Travelling on the Driverless Yurikamome Train: From Toyosu to Daiba over the Rainbow Bridge

After the hottest summer on record, it finally looks as if autumn is here, and evidence of that are the red spider lilies, known as higan-bana (彼岸花), sprouting up everywhere. Indeed, the name of the flower itself - higan - comes from the fact that they bloom around autumn equinoctial week which is called aki no o higan (秋のお彼岸) in Japanese. The middle day of equinoctial week comes on the day of the autumn equinox known as shūbun no hi = 秋分の日 (a national holiday that fell on September 23rd this year). Higan refers to the Buddhist holiday celebrated in Japan during both the spring and autumn equinox. Buddhism is of course closely related to death in Japan - funerals are Buddhist and graveyards are found in temples - so it is no surprise that the lily is also known as the flower of death. This image is strengthened by its presence in graveyards and at funerals: being poisonous to small animals they used to be planted around graveyards in Japan's pre-cremation days to stop the dead bodies being eaten (today, of course, cremation is obligatory in Japan). But whatever the deathly connotations they have, they are a welcome sight after a scorchingly hot summer.

The cooler weather means more opportunities for getting out and about and I enjoyed visiting two popular spots in recent weeks, Toyosu, home to the biggest fish market in the world, and Odaiba, the popular entertainment and dating spot, both sited on an artificial reclaimed man-made island in Tokyo Bay. To get to both places you need to take the Yurikamome Line, an automated, elevated, driverless train which runs from Shimbashi, travelling over the marvellous Rainbow Bridge and offering great views from the large windows. Yurikamome actually means black-headed gull, a common sight in Tokyo Bay and also the official bird of the Tokyo metropolitan government!

 

Taking the Yurikamome Line - officially called the Tokyo Waterfront New Transit Waterfront Line - from Shimbashi, over the Rainbow Bridge, the first stop is Daiba (台場). While the station is called Daiba, this refers only to one district of the island; most people use Odaiba which refers to the entire Tokyo Waterfront Secondary City Center (東京臨海副都心). Despite having various restaurant and entertainment options, Odaiba itself is surprisingly quiet, though it seems to be trying hard to redefine itself as a romantic mecca for couples and is loaded with heart-themed photo opportunities and illuminations. Recent efforts to attract more visitors include plans for constructing one of the largest fountains in the world, a 2.6 billion yen (!) fountain to be completed by March 2026. Mysteriously, there is also a large Statue of Liberty here, 1/7th the size of the original!

 

Continuing on the Yurikamome Line from Odaiba, the final stop is Toyosu. Tsukiji, the famous fish market originally founded in 1935 had limited scope for growth due to its central position near Ginza, so the market moved to Toyosu in October 2018. Today, the new Toyosu Market is almost twice the size of Tsukiji, making it the biggest fish market in the world. Like Tsukiji, it is still possible to see the famous tuna auctions (free but you need to book early!) and to enjoy a breakfast of super fresh sushi or sashimi at one of the many restaurants which moved over from Tsukiji. One of my favourite snacks sold at the various street stalls is not actually fish but the delicious rolled egg (tamago-yaki); they say that you can tell a good sushi restaurant by the quality of the tamago-yaki! I recommend Marutake for an unbeatable dashi-taste that apparently has remained unchanged over its 100 years of history.

 

After eating your fill in Odaiba and Toyosu, my personal favourite thing to do is to get a hotel room with a view of the Rainbow Bridge which looks spectacular at night. Two recommendations are the Intercontinental Tokyo Bay and the (slightly cheaper) Grand Nikko Tokyo Daiba. Just be sure to book a room high up with a clear view of the bridge. Why not tell me in the COMMENTS the location of your favourite go-to place to unwind, rest, and treat yourself - in Tokyo or anywhere in Japan!

Doraemon and Dorayaki in Miyashita Park

Since returning to the Japan from the UK at the end of July, two new all-time summer highs have been set, first on July 30th in Tamba, Hyogo (41.2°C) south of Tokyo quickly followed a few days later, on August 5th, by a record 41.8°C  in Isesaki City, Gunma Prefecture, north of Tokyo. Since then, there have a record ten consecutive days of 35°C or higher here in Tokyo, what the Japanese call mōshobi (猛暑日). Moshōbi are typically accompanied by "tropical" nights where the temperature doesn't drop below 25°C - though, interestingly, outside Japan this is defined differently as 20°C! The high temperatures during the day are accompanied by the shrill buzzing of the cicadas - a constant natural symphony that marks the height of summer, like a warning alarm to stay indoors. The picture shows a cicada (right) who has just crawled out of its larval skin (nuke-gara in Japanese) leaving an amazingly complete exoskeleton behind (with a zipper-like slit running right across the back).

Poster protesting Nike buy out 2008

I did venture out into the heat of central Tokyo once - blog material has to be collected! - and visited Miyashita Park in central Tokyo. Miyashita Park (宮下公園) is one of the few green spaces in Shibuya. The park has a chequered history, being moved onto man-made land in 1964 at the time of the Olympics before being bought out and renamed by Nike in 2008, something which was controversial at the time due to charging fees and clearing of the homeless (here). In 2017 it closed for redevelopment before reopening in 2020 as a shopping complex with the park, cafe, hotel, and sports facilities on the roof - now all accessible for free. The sports facilities in particular are impressive with a climbing wall, skateboard park, futsal courts, and a beach volleyball arena.

One interesting landmark on the roof is a bronze statue of Doraemon labelled “Doraemon: Door to the Future” (ドラえもん みらいのとびら）with visitors invited to "walk through to follow their dreams to an exciting future." The four-meter tall monument, which features ten other characters in addition to seven gadgets including the famous Dokodemo (Anywhere) Door which allows you to travel wherever you like, was created to mark the 50th anniversary of the “Doraemon” manga series that started its run in 1970 (here). Doraemon, a male robotic cat from the future, is one of the most beloved characters in Japan - he was appointed the country's anime ambassador in 2008 - and the TV series has been broadcast in fifty-five countries (including India, the UK, and the US). Doraemon is the highest grossing movie franchise in Japan and, alongside Pokemon and One Piece, is a global franchise: over 300 million copies of the manga have been sold worldwide and some forty films have collectively grossed over $1.8 billion. The franchise is also said to generate over $500 million in annual global retail sales from merchandise and other products.

The localisation of the show - the way it underwent cultural adaptation to better fit with local audiences - was interesting: names were changed, gender stereotypes were tweaked (scenes of boys crying were cut in the US for example), and Japanese food was swapped with local equivalents (such as pizza and popcorn in the US). One food that was originally cut but made a return after a popular outcry was Doraemon's favorite dorayaki (どら焼き) - a traditional Japanese sweet of azuki red bean paste sandwiched between two small pancakes, sometimes with cream. It was given a variety of English names from "fudgy pudgy pie" in the early manga, to "yummy buns" and "dora-cakes/bean jam buns" in the TV series.

Doraemon holding a plate of dorayaki

For Japanese fans, however, changing the name of the eponymous dorayaki is sacrilegious since Doraemon's fondness for them forms a central part of many of the storylines and key scenes.  Dorayaki themselves have been said to reflect the essence of Japanese culture in various ways: as a symbol of Japanese hospitality and gift-giving, an example of how Japan integrates ancient traditions with modern innovation, a reminder of one's first love, and a symbol of positive emotions like warmth, kindness, and affection (here). Fans can eat the traditional sweet snack, as well as various other character themed dishes, at Doraemon F's Kitchen (ドラえもん F'sキッチン) in the Miyashita Park shopping centre below the park itself. When I went there was quite a queue, particularly Asian tourists. There is in fact a Doraemon museum in Kawasaki called the Fujiko・F・Fujio Museum named after the author who lived there. Please let me know in the COMMENTS if you want me to visit - I'd be interested to know just popular the robot cat with no ears actually is outside of Japan!

Japan in the UK - and Liverpool Football Club in Tokyo!

In the month of July, I was lucky enough to escape the Tokyo heat and travel to two much cooler destinations - the UK and to Belgium. In the UK, it was interesting to see the growing Japanese influence, especially in food: Itsu noodles (including ramen, katsu, and miso flavours), miniature sushi lunchboxes, and iced matcha are everywhere - and the restaurant chain Wagamama has become almost a national institution (even if no-one knows the word means "selfish" in Japanese!). But influence is not limited to food - the Ghibli classic My Neighbour Tottoro  was being performed in the West End at the Gillian Lynne Theatre by none other than the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC)! 

As for Belgium, I really enjoyed watching the Japan National Team play in the 6th IQA (International Quadball Association) World Cup in Tubize, competing against thirty other nations. As I have written before, Quadball is the real life manifestation of the fictional Harry Potter sport Quidditch and Japan has a thriving - and very diverse and inclusive - Quadball scene. The Japanese squad did incredibly well - coming 12th overall - and garnered widespread support, even from the French fans (they played the French twice, narrowly losing both times!). This article gives the final rankings plus lots of data analysis, reporting that, "Japan is now the most beloved team on the international quadball stage"!

British Prof (left) with some of the Japanese Quadball team's many admirers

(c) Japan Football Association

Talking of sport, I got back to Japan in time to see my favourite Premier Football team Liverpool take on Yokohama Marinos in Tokyo. Baseball has long been the most popular spectator - and unofficial national - sport in Japan, but the popularity of football has skyrocketed since the establishment of the J-League in 1993. This site gives football as the third favourite sport in Japan (at 25.0%) narrowly behind sumo at 27.3% but in terms of TV viewing it is second. Interestingly, the men’s national team is known as the Samurai Blue, and the women’s national team is known as the Nadeshiko (撫子) after a Japanese flower, although the term Yamato Nadeshiko refers to the "ideal" Japanese woman, beautiful, virtuous, graceful, modest - and devoted to household duties! Another interesting fact, mentioned in a previous blogpost, is that the giant three-legged Shinto crow-god Yatagarasu (八咫烏) is the Japan Football Association's official emblem. In Japanese mythology, Yatagarasu guided Jimmu, the legendary first emperor of Japan to victory, so it was adopted as a symbol of victory for the emblem.

But on July 30th in Tokyo there weren't many three-legged crows on view - instead it was the Liver bird amid a sea of red shirts in Yokohama for the match between Yokohama F. Marinos and Liverpool (highlights here). It was held at the 72,000 capacity Nissan Stadium as part of the Meiji Yasuda J. League World Challenge 2025 (明治安田Jリーグワールドチャレンジ2025). Tickets were sold out, with the official attendance given as 67,032, setting a new record for the highest attendance ever at a J-League hosted match. As a Liverpool fan, it was spine tingling to see the whole stadium - including the Marinos fans - erupt into a rendition of "You'll Never Walk Alone" (yuruneba in Japanese!). The song was adopted by a different J-League club, FC Tokyo, during the pandemic as a way to connect with fans when they couldn't attend matches in person: the Marinos fans actually sang a Japanese version of the Les Misérables song, "Do you hear the People Sing?" (民衆の歌) which was almost as moving. 

The Liverpool players certainly seemed interested in Japanese culture: after arriving in Japan they enjoyed a morning of meditation at Eko Temple (回向院) in Ryogoku, Tokyo! But Liverpool's connection with Japan goes beyond the presence of Wataru Endo, the captain of Japan's national team, in its squad. Last year, Japan Airlines (JAL) became the club’s official airline partner. Moreover, at a press conference in Tokyo ahead of the game, the LFC Foundation announced a new partnership with The Nippon Foundation (日本財団) aimed at empowering young people. But the longest running collaboration is with Kodansha, one of Japan's largest publishing companies, which has been going since 2021. April saw a new ‘LFC × KODANSHA’ collection that combines football culture with Japan's manga art, featuring illustrations by Japanese artists depicting dramatic scenes and iconic moments from the club's history: check out some of the various hoodies, T-shirts, art prints, keychains, water bottles, and acrylic stands here. LFC and Kodansha even created unique calligraphy inspired shirts produced in collaboration with renowned calligrapher Riu Akizuki for the Yokohama match. Finally, there is a special exhibition running as I write entitled, "Where Impossible Happens" which is inspired by the match known as the miracle of Istanbul (the 2005 UEFA Champions League Final vs. AC Milan). This exhibition features a special original manga by Yasuda Tsuyoshi plus the opportunity to take the final penalty kick in the legendary final! The exhibition runs until August 3rd - check it out here. Football - or Quadball! - fans, feel free to leave a message in the COMMENTS.

Shin-Okubo: Tokyo's Vibrant Korea Town

 

June 10th marked the official start of the rainy season in the Tokyo area, but as this article discusses, we've seen relatively little rain and instead some very hot days including the year’s first “extremely hot day” known in Japanese as a mōshobi (猛暑日), a day when the temperature reaches 35℃ or above. The high temperatures, accompanied by heatstroke alerts, in a month when the weather is usually pleasant bodes ill for the months of July and August. But at least the flowers are blooming when they should - as written previously, the rainy season always coincides with the flowering of beautiful hydrangeas (ajisai), particularly in blue and purple, as pictured above (either side of a brightly coloured lily).

Man made disasters, such as global warming, are one thing, but Japan also has more than its fair share of natural disasters. The March 2011 Tohoku Earthquake (3.11) was the strongest in Japan's recorded history and the 4th biggest worldwide. Tokyo itself is way overdue: the Great Kanto Earthquake was in 1923 and the chances of a big one hitting the capital in the next 30 years is said to be in the region of 80% with an estimated death toll of 300,000. One comic book has recently gone viral because it predicts the actual date of the next big one. In the 1999 manga, The Future I Saw (Watashi ga Mita Mirai), Ryo Tatsuki, gives July 5th as the date of the next mega quake. The fact that Tatsuki also correctly predicted the March 2011 disaster has caused a slew of cancellations, especially from Asian tourists. Completely coincidentally, my trip to the UK is booked for July 4th...

South Korean tourists are the 2nd largest group of foreign tourists in Japan and many do seem to be asking whether it is safe to travel (here). Japan has a complicated history with Korea, particularly following Japan's annexation of the country in 1910 and the ensuing period of colonial control. Even since the normalisation of diplomatic ties in 1965 - this year is the 60th anniversary - relations have been rocky, though in recent years feelings of affiniity between the two countries have definitely grown. In contrast to the population of Korean oldcomers - those who came or were forcibly brought to Japan in the pre-war period and were either unable to or chose not to go back after the end of the war - newcomer Koreans started to increase in the 1980s, with many, especially exchange students, settling in Shin-Okubo, Tokyo's Korean Town, just one train stop from Shinjuku. The South Korean drama boom starting in 2004 spurred interest in Shin-Okubo, and the second, third, and fourth waves (han'ryū=韓流), centering on K-pop and Korean film and Netflix dramas, only heightened interest in Korean pop culture and the popularity of "Little Seoul."

Today, Shin-Okubo is a remarkably vibrant place, a hub for South Korean culture, full of Korean street food, restaurants, (super)markets, convenience stores, cafes, bars/clubs, stores with K-pop merchandise, and Korean make-up and fashion shops - not to mention street performers. Just turn right when you exit the station but be prepared for a mass of humanity as you crawl along the street - it gets really crowded, especially at weekends. But those who associate Shin-Okubo with only Korean culture may be surprised to learn that the area also has large South-East and South Asian populations. In particular, the Nepalese community has been growing rapidly in recent years, so much so that the area is also sometimes referred to as "Little Nepal" (together with the area north of Asagaya). I visited the Nepalese restaurant Rato Mato which blew me away both with the quality of the food and the prices. So, which would you choose - Korean, Nepalese, or something else? Let us know in the COMMENTS!

Japanese Green Tea and the Global Matcha Boom: The Shift from Drinking to Eating

The Golden Week holiday of early May now seems a long way off, but one of my best memories was picking tea leaves in a local tea field (ochabatake), making my own hand-rolled tea at home (temomicha), and enjoying shincha (新茶) brewed from the first or youngest leaves of the season (hatsu-zumi=初摘み). Shincha - literally "new tea" - is of unparalleled quality, bright green in colour with a sweeter taste than regular green tea, and characterised by a vibrant aroma and a hint of umami. As someone who drinks green tea every day - sometimes from vending machines but mostly in tea bag form - the taste of properly brewed shincha was something of a revelation; in Britain it would be the difference between a teabag in a paper cup (link) and a proper cuppa brewed in a pot. The pictures below show how to make the perfect cup of shincha: note the importance of letting the boiling water first cool to at least 80℃ before pouring over the leaves in the pot and also the short brewing time, just thirty seconds or so.

❶ Pour boiling water into cups or a special yuzamashi cooling pot ❷ Put a spoonful of tea leaves into the (unwarmed) pot ❸ Once the water temperature has dropped below 80℃ (70℃ for a sweeter cup) pour into the pot (kyūsu) ❹ Wait 30 seconds and enjoy!

While sencha (煎茶) - non-powdered green leaf tea - has traditionally been the mainstay harvest, recent years have seen a big shift to tencha (甜茶) - powdered green tea that is the raw material for matcha - thanks to the global matcha boom. According to the Japanese Association of Tea Production, tencha production almost tripled between 2008 and 2023. While sencha is grown without covering, tencha requires reduced sunlight so, as can be seen in the top left of the picture, tea fields need to be covered in black sheets as harvest time approaches. 

Picking tea leaves at Sugimotoen. A special thank-you to Kumiko for letting me join on the fly!

The demand for matcha has been driven by a shift from drinking matcha - think of the creamy, slightly bitter umami drink made popular by the tea ceremony - to eating products made from it. The trigger for this was not a Japanese company but an American one: Haagen-Dazs' 1996 introduction of green tea ice cream - made, in a stroke of genius, just like shincha, from the first leaves of the season (初摘み茶葉) - was a massive hit. Today, as the visual here and picture below shows, there are matcha cookies, cakes, chocolate, gelato, jelly, pancakes, parfaits, and even chewing gum, not to mention the various new types of drinks such as lattes, cola, cocktails, and smoothies. Packed with antioxidants, the health benefits - especially in comparison with coffee - are pretty undeniable: I honestly can't remember the last time I caught a cold!

Which brings me back to my own tea-making experience at home. After picking the tea leaves, and enjoying a green tea and yōkan jelly break with the other pickers, the owner gave me a quick introduction to the factory and explained the process of tea production. Put simply the leaves are steamed, kneaded, and dried, removing all moisture and leaving the kind of tea leaves we are familiar with. As this video shows, the principle is the same even when making hand-rolled tea (temomicha) at home, so I headed back with my 130g of fresh leaves and gave it a go. After repeatedly steaming (in the microwave) and kneading, I eventually got something resembling tea leaves, but they were still a little moist - the factory dries them in 80℃ heat for 20-25 minutes - and as a result the aroma of the tea was on the weak side. Any thoughts on green tea and the matcha boom? Let me know in the COMMENTS below!

Play to Win: Japanese Traditional and Modern Games

Even though it's only April, it already feels like summer in Japan, with temperatures pushing 30℃ here in Tokyo in the run up to the start of the traditional Golden Week holidays. There has even been talk of Japan's four distinct seasons disappearing under the threat of global warming; certainly, while summers have grown longer, spring and autumn seem to be over in the blink of an eye. For example, while wisteria usually blooms late April to early May, it's already been out for a while. 

Recently, I've been exploring the gaming scene in Japan, with a visit to a board game cafe in Shinjuku (pictured above), an escape room game in Asakusa, and a game and hobby shop in Akihabara, the centre of Japanese geek (otaku) culture. The big two games historically are Go (igo in Japanese) which came over from China around the 7th century - modern variants include Gomoku, Renju, Reversi, and Othello - and shōgi (Japanese chess), a unique 16th century Japanese invention that allows captured pieces to be reused. The latter is the most played board game in Japan, with an estimated 20 million knowing the rules and ia also very visible in the media: Sota Fujii, who became a professional shōgi player when an junior high-school student, is a national icon, newspapers carry shōgi puzzles daily, and there is even a dedicated shōgi TV channel featuring live games! 

An even older game is Sugoroku (双六), a 6th century creation similar to backgammon that morphed into a Snakes and Ladders type dice-based picture boardgame (e-sugoroku) popularly played at New Year. But probably the most interesting for non-Japanese players are the variants of karuta playing cards - from the Portuguese for letter or card - which involves matching one half of a card, which is read out aloud, with its corresponding pair. This can be highly competitive when played as a duel when players slap the matching card before their opponent - check out this video from the 64th All Japan Championships (第64回全日本選手権大会) held only a few days ago! Manga lovers may be reminded of Chihayafuru which played a big role in popularising competitive karuta. While the video shows Uta Garuta (hyaku-nin isshu=百人一首) featuring waka poems by 100 great poets, there is also a kid's version, with cards representing the 47 syllables of the hiragana alphabet. Great for learning Japanese!

But it is not all about tradition. Modern Japanese board games which have enjoyed critical acclaim overseas include the 2012 Love Letter, the classic 2014 Deep Sea Adventure, and the road building 2016 masterpiece Tokyo Highway. For a great overview of these three and traditional games as well see here. And for those in Japan, why not check out the gaming convention known as Game Market, which started in 2000 as a fan-run event and is now held in May and November at Makuhari Messe just outside of Tokyo? Another recommendation is the 4-day September Tokyo Game Show which, in contrast to the analogue focus of Game Market boasts mainly video game content, though it does include some board games as well as lots of cosplayers! In sum, the gaming market in Japan is booming, perhaps reflecting the fact that in Japan gaming is more than just entertainment - it’s a deeply ingrained social activity. What's your favourite game? Have you ever played a Japanese game? Let me know in the COMMENTS!