Our Adventures in Japan

Saturday, we went to the 49th Yokohama Family Fair which was sponsored by Itochu, Japan's largest trading companyThere were tons of food products, clothing, electronicsEach person got a free packet of pasta sauce, just heat and add to your own pastaSatosh…

about lunchtime on Friday, our phones were going krazya big one (earthquake) was comingthe thing I don't like about the NERV app is that it shows you the countdown (in the photo: where the number says "162") before the earthquake hits the area where you a…

In September, Satoshi was diagnosed with prostate cancerHe had a biopsy done in August and out of the areas that were checked, one area was determined as high risk, so even though the other areas were low risk, his cancer was labeled as high riskHe had a…

tried Alps Curry in the Yaechika area of Tokyo Stationbuy your ticket at the machine and give it to the person behind the countershe asked if fukujinzuke was okay, I guess some people don’t like it?!

I wrote about this building back in July and it opened up at the end of September (I think)across the street from the JR Tokyo Station, is the building called ToFrom Yaesu and houses a bus terminalthe majority of floors are office space but on floors 1-4…

Have you been to Harakado?

Saturday, Satoshi wanted to check out some things for an upcoming tourwe ended up near the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Offices and saw this line snaking four deep (when I took this photo the line had subsided quite a bit)I had asked one person standing…

Stumbled upon this tiny fruit stand called Bora Bora when I visited Gakugeidaigaku What caught my eye were these Fukuoka grown red kiwi...120 yen each (plus tax)Lucky for this blog because I was reminded that we had tried these Fukuoka grown red kiwi back…

Wanted to check out Patisserie Taisuke Endo for some time now.If I’m not mistaken, he trained in France & ItalyHe has a cafe area where you can enjoy cakes and other sweetsHe also sells baked items like viennoiserie and sables (cookies) I tried his madele…

Went to Gakugeidaigaku and wanted to check out Meguro MarueiApparently they have been in business since 1959Love their shop color!

saw that local motion is bringing back the kona jacketso nostalgic!

Had some time on my hands yesterday so I decided to check out where the cranes wereI walked and walked and while walking over a bridge that connects Tokyo with Kanagawa, I saw all of these cranes, one or two of these are what we can see from our apartment…

hard to believe you've been gone for 13 yearssome days it seems like yesterday, some days notcan't believe you would've been 87 todaythankful for you always looking out for uslove you

the latest typhoon is typhoon 27 "choi-wan", still going...at least it didn't come too close to mainland Japan, though we did have clouds and drizzles some daystyphoon 28 "nolo", this one was started in Mexico, passed by the Big Island of Hawaii and turned

you often see the word koku (rich) paired with the word uma (tasty) whenever people are describing a savory foodthey'll say it is "kokuuma"well, I needed eggs for our stash during the last typhoon so I "ran" to Family MartWe are so lucky because Family Ma…

while scrolling I came upon this kaki kimcheeFor 2 kaki (persimmon) : @ginahomecook1 tablespoon salted shrimp (strain shrimp and use only liquid)1 tablespoon minced garlic1 tablespoon gochugaru1/2 tablespoon shoyua little less than 1/2 tablespoon maesil (…

We’ve been lucky in that we’ve had time to prepare for all these krazy typhoonsA lot of times for these typhoons, I plan out what we’ll eat for the next four or more days so I won’t need to leave the houseSince Satoshi went to work during this last “typho…

noticed these cranes...if you’ve been reading our blog you know that the beige brown building in the photo took most of our view of Mount Fuji when it was built.crossing my fingers that whatever they are building will not block my only view left of Mount…

I love red cabbage.In Japanese it is called murasaki cabbage (purple cabbage)Anyway, I am always looking for a good salad/pickle recipe for red cabbage and already have several on this blogTried a new (to me) recipeThis one uses just a little sweetener (h…

We tried Izugiku recentlyThis shokudo has been around for 100 years!

saw this recipe on television and wanted to tryServes 2: from Sakurai Ariyoshi the Yakai Kitchen1 block momen tofu (hard), drain and cut into easy to eat pieces100 grams beef belly, cut into bite sized pieces50 grams onion, thinly sliced10 grams ginger, g…

another trip around the sun!

Wanted to try Mitas Coffee but wanted to have Satoshi along with me.The reason is that this coffee shop is cashless, and I have a rule about using my credit card in JapanI only use my credit card when my bill is 1000 yen or higherSo just to buy a coffee is

Reconnected with Namara Masara.We tried them during the pandemic, then they went out of business, not sure exactly whenAnd while I was walking around the neighborhood recently, I noticed they were now operating from a house.So, Satoshi and I went to check…

repotted the cyclamen, we've had it for over 20 years and the plastic pot finally started to breakthe ti leaf plant that was in the pot had died, I think it was too hot this summer for itso I dug up the roots and took out some of the soiland put cyclamen…

Typhoon 25 (Dujuan) finally passed We had been staying indoors since Sunday.There were times when our tv antenna went out, but at least we didn't lose power and only had lots of rainChiba on the other hand had major flooding and power outagesI feel so bad…

I was watching a television program and was intrigued by this recipe by Kobori KiyomiLuckily, I found a version online to tryNazo no Chicken (Mysterious Chicken) by Kobori Kiyomi600 grams chicken thighs160 grams mayo160 grams sour cream30 grams curry powd…

Friday, we found ourselves in Hatanodai at dinner time, so we looked for somewhere to eat...it was our first time at Sakanaya IkiSince we didn't have reservations, we were seated at the counterootoshi (amuse bouche)...daikon oroshi and shirasu (whitebait)…

just got an email from blogger that some of my videos, 23 of them that are on my blog will be deleted because they are non-playable...whateverso instead of me hunting down the 23 of those videos, I'm just gonna let them pull them outI requested for an exp…

tried a new (to me) sandwich from Dean & Deluca, honey curry chickenI like that it had lots of veggies in itpumpkin chocolate bread/cake?!

Reconnected with my secret weaponWas happy to come across shimadofu, a type of tofu that is made in Okinawa.It is firmer than the firm (momen) tofu that we have on Honshu I made a shoyu poke and a tofu poke using one of the NOH poke packetsSatoshi enjoyed…

Yesterday we received these beautiful shine muscat grapes from Satoshi's friend, A, who lives in NaganoWe tried some last night and the orbs are huge, and sweetThank you A!

According to the weather dude we had 3 weeks of rain!

After breakfast at Mr Hippo Coffee, we wanted to go to the DIY store but they didn't open for another hour or so, so instead of going home to wait, we walked around the neighborhoodAnd stopped to check on the sumotori (Japanese wrestlers) of Onoue Stable…

There is a new cafe in our area called Mr Hippo CoffeeThey are a "chain" as they have several cafes around TokyoThis particular shop does not have social media so it was hard to find out exactly what time they openAfter finally finding something on FB, we…

hard to believe that 25 years has passed since that horrific daysending virtual hugs to those who lost loved onesnever forgethave a safe weekend

heard that Meiji chocolate has invested in lab chocolate...kinda bummed by this because I like this brand the biggest peach seed ever!

near my dentist is Takashimaya FutakotamagawaI've always seen people sitting hereI recently learned that there is Wi-Fi here, so it is convenient when waiting for someoneor for your dentist appointment...ha!

Nuts Vessel is a treat that we received from friend Hiromi, when we saw them last monthIt is made by Sagamiya, we've tried some of their products in the pastI got a little worried when I read on the box that the caramel won't melt even in the heat of summ…

Not sure when I started liking canned fish but I know growing up I did notAnyway, tried the canned sardines by Fishwife, that I bought when I was in Hawaiiit had a smoky flavor even if it doesn't note it on the packagecouldn't make out the preserved lemon…

finally gave up these plastic slippers...I had bought them when we went to Okinawa (pre-blog) in 2004?!

breakfast wasn't as chaotic as dinner but still very crowdedsome interesting items at the buffet...apple curry...different but delicious hiyashi dashi chazuke with shiso pickled chinese yamsashimi (scallop, squid and amaebi)okra and chinese yam mixtureume…

The breakfast buffet wasn't too exciting...I did eat some things but think the thing I was most excited to try was a different yogurt made by a local company...Ono Yume Yogurt.From Kuji, we caught the JR train going towards HachinoheAnd got off at Okuki(U…

We had bought some baked items from Tamiser, a tiny bakery in Miyako for breakfast since we had to catch an early trainBummer everything was hard.as.rock.

From Tokyo, we took the Shinkansen to Morioka, about 3 hours.Then from Morioka, it is 2 hour bus ride to Miyako.Last year when we visited Miyako, we didn't get a chance to try their Bindon (bottle bowl)Fresh seafood is packed into a milk bottle and you po…

peanut spread with cocoa, apparently this is a new flavor for Nutella and it had been 60 years?!

Tried a new (to us) place, Tajima Coffee FactoryThis shop is only open on Sundays!

There is a restaurant Satoshi has been wanting to try, Teshio Gohan GenIt is in the basement of a building near the JR Kamata StationSatoshi had their Teshio Teishoku, this had fish, and all sorts of veggie side dishes (no photo) 1500 yen (tax included)Kat

We tried a new (to us) place called Restaurant Savy's they have mainly counter seating and one or two tables in the back of the restaurantI tried their tomato omurice...delicious!

Been wanting to check out Chilling Coffee and Bake for some time now, and finally got to the other day This cafe is super teeny with only 7 seats.Order and pay at the counter then have a seatGlad I was able to get a seat, other customers had to wait outsi…