thanks for today

Friend Val was visiting with her friend J

On Saturday, we checked out Shibuya

Not having been to Shibuya for some time, I didn’t know that everything opens at 11!

Luckily Donki is open 24 hours so we hung out and shopped there until everything else opened up.

We also checked out the Jump store in Parco and Tower Records 

Lunch was at Miyashita Park’s food court's Pizza Slice.

Their pizzas are on display in the showcase, tell them what you want and they'll heat it up

The crust is so crisp!

Satoshi and I shared this mushroom slice and a slice of their supreme type...I enjoyed the mushroom one more

J bought her lunch at VegeGo...bibimbap, it looked ono but took so long for her to get her order!

After lunch it was more shopping at Akihabara and even more shopping at Yaesu Underground Shopping Arcade

Yesterday, we checked out Akasaka Aono that has been in business for over 120 years, since 1899

They are known for their Akasaka mochi, a soft warabi mochi with walnuts in it and is covered with LOTS of kinako

It is also strawberry season, so we also tried their ichigo daifuku

Both were so ono!

There is also Azabu Aono, which has been in business a little longer than Akasaka Aono, I hope to check out their sweets soon.

It was nice meeting J and catching up with Val.

They head back to Hawaii tomorrow and I hope they enjoyed their stay.

Thanks for today Val & J

Pizza Slice

Miyashita Park South 3F

Shibuya, Tokyo

Hours: 11:00-22:00

Akasaka Aono : Akasaka Mitsuke shop

3-1-11 Akasaka

Minato, Tokyo

Hours: 9:30-19:00 (Mondays-Fridays), 9:30-18:00 (Saturdays), 10:00-17:00 (Sundays & Holidays)

this and that

we tried this special peyoung yakisoba

I thought I'd written about peyoung's yakisoba in the past, but I guess I did not...I think we first had their original version during the pandemic...
 

this version comes with this teeny packet of yawata isogoro's garam masala 

I had been interested in what this tasted like, I believe there are curry spices as well as ichimi (chili pepper) in it, so this was a nice way to try it

on the yawata isogoro website it notes that this is good on fried fish as well as on curries and in soups

we also jazzed it up with a fried egg and some pickled cabbage

mouth.on.fire. but I would get this yakisoba again.

ume (plum/apricot) is blooming

so is robai (waxy apricot)

the other day there was a huge earthquake in tottori/shimane...

after the first one, there were 6 more in a matter of 10 minutes! eek!

I hope they can get back to their daily routines soon.

and we are in the fahreezer!

the winds were blustery last night...the air is so dry

there have been some fires in east Japan.

stay safe, warm

have a nice weekend

nanakusagayu

Today is the 7th, which means it is the day to eat nanakusagayu

I usually prep the grasses the night before, but since I "thought" I could do it in the morning, that is what I did...wrong!

Too much stress to do in the morning...will go back to prepping the grasses the night before.

Hoping we can be free of sickness this year. 

ikegami

Sunday we went up the street  to Ikegami Honmonji for hatsumode

It wasn’t krazy crowded, maybe it was too early  (10:00-ish) or maybe everyone went on the first couple of days of the New Year

Afterwards we headed to Marugame to stand in line because they open at 11

We were first! whoo and only had to wait about 20 minutes

Satoshi got the tamago ankake with kakiage and a musubi (no photo)

Kat tried something different and got the kaki butter bukkake

The oysters are fried tempura style so the coating is light and they give you 5 of them

Shoyu butter combo is so ono!

With bukkake you don’t drink the soup because it is concentrated, so it was just there to coat everything

And the lemon brightens everything

This shop is teeny in comparison to the one we ate at in Kamata so if you don't get in for the 1st seating, expect to wait

We were happy we tried this location and were able to use some of our coupons...

Oh and if you were wondering, most businesses went back to work on the 2nd, but supermarkets didn't start until the 4th! and some businesses start their winter break from Monday

Must be a franchise, but it seems like a lot of these shops are popping up 

Hope this location will succeed, we’ll be back

Marugame Seimen

6-3-3 Ikegami

Ota, Tokyo

Hours: 11:00-22:00

akutagawa seika

Back in November, when I met up with Greg's sisters, I also checked out Akutagawa Seika

They apparently have been in business since 1886 and used to have a shop in the Komagome area, but now mainly have shops in Saitama prefecture and a teeny outlet shop at the bottom of JR Ikebukuro station

I bought their 70% pure chocolate

And their Omikuji chocolate

Similar to the omikuji that you see at shrines 

You shake out a chocolate wrapped with your fortune

This was fun to do while we had our coffee during the New Year break

I'm glad we got to try these and would go back to buy chocolate from them again

Akutagawa Seika

Ikebukuro Shopping Park, B1

Hours: 10:00-19:30 (Sundays & Holidays), 10:00-21:00 (Weekdays)

*closed when Ikebukuro Shopping Park is

this and that

things done/eaten in 2025, that missed being blogged about

we tried kanno seimen's jumbo shumai is no joke, they are huge!

about the size of a golf ball...5 for 330 yen (tax included)

The filling is seasoned well, so no need to add shoyu when eating

we ate ours with black vinegar and satoshi also added karashi (mustard) to his 

we checked out the marugame seimen under the keikyu kamata station...super teeny in comparison to the one we go to in Kawasaki, but the line moves rather quickly

I had the bukkake udon with toriten (chicken tempura), chikuwa with nori and their chocolate udonuts..

I thought I took a photo of this when I was eating one of the udonuts, but sadly I did not...these were super chocolatey...love!

we still need to try the shop near our shopping arcade, hope to do that soon

tried the dubai style chocolate pistachio ice cream from 7-eleven

it was good, the crispy part was smooshed wafers...would get it again

love this tree, always so pretty with all its blooming camellia

we received these dried kaki from V, love the brand name noto kakinosuke

thank you V

the saltiest & toughest kalbi and brisket from matsuya…it made the stuff in the miso soup seem like it had no flavor!

there was ozoni on New Year's morning

and osechi that evening...everything is so krazy expensive at this time of year...next year I'm gonna look for bento with osechi stuff instead

kalbi don done relatively right at yoshinoya...the meat still had lots of tendons, but at least the salt was way lower than the one at matsuya

and proof that global warming is real...ume is already starting to bloom

Hope 2026 got off to a nice start for you

thank you

(photo taken in october)

What a year!

Thankful for everything (good and bad)

Hoping 2026 will be healthy, happy with more travels, new connections and reconnections for everyone

Be well, be kind