Major Motoko Kusanagi is on the case.

Good morning, Ginza!

Akemi and I headed to Tokyo Station today to do some Christmas shopping (snacks for sis).

After which we hit Sanshuya, a shokudo that offered a host of rustic dishes like fried oysters and yellowtail teriyaki –

I’ve always hated teriyaki and always assumed it to be a Western creation (sort of like General Tso Chicken), so imagine my surprise when I saw it on the menu.  Intrigued, I ordered it to see if the versions I’d tried in North America were culinary bastardizations of the original.  As it turned out, nope.  Both versions pretty equally awful.  The oysters were pretty good though.

A big walking day saw us leaving Ginza shortly after lunch for a full afternoon in Shibuya – where we would eventually have dinner.

But first, we hit the Shibuya location of I’m Donut?  that offered more of everything this place is known for: More delicious donuts!  More people waiting in line ahead of us!

Spoiler alert: I did the pistachio cream.  Again.

Then, we walked around the corner to Nanaya Aoyama for their famed matcha gelato that comes in seven different choices ranging from mildly to mucho…

Dr. Blackjack and I both had the delightfully bitter-sweet #7.  Akemi just had a tea.

This one packs a wallop.

A couple of buildings I never noticed the last time I visited.  Are they new?

A river runs through it.

Nightfall in Shibuya

This looks like a fun place to end the night

For dinner, we went to Sakai Shokai, an izakaya, where we sat at the counter, chatted with the chef, and ate…a lot…

Shirako tempura, grilled beltfish, stewed ankimo, grilled mentaiko, rice with bonito and cured egg yolk – and much more.  Definitely putting this one on our return list.

And THAT is pretty much a wrap on this Japan trip (minus whatever we can squeeze in before our 6:50 p.m. flight!).  Thanks for joining.  See you all in Toronto!