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Yesterday we went to Horikiri Iris Garden which is a little over an hour away by train in the Northern part of Tokyo called Katsushika.

We visited an area called Shibamata which in Katsushika back in 2008.

This garden had 200 varieties of iris and they try not to plant the same variety next to another so you can enjoy different varieties at one time.

There were some water lilies.

A little down the road is the Horikiri Waterside Park.

You can see the Tokyo Sky Tree from here and they also have some iris plants here as well.

Near the Horikiri Tenso Shrine, you can see these huge shikifukujin statues (7 lucky gods).

Across the river in an area called Yanagihara, is where the opening scene of J-drama "Kinpachi Sensei" ("Mr Kinpachi") was filmed.

Lunch was at Taishiosoba Toka in Ueno, which uses the broth from tai (red snapper)

I had their hiyashi tai shio soba...980 yen (tax included)

The noodles were super refreshing though the broth was kind of oily.

It had pieces of tai (red snapper) sashimi and some char siu as well, the menma (seasoned bamboo shoots) could have been cooked longer.

Satoshi had their chukasoba 860 yen (tax included)

He said this was delicious.

It was blazing and humid but we were glad that the weather cleared up from the gloom and rain of Saturday.

We missed the info that there was another larger park in Kanamachi (about 20 minutes by bus from Horikiri) with even more irises to see (boo!), so we'll save that park for next year.

We hope you enjoyed this adventure as much as we did.

Horikiri Iris Garden

2-19-1 Horikiri

Katsushika, Tokyo

Hours: 9:00-17:00

*no admission, but it is gated

Taishiosoba Toka

Atre Ueno 1F

Ueno, Tokyo

Open when Atre Ueno is

le weekend

We started the rainy season here, though there have been more sunny days than rainy ones.

How was your weekend?

According to my archives it's been ages since we've eaten at Felice.

We re-connected with them on Saturday.

I had their chicken. Super crispy skin. The meat really tender. The sauce was a shoyu base, caramelized onion, so good.

Satoshi had their omurice & fried shrimp combo.

Their food is still good.

After dinner, we walked towards Minoo Falls to check out the hotaru (fireflies).

There weren't as many as last year, but we were still excited to see some.

Sunday the weather was hot and humid.

We walked to Ikeda and checked out Suigetsu park.

The hanashobu (irises) still pretty.

There was also a sign for white lilies at the Ikeda castle ruins, so we checked it out but it needs another week or so, so we'll try again.

Hope you have a nice week.

hanashobu

It's that time of year for Hanashobu (Iris).

I walked through Suigetsu Park on Friday and despite it being very overcast, there were many people having their lunches there.

They were setting up tents too, I think they were preparing for their Hanashobu Matsuri.

The weather didn't look too good for the weekend though...

Oh and the hydrangea is also blooming.

Hope you have a nice week!

on a walk (or two)

Sharing some shots from a couple of walks...

A tiny ladybug...spotted on a mint leaf. Don't see many ladybugs around here, so was excited to see one.

Huge bullfrog, this guy was croaking really loudly.

When he spotted us on the bridge from down below he stopped.

The shobu (iris) are in bloom now at Suigetsu Park.

We love this park, so relaxing.

Caught this guy relaxing with his dog.

(I actually only noticed the dog after while looking through the photos).

You see many "dead umbrellas" after a storm, especially if it is windy.

People, you should take care of your "dead umbrella" instead of leaving it for someone else to pick up...

Also in bloom are the ajisai or hydrangea.

There are different varieties and you can see them in yards and in many parks.

An upclose shot of the shobu (iris) at Suigetsu Park.

Oh, and the other day on the way to the market, there was a 2 foot snake in the stream next to our apartment...eep! A man in our neighborhood was sweeping and picking up rubbish when he spotted it.

I saw him looking at something in the stream and went over to check it out...and saw the thing "swimming"...yikes!

And I spotted this goya plant peeking out yesterday morning on the lanai...crossing fingers for some bigger goya this year.

What have you been seeing on your walks?

rainy season

Apparently today, our area will enter the rainy season and according to the weather guy, the next week will be rainy...blah!

The rainy season in Japan is kinda depressing (to me), it is humid, it rains, you think the weather will cool off because it rains, but then it is humid again. In fact, the rain is warm...ew! (See? depressing right?)

Growing up in Hawaii, it gets humid, it rains and then there are tradewinds which come back and all is well. So this humid-rain-humid combo is something that doesn't make any sense to me, even after living in Japan for as long as we have.

Anyway, enough of my ramblings...The other weekend the weather was so beautiful and sunny that we went to check out Suigetsu Park.

We bought some sandwiches from Ferdinand and some cold drinks (coffee and tea) from 7-eleven and walked to the park.

There were several benches under the weeping willow trees, so we took one and had our lunch.

The shobu (iris) was in bloom and the ajisai (hydrangea) too. Some of the ajisai buds looked like candy.

I hope the rainy season will end quickly, though the weather guys aren't so sure about that.

Hope you have a good week.

hanashobu matsuri

On June 7th & 8th, Ikeda's Suigetsu Park had their annual hanashobu matsuri(iris festival) . We've never been to the festival so we thought it was a great chance to see what it was about.

Suigetsu Park has two areas, the upper level has the hanashobu (iris) and ume (plum), a man-made lake and the Chinese pagoda.

The lower level has a big area for gateball, playing catch or just sitting on benches to "talk story" with others.

Satoshi and I usually hang out on the top level because there usually isn't a lot of people and it is quite peaceful.

On Sunday though, there were lots of people. On the top level there was an area sectioned off for tea ceremony. For 300 yen (about US$3), you could enjoy a cup of matcha (green tea) "whipped up" and served with some Japanese sweets while enjoying the beautiful iris.

The bottom area was filled with many children and adults. There was a mini SL (steam locomotive) which you could ride for a fee--many children ("big" ones too) enjoyed themselves on this.

There was also a big Super Mario jumpy thing in the middle.

Since there isn't parking at this park, many people came by bicycle. Which is good, but look at the amount of bicycles! They needed parking attendants for them (the people with the green hats). And you thought trying to find your car in the shopping mall parking lot was a task!

Satoshi and I ate our sweets from Kamuro and took in all the sights. It was a nice way to spend Sunday.

around the neighborhood

Saturday was kind of overcast with drizzles here and there. Satoshi and I not wanting to stay indoors walked to Suigetsu Park.

On the way, we crossed a bridge and Satoshi notice something white in the water. It was a huge koi (carp)! We figured someone threw it into the river because it got too big...poor thing!

At Suigetsu Park, hanashobu (iris) and ajisai (hydrangea) are in season now. I think most of the flowers need another week to be in full bloom.

Since it was lunchtime, we walked to Grill Nana. We've gone for dinner but were interested in trying their lunch menu. There were two lunch specials: (a) ika goujon and (b) hamburger.

Satoshi chose the goujon. Goujon is apparently a dish served in France with a type of fried carp. This version came with lots of crispy fried ika (squid).

I chose the hamburger. This came on a sizzling plate. I was really disappointed with this though. The hamburger was mostly filler (bread).

Both lunches were 820 yen a piece (about US$8.20). For the price, Satoshi got his money's worth.

Tummies filled, we walked back home. Along the way I saw many flowers. One looked like lantern ilima, but when you looked closely at it, it looked more like tiny hibiscus.

There were also these beautiful purple flowers from a type of cactus.

Despite the crappy weather, the flowers around the neighborhood helped to make the day a nice one.

hana shobu

We have a park nearby called Suigetsu Park which we have visited in the Spring and Summer and I have posted about before. Spring showcases the ume and momo (plum and peach )trees. As Spring turns to Summer, you can see the fruits begin to ripen on the trees.

The beginning of Summer also brings the hana shobu, a type of iris.

I love the these fragile flowers.

The beginning of Summer also brings Satoshi's birthday. This year he has to work on his birthday. I bought us some dessert from a shop in our arcade called Mior. I bought a Chocolat for Satoshi and Tiramisu for myself.

Here's the birthday boy, he looks a bit run down since he's been working late and also been going drinking with friends and co-workers.

suigetsu park

Well, today the Kansai area has offically started their rainy season.

Today, Satoshi had the day off. We planned to go to a park called Suigetsu Park (before the rain!), which is about a 15 minute walk from our place.

I got up early to make us some sandwiches for breakfast in the park. This peppered ham is made by a company called Kyoto Pork. I saw this brand recently while roaming the aisles of a neighborhood gourmet supermarket and decided to try this local brand. It is really good, not too salty. I made one sandwich on a walnut roll with pesto, the ham, tomatoes and lettuce and another sandwich on a wheat roll with olive tapenade, the ham, tomatoes and lettuce.

We stopped at 7-eleven to buy some canned coffee to have with breakfast. I got a new one made by Ogawa Coffee, a well-known brand in Kyoto. Both the coffee and sandwich were really delicious!


After breakfast, we roamed around the park and enjoyed the hanashobu.

Hanashobu is a type of iris. This park will hold an iris festival this coming weekend, but since we don't want to deal with the crowds and since Satoshi has to work on Sunday, we decided to check them out before everyone else had a chance to.

I tried to link Flickr to Blogger, but something makes the whole computer freeze, so, here are some photos from the park.

By the way, hydrangea in Japan is called ajisai and is also associated with the rainy season. The part that looks like "petals" are actually leaves of the plant (or so I was told once). I really like the colors of ajisai, kind of reminds me of candy!

After walking around the park, we went to Umeda, I had a bead class. I have graduated from Bead Crochet and have moved onto Bead Stitch and will receive my "diploma" later. Bead stitching is very popular in the U.S., but only started up here in Japan recently. I'll post something about my project after I've finished it!

Hang in there, one more day until the weekend!