iwate ginga plaza

Visited Iwate Ginga Plaza, the antenna shop for Iwate prefecture near Ginza/Yurakucho

I heard they were going to stop production of those çava (saba/mackerel) cans but learned that they now have been able to fish more saba, so have begun production of these cans again! whoo!

When I first wrote about these cans I didn't know that they had started making these as a way to generate business after that huge earthquake/tsunami that they had in 2011.

Anyway, I'm happy they will continue to sell these cans of saba!

Also found a beet that looked a little wilty which I roasted and we enjoyed!

got a t-shirt for a friend too

saturday

V said she was gonna check out the kawazu zakura at Chidorigafuchi and said if I had time I could tag along 

I wasn’t familiar with this type of sakura near Chidorigafuchi, so I looked online and found some located at the Imperial North Garden

So that’s where we went

There were several trees and very little people

It was nice bonding with nature

We stumbled upon a statue of Yoshida Shigeru, who (I looked up afterwards) was the Prime Minister of Japan after the war (I think I told V it was during the war, but it was after)

I bought some musubi for our lunch from Momochi, in the JR Shinagawa station

Ebiten

Iburigakko (smoked takuan)

Ume

And then we walked through the Imperial East Garden

There were some early blooming sakura

Then we went one station over to Yurakucho

Shopped at some antenna shops

After seeing V off to do some shopping, I went to other antenna shops

Hoping this tomato ume sauce from Wakayama will be tasty

And hoping this Trappist butter from Hokkaido will also be tasty

This chocolate ring cake from Godiva's Bakery was delicious. 

Dark chocolate cake and chocolate "frosting" and a chocolate square

V also let us try these coffee cookies from Hiyoko from Kyushu, if you’ve tried their chick shaped manju, this cookie is way better

Thanks for today V, I hope you enjoyed your trip and have a safe trip home

It was nice hanging out with you.

antenna shops

When we went to Ginza, we also stumbled several antenna shops.

These shops are closer to the JR Shinbashi station

The Nara antenna shop has all sorts of food items, especially the kaki (persimmon) sweets that we purchased recently.

Around the corner is the Kagawa & Ehime Setouchi antenna shop, which had all sorts of food items from Kagawa and Ehime.

I want to go back to buy some dried yuzu peel from here.

Nara Mahorobakan

1-8-4 Shinbashi

Minato, Tokyo

Hours: 11:00-20:00

Kagawa Ehime Setouchi Shunsaikan

2-19-10 Shinbashi

Minato, Tokyo

Hours: 10:00-20:00

7473

Friday went to do some retail therapy at different antenna shops

I started at the Tottori/Okayama antenna shop and purchased some rakkyo and corn & curry dressing.

I heard about this dressing from Matsuko Deluxe's show...hoping it is tasty.

Trying some cookies from Ginza West...dry cake walnut and butter 

Hiroshima antenna shop...old favorites

Wanted to try this dashi & carrot dressing that I also heard about from he saneta Matsuko Deluxe show, from the Kochi antenna shop...and ginger "sauce" that we've tried before.

Godiva has a bakery!

everything, even the savory types have chocolate in them

Tried their curry pan...filled with slightly spicy curry and slightly sweet chocolate in it...different but would get this again

And their melon pan...buttery bread topped with a crunchy dark chocolate cookie topping.

Glad I was able to try these

Hokkaido Butter...have always wanted to try this.

Most times I am not going straight home though, so never wanted to risk it melting...this time around though I made sure that the Hokkaido antenna shop was my last stop.

Hoping this is tasty!