saturday

V said she was gonna check out the kawazu zakura at Chidorigafuchi and said if I had time I could tag along 

I wasn’t familiar with this type of sakura near Chidorigafuchi, so I looked online and found some located at the Imperial North Garden

So that’s where we went

There were several trees and very little people

It was nice bonding with nature

We stumbled upon a statue of Yoshida Shigeru, who (I looked up afterwards) was the Prime Minister of Japan after the war (I think I told V it was during the war, but it was after)

I bought some musubi for our lunch from Momochi, in the JR Shinagawa station

Ebiten

Iburigakko (smoked takuan)

Ume

And then we walked through the Imperial East Garden

There were some early blooming sakura

Then we went one station over to Yurakucho

Shopped at some antenna shops

After seeing V off to do some shopping, I went to other antenna shops

Hoping this tomato ume sauce from Wakayama will be tasty

And hoping this Trappist butter from Hokkaido will also be tasty

This chocolate ring cake from Godiva's Bakery was delicious. 

Dark chocolate cake and chocolate "frosting" and a chocolate square

V also let us try these coffee cookies from Hiyoko from Kyushu, if you’ve tried their chick shaped manju, this cookie is way better

Thanks for today V, I hope you enjoyed your trip and have a safe trip home

It was nice hanging out with you.

chinatown

Friday night, Satoshi wanted me to check out Yokohama's Chinatown with him for a tour that he had on Saturday since I always explore this area

 

my photos uploaded wonky, so they are out of order...a small Taoist temple

I think Yokohama's Chinatown is so much more lively at night with all their neon 

Kaihoutei

Yokohama Taoist Temple

Dinner was at Ichiraku, which has been in business since 1926

Love their building!

My char siu don (bowl)...1250 yen (tax included)

This was ono! a little more shoyu in their char siu marinade and not as sweet as the char siu I grew up with in Hawaii

Bummer they forgot to make Satoshi's noodles and he had to wait and wait...by the time his came out, I was finished...and he was hangry! (no photo)...1250 yen (tax included)

They gave us coconut pudding to compensate for Satoshi's food coming out so late...this was so ono!

I don't know that Satoshi would go back here but I enjoyed my food

Tong Fat, I want to try their char siu!

decorations still up for Lunar New Year

cute panda drawings by elementary students in the area

Even though we've been to Chinatown in the past, hopefully Satoshi didn't get lost and was able to guide his group

Ichiraku

150 Yamashitacho

Naka ward, Yokohama, Kanagawa

Closed Mondays

Hours: 11:30-15:30 (lunch), 17:00-21:00 (dinner)

friday

Spent some time with V

We went to Kuramae Shrine to see the mimosa tree and kawazu sakura tree

When we arrived there was a line snaking around, luckily it wasn't to view these trees.

But, there were already tons of people trying to take photos of the trees on the shrine's property

Apparently the Mimosa tree is a symbol of the Women's movement in Italy in the 1940s

The flower represents solidarity and resistance and the bright yellow served as a beacon of hope in the fight for equality

The colors were a nice way to brighten up the gloomy clouds

there were also a rose plant

and a beautiful camellia

After checking out the shrine, we checked out some things at Akihabara and then had lunch inside of JR Shinagawa at Spice Factory

Satoshi and I have had lunch here before

This time, V and I tried their soup curry...

Loved the sausage that was served on a bone, even though the sausage was sliced, it was still very snappy!

The soup was quite spicy and I enjoyed all the veggies, especially the roasted pumpkin

It was nice spending time with V, I hope she enjoyed seeing the flowers.

yoroniku

The other month, I told you that V was visiting, she said her friend J and her husband L wanted to eat at Yoroniku so if we could also join them because the last time Satoshi had to cancel last minute

We went yesterday and it was just as great as the first time

Satoshi didn’t want to eat raw beef sashimi, so his portion for the sashimi and yukke (tartare) were changed to kalbi and I don’t remember what other cut of meat, both were cooked for Satoshi 

He did have the beef nigiri sushi though

Everything was so tasty and every cut was melt in your mouth! you literally did not need teeth..ha!

If you're interested in what we had, please look at my original post on Yoroniku.

Thank you V we appreciate you treating us to dinner and for the beautiful bottle of umeshu

We enjoyed meeting your friends too

We are thankful for your friendship and hope you enjoyed your trip in Japan

my number

Well 10 years have passed since we got our My Number cards

In that time some things have changed with it

Like your health insurance card info is on it now

You can access some documents which you normally would have to go to the city office for, from the printer at a convenience store

Instead of going to get your photo for the ID from a professional photo studio, you can now take your photo with your smartphone and even renew the card online

I think you can even put your driver license on it too

So..I now have a new card that should last the next 10 years...

I still wish they would use it for more "useful" things like when there is an earthquake, the survivors could just scan their card and be able to "check-in" 

But I guess that might make too much sense...

taiwan 101

While roaming the basement of Tokyo station, we were looking for something for dinner.

Kat decided to try Taiwan 101's onigiri bento

it came with lu rou (braised pork) sauce fried gyoza, onion shumai, karaage (fried chicken), kurage (jellyfish) and fried tofu with chives in a black bean sauce

the fan tuan (onigiri/rice ball) was filled with lu rou (braised pork), peanuts and a quail egg

different from the one that I often buy from Tokyo Doujiang Seikatsu

This was quite a hefty onigiri, but I enjoyed the crunchy peanuts in there

Though the other items were quite salty, and the chicken karaage super hard,  I hope to try other items here

Taiwan 101

JR Tokyo Station Gransta Tokyo B1

Hours: 8:00-22:00 (21:00 on Sundays)

saturday

Saturday, we went to Waseda to turn in our omamori

We had stuck it on the wall for the new year according to the shrine's instructions, but the other night it fell off in the middle of the night! 

I heard it, Satoshi did not...

On the way to the shrine we went through Tokyo Station and I spotted Shohei Otani's book 

And we decided to have lunch...I have been thinking about this perfectly fried fish ever since I had this last year.

Still perfectly fried!

After returning the omamori to the shrine, the guy working there told us not to worry, that we didn't do anything wrong to cause it to fall off, and to just go about our daily routines as normal.

We were relieved after hearing this since we were feeling a bit down about it falling so soon after the year had begun.

I had wanted to take Satoshi to experience the coffee shop that I had been to, but was shocked to learn they were out of business.

So we went to have coffee at a big chain place then decided to head back to Tokyo Station, so that Satoshi could research some things for his upcoming tour

Jinchoge (daphne) is blooming...love the fragrance

Saw a type of sakura blooming

At the Palace Hotel, there was a beautiful doll display

And this beautiful edo kiriko vase

the lobby area was beautiful too

Since it was the day before the Tokyo marathon, there were all these work people setting up things

loved how all the different tools they had on the belts were clinking as they walked

The finish line

It was a really nice day, kinda warm too