Landed in Tokyo

Getting adjusted before the work begins - New to Substack

A long time customer of Kettl reached out to recommend we try Substack for publishing our dispatches from Japan blog. I am giving it a go, but please bear with me - I am still learning how to use it.

TOKYO - Chapter .5

We’ve touched down in Tokyo and now a few days to acclimate before we get started on our work of sourcing. The first thing I always notice is how quiet it is here. Even in the snarled traffic of Shinjuku or Shibuya, the car horns are muted or even non existent. No one on the street is talking or yelling. Garbage trucks play recognizable children’s song melodies instead of the incessant drone of beeping you hear in NYC. It is different here.

My mission on arrival is always to soak in the first 36 hours when the your still running on fumes - which often burn the brightest - right before the jet lag sets in. Meiji Jingu, the sprawling Shinto Shrine on the border of Harajuku is always a first stop to recharge and walk aimlessly in on the trails running through the urban forest.

The cherry blossoms are fading in Tokyo - certainly not at “peak” but I think the remaining flowers are still as gorgeous as they were last week in spite of the sprouting leaves that now surround them

I often recommend the spaces owned by the Designer Shinichiro Ogata - Yakumo Saryo, Higashiya, Saboe - if you want to feel a type of refined appreciation for the seasons and a level of detail rarely achieved in any place on the planet, do visit. Minami and I were lucky to have dinner with friends at Yakumo Saryo and the inspiration after just five minutes is enough to keep us going for months

Sakura Leaf Tea

Sashimi

Wagashi Service

That is a wrap for tonight. The real meat of this blog wont start for a week or so. But please keep checking in until then. Hopefully watching me figure out Substack wont be too painful.

Thank you for reading.

Zach