Makuhari Beach

I don't know why, but I think sometimes people intend to go to beach.
Maybe because of sea breeze, sun shine, walking on the sand.... sound of waves...
Relaxed.
Spending time on the beach is priceless for me.

It's not Hawaii nor Bali, but Makuhari.
The city is known for Makuhari Messe(the international convention complex) and Chiba Marine Stadium(baseball team "Chiba Lotte Marines" home stadium) also has beach.
It's about 30 minutes from Tokyo to Kaihin Makuhari station by JR Keiyo line.

swimming is not allowed in makuhari  beach.
maybe you can enjoy jogging or bathing in the sun.

Odaiba Night View

Spending romantic night in Tokyo?
Maybe Odaiba is one of the beautiful spots with romantic night view.

Odaiba is a man made island in Tokyo Bay. Daiba means "fort", and you can see an old  bronze cannon in this historical island.

Now Odaiba attracts people as shopping and entertainment district.

DECKS Tokyo Beach shopping center.
2 min. from odaiba kaihin koen staiton by yurikamome line.
shopping, gourmet and entertainment place.

Machida Squirrel Park

Machida city is a suburb Tokyo, about 40 minutes from Shinjuku station by train(Odakyu line).

The city has nice residents area with new houses and apartments, many universities and schools, big park with green, so it seems be comfortable live in Machida.

And one another thing that make this city very unique place in Machida is Machida Squirrel Garden.

”リスはともだち　まちだ　リス園”
squirrel is our friend, machida squirrel park

YAMAHA GINZA

Only 5 minutes walk from famous Ginza Crossing, YAMAHA GINZA shop stands.
The largest instrument store, YAMAHA proudly has announced.
A variety of instruments... of course include piano. CDs, sheet music, concert salon, instruments repair service, music lessons.. must be heaven for music lovers.

Why don't you try to play beautiful pianos in YAMAHA GINZA?

lovely shop miniatures made by paper welcome you.

Showa Kinen Park

Only 30 minutes from Shinjuku by JR Chuo Line(Ohme Limited Express), you can find a 163 hectares-huge park.

Showa Kinen Park that was established to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Emperor Showa's reign locates in Tachikawa-city.

I went to the park on Saturday to watch Sakura.. because I thought this was last chance on season.
A low pressure area was coming to Tokyo, it was remarkably low, so Sakura would lost their pretty petals after storm passed.

cloudy sky, very windy, but still beautiful view with sakura

Shy SAKURA Blossoms

Happy Easter!
I wish everyone had a happy holiday today..

So, spring has come here in Tokyo, but there is a little problem.
Cherry blossoms that people expect every year are slightly different this time.
They have really quickly bloomed while people haven't prepared Hanami yet!

sakura trees at the park near my apartment

GYOZA（餃子）- Japanese Style Jiaozi

When I was kid, I always used to help my mum to make gyoza, especially in a part of wrapping filling with dough. Because my mum made this China-oriented gyoza about 70 pieces for family, so she needed any help to prepare dinner. (She counted 10 pieces for each member of family).

A pack of dough which was bought in supermarket. Filling which consists ground meat(pork), garlic, ginger and leek was made by my mum. I wrapped filling with dough, and then my mum fried in a large chinese pan.

keirin(guilin) gyoza
gyoza 480yen, rice 200yen

Passions to Make A Room Lovely: malto@Koenji

Only 9 minutes from huge Shinjuku station by JR Train, that's Koenji.
Koenji is known for secondhand or vintage clothes stores, especially alongside of "Look Shopping Street". It is a small street but make me so excited, since I can find European vintage clothes, used books, kimono, hat stores and cozy small cafes and much more.

And here it is, "malto" which offers you lovely interior goods and antique.

woody entrance over an uniquely white alpaca smile.

Skating: Winter Treat

Tokyo doesn't have Central Park nor Rockefeller Center.
But Tokyo still has Akasaka Sacas and Roppongi Midtown.
Do you know what I mean?

Yes, Ice Skating Rink! Wow!

Skating in freshly cold outside air.. with your friend(if you want)...
under the night sky.. watching millions of stars(if you want!)...
Isn't it amazing?

Ractis Rink in Akasaka Sacas,
lovely snowmen waiting for your visit.

A Snowed Town

Always be impressed and excited to see it like kids, that's snow for me.
Because we usually don't have much snow in winter. Mostly sunny and dry in Tokyo.

white snow decorated a town.

TAIMEIKEN: Nostalgic Dinner Time

TAIMEIKEN is one of well-known "Yosyoku（洋食）" restaurants in Tokyo.
But what is "Yosyoku", then?

If I try to explain it, Yosyoku is a kind of western-oriented dishes such as "omelette rice"(omelette wrapped rice), "curry rice", "hayashi rice"(hashed beef with rice), "pork cutlets", "hamburger(steak)", "gratin" and so on.

shrimp gratin, 1,680yen.

Tsukiji Outside Market

December 31, the last day in 2012.
Is this year good for you? Or you want to change something in the next year?
Well, whatever on your mind, I wish you happy in the freshly, brand-new next year.

Today I went to Tsukiji Outside Market, for buying salmon roe, my special dish for tomorrow.
Tsukiji Fish Market has outside market where open for the public. There are fish shops, vegetable shops, sushi restaurants, groceries in narrow lanes.

beautiful tsukiji hongwanji temple with indian architectural motif,
which locates next to tsukiji station.
you can visit to this temple before go to tsukiji market.

Tokyo Midtown@Christmas

Tokyo Midtown, Roppongi, Tokyo.
One of the famous Christmas illumination spot in Tokyo.
Every year I visit to see this beautiful & fascinating place...

starlight garden in tokyo midtown.
illuminations start 5 pm, so it's better you arrive at midtown around 4 pm.
it's not so early, because really crowded and difficult to get this garden.

Tokyo Disney Land@Night

Today is Christmas Eve!
So, I wish Happy Christmas for all of you.

Do you have any special plan for today?

Tokyo Disney Land offers their special event "Christmas Fantasy" until 25th December.
Hurry up everyone!

twinkling christmas tree

Last Sunday in August

Still hot in Tokyo....really hot this summer,  there is no sign autumn is coming.

I enjoyed this weekend, first, I went to see a dentist(oh no...),  second, went to see an angel therapist(oh yes!) and then went to my favorite Ginza.

On Sunday my brother made lunch, iced lemon tea(fantastic!) and garlic buttered toasts while I went to buy sushi for dinner.

summer, summer, summer!

Lunch In Odaiba

It was Friday. Since I got to work on Sunday, I had a day-off on Friday.
So, what should I do to make that day more lovely?

I decided to go to Odaiba for special lunch with my friend!

Odaiba is a small island on Tokyo Bay, it takes only 15 minutes by Yurikamome(monorail:Shimbashi to/from Toyosu). Yurikamome is one of my favorite transport in Tokyo. Feel like "walking on the sea",  I can enjoy exciting view from window! There are unique buildings in this area, such as Fuji TV Building, Telecom Center, National Museum of Emerging Science and so on. At evening, a night view from Odaiba is really beautiful.

shimbashi station for yurikamome

fuji tv building

lunch buffet at grand pacific le daiba.
5 star resort hotel in odaiba.
star road dining & bar(30F)
3,950yen for weekday,
4,750yen for weekend.
I booked via internet.

You have 2 hotel choices in Odaiba, Grand Pacific Le Daiba or Hotel Nikko Tokyo.
Both of them make sure for your special occasion.

a view from "star road".
rainbow bridge(center)
hotel nikko(near side building)

Ready For Travel!

Vacance on November.  I got to work during this really hot and humid week while most of people had summer holidays "Obon"... a Buddhist festival to recognize ancestor's or family's who had passed away spirits.

But I am still happy. Because I have time to imagine how to make my trip more wonderful and to prepare for it.

On Saturday last week I went to Ginza to survey a new suitcase and other travel goods. My favorite, MUJI Yurakucho is always good choice for me. 3 minutes walk from JR Yurakucho station or 7 minutes from Subway Ginza station, MUJI offer simple and good design clothes, stationery, furniture, kitchen goods, groceries, cosmetics, travel items, and much more!

muji yurakucho, really easy to access.
why I love muji? because they offer my favorite colours,
black, gray and brown for all of their products.

And don't miss Cafe MUJI.

ginger ale and custard pudding.
these are amazing!

3rd floor is for interior and furnitures.
I love to watch these silver stainless storage boxes from cafe.

cafe muji is a self-service cafeteria.

For reference, I also went to RIMOWA Ginza, they offered summer's limited colour, white!
So cute, so nice...

about 3 minutes from muji.
rimowa ginza.

I headed to Ginza station and met many people stopped ant take photos  LOUS VUITTON's show window!

louis vuitton offers collaborate products with artist, kusama yayoi.

imagine red polka dots louis vuitton bags!
it's so pretty!

Well, my plan is..
I will order via internet, MUJI's gray hard carry case before sold out, or I might buy it tomorrow after work!

Underground Shinjuku

Tokyo Metro Subway Fukutoshin line connects Wakoshi-station(Saitama prefecture) and Shibuya-station. But from Ikebukuro  to Shibuya  has opened in 2008, so I can feel certain ambience when I use this line.

Clean and new. White shinning paneled walls are really unique.

I got off the train at Shinjuku line's Shinjuku 3 chome station and walked toward Fukutoshin line's station by underground passage. This underground space is like an airport, like a some kind of futuristic world.

un underground passage in shinjuku 3 chome station.
if you don't familiar with tokyo's subway,
you might think underground passages are kind of mazes.
but for me, those passages are always fun.

un escalator go down to the platform.

acrylic benches on the platform!
I love to sit this bench.
cute!

ito-en's vending machine.

inside train

newspapers are available in vending machine.
do you want to buy?
these two newspapers are sports(and gossip!) news papers for gentlemen(I guess).

shinjuku 3 chome station.
this is an underground passage to exit E10 which connect to
JR shinjuku station, new south ticket gate.

on the ground.
it was saturday, rainy day.

lunch at dominique saibron, marche et cafe.
healthy set(soup, salad, breads) 840yen,
mix berry smoothy 480yen.
B2 floor, LUMINE 1.

famous shibuya crossing.
I left shinjuku and then to shibuya
for watching mika ninagawa's exhibition at parco.
her film "helter-skelter" will be shown on this weekend.
I'm pretty sure this movie is a wonderful movie.

If you visit Tokyo, don't miss underground experience!

Day-1 Tokyo Central Youth Hostel

I have a plan in this Golden Week, riding a steam locomotive from Shin-Kanaya to Senzu(Oigawa Railway Main Line) and an abt system train from Senzu to Ikawa(Oigawa Railway South Alps Abt Line).

Oigawa Railway is in Shizuoka, my plan is taking Tokaido line at Tokyo and going to Atami, changing train and going to Shizuoka, changing train again and then arriving in Kanaya. I estimate it will take about 5 hours.

I decided to stay at Tokyo Central Youth Hostel before I start traveling since I should leave Tokyo sta. at 6:53. If there is nothing trouble, I will arrive at Shin-Kanaya sta. at 11:26.

Steam Locomotive which I booked will depart for Senzu. at 11:45.

This is a really unique opportunity, riding a classic steam locomotive, so I should not be late!

tokyo central youth hostel. my bed. 4 beds in one room. 

each bed has a curtain and a bed lamp.

a simple and clean washroom.

a washing machine and a dryer are available in washroom.

vending machines in dining room.

a vending machine for cup noodles.

a notice on the fridge door.

a view from tokyo central youth hostel. 

this youth hostel is located 18th and 19th floor of the building.

☆ Oigawa Railway

☆ Tokyo Central Youth Hostel

Sakura

A cherry blossom.

Sakura was very beautiful this year,

I went to Chidorigafuchi, one of the most famous cherry-blossom viewing spot in Tokyo at the beginning of April.

So beautiful, so fantastic and so crowded(oh!).

It was first time in her life for my mum, walking around the famous Chidorigafuchi.

So she vigorously walked even she was 78 years old!

I hope we can go there again next year....