Kain 2 Episode 1: Kagura @ Little Tokyo

Japan is mostly remembered as a portrait of a snow-capped mountain with pink flowers flying in the air... with slanty-eyed men wearing pads of wood and leather happily slicing each other into shreds in its foreground. For all its brutal history though, Japan brought the world not just a heap of silicon circuits and timeless tales of terror, but something more digestible in its plainest sense: good food.

From a capitalist consumer approach like Tokyo Tokyo, Karate Kid and Kitaro, dishes from the land of the rising sun made its way to Manila in forms that only mimic pop culture definition of Japan, but not with enough depth. Restaurants like Sugi in Makati's Greenbelt area carry the urban scent of Japan's modern high-end districts, closer to to the feel of the real deal but is riddled with Western influences. Just a few blocks away however, lies a quaint little area of the same city, a little corner of Chino Roces St. (Pasong Tamo) that replicates another time and place reminiscent of Mt. Fuji and the nonchalant times of the samurai: Little Tokyo.

Me and my special one went there out of a sheer desire to eat at some place we haven't been to yet, while our budget still permits. I've yet to discover the secrets of this place's famous okonomiyaki and see for myself if it's worth the long haul going there by foot.

onwards!

Kain 1: The People's Cafe

It's been a real long while since I last went out and (ad)ventured on my own. Sometimes I really wish I had a bicycle with me, like in the olden days, but the streets of Manila is a jungle of speed demons known for running down small-framed two-wheeled contraptions.

So after a short afternoon of journeying around the Metro, I took the time to sit back and have a good cup of ale... err, coffee in a tavern cafe (ok ok enough with the D&D stuff) inside the just-slightly-well-to-do-man's shopping place in the locale - Starmall (Shaw Boulevard).

click to jump!

Lakbayin #1: Ayala Ave., Makati City

Lakbayin #1: Ayala Avenue

Well, this isn't really the farthest place from my neighborhood... but it does have it's share of quirks. 

First off, it's the most highly-urbanized city in the whole of the Philippines, as far as I know. Nothing really special to see here, or at least as far as my feet have taken me, except for one very obvious thing standing out of the glitz and glamor the shiny windows and undying street lights of the Makati Central Business District: