Dating from 1892, Tsukishima is Tokyo's oldest island of reclaimed land — and also its monjayaki Mecca. Once a cheap after-school treat cooked on griddles in working-class neighborhoods of postwar Tokyo, monjayaki has morphed into a dinner entre — and Tsukishima is the place to try it.
Originally, moji-yaki was a simple flour-and-water mixture poured out to write the name of the child ordering it. Now, though, it's become a savory pancake loaded with ingredients similar to okonomiyaki, minus the eggs. Monja, as it's known for short, tends to divide diners into "love it" or "hate it" camps. I exit the Oedo Line's Kachidoki Station and stroll northeast to Nakanishi Dori avenue to find out which camp I fall into.
The "love it" contingent made Yoshimiya, 1954's first monja restaurant on Nakanishi, so popular, the story goes, that all the other shops decided to catch the wave of monja mania. Now, under Nakanishi's promenade of little peaked roofs and feeder alleys, there are more than 60 such mini-restaurants.