecake. Chances of me getting to Japan are slim unless I’m kidnapped and dropped there. So maybe I’ll try to make it myself.
Tiny blue Jason M. is too cute. Is that a puppy or a plush toy? That doggie has to be CGI. That pic of the trees and lake, wow, just gorgeous. Love the sci fi art, I want that swirly Saturn vest.
I LOVE Arrian and everything about the Five/Arrian action, the actor from Between was terrific. Love seeing two seasons worth of baddies in one place plotting and scheming. Melissa nailed the “first we save the galaxy” line. Six and Kierken’s interaction was intriguing; what is Kierken up to? He certainly doesn’t care about saving a bunch of suits. Misaki never learned to share, I’m guessing. I won’t spoil, I hope we see Misaki and Nyx battle again. Everybody looked kick ass and Two’s asymmetric do was fabulous. Kudos to make up, costumes, props, set designers and all the hard working cast and crew for making the finale look eye-poppingly fantastic.
Hi there! Been reading your blog since early season 2 of Dark Matter and I love it a lot (both the blog and the show!).
One request for season 3 – please add some LGBT-ness to the show! You mentioned in an interview, I think, that it wasn’t something you really considered at the time – please, consider it. Straight relationships aren’t the only ones that can be used to illustrate characters. (As a fangirl, I would love to see a non-straight Five, but *any* indication that there are non-straight characters on the Raza would be lovely to have.)
Good luck with Season 3!
Good Morning Joe and Akemi,
Hope you had a good restup for today’s adventures.
Meanwhile – I’m with MaggieL80 – Vegetables = dessert…not. If I’m gonna eat dessert then I want the real thing!! Loaded with fat and wholesome goodness!
But I would try the avocado thing…love avocados.
possible spoiler:
Been thinking about the black mobile gunk that Rook infected Three with.
That’s Dark Matter????
Now to forage for something to eat.
I R hungry.
Stunning artwork….. Gorgeous food.. Apparently we (Melbourne) recently won a World Pizza Competition… Cool t-shirts 😊
I know it’s difficult not to worry about your babies, but it sounds like Sis has it all covered & you can talk to the vet as soon as you return.
Re Season 3 of Dark Matter – remember how worried you were about Season 2 and look at how awesomely that turned out.
Cheers, Chev
@Ponytail That must have been a wonderful day for your dad. You’re such a great daughter.
The park looks incredible. I think I would try the vegetable-laden desserts. At least with the vegetables I like. Avocados would be a no. I love that Akemi is wearing her Hugs for Pugs shirt. I know you both miss them. They are absolutely in the next best hands. The exhibit was WOW!!!! The TeamLab video was WOW!!! I love going to museums. Art museums are a bit difficult for me, but this art I would like. I would choose the margherita one. The chocolate desserts — O>>>>M>>>>G. The little dog is so cute and looks very happy to get some love from Akemi. The little Jason Momoa figurine is adorable.
Love reading about your adventures.