Unexpected turns

8 May 2015

There's a beef festival going on at the park near the apartment I'm staying at. It's quite exciting; beef from different parts of Japan is brought in and people can try.

I've walked past this festival for so many days, and although I intended to have either Santouka or Menya Musashi for brunch, in the moment I changed my mind and eventually decided to give it a shot.

Kagoshima gyudon. It was delicious, even the onions!

From Shinjuku, I actually planned to take the train down to Shibuya, but again, I changed my mind in on the spot, and somehow ended up walking to Yoyogi park. 

It was a relatively unexciting walk, but it was beautiful. I've come to learn that I don't think that much  (or at all) when I'm walking, unless I'm walking with people. 

Meiji Shrine

I didn't do a lot today, because I ended up in a cafe and writing up the previous entry. But when I was done, I decided to look for food before heading back, and I found this okonomiyaki place online. I was hesitant at first, because there's this image in my head that okonomiyaki has to be eaten with people, because it's more fun that way, and people will judge you for eating it alone. But, well, it's not like I was going to have anyone else to ever eat it with me on this trip, so I decided to just go.

Turns out, it wasn't such a bad experience. Maybe because the place was still relatively empty; it was like 4pm when I went. But there was something enjoyable about experiencing it alone.

And again, it was delicious. I couldn't flip the pancake all at once, so I cut it into quarters. Looks terrible, but it was delicious. It was a huge portion, and I struggled to finish it. My only gripe was that by the time I was halfway done, bits of the bottom of the other half started getting burnt (because it was on the hot plate for too long). Maybe okonomiyaki is meant to be eaten with friends after all, but for practical taste reasons rather than for social reasons.