Hole in the Wall

Last month was filled with so many "Nomikai," which is what we call going out to drink and eat. It was the end of the fiscal year so we always have many nomikai to say farewell to coworkers who have been transferred or are leaving the company.

This was one of the random bars we found for our second stop of the night. It had an American theme with vintage posters and weird chandelier...which I really liked.

The owner said that they'd been operating for over 40 years. And depending on the night, they clear out a corner of the bar and have live music!

Plus their nachos were good, too!

A Moment of Silence

Today we will observe a moment of silence at 2:46pm. 


Last year March 11th was a Friday and I was waiting for the subway with my boss at Nishi Shinjuku Station, planning to head to a forum, when the alarmingly loud buzzer sounded, signalling an earthquake to come. And it did.

Last Friday, I was once again standing at the same station with a co-worker, heading to the same forum that I ended up never reaching last year. This year, the subway came rolling into the station and we got on, heading to the forum.

But my heart was beating a mile a minute.

Sweet and Yellow

I couldn't resist posting another photo of the lovely Winter Sweet blooms...the yellow color just brightens up my day!

Hope you are all having a wonderful Friday today!

Enjoy looking at more beautiful skies all around the world here.

Yellow Blooms

Another sign that spring is near.

Flowers are starting to bloom around Shinjuku. This is a flower we call Robai, or Winter Sweet in English. They usually bloom in January or February.

And they also have a fabulous scent that had me sticking my nose in the bloom and drinking it all in!

Everywhere I Go

It seems ever since moving to Tokyo, where snow is not a regular occurrence, I find I have this need to make snowmen/women, no matter how small, every time I see snow.

Is this just me? I never had this need growing up in Michigan, a midwest state in the US, where we were bombarded by piles of snow each year. Nor did I have this problem when I lived in Sapporo, which is in the most northern prefecture of Japan, where snow is piled so high that it's still around in May. So it must be one of those symptoms you get when you are deprived of something.

Well, it's actually getting warmer lately, although it's hard to tell with all the wind. But I don't think I'll be making anymore snowmen/women in Shinjuku. I'm ready for spring!

Hope you're all having a wonderful Friday!

Enjoy looking at more beautiful skies all around the world here.

Reaching Up

The trees look as if they are reaching for the sun.

Even in the winter, there's something about the air inside a park that is so refreshing. And with coffee in your hand to keep you warm, it's the perfect way to spend the afternoon outside.

Hope you are all enjoying a wonderful week!

Ocean's Table

This is starting to become a food blog with a dash of plants...so sorry. I will promise to get out more as soon as possible!

But anyways, just wanted to share what I had at the cafe Ocean's Table the other day. Doesn't the Taco Rice look good? It's a Japanese dish that people love to think is from Hawai'i or somewhere else...but it's really not. haha.

I also love the cafe's interior design, especially the tables with the palm trees and seagulls!

I Wanna Scoop Baby

Have you ever tried to catch a fish with paper?

This was one of the booths at the Hanazono Shrine. "Kingyo Sukui (金魚すくい)," as we call it in Japan, means "scoop goldfish," and that is what we literally do...with a paper scooper-upper (not the official name, obviously).

The point of this game is to cleverly use the paper scooper-upper (which is actually called Poi (ポイ) in Japanese) and scoop the tiny goldfish into your bowl. When the paper breaks and you no longer can use it, that's when the game is over.

You can see the little boy going for a fish in the photo...but this is a pretty hard game and not very many people at these festivals can scoop the goldfish. The little boy didn't have any luck either and the paper on the Poi broke when he enthusiastically tried to scoop a goldfish out of the water. But they gave him one goldfish anyways, just for trying!

If you're interested, there is actually a National Goldfish Scooping Tournament every year in Japan. I know, it's practically a national sport! haha.

This year over 1800 people participated and the person with the record scooped a total of 87 goldfish in just 3 minutes! How about that!

Rake 'Em In

Is this colorful or what?

These are the various Kuma-de (熊手), decorative rakes, which is said to "rake in" wealth and good fortune. Things that are known to bring luck in Japan, like cranes and face masks, are glued on to the rakes for people to place in their stores or houses.

They better bring in good fortune because the Kuma-de actually cost a fortune. Anything from 3,000 yen (smallest Kuma-de) to 100,000 yen (largest Kuma-de, bigger than the ones in the photo above.) is sold in these stalls during this festival.

There were many people roaming the stalls and it was definitely fun to see. Although I didn't buy one for myself, I probably will if I ever start my own boutique or some other retail, just for luck!

What do you think about having something like this in your shop or entrance hall?

Swaying Lanterns

The entrance to Hanazono Shrine (花園神社) looked like this a couple of weeks ago.

The decorative lanterns, which have the names of various people and companies that have donated to the shrine written on them, can only mean one thing...MATSURI!!! (That means "festival" in Japanese.)

The Otori Matsuri (大酉祭) is an annual festival in November. Many people come to pray and enjoy the various food stalls set up but the main highlight of the festival is the Tori-no-Ichi (酉の市). It is called "Rake Fair" by some as many stalls selling various types of Kuma-de (熊手), a decorated rake made out of bamboo, for "raking in" wealth and good fortune. We really like these word games here in Japan.

The Tori-no-Ichi is always held in November on the days of the Rooster according to the Oriental Zodiac, which means that we have 2 or some years 3 days to enjoy this festival. I went on the 26th of November, which is called "San-no-Tori (三の酉)," the third and last day of the Rooster on the calendar.

I'll have more photos of the Kuma-de for you tomorrow!

Winking Witch

This was suppose to be my Halloween photo but I forgot to post it. But it was too cute to pass up so I'm posting it anyway!

This is the bakery shop Johan located inside Shinjuku Mitsukoshi Alcott, a shopping mall close to Shinjuku Station. They had a lot of Halloween themed pastries and bread that looked really good.

But this little witch caught my eye!

Don't you love the cute expressions on each face? It kind of reminded me of the witch in training from the movie "Kiki's Delivery Service." Have you seen it?

It's my favorite Studio Ghibli animation so if you haven't seen it, I hope you'll get a chance to. And don't worry, unlike my photo today, it's not a film about Halloween so you can watch it any time of the year!

Cafe La Boheme

Don't you just love those windows facing out into the park?

This is the Cafe La Boheme, a Italian restaurant, located right across the street from Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden. I love their high ceilings and open space. Not to mention the pretty chandeliers, which are reflected onto the windows.

They also have a great menu. And although I'm pretty sure it isn't authentic Italian cuisine, they use plenty of basil and garlic in their dishes to make it seem like it is!

See other wonderful reflections from around the world

at Weekend Reflections hosted by James.

Veggie Delight

This restaurant is called "Noka no Daidokoro," which translates to "Farmer's Kitchen."

I love this place because of the variety of vegetables they have to offer. They get their fresh vegetables straight from over 300 domestic farmers, of which many are organic. Their menu also has an Vegetable Only course, which is perfect for me as a vegetarian.

But not to worry, for those of you who need more than just vegetables, they also have courses that offer meat and fish with the vegetables!

Chop Goes the Stick

This is also a photo from the Korean restaurant.

I thought it was interesting how Koreans use both the chopsticks and the spoon for their meals. Although we have spoons and forks in Japan, traditionally we only use chopsticks.

Korean chopsticks are made of metal and are flat, as you can see in the photo, as apposed to Japanese chopsticks which are usually made of wood and are round or squared. I like how a lot of the Korean chopsticks have interesting designs carved in the metal.

Curious to hear how many of you have chopsticks at home!

Food From Next Door

Here in Japan, we refer to fall as "Shoku-yoku no Aki (食欲の秋)." This roughly translates to "Autum, the season to eat."

I think it comes from the fact that fall is the season of harvest...and maybe also the fact that a lot of people lose their appetite during the hot muggy summer season has something to do with this expression as well. And true to its words, I have really been eating a lot lately!

Yesterday I went to eat Korean food with a friend. Korean food is very popular in Japan and we even have a "Korean Town" neighborhood here in Shinjuku, which is like walking down a street in Seoul.

We had Japchae (first photo), Jjigae (second photo), and Tteokbokki (last photo) which was all really good. Some of the dishes are really hot and spicy, especially their kimchi and other dishes using the chili peppers. But it's very tasty and one of my favorite places to eat out!

Have you tried Korean food? What's your favorite dish?

Window Shopping

The Gucci store in Shinjuku underwent a full-scale renovation and re-opened on September 17th.

To celebrate it's opening, a famous manga artist named Hirohiko Araki is collaborating with Gucci and releasing a short story manga called "Rohan Kishibe goes to Gucci." Rohan Kishibe is a character in one of Araki's manga series, "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (ジョジョの奇妙な冒険)."

There is also a gallery on the third floor of this building with his manga artwork but you can also see an animated version of the fall collection in the display window of the Gucci store.

Ba Da Boom

I almost forgot all about my Shinjuku Eisa Festival photos but this one was too cute not to post.

While the older boys are doing their moves and drumming the Odaiko (big drums), the little boys are playing the smaller drums called the Shime-daiko.

Spice Up Your Life

Soup Curry is one of my absolutely favorite dishes.

It's a dish that became popular in the Sapporo area and soon spread to various parts of Japan. Like the name says, it's a curry soup filled with vegetables, chicken, and/or pork, which you eat with rice.

Dominica is a soup curry specialty restaurant in Sapporo and they opened this branch in Shinjuku this spring. Actually, they opened this store on March 11, which was the day of the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. I read somewhere that they had to close the store down for a couple of days after, but have since resumed their regular hours.

They have 3 different soup to choose from: the original Yellow soup, the tomato base Red soup, and the pork base Black soup. You can also choose if you want vegetables, chicken mix, or pork mix.

Since I'm a vegetarian I got the yellow soup with the vegetables. You can also specify how spicy you want the soup to be. The scale ranges from 1 to 10, which is mild to I-don't-want-to-feel-anything-in-my-mouth hot. I'm a wimp so I got a 3. It was the perfect blend of curry spice and vegetable sweetness and I was beyond full at the end of the meal.

Have you ever had soup curry before? If you're ever in Shinjuku, you should definitely stop by!

Look for more delicious food in Japan at J-Festa.

Spirited Away

This is another photo of the Shinjuku Eisa Festival we had near Shinjuku Station.

This group came all the way from Okinawa to perform here. Eisa, a traditional Okinawan dance, is a type of dance we do during the Obon season (like the Awa dance).

Obon is a Buddhist holiday here in Japan, where we welcome the spirits of our ancestors back into our homes during that period. Okinawa Prefecture, formerly the Ryukyu Kingdom, previously followed the old Chinese calendar and so the Eisa dance is done on July 15th in the Chinese calendar, which is the day we send back the spirits of our ancestors to their world again. In Okinawa we call this day "Ooh-kui (ウークイ)." This year the Obon in the Chinese calendar is from August 12 to 14.

It's said that the Eisa originally was danced on the last day of Obon because when the spirits of our ancestors came down on the 13th, the had such a fun time with the family that they didn't want to leave. So the drums and the shouts were a way to scare the spirits back to their own world. I thought that was funny!

I'm so sorry but work and house guests have been keeping me busy lately. I won't be able to comment back on every one's blogs but will catch up you all early next week. Hopefully, I'll at least be able to post some photos here for you. Thank you so much for always dropping by :-)

Sound the Drums

For those of you who read my last post...here it is!

The crowds around Shinjuku Station were gathered for the Shinjuku Eisa Festival, which has become an annual festival that I look forward to. (Someone guessed correctly in yesterday's comments!)

Eisa is another type of traditional Japanese dance done during the Obon season that is unique to the people of Okinawa Prefecture. Some of you may have heard of Okinawa, but it a very small island and the most southern prefecture in Japan. I could go on and on about Okinawa, since not only was I born there but also have roots there, as my mothers side of the family can be traced back to before Okinawa was part of Japan.

So you can understand why I like to get a dose of Okinawan culture now and then. It's a really popular festival in Shinjuku and many people came out to see it!

Tomorrow I'll post another photo and explain about the Eisa dance.