Tokyo, Day 6: Classic Pork, Hipster Hub

I'm as close as I've ever come to signing up for a weeklong juice fast, but I can't help thinking what a bummer it is that I'm leaving Tokyo tomorrow. I spend the day hanging out with Jean Snow, a French-Canadian expat whose blog, jeansnow.net, has become the most trusted source of news and commentary on design-related events around the city. After a stroll around the über-cool Aoyama district, we stop in for lunch at the popular Maisen Tonkatsu, where I have a fried kurobuta pork cutlet that rivals yesterday's. Later we drop in on 109, a trendy shop in the hopping Shibuya district, to see what clothes the most inventively dressed Tokyo teens are grabbing off the racks, then head to nearby Nakameguro. The hipstery area is full of chic cafés and boutiques with a sharp, eccentric sensibility. I leaf through Japanese and English editions of vintage pop-culture titles at the tiny Cow Books, and over tea with Snow at Continental Overseas, I think about how grateful I am to have spent a week in Tokyo eating nonstop. Next time, I think I'll stick with three meals a day, and I'll take my time exploring backstreets and standing still for a second while the rest of Tokyo zips by.

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Published February 2008