This Week in Tokyo – 19 March 2019

The latest edition of This Week in Tokyo – a review of the Maction Planet week that was and a look ahead to what’s coming up in and beyond the city. Check out photos from our tours and read insights into our explorations as we get under the skin of the World’s Greatest Metropolis, and beyond. This week’s edition is hosted by Mac, our Founder and Lead Guide. This week: Edo Boulevardier; SAKURAFUL Milk Latte; Ritz-Carlton Reception; Seiichi Miyake’s legacy and Platinum Unboxing 2019!

Featured image – Edo Boulevardier: My guests Marie, Evan and Aiden were strolling with me along the Rue des Arts when coming towards us were these two finely-dressed individuals. We exchanged beaming smiles and as soon as they passed both Marie and I turned around with the same intention in mind: to capture another unique moment on our 10-hour tour of Tokyo’s backstreets and hidden gems. As we like to say at Maction Planet, “We continue…”

SAKURAFUL Milk Latte: Today is the last day to grab a ‘SAKURAFUL Milk Latte’ from Starbucks. Released on 15 February, it has a light sakura flavour and is described as tasting like spring, which I guess it does given it was released in spring and tastes of Sakura. It is topped with whipped cream and strawberry chocolate shavings and chocolate sakura-flavoured petals. This drink is meant to capture the moment when a gentle wind blows through the cherry blossoms and they slowly fall down. Enough with the corporate spiel – it was pretty good.

Ritz-Carlton Reception: It is always a pleasure to meet my guests in the 45th floor lobby of the Ritz-Carlton Tokyo. This is the sight that currently greets me when I do so: a magnificent ikebana display featuring sakura accentuated by other seasonal flowers. Thank you to the hotel for their continuous hospitality and looking after my guests when I am not with them.

Speaking of Sakura, you have one more week to go to grab tickets for the Maction Planet x Shochu Pro Hanami 2019. We are collaborating once again with Baird Beer and shochu expert Chris Pellegrini to hold an exclusive cherry blossom party in Yoyogi Park on Sunday 31 March 2019. You can get yourself in the mood for Hanami 2019 by watching this incredible video of Hanami 2017. More info can be found here and tickets are available for purchase here.

Seiichi Miyake’s legacy: 18 March’s animated Google Doodle celebrated Japanese inventor Seiichi Miyake. In 1965, Miyake invented tactile blocks (originally called tenji blocks) to help a friend whose sight was deteriorating. The blocks come in two main types: dotted, which alert you to approaching danger and barred, which provide directional cues. They were first introduced near the Okayama School for the Blind in Okayama City on 18 March 1967. A decade later, they were made mandatory by the Japanese National Railways (the forerunner of Japan Rail) and they are now used around the world. Here’s an arty shot of some Seiichi Miyake tactile blocks from near Marui Department store in the Yokohama station area.

And finally… Platinum Unboxing 2019: Never has a baseball jacket been looked at so intently as by me in this photo, a screenshot from the Tokyo Yakult Swallows: ‘Swallows Crew’ Platinum Crew Merchandise Unboxing 2019. If the intensity of my gaze has been enough to excite you, then read more about this epic annual event here and watch the video embedded in the post, or click here to go direct!

Maction Planet runs bespoke Private Tours and Experiences in Tokyo, and beyond. To book yours, contact us at info@mactionplanet.com

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