Tag: Tokyo

国内旅行: Tokyo to Hagi 1of6

Up bright and early for our train to Shin-Yamaguchi. We’d had breakfast beforehand and brought some breads from the local bakery (discounted, of course) to munch on whilst onboard.

We arrived in Hagi and headed straight to Hagi Warabimochi specialty shop. I had hojicha ice cream with of course, warabimochi, .

We trotted around, admiring the plum blossoms and the ever-present natsumikan. Are they in season all year long because it seems that whenever we are there, so are they.

Off to Coffeeboy for an afternoon pick me up. I wasn’t too keen last time I went there but I ...

cloudy october day in Koishikawa Botanical Garden 小石川植物園

posters advertising the Koishikawa Botanical Festival

Autumn in Tokyo this year feels a bit like autumn in Manchester. It’s been cloudy and rainy and cold when it’s usually blue skies with streaming, warm sun. What’s happening?

white flowers
stones steps leading up surrounded by trees
pond seen through the trees
tea hut surrounded by green with skyscraper in the background
looking up through the trees towards the sky
tall trees
park map
pond with red building to the side
caterpillar amongst the fallen leaves

This Saturday we went to Koishikawa Botanical Garden in Bunkyo-ku. Wed never been before and I was surprised with how wild it was – normally a lot of gardens and parks here are either highly manicured spaces or just grass. It felt like an English park. It was quite busy in the main bit of the park, but if you went off exploring, you could find pockets of solitude. It ...

massive kakigōri and Indian curry in kasai

sign in a coffee shop displaying kakigori and iced coffees

Lately it’s been cool enough to go for walks again, so we headed over to Komeda Coffee in Kasai which opens until 23:00.

a strawberry kakigori with ice cream on the side
ice cream in a cone on its side in a dish with a glacé cherry on the side and a strawberry kakigori with ice cream on the side in the background

My husband had a HUGE strawberry kakigōri which he added condensed milk to and to which they added ice cream as well. They put the ice cream on by mistake, so gave it to him free of charge. It was a very chemically tasting kakigōri made too sweet by the condensed milk if you ask me – I didn’t get asked but I did give my opinion :) I had the ice cream cone in a bowl ...

weekend catch up bits and bobs

tray with morisoba

I went for my hair cut on Friday and got back to my station around 11:30, so my husband and I decided to go for soba. There are two soba places we really like – one is cheaper than the other and that’s the one we tend to go for. I had もりそば・morisoba which doesn’t have nori on the top (I don’t like it that much).

cardboard box on the floor
box opened with sheet of paper inside listing vegetable contents
box opened showing plastic bag with veg inside
garlic and onions
an array of vegetables

We subscribe to a weekly organic vegetable box from Shiga Kajiwara Farm・四賀梶原農園 and have done for the past 4/5 years. It comes every Tuesday and I think it’s really good value at ¥3,000 including ...

june memories and july wishlist 2022

two peonies in a vase, one is blooming, the other isn't. A daruma is sat next to the vase.

Normal temperatures are a distant memory. In Tokyo, rainy season ended 22 days early this year and we have had record-beating temperatures of 34/35 daily. Add the humidity into that and it’s felt like 39/40/41. It’s so hot – I really wasn’t made for these temperatures.

june wish list

  • Study hard for N1
  • Start studying Italian every day
  • tidy the back room
  • finish up sewing my skirt
  • finish up sewing my dress
  • keep on top of vegetables from the veg box

june memories

I got a couple of peonies this month. I don’t normally buy flowers (I had quite severe ...