I will admit that I don’t go out for drinks that much anymore, and when I do, I find myself not really knowing where to go anymore (if I’m tasked with finding a place). With my good friend Luis Mendo in town this week — he’s working with me on some PechaKucha-related stuff — we ended up going out last night for dinner and then a bit of drinking in Shibuya, along with a few other friends.

Dinner was at the Royal Garden Cafe, and it was rather good — the menu focuses on organic offerings. We then met up with the rest of our companions in this wine bar. It was fine, but it’s a standing bar, and I’d much rather sit down and relax when I’m drinking and chatting, and so we then headed to a funky little hole-in-the-wall placed called Bistro D’arbre — there are apparently a few of them (as you can tell from the sign on the photo above), including a decent restaurant in Ebisu. Although tiny, there are 3 floors — we occupied the second floor (we were a cramped eight), and there was a tiny loft space on top of us.

All of this reminded me of the early years of my life in Tokyo, when I would cut out listings for bars and cafes, that I would past in a notebook, consulting it when I wanted to go out. It was a great research tool, and I had as much fun trying out new places as I had drinking at them.

It was announced this week that the Combine cafe in Nakameguro will be closing for good later this month (on February 25). Although I didn’t really go that often, I did enjoy the times that I did, and it does feel like a revered (or much appreciated) part of Tokyo is dying off — I don’t know when it opened, but it feels like it’s been there for most of the decade I’ve been here.

Should we be surprised? It is after all one of the aspects of this city that we tend to like: the endless flux. Tokyo is constantly being reimagined, and new spaces go up, just as they go down. Combine already played a part in this growth/contraction: the Daikanyama spinoff closed down last year after a nearby studio complained about the noise.

And like I said, I didn’t really go to Combine much — to be fair, I don’t get to Nakameguro that often these days — yet I feel sad about its closing.

Maybe it’s because a lot of people I know liked to go there too.

Maybe I’m hit by a sudden regret for not going more often — it’s not like there are that many spots in Tokyo that offer a nice open view of the river during the spring/summer months.

Maybe I shouldn’t care, and just take this as an excuse to find the next great spot to hang out with friends in. I certainly find myself not exploring this city as much as I used to, and although there are many factors that contribute to this (busy with work, location where I live, being married, having a dog), I do often feel a bit guilty that I don’t take the time still properly take in this city of mine.

So goodbye Combine, thanks for the memories. And hello, Tokyo.

That photo at the top is taken from this blog — there are more here.

I tweeted it the other day, but I wanted to point out again that The Guardian has launched a rather nice guide to Tokyo. I should also mention that a few of my friends have contributed to this (Ashley Rawlings, Brian Ashcraft, Patrick Macias), and these are people that I would absolutely trust when it comes to recommendations in their particular fields (arts, gaming spots, otaku spots).

I’ve been continuing my Ikebukuro West Gate Park beer drinking outings throughout the summer, and now it has spread into fall — our first combini run even saw us grabbing our first fall beers, which I believe were out that day (September 1). Meeting up with two friends (Cormac and Josh) who are as much into comics as I am, that was the excuse to get together — hence me describing it as the inaugural “Comibukuro” gathering — and it was fun sharing opinions on recent books, and talking about the books that affected us throughout our lives. After a few beers outside — with a scenery of kids taking dives into the park’s fountain — we continued on to the nearby Dubliner’s pub for a few hearty stouts. When that place closed we moved on to the Hub (pictured above). 

We were constantly worried about the threat of the oncoming typhoon, and although it was fine for most of the night, I finally got caught in a sudden downpour as I was biking back home, getting rather drenched. Oh well.

I’ve often described how I enjoy drinking beers while out and about — street beers, yo — and since the closure of the Minami-Ikebukuro Park a few years ago, my main outlet in the ‘Bukes has been Ikebukuro West Gate Park. It’s more of a gathering place than a park, but it’s fun in part because of the “characters” it tends to attract. The routine is usually just to grab a few brews at the nearby combini (Sankusu, if you must know), but the other night my hometown friend Julie — in town for a month on a visit — invited me for a degustation in the park. When I met up with her, I was greeted with a Seibu department store bag filled with a few selections from the Ibaraki-brewed Hitachino Nest Beer. It was a great time, and I’m always a proponent of mixing high class (the beers) with low class (the spot) — and the cups we were drinking from were purchased at a nearby 100 yen shop.

The photo above of me was taken by Julie, and the rest, by me, cover our selections, and the park itself. The beers themselves were pretty much all great, except for the “Ginger Ale” brew, which was a bit rough (and 8%) — it’s worth noting that it’s also the only with a silly label, featuring some sort of crazy mascot.

It’s been quite a while since I’ve been out hiking, something that was rectified earlier today when we headed out to the Okutama area. We decided to head to Mitake mountain, and took a cable car up (pictured above), with the idea of walking down (we didn’t really have time to walk both ways). 

It may be silly to say — and believe me, I did enjoying the walk — but one of my favorite things when we go out hiking is that we usually pick up a bento (lunch box) for the trek, and since we passed through Shinjuku station, we were able to get some really nice ekiben (bento that is aimed specifically at people travelling long distances by train, sold at stations that have lines that leave the city).

And what I always like to point out as well is that all of this happened within the bounderies of Tokyo-to, meaning you don’t even have to leave the city to go on these wonderful hikes.

To get there, from Shinjuku station you hop on the Chuo line (the orange line) and switch trains at Ome (you may need to switch at Tachikawa on the way, depending on your train), to then get off at Mitake station. Across the street from the train station is a bus station, with buses that take you up to the cable car station (270 yen for the bus, 570 yen for the cable car, one-way).

There’s a good chance you’ve already heard of Luis Mendo‘s The City Reporter series — I’ve shared the love on this site in the past, and have handed out a self-published edition of the Tokyo map at one of last year’s PauseTalks. Luis is coming back to Tokyo in early April for a couple of weeks, and the reason is because we want to work together on a new edition of the Tokyo report, one that will be more detailed and cover more of the city. We’re currently looking for sponsorship/funding on the project — mostly to help cover Luis’ expenses, but also to get it out there (print or digital). If you are someone who could help on this, do not hesitate to get in touch, we are open to all ideas and initatives.

In the meantime, do take a look at what Luis had done in the past with the other cities he’s visited, bringing to life lovely illustrated takes on each one.

Thursday night I was out in Shibuya for the opening reception of the new Diesel Concept Store, which opens to the public today (November 20). Like the Diesel Denim Gallery in Aoyama, the store features a gallery space, and the opening show is Simon Henwood and Fannie Schiavoni’s “Black Sun” (until February 23). I rather like the diner-like cafe/bar area, but I have no idea what the regular menu will have to offer.

The party itself was a bit too packed for my taste, although I did get a kick out of seeing Takashi Murakami waiting in line to get in when I was on my way out.

This past Saturday we walked all the way down from Ikebukuro to Harajuku with the dog, mostly because we wanted to spend some time at the big “dog run” area inside Yoyogi park. It made for quite a pleasant outing (if a long walk), and we also walked around Aoyama a bit — I wanted to check out the Magazine Library event — and also spent some time at a cafe. As you can imagine, we get a lot of attention when we’re out and about with him, and it’s quite normal to have to stop so that people can pet him or take photos.

Above, a photo taken as we were walking through Shinjuku. Below, walking up Takeshita Street in Harajuku.

Yesterday after getting lunch at the nearby Maison Kayser — it’s the one located inside Ikebukuro’s Sunshine City with a terrace, so it’s dog-friendly — we decided to just start walking, with the general idea of heading towards Iidabashi. Three wards later (Toshima, Bunkyo, and Taito) we ended up not only stopping for a drink at the very enjoyable Canal Cafe (you sit outside by Kanda river), we continued on to Yasukuni shrine. We wanted to end up at Sanbancho Cafe — it’s also dog-friendly — but there was a wedding reception in full effect, so no go. But the epic walk was an enjoyable one — despite some feet dragging on my part towards the end because of fatigue — and we’ve realized that it’s something we want to start doing more often. It gives us a chance to get out and about without having to leave the dog at home in his cage, which he doesn’t much like.

Pictured, photos taken by my wife near Yasukuni shrine, showing my dog Confiture simply hanging out. I think we should start a regular series of these, with him checking out various parts of Tokyo.

I have a new piece up on CNNGo — “Wanted: The top 10 ultimate travel apps for iPad.” I think the title says it all.

As 2009 comes to an end, I’m very happy to report that one of the projects that will be keeping me busy during the start of 2010 will be work on the upcoming fifth editions of The Rough Guide to Tokyo and The Rough Guide to Japan (due for release in 2011). I’ll be contributing to both, but mostly on the Tokyo guide — joining author Simon Richmond — with contributions to the Japan guide limited to Tokyo and surrounding areas. For more on the Rough Guides series, check out the official site.

A few months ago, Jeremy Leslie over on his MagCulture blog posted a detailed — and crowdsourced — map of London’s best magazine stores. At the time I thought it was a terrific idea, and wanted to create something similar for Tokyo. Sure, I already have a few I know, but the best way for this to work is if I can get as many contributions as possible.

So please, let me know what your favorites are — either by leaving a comment or by emailing me. I’ll compile the results, and create a proper map on Google Maps, just like Jeremy did for London.

Not “my Tokyo,” but rather my friend Luis Mendo‘s take on the city we love to love. Earlier this year Luis stayed in Tokyo for a 3-month “inspirational retreat” — I posted about his terrific illustrated Tokyo diary back in April — and now here’s a sneak peak at a map he’s created for an upcoming issue of Journal de Nîmes, a newspaper for the denim store Tenue de Nîmes in Amsterdam. I’m very happy to see that Ikebukuro gets a mention, both for its Muji and Cafe Pause.

Global Voices features a great piece on the fate of Shimokitazawa, and the whole deal with the redevelopment plans, which includes splitting the area with an expressway.