Depachika, Paradise Lost for our gastronome lust

Let's forget about the cute, chubby mug of Bibendum for the time being. There could be a Michelin-starred sushi bar, kaiseki ryori or ultra lush French dining room that you're set to stuff your face on while in Tokyo, but in the midst of things, "depachika" is arguably the best way to indulge yourself into the kaleidoscopic food culture of Japan in the cheap and ease.

A word formed with depa from "department store" and chika, or basement in Japanese, depachika is the Eden that never quite caught the commensurate attention of mainstream travel guides in the English world -- the wickedest sin ever committed by the articulate but sometimes malinformed travel writers. This could be, with its countless booths of wagashi and counters of patisseries, confiseries and chocolat francaise romping in various diaphanous scarves and lacquered bamboos, a Zen garden planted in spacecraft or Marianne masqueraded in kimono. Either way, a true blessing for the foodies in the know.

And thanks to the marketing savvy of the Japanese, or lack of that by the French for that matter, you don't quite need to trek across the corners of Paris with whines and frowns. With some of the most captivating designer chocolates and pastries (Pierre Herme, Jean-Paul Hevin and Sadaharu Aoki, naming just some of my favorite Parisien labels) and all the most obsessional produce from around world strewing in a single strata, it is quite possibly, to put an aesthetic point to it, an ukiyo-e of the yummiest dreams you've ever made [proofs from my Flickr photostream can be envisioned here, here and here].

Before you strike your divine blitz of kamikaze attack on the booths, in the midst of things, you can go visit here and here (sorry, in Japanese only) for the latest news and promos at different depachika across Japan.