Thursday, September 11, 2008
Chano-ma 
The best laid plans often go awry, and T was feeling very lazy.
We were supposed to put my new cycling skills to the test by going on a little bike trip somewhere, but we didn't have Mr. Weather on our side. It started drizzling at noon, when we were lounging in bed playing Tetris and Sudoku. I would have been happy doing nothing all day, and when was the last time I did that anyways?
Outside, the air was crisp and almost chilly, my body craving the familiar summer sun but it is now unmistakably autumn. The concept of seasonal weather still eludes me.
E had suggested that we check out Akarenga (translated as red brick warehouse), a historical warehouse by the bay in Yokohama, built in the 20th century and now transformed into a mall with yuppie boutiques, stores and eateries. It was right up my alley, and I loved it. It didn't even feel like I was in Japan.
He brought me to a uber-chic cafe/bar on the third floor called Chano-ma, with a huge island bar in the middle of the restaurant and the wall lined by a row of elevated mattresses and plush pillows. On the left and right were artsy furniture that sat many young Japanese couples, no doubt a popular date place.
We shared a tofu-avocado salad, spicy fried potato (Japlish for "fries"), a warm chocolate cake with vanilla ice-cream and coffee. I read my novel in the dim lighting while he tried to solve another Sodoku puzzle on his iPhone.
A pretty perfect way to spend a rainy weekday afternoon.
And when we were done with our grocery shopping for dinner ingredients, the sun was already setting even though it was just past 6.
Beautiful, isn't it? It looked and felt just like Singapore and made me miss home.
"Today's city was no place to put down roots. It was a barren field, soil that gave off no smell, unplowed and unwatered. Nothing grew in the big city. People there were tumbleweeds, living on the memory of roots put down somewhere else by their parents or their parents' parents. And those roots dry up and wither."
- An excerpt about growing up in a big city
from Miyuki Miyabe's "All She Was Worth"
Labels: autumn, books, coffee, love, photo, tokyo
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