Out and about

Tokyo, Japan We had two goals on our last full day in Japan. They weren’t big ones, but then again, we only have so much energy left.

The first one was to see the Ota Memorial Museum of Art, which is dedicated to woodblock prints. It was started as a private collection and now has expanded to be a massive and authoritative collection of this Japanese art form. The style exploded in the 17th through 19th centuries and focused on the natural world, historical scenes, beautiful women, and everything special in each of those eras.

The collection is so large, and the museum so small that exhibits rotate continually. We were very fortunate today to see the work of Utagawa Hiroshige, (1797-1858). He was a master of landscape prints, known for his series The Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō and One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (Tokyo), not to mention Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji. 

No photography allowed in the museum, but the place was crowded with people studying and admiring each piece of the amazing exhibit.

Could we have just one? No — we had to settle for postcards.

The museum is in the Harajuku and Aoyama district, which was just crowded with luxury brands as the Ginza area. It might have skewed a bit younger, so of course we felt right at home.

We were particularly intrigued to see a poster for Luke’s Lobster. That is the name of a very trendy, but very small restaurant on Amsterdam Avenue in New York. Could it possibly have traveled to Tokyo??? Well, I guess everyone else has.

Don’s Food Corner

We made the effort and it paid off. Namely, finding the legendary Japanese fluffy pancakes, our second goal of the day.

Appropriately enough, they are served up at a chain of restaurants called Happy Pancakes.

But finding Happy Pancakes didn’t make us that happy. I knew that there was a branch somewhere near the Ota Memorial Museum. But where? We turned to Google maps for guidance. Google promised that we could walk there in “ten minutes.” We have had it up to here with promises that one thing or another is only “ten minutes” away. It’s a lie. Every “ten minutes” is at least more realistic twenty minutes to a half-hour — if you don’t get lost.

We embraced the challenge. We followed the little blue arrow on the Google map. We saw the mark for the location of Happy Pancakes. We weaved through large streets and small. Suddenly, Google maps proclaimed we had reached the destination and then wanted us to rate the achievement. Huh? We saw no Happy Pancakes. Then, as we were going to leave and try some other place, I noticed peeking behind two large poles a photograph that seemed to show part of a pancake. Sure enough the Happy Pancake sign was positioned right up against the poles, mostly hidden.

OK, fine. But then, having seen the pancake sign, with lots of attractive photos of pancakes, we couldn’t find the entrance. Happy Pancakes, you see, is not known as Happy Pancakes on the store front. In fact, there wasn’t any store front. Double huh? I checked the Google map again and it confirmed that we were in the right spot. Then we noticed a narrow staircase going down into what looked like a dark basement. Could THAT be Happy Pancakes? We descended. And, sure enough, there was Happy Pancakes. A bright large room. And it was packed with people! How did these other people find this? How did they get in? We didn’t see anyone else going down (or up) the stairs into the basement. But, in this case, Google maps was right.

This experience has been a constant in our travels through Japan. It’s a mystery how something that seems so difficult for us to find is seemingly so easy for others. Do they have a better map system than Google maps? Do they know of these places because someone else brought them there once and that’s how they know to get there? I do know now, however, you cannot rely entirely on Google maps. Sometimes they are wrong and sometimes they would only give directions in Japanese, which, clearly, is of no use.

After all that anxiety, we were ready for pancakes.

We opted for the standard portion of three pancakes, although they also featured them with eggs and/or bacon. And there were various flavors, like banana or for Halloween, pumpkin. There was some confusion about what type of syrup would come with the pancakes as well as the amount. You don’t want to be caught short on syrup if they come hot and you’d have to ask for more and wait in fear of the pancakes getting cold.

So we ordered an extra portion of syrup. The only syrup available was caramel — no maple. That’s OK.

The pancakes arrived. Three thick pancakes that were indeed as light as little soufflés. Plus, a big mound of fluffy, flavored butter. Fluffy butter can melt faster on hot pancakes. I hate cold butter offered up with pancakes because it never melts quickly enough.

These pancakes were miracles of lightness. But, on the other hand, they were a little bland. I like the tang of buttermilk that is a critical part of American pancakes.

Still, the fantasy texture of these pancakes clearly attracts a crowd — even if Happy Pancakes tries to hide behind aliases, poles and in basements.