Setagaya Boro-Ichi

I am in Tokyo this week on business, and had a weekend to do some exploring.  I saw that a sort of street fair was going on, so I decided to check it out. 

I started my day with a quick bite at a bakery in Shinjuku station.  They didn't have any English on the signs next to the choices, so I grabbed a pig in a blanket, one of my usual favorites, and something that looked like a sweet pastry.

The sausage thingy was damn tasty.  The crust is green from just a bit of seaweed that was in the dough.  Then I took a big old bite of my pastry.  To my great disappointment, it wasn't sweet.  The filling was mashed potato which had been covered with a sauce that although it looked fruity, was actually made from fish roe.  Not what I had in mind.  Off to the festival.

The Setagaya Boro-Ichi has apparently been going on for 430 years. Basically it's like a giant flea market, with over 700 vendors, which goes on for blocks on end. You can find all manner of things there, stylish handbags, plants, antiques, kimonos, erotic posters, tools, you name it. 

I quickly realized I should have skipped breakfast. The festival was a street food dreamland.  One the first items I had was a sausage on a stick, a common sight at Japanese festivals.

Two other street food classics you see all over Japan are Okonomiyaki, a sort of pancake with a variety of savory ingredients, and yaki soba, a stir fried noodle dish.  I wasn't in the mood for either of these, but they did look good.

Many sections of the festival were so crowded with people, that you literally could not stop to look at things.  The massive throng just pushed you along.  It was a little unsettling at times and definitely not for anyone who is claustrophobic or has issues with personal space.  I saw a number of people giving their kids piggy back rides because they would be quite easy to lose otherwise.

A bit further down the market the crowd cleared up, and I found a vendor making yakatori from beef.  The aroma drew me in, and it's hard to go wrong with grilled meat.  These ones were quite tasty.

I saw several vendors grilling mochi over charcoal.  If you've never had it, mochi is a cake made by pounding sticky rice into a smooth dough.  It is served as a sweet, stuffed with sweet bean paste, but it is also often used in savory applications.  When grilled, the mochi gets a toasty flavor sort of reminiscent of plain popped corn.  The texture is what usually turns off westerners.  It's very sticky and elastic.  I was really turned off the first time I tried it, but over the years it has really grown on me.

As I was wrapping up my trip to the festival, I came across a vendor selling imagawayaki, a filled cake made from a pancake like batter, and filled with sweet fillings.  They are served nice an warm, perfect for a cold winter day.  I wasn't sure what the filling was on these, but I grabbed one anyway.  Turns out the filling was a creamy custard which tasted of maple. 

Warm imagawayaki in hand, I made my way back to the train station for the trip back to my hotel.  Below you'll see a few more images from the festival.  Please enjoy.