saturday

From where we live it takes about and hour and a half to Koiwa which is located at the very east side of Tokyo.

Ever since we saw Kunio Kobayashi's bonsai on tv, we've been interested in checking out his museum.

Admission is 800 yen but worth it.

You can roam around the property and check out the many different bonsai.

Some are over 500 years old!

When I think of bonsai, I think of miniature sized plants but Mr Kobayashi's works show you that bonsai is not only "tiny", they can also be very large!

While we were there, there were several bus loads of tourists from several different countries learning about bonsai, Japanese calligrapy and origami.

One of Mr Kobayashi's disciples gave Satoshi this starter bonsai (an ume (apricot))...we'll see how long Satoshi will be able to care for it...

From Koiwa, we went back a couple of stations to Kameido.

We had wanted to try Kameido Gyoza, but the line was krazy!

We still ended up waiting, but in a shorter line at Fujiiya, another gyoza shop nearby.

Satoshi ordered the gomoku (5 item) soba and gyoza, which he enjoyed.

I ordered the pari pari (crispy) gyoza and ganso (original) gyoza set.

This was delicious and came with rice, some soup and pickles. I gave some rice to Satoshi. The broth looked thick but was light and flavorful.

We still want to check out Kameido Gyoza, but will need to get there when they open.

Across the street from Fujiiya is Julian Bakery. Apparently the owner/baker had a connection with Julian Bakery in Hawaii.

He said that Julian Bakery had shops in the GEM Stores in Waipahu and Temple Valley?! I remember GEM but not this particular bakery.

He hadn't been back to Hawaii since the 80s, so he was shocked to hear that GEM was no longer.

We tried the curry pan, mentaiko baguette & cream cheese walnut bread, for breakfast on Sunday.

The mentaiko and cream cheese breads were on the harder side but tastewise were delicious.

The curry pan had just the right amount of spice and kick.

We also tried the chocolate bread, this morning, which had some raisins (or maybe cherries) and some chocolate in it.

I think it could've had (way) more chocolate in it...

Down the street from Fujiiya was a display of Edo Kiriko (a type of etched glass).

So so beautiful!

Then we checked out Kameido Tenjinsha.

They have many ume (apricot) trees as well as fuji (wisteria) trellises.

We missed the ume but hope to come back to check out the wisteria.

Despite the weather being forecast for rain, we were bummed that it was fahreezing but glad that it was just overcast.

It was nice to explore another part of Tokyo and hope to be able to check out more areas.

Shunkaen Bonsai Museum
1-29-16 Niihori
Edogawa, Tokyo
Phone: 03.3670.8622
Closed Mondays
Hours: 10:00-17:00

Fujiiya
5-13-8 Kameido
Koto, Tokyo
Phone: 03.3683.1891
Closed Tuesdays
Hours: 10:00-23:30