It was my 6th visit to Kyoto but I think I have only seen a quarter of what it has to offer. Of its 17 world heritage sites, I have so far seen only five (5) of them.

Well, there’s one or more reasons to go visit again.  I know for sure that my brother and sister-in-law are already planning their next visit!

Almost everyone who has been living in Japan for a long time would know that the area of Kasumigaseki is associated with Japanese government bureaucracy. This area in Chiyoda-ku is where you find most of the Cabinet ministry offices.

Just right above the Ginza Line Toranomon Station, among a number of access points, is a vast expanse of open space leading to Kasumigaseki Building, considered the first office skyscraper in Tokyo. It does look imposing, mesmerizing even, as you step out of the escalator on to the street level, as you approach it! It certainly dwarfs the next door office building where I go to work now.

I look at it with envy, hoping I had my office there instead! There are offices that somewhat remind me of home. The Asian Development Bank Institute and the Asian Development Bank (headquarters in Manila) have their offices here.

While it is still hot and humid, for which Tokyo summer is well known for, it seems somehow easy to imagine how the scenery around here would change when Autumn comes. I would think people who come to office around here are blessed with this sort of oasis in their midst.

But I do get to enjoy Kasumigaseki Building’s cafés and restaurants. Their Kasumi Dining offers a lot of options: from very traditional Japanese or “Washoku” to the ubiquitous Pronto café that serves pasta too, and in between, the exotic Thai, Korean, Indian cuisine, etcetera that have now joined mainstream restaurant offerings.

Why isn’t Filipino cuisine part of the mainstream in Tokyo, anyway? Sayang!!

Well, that’s another story or topic to explore. Perhaps, our readers would want to share their opinion on this matter?

A lady in the shop told of the interesting story of the humble beginnings of the now world-famous Bridgestone tire and rubber company. 

Its founder, an enterprising young man, specialized in making Tabi. He later created the Jika-Tabi, socks with rubber soles used as work shoes; which then led to the development of the rubber shoes business. Using the resources accumulated from the Jika-Tabi and rubber shoes business, he developed the rubber tire industry, the first of such kind then in Japan. Indeed, a pioneer that was borne out of the Tabi making business.

This wooden structure that houses Onoya Sohonten was completed in the late Taisho Period and is officially recognized as a Nationally Registered Tangible Cultural Property. 

There’s so much history in this old shop, and in Shintomicho, and in a lot more other establishments and towns all over Japan!  

And so, our walks to discovering such awe-inspiring places will continue!

Today’s accomplishment: 10,213 steps!