keiro no hi

It's Keiro no Hi or Grandparents Day today and it is a holiday.

And if I’m not mistaken it is also the start of Silver Week (there’s another holiday in a couple of days! Autumn equinox).

Remembering our grandparents and great grandparents.

If you still have your grandparents with you, give them a hug.

Have a good week.

this and that

Monday, went for a physical check-up.

Been wanting to try Mr Waffle's soft serve, so had this after my check-up.

70% dark chocolate...delicious!

Hoping my check-up results will be good.

Sunday, got the Covid-XBB vaccine coupon in the mail.

Tuesday, made my appointment for next week.

We were wondering why Satoshi didn't receive a coupon in the mail, he called the center and found out that when he received his previous vaccine (#4) , they had already put in another coupon for him (probably because they didn't know when the vaccines would start up again) and he had received his previous vaccine (#4)  because of his health risks.

Confusing, but luckily he didn't throw out the paperwork after #4...we (I) made his appointment and it's in two weeks...

We'll definitely start masking after our vaccines...hoping it will be cooler by then.

This guy was job shadowing the train dude at the station..see what happens when you stand in front of Kat.

1st time trying NOMS...lychee gummies with li hing & lemon peel...ono!

I was reading something that said you could freeze tsukemono.

So, I tried it with the tsukemono I bought when we went to Kyoto.

Took out the yuzu daikon and let it defrost in the refridge overnight.

After defrosting the tsukemono stayed quite crisp.

Hopefully the others will be just as good.

Overtourism is taking over Japan...I think they plan to limit the number of climbers for Mount Fuji.

And if you plan to visit Japan especially for Halloween...Shibuya's mayor says don't.

Congratulations to the Hanshin Tigers for winning the Central League.

It's been 18 years since the last time they did this.

While they were getting close to winning the league, they would call the championship, “are”(ah-ray) which means “you know” or as we say in Hawaii, “da kine”, so as not to jinx their luck. 

Hopefully they'll be able to do well in the Nihon Series (like the World Series)

We have a holiday on Monday, have a safe weekend.

kanno coffee

I don't know about you, but I have all these “want to go” places on my Google maps, and then the pandemic threw a wrench in…

Anyway, I’ll be trying to make a dent in my list…

Saw this cafe on social media and wanted to check it out.

Loved the space.

It's still blazing...so no one was sitting by the windows

It was fun watching them roast the coffee.

I had their pudding (custard flan) and an iced mandelhing.

The pudding wasn't too sweet and loved the iced coffee.

Glad I checked out this place, will be back whenever I am in the area.

Kanno Coffee

1-4-14 Chuo-cho

Meguro, Tokyo

Phone: 03.6451.2823

Open daily 9:00-20:00

okutama day 2

If we thought dinner had too much food, breakfast was even more krazy!

And we ate it all!

After breakfast, we checked out and went to check out the Tama river.

So clear!

I needed coffee, so I had this Aeropress tonic from Wasabi Shokudo, a small food truck 

They also farm wasabi in Kori (another area of Okutama), need to go back to check out their wasabi.

Then we caught the bus to Lake Okutama, which provides drinking water for Tokyo which means no swimming or fishing in the lake

There was a pontoon bridge that Satoshi was interested in crossing (FYI it is closed if the winds are too strong)

And then we went to Ogouchi Shrine where they were having some kind of festival.
 

From Okutama we headed to Ome.

There are many vintage looking buildings, as well as vintage movie posters (back in the day I think they were painted)

At Kongoji, there is an ume tree, the fruit does not change color, and stays green which is apparently how the area got it’s name, the kanji (chinese characters) is "green ume".

Ome also has lots of cat motifs here and there.

Apparently there were many textile factories in the area and since they had rodent problems they brought in cats and somehow the cat motifs are still around today.

Lunch was at Natsu e no tobira (literally door to summer)

This cafe is right next to the tracks, so you can watch the trains pass by as well as listen to jazz

I had chicken curry while Satoshi had the veggie curry.

Spicy and filling.

It was nice to check out this area of Tokyo, it made you feel like you were travelling in another area of Japan.

We look forward to coming back.

Natsu e no tobira

16 Suminoe-cho

Ome, Tokyo

Phone: 0428.24.4721

Closed Tuesdays

Hours: 10:00-18:00

*cash only

More photos here

okutama

Friday, we were supposed to visit Okutama, but Typhoon Yun-yeung had other plans for us.

Luckily, we didn't have any damage, other areas of Japan had flooding and damage, hopefully they can get back to their daily routines soon.

From where we live it takes about 3 hours to get to Okutama, the west area of Tokyo.

Saturday, we arrived just in time for lunch. 

I tried Okutama Kitchen's fried yamame (landlocked salmon) bento, this came with karaage, fried tofu, wakame musubi and shiso musubi.

Satoshi tried their salmon wasabi bento, since Okutama is known for their wasabi.

Both were hearty and more than enough food.

Across the street from JR Okutama station is Okuhikawa Shrine...beautiful cedars.

After lunch we headed to Nippara Limestone caves.

On the weekends, the bus cannot drive you in, so you need to walk 2 kilometers to the caves, so I enjoyed all the scenery along the way.

For me, it was kind of scary inside the caves, there were lots of wet stairs, the lights in the caves, had a glare that gave me "night blindness" making it hard for me to see sometimes.

Did you know 1 centimeter of stalagmite takes about 150 years to “grow”?!

And even if my feet are rather small, I barely fit on some of the stairs.

The “coolest” area was the wind blast at the entrance to the caves.

NOTES: if you have luggage, put it into the lockers at JR Okutama before coming here, not fun (and super scary) climbing stairs with a backpack.

Loved the green background as we waited for the bus to come pick us up 

Afterwards we shared Runway's custard pudding, so rich! delicious.

(Since they are known for their eggs, I want to go back to try their dashimaki omelettes.)

We had the pudding with Akabeko's coffee.
 

There was so much for dinner, so I’m only going to share my favorites.

Homemade konnyaku with wasabi, yuzu and hikiji.

Eaten with sumiso (vinegar mixed with miso and a little sugar)

Delicious!

Ume chawanmushi...different but love!

We also tried Sawanoi's sake which is made in Tokyo.

Honjonamazake & Pulari (umeshu) as our apertif before our meal...delicious.

The brewery is nearby in Sawai, Ome, Tokyo.

More photos, here.

Okutama was a beautiful area, nice to bond with nature

.

Okutama Kitchen

199-7 Hikawa

Okutama, Tokyo

Phone: 0428.83.2401

Closed Thursdays

Hours: 11:00-19:00 

*cash only

Nippara Limestone Caves

1052 Nippara

Okutama, Tokyo

Phone: 0428.83.8491

Open daily 9:00-17:00

Admission: 900 yen per adult, children's admission varies on age

*bus stop: Higashi Nippara on weekends 

Nippara Shonyudo on weekdays

Runway

207 Hikawa

Okutama, Tokyo

Phone: 0428.85.8687

Closed Tuesdays

Hours: 11:00-17:00

Arasawaya

1446 Hikawa

Okutama, Tokyo

Phone: 0428.83.2365

virtual hugs

sending virtual hugs to New York and all the surrounding areas.

Never forget.
 

shokibarai

Learned a new word “shokibarai” it means to beat the summer heat

Satoshi used this word the other night when he went out drinking with work friends.

Even if I think drinking water helps beat the heat, Japanese salarymen (businessmen) think drinking beer (lots of it) helps.

Hoping it gets cooler soon.