By MAKOTO HIRATA
Todai Komaba students can not live without going to Shibuya. “Shibuya is the center of Japanese Kawaii!” “Let’s have a drinking party in Shibuya!” A lot of the students like walking to Shibuya rather than take the train. The distance isn’t too far to walk, and if we choose to get on the Keio Inokashira line, we lose 124 yen. This is critical for us.
Instead of using the trains, there are many ways to get to Shibuya. Many students in Komaba have their own favorite route. However, most people probably just walk through and miss the interesting places. Here are some good places along the way to enjoy a good walk to and from Shibuya.
(1) The way to Shibuya from Komaba. From Google map.
There are mainly two routes. One is from Komaba-Ura, through the gym (the blue route). The other is from Komaba-Todaimae station (the red route). If you start from the main entrance gate of Komaba campus with the Hachiko statue in Shibuya as the goal, the blue route takes 17 min, and the red route takes 23 min. Many assume the blue route is more convenient, and many use this blue route. But still, I would recommend the red one, because this way has more interesting spots. Along this way, there are a lot of restaurants and cafes, compared to the blue way (1).
If you want to try fresh fish, go to Eika[英香] (2). This restaurant offers fish dishes, and my recommendation is Maguro-Nakaochi Don[まぐろ中落ち丼,860 yen] (3). This is a traditional style seafood rice bowl.
When you want a private study room, or want to speak with your friends, you probably look for a café. Komaba campus has some cafés, but they are all always crowded. At such times, students tend to flee away from campus. LISBLANC (4) is along this way, and very near to the campus. It has many kinds of cakes and coffees, and they are relatively reasonable. For example, Cannele [カヌレ, the brown, baked cake] (5) is 100 yen, and Bramble jelly [木苺のゼリー] is 350 yen (6). They offer 200 yen drinks with these sweets.
If you get tired of the food on campus, visit CURRY HOUSE LUCY] (7) (8). This restaurant has a very good atmosphere, and you can relax. If you cannot eat a lot, you can choose the mini-size (and save 50 yen).
There are a lot of appealing restaurants beside what I mention here. When you walk down from Komaba to Shibuya, look carefully around the way. You might find a hidden treasure.
Originally posted in July 15, 2015