Furukawa teien garden on oshogatsu

To discover Tokyo gardens, this has been one of the gardens that I've always wanted to visit. It is near Komagome and is famous for its roses in his English garden. I read on the internet that they will do some Japanese performance for new year's, I thought it was a good chance to visit it.







This was a nice "Edokko" performance!

a walk in a neibourhood

The new year in Tokyo started with good weather and mild temperature. Why not taking advantage of walking around outside and discover more of Tokyo?


15 min walk from my house, there is a small hill called, "Hakoneyama," used to be a school for military, before that, it belonged to Tokugawa family. I didn't know there was this near my place. Sakura trees are planted around this hill, it must be very beautiful in spring.

Le concert - Tchaikovsky violin concerto

Another moment that you have to say, "CLASSICAL MUSIC IS BEAUTIFUL!!!"

Loved this funny movie. Movie is in French. (and Russian)




See this very clear You Tube video for movie's ending.
CLICK HERE

New Haneda

Took a plane from Haneda to Taipei the other day and it was a really clean and convenient airport.

I liked a cute coffee shop with french toast over there. We didn't have enough time to try french toast but next time!

Upstairs, you can go out and see the airport.






From Taipei 松山airport to the city is only 10-15 minutes. It is so convenient!!!

yummy...

These are two items that I really liked from Seven Eleven!

I hardly like any of the food I can buy from supermarkets and convenience stores (besides sweets from convenience stores such as chou a la creme...) but those were really good and I was impressed by the power of product development of SEJ.

Nicolas G Hayek centre in Ginza

Had a chance to go up to 14th floor of Swatch group building, "Nicolas G Hayek centre."





























What a view! And can you believe the economy is bad? So many people are shopping in Ginza!!!

beaujolais nouveau party

We invited an artist to decorate our store with his pictures and objets and held a casual beaujolais nouveau party on the 18th.

One of the staffs bought cheese and decorated with sticks with one of his pictures. He must love cats, cats are everywhere in the store.

Taipei trip

Finally back to internet life at home as today, optical fibre service is connected.

Then I realise, it's been already about a month since I visited Taipei.


The 1st night at a night market...





Hotel PC keyboard are written both in alphabets and Chinese characters.















Invited by my friend's Japanese friend who works there to a very chic restaurant in the middle of mountain. Beautiful place!















And of course, bought expensive and good tea from Taiwan.








I am coming back there in 2 weeks and am really excited to discover more for the 3rd time!!!

Fujiyama Cider

It was the 1st time I saw this cider at a restaurant. Do you not love this classic design? The waiter explained to us that it has a long history. It looks like it is from Yamaguchi pref., which is in the south of Japan.

New book to read...

I am always impressed by the quickness and well-organised pages of amazon.co.jp.
I already received a book I ordered a day before. I always wanted to read this book!

Cats' lovers

My ex-colleague who has a cat and I often talk about cats when we meet over dinner. Then she always gives me all small souvenirs she found when she travels all over Japan for work. These are also one of the cutest!!!

Heavily used this summer

I had heard that recent sunscreen is not as uncomfortable to put on as how it used to be but didn't believe it was this good. It feels like a skin cream and a little bit like whipped cream (airy) but it works properly.

My favorite sunscreen of the summer. (will no more use Anessa, I had thought that was "the" sunscreen...)

Books I read recently

It's always nice and interesting to read about people working in NGO abroad. I really feel the way they do activities depend a lot on their local culture.

















How working in a company affected someone's life is another perspective I find interesting these days.

Cute postcard received

My PC broke down a few weeks ago and I couldn't update anything.
This is a postcard I received this summer.
How cute is this?

Wedding in Prague

I had my friend's wedding in Prague and had a chance to visit this beautiful country, Czech Republic for the 1st time!!!

What a great beer they serve!
















Beautiful town called "Cesky Krumlov."

My favorite dish of the week. "Svickova na smetane" Roast beef with sour cream. Mine had some berry source on top and it blended well with meat.

Zamek Hluboka (castle)
It's on the way back from Cesky Krumlov to Prague.

The wedding just outside of Prague.

I enjoyed my trip to Czech Republic so much! I enjoyed local beer, people, beautiful castles and old buildings... Would like to come back once again for further discovery of the country!!!

Had a day trip to Nagoya with former students and my ex co-worker who used to teach with me.

The Nagoya Castle

The weather was the worst of all, rained all day. Enjoyed the castle, it was my 1st time!
















Didn't know deers are there!





Had a nice matcha tea break!




My favorite "Tokugawa garden."


And the master of the place.

Day out in a mountain before the rainy season started

Went to visit Mount Akagi (Gumma pref.) yesterday. On the way, I saw a beautiful wheat field. (this is wheat, isn't it???)





Had lunch in a famous local "soba" restaurant. It was packed! We waited about 20-30 minutes outside. Soba was delicious and tempura which came along was good, too. This place reminded me of a "tororo" restaurant in Shizuoka. Using an old Japanese house, serving only one kind of dish...









Tsutsuji season is almost finished in where I live, but in mountain, it's not the case. They have different kinds on mountain.
Many people in their 50s and 60s or even 70s? are taking pictures of them with big big nice camera. We were almost the only "young" people. (compared to them, at least...)



And beautiful marsh "Kakumanbuchi." It cooled down so much, it was about 15 degrees. Suddenly freezing!!!

Went to hot spring on the way back and had such a beautiful wonderful day in Gumma! Thank you so much for driving Nyao-chan!!!

Music from Armenia, Norway and Finland

My friend takes a part of local orchestra and she invited me to come to her concert that is held every 6 months.

They played;
-Aram Khachaturian - Walts from "Masquerade"
-Edvard Grieg - Piano Concerto in a-moll op. 16
-Jean Sibelius - Symphony No. 2 in D-dur op. 43

The 2nd one is very famous, strong start with solo piano, I liked the music.
I also liked the 1st one, too.

I think we should appreciate more of local music concerts. Some are free, we do not have to pay lots of money to enjoy music in daily life.

super dry

Enjoyed a night with my friend and her husband @Asahi Super Dry Extra Cold bar.
Beer is served at -2.0 degrees, it was gooood and cold!!!

tour eiffel

I am back!

As a start, I am showing you earrings that I bought today that are so cute that I have to share with you. Yes, those are a pair. One is a globe, one is a tour eiffel!

A kind of thing I would like to buy for my friends... But couldn't think of anyone or for some, I have to check if their ears are pierced first.

How cute are they???