yokohama family fair

Saturday, we went to the 49th Yokohama Family Fair which was sponsored by Itochu, Japan's largest trading company

There were tons of food products, clothing, electronics

Each person got a free packet of pasta sauce, just heat and add to your own pasta

Satoshi's classmate was one of vendors there, so we went to visit with him and check out the fair

It was my first time at the Yokohama Area, which is near the JR Shin Yokohama station

loved the artwork..."waving figure by K Tatehata"

More artwork: not sure what this one was called or who made it (sorry!)

so many vendors!

I bought some dark chocolates by Michel Cluizel...discounted to 500 yen (tax included)

It was nice to visit with Satoshi's friend and check out some of the foods and products from the other vendors

Lunch was at Mokuola, which was supposed to have "Hawaiian cuisine", you know I’m already leery about eating here

I had their avocado cheeseburger...the hamburger was hard.as.rock. and the avocado was ice cold

the fries were soggy, and not even seasoned...sad!

even if you have ketchup on the table, the fries still should be seasoned 

Satoshi had their shrimp avocado omurice, he said he enjoyed his food

I don't plan to go back here

Despite a disappointing lunch, it was nice to get out and about.

It was quite summery...blazing actually, at the least in the shade it was cool!

friday

about lunchtime on Friday, our phones were going krazy

a big one (earthquake) was coming

the thing I don't like about the NERV app is that it shows you the countdown (in the photo: where the number says "162") before the earthquake hits the area where you are (and the ring gets bigger as the earthquake "wave" approaches)...

Anyway, we had 189 seconds before it was gonna hit

Luckily Satoshi was working from home...and he says, "what should we do?"

I told him, "sit down, if it is a big one, you won't be able to walk"

From the speakers around our neighborhood you could also hear the alert 

And then the "ring" went past our area and we felt nothing

And then 10 minutes later, they cancelled the alert...WT?!

I felt so sorry for those in Tohoku who experienced the "big one" back in 2011, I am sure they had flashbacks 

AND Docomo users did not get an alert at all!

All the weather dudes could do was apologize...

well, I hope they find out what actually happened and find a way to prevent it in the future

and Docomo, I hope you figure out why your users did not get an alert...'cause if it does come we'd like to have a chance to prepare...

Have a good week everyone!

when life throws you curves

In September, Satoshi was diagnosed with prostate cancer

He had a biopsy done in August and out of the areas that were checked, one area was determined as high risk, so even though the other areas were low risk, his cancer was labeled as high risk

He had a bone scan and CT scan to check if the cancer had spread and luckily it had not

He just started hormone treatment, to shrink the cancer, this treatment is supposed to take 1.5 years

Next month he will take a blood test to check his PSA

when the PSA numbers get low enough, he will start radiation

I've said in the past that medical terms in English are hard enough, but to have to understand them in Japanese is way harder

My dad and some of my relatives have also had this so knowing a little about what happens has helped.

And there is information online in English so I can "study" before our meetings with the doctor

Anyway, it’s still scary, but we're taking things one day at a time and we're hopeful 

As always we appreciate your good mojo

Be well everyone

this and that

tried Alps Curry in the Yaechika area of Tokyo Station

buy your ticket at the machine and give it to the person behind the counter

she asked if fukujinzuke was okay, I guess some people don’t like it?!

500 yen (tax included) for chicken curry...this was fast and relatively delicious (kinda oily)

because seating is limited, you might not be able to sit together if you have a large group

this is one of those eat and go places, not somewhere to "talk story"

I'm glad we tried this place it has been in business since 1969 *cash only

beautiful sunrises recently

stumbled upon a block party on my walk back from the market, it was blazing!

halloween-ish chocolate pie from Vie de France

teaching myself how to use chopsticks better...

no rain no rainbow...seen on Tuesday

friend Mayumi texted me that she was sending us some shine muscat I got worried because last year she sent us a lot!

so I was pleasantly surprised when I opened the box

her friend grew these, some are sweet, some are not, some have seeds, some do not

grateful for her kindness...thank you!

so teeny!

Typhoon #30 (Champi) has formed, the weather dude said it’s been 13 years since we’ve had 30 typhoons in a year?! this one seems to be heading toward Okinawa BUT will also turn upward toward Honshu afterwards.

Hoping this typhoon will be the last for this year

Have a safe weekend!

Alps Curry

Yaechika B1F

Hours: 10:00-19:00 (Mondays-Fridays), 11:00-19:00 (Saturdays, Sundays & Holidays)

*cash only

tofrom yaesu

I wrote about this building back in July and it opened up at the end of September (I think)

across the street from the JR Tokyo Station, is the building called ToFrom Yaesu and houses a bus terminal

the majority of floors are office space but on floors 1-4 and in the basement they have some eateries

glad it wasn't too krazy when we went 

hello

not sure if we'll be back to check out any of the eateries but it is good to know that there are many choices in this building

oh and if you are visiting Yaechika (the underground shopping area under the JR Tokyo Station) , it connects to ToFrom Yaesu

harakado

Have you been to Harakado?

It is a shopping area on the corner (kado) of Harajuku (Hara)

Another place I have been past but never inside...

It has this huge stair area near the roof for people to sit, talk story, eat 

We were kinda hungry so we got some snacks from their food court

Kat had the cute inarizushi and Satoshi had the fried shrimp musubi with a salmon and ikura musubi

I saw someone eating this and want to go back to eat this!

I'm glad we got to check this place out

shinjuku

Saturday, Satoshi wanted to check out some things for an upcoming tour

we ended up near the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Offices and saw this line snaking four deep (when I took this photo the line had subsided quite a bit)

I had asked one person standing in line what the line was for and got a very snarky/snippy answer..."can't you tell?!" um, no that is why I was asking...bruh!

Anyway, it turned out that this line was for a food distribution/soup kitchen or what the Japanese call "takidashi"

In fact, under the government building you will see a lot of homeless, it was sad to see

Since I had never been up to the observatory, we went to check it out

They check your bags before you can ride the elevator

And you can choose between the observatory in the North tower or the one in the South tower 

If I am not mistaken, there is a cafe in each tower, as well as a gift shop

the view

we got to see a part of Tokyo that we had never been to and learned something new (to us) regarding food security in Tokyo