mostly tokyo people

These photos were taken at the Tokyo Marathon & Akihabara

Tokyo Furry People: waiting for the marathon runners to pass

Tokyo People: watching the blocked off roads for the marathon

Tokyo People: bus fanatic, taking a photo of a bus that wasn't surrounded by traffic

Tokyo People: taiko performers heading to perform for the marathon runners

Tokyo People: Takeya dinosaurs..rawr

(maybe) Tokyo People

(maybe) Tokyo People

Tokyo People: volunteer water passer outer

(maybe) Tokyo People

it was warm on Sunday, this guy was wearing geta (wooden sandals)

Tokyo People: waiting for friends

Sunday's weather was 22C (71F) and by Monday the temps dropped to 2C (35F)!

Some areas around Tokyo saw snow on Tuesday and Wednesday, but we had rain

The weather dude says the temps will go up and down a couple more times...

Have a safe weekend.

yosano roaster kyoto

A welding craftsman in Yosano, Kyoto, that makes parts for bicycles decided to try his hand at roasting coffee and making chocolates.

I learned about his story from a television show.

He designed his own ceramic infrared coffee roasting machine and also designed a machine that will separate the nib and husk for cacao beans.

We tried his Rwanda Skyhill coffee. I wished he had more info, like the farm it came from.

I thought the taste of this coffee was smooth, not too much acid, I enjoyed it.

His Inemankai bar won a Silver Award at the International Chocolate Awards, 2021-2022 Asia Pacific

This bar uses 70% Colombian chocolate, kodaimai (red rice) and sake kasu (rice wine lees)

I couldn't taste any rice or sake kasu but the chocolate overall was smooth a little fruity

The Sparkling is 70% Vietnam chocolate and Amanohashidate Sparkling wine.

If you've ever tried grapes in Japan, it tasted just like it, really fruity! and lots of grape flavor

The Amanohashidate Wine, uses 70% Tanzania chocolate, and red wine, which I couldn't pick out, but again, this was a smooth tasting bar.

I'm glad we tried these chocolates and his coffee and loved the packaging , it was nice supporting a small business, and I hope he'll continue to succeed.

omusubi ambassador

Recently Shohei Ohtani became the Omusubi Ambassador for Family Mart (had no idea there was such a thing)...

And they released two musubi as part of the campaign.

The one I tried is similar to the one on the right of the picture, this time though they changed it a little adding bonito to the original tuna, mayo & konbu...will try this one soon…258 yen (tax included)

I was more excited to try the one on the left because it is supposed to resemble the musubi from Bongo, which we've been to in the past and also have tried making at home.

The first bite was only the egg yolk sauce

But the second bite had the soboro and egg yolk sauce...delicious!

Flavorful, sweet and salty

Because convenience stores don't sell things for a long time, I will try to go back to have this again soon.

(There was another musubi with takana (mustard greens) and mentaiko (spicy pollack roe) mayo, but I’m not a fan of mentaiko)

I'm glad I got to try this...198 yen (tax included) and look forward to trying the one with tuna & bonito

10615

Satoshi had a study thingy with his tour guide friends, so I went to Akihabara.

I had forgotten that they were holding the Tokyo Marathon...which means, no can cross the large street near JR Akihabara station!
 

they did have these free shuttles to take you "around" the marathon...so they took me from Akihabara, up to Ueno, across the large street and then down to the other side from where we caught the shuttle

It took about 20 minutes to do that, but at least I didn't have to wait 2 hours for the marathon to finish...

I had wanted to check out a cafe near Yushima that I had been to before, but ever since they became popular for hotcakes plus the pandemic, I've never been able to go back there

Again, on this day, the line for the cafe was long, so instead I went in the other direction to Yushima Tenmangu.

They were having their Ume Matsuri

Many ume trees were in bloom

Lots of ema (amulets) praying for good grades and passing tests

There was even a wedding

Then I took the route that the shuttle took to get back to Akihabara

And on the way, stopped at Tsuruse, a Japanese confection shop that has been in business since 1930

I tried their fukuume, a sweet filled with white bean and ume paste and covered with uirou (a thick paste that looks like yokan but is actually a little "chewy" like mochi)...love this!

And their long time seller, mame daifuku, this is filled with chunky sweet bean paste and red peas...loved this also!

As I was heading back to Akihabara, I could see a turn area for the marathon near Ueno.

I revisted the shops I had wanted to check out the last time I went to Akihabara

But because I was there when the shops were open, it was a little too crowded for my liking, so I was in and out...fast!

And picked up a ebi ten musubi for lunch from Momochi at JR Shinagawa station before going home.

I'll try to check out the cafe I've been wanting to go to sometime on a weekday.

I'm glad I learned about the free shuttles for the marathon and got to revisit the shops in Akihabara that I had wanted to check out.

foodie stamps

I don't usually keep up to date about what stamps are out.

But the other day, I was standing in line at the post office and noticed these foodie stamps.

This version was Osaka's foods...

These are for postcards.

The design of the paper holding the stamps, the mayo on the takoyaki says "osaka"

These were the stamps for letters.

And the back design of the paper holding the stamps...the sauce on the kushikatsu says "osaka"

so cute & delicious looking!
 

10450

Since they were turning off our water for a bit on Thursday, I decided to check out the ume at Hasedera.

It was my 1st time going to see the ume there, so I wasn’t too sure what to expect 
 

Taisenkaku, a ryokan on the way to Hasedera, always has beautiful flowers outside its window

The ume trees were mostly on the entry level of Hasedera, it was nice to see

Up at the top, you can see the ocean from the deck and there is also a small cafe, Kaikoan too.

I tried their Otera no curry (literally Temple's curry)...1250 yen (tax included)

Their curry is vegan, those pieces that look like "meat" were konnyaku (konjac)

The curry wasn't too spicy but super flavorful, I'm glad I tried it and because it was 10:00, I had the whole cafe to myself.

After lunch, I walked from Hasedera back to the JR Kamakura station and stopped at Namihei, to try their sakura taiyaki...320 yen (tax included)

I didn't eat it until I went home and this wasn't too good...even after toasting it, really chewy and not much sakura flavor

Oh well, I'm still glad I tried this.

Surprisingly there weren't krazy crowds where I was today, maybe they were in other parts of Kamakura.

I'm glad I got out and about.

Kaikoan

inside of Hasedera property

Hours: 10:00-15:00

*cash only

Namihei

1-8-10 Hase

Kamakura, Kanagawa

Closed Mondays

Hours: 10:00-18:00 (17:00 on Tuesdays)