April 2025 - Wanderlogue

04.2025

April feels too early in the year to peak as the best month, but I mean, it’s gotta be a good month if it involved a week in Tokyo. Couple that with cherry blossom season (both in New York and in Tokyo) and the advent of spring (despite the heavy downpour of April showers) and the optimism of longer, warmer days is inescapable.

The best thing about a mid-month trip, particularly one that completely removes you from the daily routine and immerses you in a delightfully unfamiliar context full of fresh sights and sounds and smells and things to experience for the very first time (a tentpole trip, if you will), is that the lead up feels hurried in anticipation for the trip, the days of the trip loom far larger than the actual 24 hours of a day, and then the week following the trip still rides on a high. So the month of April for me glowed in the halo of a week in Tokyo.

tokyo 東京

I still remember my very first time in Tokyo. It was back in 2018, and I had never felt so comfortable, so at home in a foreign place. It was disarming, to have such familiarity in a city I had never been to. So in spite of the limited time spent in this city, this time around felt like coming home. Vague memories retraced. The lines of my mental map deepened as I committed the city to memory. See Tokyo is a place where I don’t think I could ever be bored. Much like New York, and probably London. There’s so much to see, so many places to go. Dancing from one neighborhood to another, the thrill of getting to know this city at the street level. To feel invisible in the best way, to observe.

I landed in Tokyo at the crack of dawn. In a very quiet Haneda that seemed to be just opening for the morning. Its terminals still empty, many kiosks still closed. For once, customs was fast. And soon I was met with the most glorious sunrise. So it was straight to Family Mart for breakfast.

Japan has an allure that can convince me to change my opinions on the most random things. Like airport and airplane food. Tell me why I had a perfectly cooked egg with a runny yolk on a plane and meanwhile American catering can barely manage powdered eggs. And I’m usually not one to want to spend any more time than I have to in an airport but damn the ANA lounge at HND is one of the best meals I have had at an airport. And I’m usually not one for random hotel lounge food but again found myself reconsidering after my 3rd breakfast of day 1 at the Tokyo Marriott executive lounge (wtf?).

To be honest, the main objective of this trip was to shop. Not even to eat, but to shop. And shop I did. There’s something so deliriously wonderful about shopping in a new city in a different currency (especially when the exchange rate is in my favor, and tax refunds are abundant). Went in with a rough list of things I wanted to find, left with a very full suitcase full of way more things than I intended. The haul was good.

Spring seems to be beautiful everywhere but New York City, where rainy days, random reminders of winter, and the threat of a humid summer hangs over the city as the stench begins in the subway. This week last year, Mexico City healed me in ways I couldn’t even imagine. This year, Tokyo delivered on mild, sunny weather. Expansive parks shaded by tall trees (still obsessed with the perfectly pruned trees that looked like the tree emoji). And the final blooms of sakura season lingering.

current obsessions

Gotokuji Temple, with the neat rows of fortune welcoming cats (the tiny ones sitting atop big ones really got me 🥹). And of course I love how much Japan loves a theme because the little cat cakes that also came in miniature editions made my damn morning.

Traveler’s Factory, a world of stationery, a global community of travelers and journalers who cherish the bits kept in leather bound notes.

Airport Omiage: I’m usually not one for souvenirs, but lately I have been perusing those duty free shops. And the ones in Japan always get me. Usually for great deals on sake, but this time I decided to load up on all of the beautifully packaged giftable sweets. Grabbed some of my favorites (shout out thé noir langue de chat and giant pocky melon flavor) and grabbed some new ones. I had a vision for a picnic tasting spread back in Brooklyn.

another year, another orchid show

Every spring I make the pilgrimmage up into the Bronx for NYBG’s annual Orchid Show. This year, it was inspired by Mexican Modernism, and the colorful architecture of Luis Barragán. The colors this year were vibrant. Competing with the vivid colors of the flowers themselves, a wonderful immersion under the grey skies.

The rest of the garden was in bloom. Sunny daffodils dotting the lawn. Bright poppies as bursts of color. Magnolias and cherry blossoms fully flowering, delicate leaves filling the branches, som nearly gracing the ground.

culture fix

A few years ago, I went to the Loewe Craft Prize at the Noguchi Museum in Queens. And I haven’t stopped thinking about it. So when this Loewe Crafted World exhibition popped up on my feed, I went out of my way to navigate a convoluted ticketing system to reserve some tickets. Experiential so often feels tired, a relic of the pre-pandemic times (though it seems the Museum of Ice Cream continues to thrive), but when it is done well, it is the joy of a museum with the accessibility and playfulness of interactive marketing and the immersion in a brand that makes commerce and art feel like a cohesive story.

Ventured to midtown again, this time for Maybe Happy Ending. A heartwarming original musical that was earnest in a way that feels relievingly naive in this geopolitical landscape. But my favorite part of it was definitely the set. It was alluring, modular, so beautifully built out and dressed up and brightly lit to evoke the contemporary, futuristic setting of the story.

sometimes all you need to get through the week is some CW comfort drama

low stakes airplane movies

i will never /ever/ scroll past a clip of this tour. luther, yes. love, yes. not like us, yes. euphoria, yes. backseat freestyle, absolutely yes.

NEW FIND

Fragrance shopping in Tokyo // Ended up buying a skin scent from Ahres, and an oriental musk scent in Liberta. And had a little too much fun exploring all the niche brands at The Nose Shop.

skincare snapshot

Current rotation:

Beekman 1802 Milkshake Toner – the fine mist is so refreshing

Kiehl’s Powerful-Strength Vitamin C Serum – the little tingle and the slight citrus scent is so lovely

House of M Saffron Serum – feels indulgent with the golden saffron, and is great for lymphatic drainage massages

Caudalie Vinosun Sunwater – a light sunscreen spray that I can’t wait to use all summer long

Saturday Skin Pore Clarifying Toner – this one really tingles, so I only use it a few days a week. it feels like it is cleaning layers of city smog off my face.

good bites

A. EDW Yellow: a little basement restaurant known for fluffy pancakes and fluffy omurice. when eggs are so expensive in the US, it practically counts as a luxury

B. Tofu Ukai: the most beautiful tofu-forward meal in the most beautiful setting

C. Sushi-Ro: because sometimes you just need the standard conveyor belt sushi chain to scratch an itch. plus it’s always fun seeing the plates zoom over on demand, and satisfying stacking up the plates

D. Pizza Marumo: because apparently you’re supposed to eat pizza in Tokyo and yes it was good

E. A random kushikatsu joint near Nippori station, nothing to complain about, nothing to write home about, sometimes you just gotta grab lunch where you are

F. Ittaikan: sometimes a back up spot ends up unexpectedly good, this curry spot was so good

G. Fuunji Ramen: one last dinner in the city, and tsukemen was a heavy choice but nonetheless no regrets

H. Jean François: had to stop by Ginza Six to pick up Sunny Hills as a gift, and ended up just grabbing some bread to take to the roof for breakfast

I. Miyota: simple soba shop, I think this might be my ideal dinner. not too heavy, but still so nourishing and satisfying

J. Age-3: ok I gave into Tiktok hype for this, but cmon, fried bread filled with cream and topped with bruleed sugar can’t not taste good

K. Tokyo Curry Pan: this one was a miss, the flavor was good but the bread needed a crunchier fry to really hit

L. Tendon Ginza Itsuki: honestly is it even legit if it isn’t crammed into the corner of a basement of a department store with 4 things on the menu and a cash only vending machine ordering system?

M. Ultra: its weird that Japanese western food, which, though familiar, is not something I eat often, can feel like such nostalgic comfort food

N. Harubaru-tei: a teeny tiny neighborhood ramen shop that looked as bewildered to see us as we were to see them, but it was a nice cozy meal to close out our stay in Setagaya

Yoyogi-Uehara Yu was a quiet and leisurely kaiseki dinner in an intimate restaurant run by one chef. It was so cozy it almost put me to sleep.

Japan was also full of cafes and bakeries and sweet treats galore. From wonderfully whisked matchas to creamy egg puddings to fruit hidden in the depths of a mountain of kakigori ice, to sweet savory gelato to tiny caneles and many, many coffees.

so excited for espresso tonic season

steakhouse salads deserve their own food group tbh

shopping spreefully

kappabashi street: even on a day when half the shops were closed, it was overwhelming. Fun to look at and imagine a kitchen big enough to have all these little trinkets. But we’ll need some more digging to find the real ceramic gems.

obligatory muji: might as well spend an hour or two in the flagship and fill up a couple baskets full of all the things I don’t need

konbini bites: honestly half the reason I feel safe and calm in big asian cities is knowing that I can feed myself with minimal human interaction in konbini stores. I’ll never be sick of konbini breakfasts, a FamilyMart morning ritual. And I can never say no to a quick perusal around the ice cream section on the way home.