this and that

probably the last of the freesia...that reddish one had a different fragrance from the dark pink ones, super strong but still super nice

Satoshi got several "tips" from people he took around...

and this one...

and this one…he thinks the tour agent tells them “Japan has no tipping, so give your tour guide a little gift instead”

Benny's nori bento...468 yen (plus tax)...still quite reasonable

The other day while it was raining, there were these two pigeons, and one more on the electrical line were  waiting for the rain to stop

The trees in our courtyard are flowering and new leaves are coming in.

I do notice some trees are dried up, I hope the gardeners that come every so often will dig those up

The other month, I noticed this hole in the ceiling near the elevator.

I have a feeling one of the workmen that are working on an apartment's renovation might have hit the ceiling with something.

Hoping they get this fixed soon

We're supposed to have rain today AND the temps are forecast for 27C (80F) on Saturday!

so krazy because the temps went down to 9C (48F) the other day

Have a safe weekend.

wednesday

Wednesday, it was sunny

I found some flowers on the way to grocery shopping.

The double sakura (yaezakura) are blooming means that sakura season is over in our area 

Saw some early blooming wisteria

And these plants in front of our apartment

After looking online it said the Japanese name is Enishida, and the scientific name is Cytisus scoparius

It is nice to see that the plants in front of our apartment also have flowers

biang biang men

Was seeing this in my IG feed, biang biang men from Family Mart

This is in their frozen section

Just zap the contents in the microwave for 7 minutes on 500 watt

I had to zap it for an additional 20 seconds because it was still a little cold in the middle

Pour into a bowl and add the chinese pepper oil that comes with it

Mouth.on.fire.

This is quite filling and super spicy (for me)

Would get this again, but the only thing is that you need to keep this in the freezer until you are ready to eat (the space in my freezer is quite limited)

when I bought this, I also a saw a soupless tan tan men I want to try this too

sakura walk (kamata)

Yesterday, it was forecast for clouds but was sunny so I went to check out the pocket park nearby

The cherry blossoms were a little past their peak

But it was still nice to see some on the trees

Especially since we had pretty hard rain and blustery winds the other night

The temps have gone up, up, up!

I think they were saying May temps?! eek

It is probably gonna be warm from here on out...boo!

Short videos here, and here.

this and that

bon bon drop stickers or seals as the Japanese call them are all the rage

they are plastic and 3D...made me smile to see the younger generations trading stickers

brought back some nice memories
 

This building which has one of the 100 yen stores in our area as well as the shop where I found really reasonably priced brown rice will be torn down...boo!

freesia explosion

red kiwi...the earlier ones we ate were greener and more sour, these were sweet.

love the color

have a nice week

sakura walk (kawasaki)

Wednesday and Thursday were rainy 

And since yesterday was the only day forecast for sun, instead of going to get my hair colored, I went to check out some sakura

This area near the JR Kawasaki station has many sakura trees

From the train, I've often seen many people having their lunch on the stone wall, under the trees

So pretty, glad I finally got to check it out

I also went to check out the view from the Kawasaki City Office

beautiful ikebana in the lobby

The last time I came here with Satoshi the view was meh! because the air was polluted

This time around I could see Tokyo Tower and Skytree

And the clouds were beginning to cover up Mount Fuji

On the ground floor is a Uni Coffee Roastery

I stopped in for an iced coffee and their donuts

Unfortunately they donʻt sell them until 11:30, so I had their carrot cake instead

I had forgotten I had tried their carrot cake before

It was dry back then and it was a little dry this time around too but not as bad as the first time I tried it

On the way back to the station I saw some street art painted on the electrical boxes

The weather is supposed to be rainy over the weekend, so I'm glad I got to see a little more blooms

matsumoto-tokyo

After breakfast, we checked out Ishii Miso, which has been in business since 1868! 

You can view a short video and then check out some of the aged miso to learn about how miso is made

They also have guided tours but they were later in the day

We purchased this moromi miso, it is good with crudite (veggie sticks)

And then we walked up the street to the Matsumoto City Museum of Arts so that Satoshi could see where it was

They have a permanent exhibit of some of Yayoi Kusama's artwork

There are some artworks outside...the guy on the stool, just in his own world and in everyone's photos

Afterwards, we walked to Matsumoto Castle so that Satoshi could check out where the bus parking was

While waiting for him, I was impressed that you could find wi-fi almost anywhere on the castle grounds and had a nice conversation with a couple from Yokohama and a guy from California

For our lunch on the train, we bought some baked items from Murata

This tiny shop has been in business since 1907

We tried their milk bread...this was unfortunately very dry

I had their chikuwa bread...chikuwa, corn, tuna, mayo and lots of Japanese mustard, I enjoyed this except for the mustard.

On our way back to Tokyo, we saw this huge Kannon (statue of Peace) near the JR Nirasaki station

And castle ruins near the JR Kofu station

It was also cool to see all the pink flowers on the peach trees as we went through Yamanashi Prefecture.

And it was also cool to see this huge love letter on the hillside near the JR Fujino station. (the person who posted their video on YT, climbed up and gave a detailed look at the art objet)

I hope you enjoyed this adventure as much as we did

Have a safe weekend

Ishii Miso

1-8-1 Uzuhashi

Matsumoto, Nagano

Hours: 9:00-17:00

Murata Bakery

1-2-33 Fukashi

Matsumoto, Nagano

Closed: Mondays & Thursdays

Hours: 7:00-19:30 (Tuesdays, Wednesdays & Fridays), 6:30-19:30 (Saturdays & Sundays)

*cash only