2026 - Page 2 of 5 - LIVING THE DREAM

Culinary Backstreets Tokyo Review – Monzen-Nakacho in Koto

Whenever we visit a major city, we’ve been getting in the habit of booking a Culinary Backstreets tour to get off the beaten track and explore areas we otherwise wouldn’t have visited (and with a particular emphasis on eating, of course).

In Tokyo, we jumped on their tour focusing on the Monzen-Nakacho region of Koto City on the eastern side of Tokyo, and absolutely fell in love with the area- so much so that we’ve even returned to explore more on future visits to the city!

But, as with all of the Culinary Backstreets tours we’ve been on, we have one recommendation we suggest you heed- go hungry. This tour will leave you stuffed for quite some time.

Note: As with most guided tours, your mileage may vary on where you visit on any given day. Please reconfirm all tour details prior to booking as stops may change. But for this one, you aren’t covering a big area, so if your particular tour doesn’t hit every spot we visited, you can always go back to the ones mentioned in this article after the tour is over!

Whenever we get home from a vacation, we often find ourselves in a bit of a mental funk. This is, naturally, to be expected- going back to your daily routine after a vacation is always somewhat painful.

But once the laundry is put away, you hit a favorite bar or restaurant for some comfort food, and hang out with friends, you start to slip back into your usual routine just fine.

Unless you’re coming home from Japan.

Every time we come home from Japan, we find that the post-travel blues last much, much longer. The laundry feels like a bigger chore. The restaurant doesn’t hit quite the same. And we need many, many hangouts with friends along the way. Days turn to weeks, and the severity of the depression is on a scale that has never quite come as close anywhere else we have been.

Why is that? Well, let’s count the ways Japan depresses us about having to return home!

Every time we visit Paris, we always make a point of spending some time at the Louvre. It is one of the best museums in the world, and no matter how many times we visit, we always find something new, whether it is a piece of art, a floor we missed, or sometimes even an entire wing we overlooked.

But the Louvre is also somewhat infuriating.

As the most visited museum in the world (and also the largest!), with a capacity of up to 30,000 visitors per day, you can certainly feel it here- and not just at the Mona Lisa. From lines at the art to crowds in the galleries, and even lines to get in the door despite holding timed-entry tickets, saying the Louvre is very, very busy is an understatement.

By the end of every visit, you’re going to be tired of people just as much as being overloaded from seeing world-class art. The latter is a good thing. The former, not so much.

So in this one, we thought we’d share some thoughts to help get the most out of your visit to the Louvre despite some of the challenges!

When you think of Japan, you may think of megacities, technological marvels, and more. But have you ever stopped to think about how modern-day Japan came to be?

There are, of course, many history museums across the country that showcase Japan’s long and storied history. But at the Takayama Showa-kan museum in Takayama, you get a chance to look back at the Showa Era- particularly the rebuilding period post-war that helped Japan become the country that it is today.

There are trips back in time, and then there is a trip back in time at Takayama Showa-kan.

Culinary Backstreets Tokyo Review – Monzen-Nakacho in Koto

Post-Japan Depression is Real – What to Expect

How to Not Go Insane When Visiting the Louvre

Takayama Showa-kan is Taking a Trip Back in Time