18th May 2019: Art in Waseda; views, yakitori and beer in Ebisu

On this day, we visited Yayoi Kusama’s museum in Waseda, then explored Ebisu.

But first, let’s talk about this matcha granola that I tried one day out of curiosity and then I could not stop having every day 😂

In Waseda

And then we went to Yayoi Kusama’s neighbourhood, to visit her museum (and we didn’t know at the time, but she also lives and has her studio nearby!)

I was fascinated by these ads in the Metro:

“Pasmo” in Spanish means “shock”, so this was really amusing to witness, and it was also everywhere in the metro!

Tickets for the Yayoi Kusama museum were timed, and we had arrived earlier than our entry time, and we felt like we could have a coffee… We walked around the area, searching for some sort of place that would sell us a coffee, and eventually we found an interesting-looking venue that… we weren’t quite sure if it was a café, a hairdresser, or a bar? They also had a cabinet full of dried flower prizes and memorabilia. What was this place really about?

But they made us a coffee. So maybe it was a café?

Yet I could find no trace of this place on any bookmarking service. Did we dream this? A collective hallucination? 🤔

Ebisu

And after enjoying Yayoi’s beautiful art, we took the metro again, this time towards Ebisu. This area is built on the grounds of a former brewery (Yebisu) and it also contains some “European inspired” architecture in the Yebisu Garden Place complex, which was quite confusing to witness.

You can also take a lift to the top of one of the buildings and see views!

えびす坂 鳥幸 – Ebisu-zaka toriko

We had lunch in a restaurant in the same building, an izakaya place whose set menu consisted of a deliciously tasty yakitori food box 😋

… and we also ordered a beer, and it was Yebisu—of course!

We then peered at the Yebisu museum, which has this really impressive entrance. But we didn’t feel like visiting a museum. Fortunately, they have a good system in which you don’t need to visit the museum before being able to sample the beers!

You buy some Yebisu themed tokens, and then exchange them for beers on another queue.