The best thing about Roppongi is...

Azabujuuban. Ok, it's not Roppongi, but it is next door. When the Hills feel a little too much like a mall, a little too chic, Azabujuuban brings the cute and cozy. I really truly love it, hopefully not only because I'm a girl D: Maybe it's not as "Japanese" as some areas, but I'm fond of Euro-J fusion (esp France and Italy), so I don't really mind.

I was thinking about how to compare it to San Francisco, since it does feel a lot like home to me, and I think that I arrived at three neighborhoods:

Noe Valley - Family friendly, bakeries, toy shops, a videogame/card shop with kids sitting outside playing or trading. Lots people walking or riding bikes, and some strollers, too.

North Beach - Definitely has a Euro-vibe, and the way at least one of the streets kind of a widens to make an island in the middle (they were having some sort of unofficial-looking market there over the weekend) for some reason makes me think Washington Square Park even though it's nowhere near as big or even that similar..... Plus there the cafes everywhere give that vibe.

The Mission (well, Valencia) - It's just so hip :P Cute clothing shops, etc. It's a little more utilitarian, too, with groceries, convenience stores, 100 yen shop, pharmacy, etc, but there are enough restaurants and DUH, the amazing vegan place (more on that later) to make it feel very much like my hood in San Francisco. Actually, there is a Mexican restaurant, too, called Frijoles. I have yet to try it, but I'll be sure to report back or at least tweet when I do. Maybe...Friday? I gotta say, it looks legit (!)

The other funny thing about Azabujuuban is that I see WAY many more white people there than I do in Roppongi. I mean, it's not like there are not foreigners in Roppongi (otherwise it wouldn't be stereotyped as crawling with them) but I think people (like me?!?!) are attracted to Azabujuuban for obvious reasons. I feel like I actually saw MORE white people than Japanese people, I think, tonight, at least. That probably isn't really true, but it's the first time I have felt that way.

So let's see. I ended up exploring Azabujuuban more both on the suggestion of a friend (whose adorable craft blog is here) and because it happens to be on the way to Motoazabu Hills.

This week the spa (ugh I hate that it's called that, let's just call it a "gym") THE GYM is closed for maintenance, I guess. This means no free breakfast and no swimming 5 minutes away from where I live. The breakfast thing is no big deal: I bought some chocolate protein mix, soy milk, and oatmeal and have been really enjoying eating that in the morning. Turns out the swimming 5 minutes from where I live thing is not a big deal either, since I have access to three other gyms through my membership, one of which is at Motoazabu (also the second closest).

It took me two tries to get there over the weekend (because it's hard to find my way around without an iPhone :P), but I ended up finding a really fun route that does, as I mentioned, go through Azabujuuban a little bit. The sp-GYM there is really nice. I like that you can tell it's part of the Hills Spa group, but it has it's own feel to it. For instance, in this one, the locker rooms are set up so that guys and girls take their shoes off together before going into separate changing rooms, whereas at Roppongi, even the shoe lockers are separate. The pool is a little bit bigger than the one at Roppongi Hills, although somehow the locker room is a ton smaller. I'm going to make sure I try out all the gyms I have access to. Maybe I'll eventually work up to being able to participate in the Master Swim class at Ark!

Incidentally, I set up a meeting with a swim coach on Thursday. That's in two days! I have no idea what kind of lesson it will be or whether I will be able to understand his Japanese. Hopefully it will work out. If it does, I will be happy to keep taking lessons there.

Food so far:

Koots - Yep, I realize this is a chain, but I really don't care when their tuna yamakake donburi is so good. Raw fish, runny egg, yamakake (I don't even know how to say this in English, potato slime? haha It is white with the a smooth snotty sort of sticky consistency, similar to...), okra (this is a very common veggie in Japan, as opposed to say, Wisconsin), and bell peppers over white rice. OH and nori. I did taste some wasabi in there, too. Some slightly sweet soy sauce. So so tasty. I was really happy and felt so healthy afterwards that I had to go ruin it with dessert ;)

Naniwaya Cafe - This place I found out about from this 8Tokyo post. I ate the same thing they did, and it was excellent. Like I commented on that blog post, whatever flavor the cake was made the whole thing seem extra special. I don't really eat a ton of roll cake, even though it's very popular here, but I will have to try hard not to stop by here every weekend now :P I do need to make sure try their taiyaki, though, since it's what they are famous for. If I go with a friend we can order those and a shaved ice and share hot vs. cold :)

Eat More Greens - This is where I went tonight for dinner. Had the tomato and raw yuba caprese salad with spicy miso. It was probably my favorite thing I've eaten since I've got here. Just last night I was daydreaming how great it would be if someone did a caprese with tofu instead of mozzarella—and then they stepped it up with yuba! I was very sincerely impressed. So impressed that I gave the vegan apple pie a shot even though I mayyyyy have had a cream bread (uhm, sorry, what else do you call that? It's not really a donut. Ok it was custard not really cream. I don't know) this morning... I'm hooked. I'm hooked I'm hooked. Can't wait to go back and try their pumpkin pie (it appears to be made with kabocha, i.e. Japanese pumpkin, so I'm guessing it will be a fair ways removed from Thanksgiving!!) and the delicious looking salads and pastas. Eek eek eek. And they do brunch on the weekends ;) AND they have the cutest rainy day promotion... I'm in heart

Anyways, there will be lots more hanging out in Azabujuuban, for sure. Aside from that let's see what is coming up soon:

CURRY BATTLE - My Japanese friends are coming over to have a cook-off. It's going to be GREAT! And we're going to go see a fountain show in Roppongi's "Midtown" (sorry, I kind of lol at the name, since it was just some area that they developed recently and decided to call that) district.

FIREWORKS - I'm not sure how this will work. Maybe we can see both? I wonder if I will be able to see them from my house. My Japanese tutor said I should really try to see them because "Japanese fireworks are maybe different from American fireworks" ;)

OBON - It's a Japanese holiday! I missed the dance practice, but I'm probably ok just watching ;)

MOUNTAIN CLIMBING - Ok, just hiking, but I'm excited. I'm gonna walk up a mountain 8/28!

TOKYO DISNEYLAND - I gotta see Captain Eo! It's probably dubbed right; Michael Jackson, Japanese? I must experience this. We're gonna do a whole weekend in early Sept. Can't wait to see what kind of fusion we'll find :)

MYSTERY GUEST - A friend is actually coming to visit (!) at the end of September. Hopefully I will be blog again before then, haha, but this is just looking ahead.

And that is just the BIG stuff. I'm sure there will be all kinds of small wonderful things in between. I know some peeps from work are on their way over here soon, as well, so many many fun times coming up. And always lots of studying :)

#happy #lucky #EXCITED