ICE ICE BABY

At the end of our street in Shibuya there was a kakigori stand. It was an elegant little box of a building, with dark wood paneling and a tropical feel.

Kakigori is a typical summer treat in Japan— ice is shaved from a block, and then covered in sweet syrups. Basically, it is the diamond to a Sno Cone's quartz...

We did not find the right time to stop and have a taste until the afternoon of our last day in town. It was 3:00 pm— lunch was enough of a memory and dinner sufficiently far off, and the temperature was skimming 100 degrees.

So we paused under one of the umbrellas in front of the stand and looked over the pictures of all the flavors. Grape, melon, sweet red bean, lemon, strawberry— it was quite a list.

Our choices made, we went around to the window and placed our orders with the lone man inside. He first filled a bowl halfway with ice, and then swirled a cloudy syrup of condensed milk over the top. The kids had ordered caramel, so that was the next syrup flavor to be drizzled over the ice.

He then added a second layer of ice, until a Fuji-esque mound teetered in the bowl. Another dressing of milk and caramel syrups, and he was done. He handed it through the window to Lana and Sebastian, who quickly found a table for two and began deconstructing it with their spoons.

I ordered a ramune-flavored ice— ramune is essentially lemon-lime soda, but with a longer finish than Sprite or 7-Up. I assumed there was no way I'd be able to polish it off, but 10 minutes later I was staring at an empty bowl, scraping the bottom with my spoon in vain...