There are so many great things about Tokyo, but I am not here to write a tourist guide, so I’ll just share some of my own “Folle Journée” highlights with you.

I stayed at the Peninsula Tokyo, which is a very convenient five minutes’ walk from the Tokyo International Forum. The spacious room has an excellent layout, probably the best that I’ve seen, with a big bathroom and walk-in closet. The concierge team was particularly helpful, in fact without their assistance I would not have been able to go to any of the concerts. Although “La Folle Journée” has an English website, all its ticketing sites were in Japanese.

This was Golden Week, and all Ginza (where the hotel is located) is pedestrian-traffic-only for the holiday. I strolled right along to the famous French chocolatier La Maison de Chocolat, where I stock up on my favorite dark chocolate, Mendiant (extremely nutty chocolate chunks).

In between concerts, I wandered around the elegant avenues, window-shopped a little, and had a quick bite at Ginza Bairin, where just the thought of their mouth-watering tonkatsu (Japanese version of Wiener schnitzel) makes me feel like going back already.

In Roppongi, I discovered a nice surprise, which is Ryugin, a fusion-like restaurant. There was no fuss or pretension, but the set menu looked great and tasted delicious, the recipes creative but not bizarre, and the dinner was paired with an outstanding sake brewed in limited edition only for the restaurant.

The exploring of Tokyo Midtown, with its interesting architecture, was a pleasant break from the music marathon.

The 21-21 Design Sight is a small gem. Designed and built by Tadao Ando, it specializes in fascinating avant-garde exhibitions. Suntory Museum of Art, whose mission is “Art revisited, beauty revealed”, is also exceptional, if only for its human size. You can take in the whole museum in three hours without getting lost or rushed!

Ah, the basement Food Court. That’s where I can spend the whole day. My pick was, bien sûr, a French chocolatier again, Jean-paul Hévin, where I had different chocolate cakes as starter, main, dessert, and “encores”!

Photo credits: wikimedia.org