An afternoon in Roppongi

It's not often that I spend a day in Roppongi but I heard that this weekend was the annual Deutchlandfest and I'd also been given free tickets to see pieces on loan from the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities, so I decided to make an afternoon of it.

Got a bit of a late start, though: after making it nearly halfway there, I realized that I'd left the museum ticket at home so I had to turn back to get it.

But eventually I made it.

The festival didn't start until 4, so I had a couple of hours to explore. Before I headed inside the museum, I made a stop at quite possibly my favorite viewpoint in the whole city.

 
 
How can you beat that?! I love Tokyo Tower. I don't know if it's the color, the way it looks at night (see below), or something else, but I think it's the best part of the skyline.

I browsed at a couple of shops, picked up a bilingual magazine that *might* incentivize me to study a little more Japanese, and made my way up to the Mori Arts Center Gallery.

After I'd had my fill of pharaonic statues, funerary masks, and gorgeous but overpriced souvenirs in the gift shop, I stepped out of the exhibit and enjoyed the view from the 52nd floor.

The cluster of buildings in the distance is Shinjuku

  
 
Lots of smog, but I had to appreciate the bit of blue sky...

After the gallery, I took a stroll down one of the busier streets.  A shop I'd wanted to go to had been closed for lunch when I popped by earlier, so I went back to see if they were open.  They were, but shopping was a bust. At least the walk was interesting:

Hot Iceman?

I made a new friend. I think.

And of course, a view from the middle of an intersection.

Roppongi is the place to be for Halloween party/club-goers.

   
   
As dusk approached, I made my way over to the park in search of the festival. Opera music blaring from the stage made it particularly easy to find.

It was opening night for the three-day gig. I spent a little time perusing the stalls of imported goods and then made my way over to the food vendors.

German beer coasters for 100 yen apiece (about a dollar)

    
  
Normally I'm not a beer drinker, nor am I a fan of big piles of sausage, so one might wonder why I wanted to dine here in the first place? Pretzels.  I'm not kidding; this is how easily I am swayed. I saw on the website that there would be pretzel vendors and then I knew where I would be spending my Friday evening.

Also, German potatoes cooked with onions and bacon. My pretzel was butter-filled!

  
  
And of course there was entertainment.

  
  
This guy was singing Disney songs in Japanese. What that had to do with Germany was beyond me, but that is all part of the profound mystery of international festivals in Japan...

After picking up a gift at one of the souvenir stalls, I headed back towards the station to get a few more shots after dark:

The Mori Building

 

Back on the train, I decided to run a few errands in Shibuya before returning home.

Tokyo Metro would like to remind you, in the Halloweeniest way, about good train manners...

Shibuya

  
Made a couple of important purchases, and then headed home!

Veggie Food Fest 2015 and a Game of "Spot the Tacos"

Warm and sunny today.  Seemed like a nice afternoon to see what was available at the vegetarian/vegan festival in Yoyogi Park.

I headed up the street after church, but got distracted along the way. By a man with fluffy cats!

 
I have no idea how he gets them to just lay like that, especially while surrounded by Japanese women squealing "kawaiiiiiii!" ("cuuuuuuute!") and snapping close-ups. Maybe they're coming down from a catnip high? (The cats, I mean.) I counted ten of them in there, and not one of them could be bothered to do much more than raise their heads occasionally. But it was a lazy Sunday afternoon, after all.

Moving on...

I made my way down to the festival grounds, and wandered past a couple dozen booths of vegetarian dishes, as well as vendors selling organic veggies, "raw" desserts, packaged foods, and non-food items like organic cotton clothing.

   
And entertainment, too, of course.

The tomato guy eventually launched into a series of songs,
but the lyrics consisted mostly of just listing names of different fruits and vegetables...

   
Before settling on what I wanted for lunch, though, I realized that there appeared to be even more booths a few meters away.  Little did I know, it was an entirely different festival.

   
I explored a bit...
 

Oh yes, they're all real.

   
Thinking I had maybe doubled my lunch options, I explored the Indonesian food stalls. Turns out, Indonesian food is pretty popular.

  
 
If the food stalls at international food festivals in Japan are to be believed, tacos are a staple in any country's cuisine.

Ah...sombreros, cacti, and tacos. Exactly what comes to mind when I think of Indonesia.

  
Bonus points if you can spot the tacos here, too:

  
 
But I've never had Indonesian food before, and the more I looked around, the less confidence I had that I would be able to pick something I'd like. I chickened out and went back to the veggie festival to grab something to eat.

I was in luck!  I found grilled vegetables (my favorite), complete with a selection of hot salsas. Veggie paradise for me!

Green pepper, eggplant, zucchini, naga-negi (Japanese long onion), red bell pepper, tomato, and onion.
And I couldn't resist adding a little extra-hot "salsa from hell" (top left, and below).

    

  
  
But I still had room for more! So I made my way back over towards "Indonesia" and found some extra-long french fries. Not gonna lie: I ate every single one of these.

   
Finally full, and with just the right amount of heartburn from the salsa, I made my way back to the train station and headed home.
  

Fat animals

FYI: