Tokyo, Japan: Our last two days, and a visit to Bassanova!

If you’re looking for the Tour de France post, check it out on my other food blog, Fridgg! 😀

Robot statue

On our second to last day in Japan, we visited the Ghibli Museum. You know the Japanese animated films like Totoro, Castle in the Sky, Kiki’s Delivery Service…? Well, Ghibli is the man who did all the art for those movies, and this museum is dedicated to him and his art.

You’re not allowed to take photos inside of the museum, but we did manage to sneak one picture of the robot statue on the roof…


Bus schedule

That day was a rainy day, and a day mostly filled with shopping for souvenirs, gifts, and other goodies to bring home.


Busy crosswalk

However, we still had one major thing left that we just had to do before we left Japan. So we trekked through the freezing, pouring rain, to go to…


Basa Nova

Bassanova!!!


Bassanova

For those of you who don’t know, Bassanova is the ramen restaurant where Keizo of Go Ramen fame works.


Bassanova kitchen with Keizo

Obviously, we had to try his ramen.


Other diners

Lucky for us, Keizo was more than happy to help us order the ramen… since the ticket machine didn’t have any pictures. 😮


Keizo in Bassanova kitchen

There are two kinds of ramen Bassanova is known for.


Keizo making our ramen

Their official special is the tonkotsu ramen.


Keizo making our ramen

But the one Keizo has made famous is their green curry ramen.


Keizo making our ramen

Of course, we had to try a bowl of each. 😀


Green curry ramen

The green curry ramen… AMAZING.

Oh, and the tonkotsu was pretty good too. 😀


Tonkotsu ramen

But back to that green curry ramen… creamy, spicy… almost too spicy, but even as my entire mouth was burning I couldn’t stop eating because it was so freaking good… (okay, so I don’t have a high spice tolerance. Shush.)


Holding up thick noodles in green curry ramen

My only regret was that we didn’t visit Bassanova earlier in the trip, so we could come back and eat that green curry ramen again!


Green curry ramen with a bite or two taken out

One of these days I may have to kidnap Keizo and make him teach me how to make it. It’s that good. 😉

I swear, I’ve been craving another bowl of that ramen ever since we left Bassanova… thanks a lot, Keizo. 😀


Train


Rainy Tokyo streets


Rainy Tokyo streets


Rainy Tokyo streets

The next morning was our last day in Japan! So sad. We wanted to stay longer.


CoCo Ichiban Curryhouse

Since it was our last morning, we wanted to revisit a restaurant we loved.

Unfortunately, Bassanova doesn’t open until late – after we had to be at the airport – so we couldn’t go back there.

Instead, CoCo Curry again!


Our curry

Perfect. 😀


Brian's curry?


Dave and Francis at CoCo Curry

After our breakfast of curry, we noticed we were pretty close to the Tokyo Tower. So we headed off in that direction for some last-minute sightseeing.


Gate in the middle of the street, leading to the temple

But instead of at the Tokyo Tower, we found ourself in the middle of the gorgeous Zojoji Buddhist Temple!


Front of the temple

We weren’t complaining. 😀


Zojoji Temple

Photo courtesy of Francis Castillo

Black placard with white Japanese writing at the temple


Dressed up children's statues


Dressed up children's statues with pinwheel


Wood wall with wood wish cards

Close to the Tokyo Tower… but not quite there. 😉


Temple with Tokyo Tower behind it


View from front of temple


Praying statue


Side building at temple

It was there that we realized… during the entire Japan trip, we hadn’t gotten a single picture of our entire group!


Setting up the group photo

Of course, we had to fix that.


Francis with his camera, setting up the group photo


More black placards with white writing


On the street leading away from the temple

After that, it was off to the airport.

Goodbye, Japan! Hope we can come back soon! 😀


A gate

This is the last post in the Japan series… and the last post you can comment on to enter to win a bamboo rolling mat and a package of nori from Japan! The contest closes 11:59PM PST Wednesday – any comments on any Japan post after that will not be counted. Winners will be contacted by email, and announced on Friday soon! 😀

P.S. Did you know you can also hang out with me on the Sushi Day page on Facebook?

P.P.S. Speaking of hanging out, you’re following me on Twitter, right? Feel free to say hi, ask questions, poke fun at me… I always love getting to know my readers better. 😀

10 thoughts on “Tokyo, Japan: Our last two days, and a visit to Bassanova!”

  1. Matt -

    I think I came on board for your second post from Japan. I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed following in your photographic footsteps, and someday, I hope you will be able to follow in mine.

    All the best!
    Matt

  2. jayme -

    looks like this is the last post. I just found your blog looking for sushi recipes that my husband and I can make. We have loved making our own sushi and trying new things the last few years. Your blog has made me so excited to try some of what you have on here. I totally love it. I really loved all the beautiful photos from your trip. Nice job Son! I have marked you as a favorite site now and will come back often. I may even buy one of your awesome shirts.

  3. Silvia -

    i stumbled across your blog and am so happy i did!! beautiful pictures, yummy food, what more could someone ask for???

    amazing!!

  4. Aidan -

    Wow amazing photos dude! The photo up the top definitely has to be my favorite plus the ones with the umbrellas.

    Looks like a whole different world.

  5. Helen -

    The green curry ramen looks amazing! I believe I’ll be stopping by Bassa during my trip in Japan and probably ONE more ramen place… still deciding which one. There are so many good ones, it’s so difficult to pick!

  6. Greg -

    So happy to see you are posting again!
    These photos, like everything you post, look AMAZING! Please keep the posts coming, I missed them.

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