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 

fruit stand bora bora

Stumbled upon this tiny fruit stand called Bora Bora when I visited Gakugeidaigaku

 

What caught my eye were these Fukuoka grown red kiwi...120 yen each (plus tax)

Lucky for this blog because I was reminded that we had tried these Fukuoka grown red kiwi back in 2020

Still, I hope they are tasty (update: the one on the left was sour & hard.as.rock, the one on the right was softer and a little sweet! both hardly had any red)

Fruit Stand Bora Bora

3-1-9 Takaban

Meguro, Tokyo

Closed: Sundays

Hours: 9:00-22:00

*cash only

patisserie taisuke endo

Wanted to check out Patisserie Taisuke Endo for some time now.

If I’m not mistaken, he trained in France & Italy

He has a cafe area where you can enjoy cakes and other sweets

He also sells baked items like viennoiserie and sables (cookies) 

I tried his madeleine...360 yen (tax included), chocolate tonka financier...390 yen (tax included)

so delicious!

super chocolatey! love!

buttery with a hint of lemon

kouign amann...490 yen (tax included)...a very thin caramel coating and the inside is super moist and buttery...love!

bazillion calories consumed but I'm glad I got to try these and look forward to trying his cakes in the future.

I'll be back

Patisserie Taisuke Endo

2-4-7 Takaban

Meguro, Tokyo

Closed: check social media for days off

Hours: 10:30-19:00