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Tuesday, our apartment building was scheduled to have the water turned off for an hour.

During that time, I went to physical therapy and then decided to go holoholo (gallavanting) afterwards, Satoshi instead decided to work from home...sigh!

I wanted to see the Aomori Antenna Shop, so that was my first stop

All sorts of food items as well as textiles and crafts from Aomori.

I went back to Pain des Philosophos

The olive and fromage...delicious with tapenade, a whole olive and cheese 250 yen (tax included), and the croissant, super flaky…320 yen (tax included)

And then went to check out Akomeya in la Kagu, a building that was designed by Kuma Kengo

Akomeya sells all kinds of things to eat with rice.

I also got a new (to me) chocolate to try

They also had a yachimun (Okinawan pottery) fair, so I got these small dishes...1540 yen (tax included) each

Stopped in at Point et Ligne...they have several shops around Tokyo

the chocolat was super chocolatey! love! and the kari was a slightly spicy curry bread....delicious…640 yen (tax included) for the two items

love that they have a bread "map" to tell you what you bought and if it is freezeable or not

It was so blustery that at times I thought the wind was gonna knock me over!

So much more to explore in this area

Point et Ligne

6-45-2 Kagurazaka

Shinjuku, Tokyo

Open daily: 11:00-19:00

Akomeya

67 Yaraicho

Shinjuku, Tokyo

Open daily: 11:00-20:00

ikegami baien

Monday, went to check out Ikegami Baien.

Was about a week too late though

 

Not many trees left with flowers on it.

The strong winds weren't too helpful either.

Hello! (thanks for not barking at me)

Even though there weren’t many flowers, it was still nice to check out this part of our area

mil's (part 3)

Saturday, Satoshi went to Kyoto to decide what things he will keep and what will be thrown out.

 

Afterwards he met up with classmates for drinks

The next day, he and BIL met with the architect.

He even had a “model” to show them.

BIL has been talking with a different architect, so they’ll see what he/she comes up with then make a decision.

pain au sourire

One of the places I checked out when I went to Shibuya was Pain au Sourire.

Last year, they moved from their old location to this one.

The old location was spacious with a tiny gallery too.

Unfortunately, the building is slated to be torn down.

This new location is just around the corner from the old one but is super teeny. 

I picked up their pain au chocolat, nice ratio of chocolate…320 yen (tax included)

And their honey mustard tuna sandwich...lots of tuna! 410 yen (tax included)

On Sunday, I also tried their cheese fondue which was filled with lots of cheese 320 yen (tax included) and their saucisson 400 yen (tax included) which had a really long sausage inside with some pesto.

Bummer they lost all their cafe space but I'm glad they are still around.

Pain au Sourire

1-5-2 Shibuya

Shibuya, Tokyo

Open Thursdays, Fridays & Saturdays

Hours: 8:00-18:00

shibuya

It had been awhile since I'd been to Shibuya, Satoshi had stuff to do yesterday, so I went holo-holo (gallavanting) on my own.

Taking in buildings that caught my eye, I might have posted some of these before...
 

The last time I passed this area, I think they were fixing this building and had boarded up this sculpture by Taro Okamoto.

I noticed the building in the background was vibrantly painted too.

I walked around the Aoyama Farmers Market

lots of color

Checked out the produce.

Bought some kale from Bugrass Farm 420 yen (tax included) and a bag of colorful carrots from Ome Farm, 500 yen (tax included)

Now that Satoshi's German class is online, I don't really have much of a reason to wander around Shibuya, but will try to do so more often to check off some of my "to try" places off.

this and that

With the warm temperature this week, the cyclamen on our lanai thought it was March or April...it started blooming!

There was a huge rainbow on Monday! (had to use the video from IG because my original didn’t save properly and disappeared..boo

Tokyo People: the fire people on patrol

Tokyo People: university cheerleaders

aiyah cannot drive Tokyo People...she took so long to just reverse, even with the security dude helping her....and she wasn't even close to the wall in the front of her car!

yesterday was nya-nya-nya day, cat day 

also would've been my dad's 90th! wow

today is 2.23 = fujisan day

It is also a holiday because it is the Emperor's birthday.

Mother Nature slammed us back to winter...it has been rainy and fahreezing.

Have a safe weekend.

thanks for today

Tuesday, got to spend some time with V who is here for about a week with her friend M

First off, Suitengu Shrine to pick up some omamori (lucky amulets)

Then back to Global knife shop, Yoshikin in Roppongi

loved the windows on this building! looked almost painted on
 

And then lunch at Shake Shack at Roppongi Hills.

The fries! so crispy! love

V gave us so many goodies!

Thank you!

And also from M! Thank you!

I'll see them again just before they go back to Hawaii, I hope they enjoy themselves while they are here.

Thanks for today V!

toba-nagoya-tokyo

Breakfast the next morning was buffet style.

I tried to take local dishes.

Love okayu! (rice porridge)

Not pictured: round 2 (coffee, yogurt with granola and mini croissants)

Unfortunately, the weather was rainy

Still, Satoshi wanted to go to check out the Yokoyama Lookout near Ugata

To get up to the lookout, you need to go by taxi.

On weekdays, the taxis charge only 500 yen, what the Japanese like to call "one coin", but on weekends it costs 4 times the amount!eep

The first thing the taxi driver said when we told him where to take us was, "you probably won't be able to see anything"

Satoshi explained that he might have a tour group to bring here, the taxi driver was kind enough to explain where the bus parking for big buses was as he drove us up to the lookout area. 

Big buses would need to drop off their passengers at the bottom (no room to turn around at the top) and the passengers would need to walk up to the lookout.

Mini buses/vans would be allowed up to the lookout parking.

Luckily, the pouring rain stopped for us.

We had aosa (green laver) donuts and coffees...270 yen (tax included) each for the donuts and 400 yen (tax included) each for the coffee

Then Satoshi went to look at the lookout area.

Luckily there is a wheelchair ramp from the parking for cars & mini vans to the lookout area.

But, to go back to the parking for big buses, everyone needs to go down these stairs!

Not nicely paved either!

Bursts of color from the kawazuzakura on this rainy day.

along the road back to the station

We caught the express train from Ugata to Nagoya

Grabbed some items for a late lunch at Nagoya station and made our way back to Tokyo

Miso katsu sandwich!

Satoshi had this miso katsu bento

Furaibo...my favorite Nagoya style chicken for dinner...

I hope you enjoyed our adventure as much as we did

Yokoyama Lookout

Mirador Cafe

875-20 Agocho Ugata

Shima, Mie