Shake Duo

Posted on November 30, 2011 by Marjorie

Hubs requested that we drop by Book Express for his book shopping fix on our way home from office. It was a good thing this duo was doing a performance in the open space in front of JR Sakuragicho Station. They were pretty good! Hence I had a good time as I waited for hubs. I noticed though that most of us who were watching were women.

(sorry for the shaky cover on the first minute. I dropped my PET bottle and had to retrieve it haha 🙂 )

They were giving away flyers for their upcoming concerts; their first album is selling at ¥2500 yen.

In fairness the vocalist’s voice was good and blending with the backup was good as well. Beatbox man was pretty good too! No wonder many were hanging around to watch them instead of the usual handful of watchers for other singers on other days.

Hope to hear more from you guys.

Mikoshi in Gumyoji

Posted on August 29, 2011 by Marjorie

Hubs and I doesn’t really keep ourselves updated with the community billboard hence it came as a surprise to us when we went out the house and met some Mikoshi-costumed people and heard the boom of drums a few minutes after.

Right around the end of August, just when the peak of summer has just passed and temperatures have started to drop a bit, Mikoshi (神輿) parades are held all over Japan. The Mikoshi is actually a sacred palanquin where the spirits or diety of that particular festival are ceremoniously enshrined. Mind you, the mikoshis really are elaborately designed.

The Mikoshi is carried around by the people taking part in the parade.

The sacred palanquins are preceded by the drums, announcing its passage.

I once participated in a Mikoshi parade back in 2007 and interestingly enough, it was also here in Gumyoji. I can’t say though that I’d do it again. We didn’t wear tabi (足袋 or たび or the traditional Japanese socks) though like what this year’s participants did.

And it seems more elaborate this year because the priest paraded with the group.

Yeah there’s a high probability that I just didn’t notice the priest parading with us back then, laden as we are with the Mikoshi (yes, it is heavy!). But I do believe this year’s Mikoshi is more festive, more passionate, more feverish than it was years before. I could think of one reason why it is so but whether I’m right or wrong, it makes me happy that this kind of tradition that has been around for centuries is still going as strong as ever.

Bunko and Obon

Posted on August 20, 2011 by Marjorie

We were pretty much holed up inside our home the whole day. Hubs was pretty busy cutting up his books, scanning it and uploading in his Dropbox application so he can retrieve it in either his iPhone or iPad with the ibunko app. By scanning books, we can save up some room in the house (if a person buys an average of 10 books a week, you can pretty much imagine how his house looks like) and he can read them whenever or wherever he likes. Of course his favorite books won’t be dissected.

So since he’ll be cutting books, you can imagine how big his cutter was. Honestly though, I didn’t imagine the cutter to be as big as this! I was pretty confused with the size of the box when I was signing the delivery form.

And I was pretty impressed with the scanner Hubs ordered from Amazon. It can scan a back to back paper in just a second, without having to flip the paper to scan the other side like the one we had in the office.

Fruit of Hubs’ labor today. From iBunko App

Bunko by the way is a small sized paperback that’s pretty popular here in Japan.

Having had stayed inside the house the whole day, we were surprised that outside our the house, a festival was ongoing in the open field just a few steps from our apartment. Thankful that we had to go out for dinner, otherwise we would have missed this traditional Japanese event.

Obon Odori (お盆盆踊り) is one of the summer festivals in Japan. Obon is the Buddhist tradition of honoring the dead and it involves Odori or dancing. Most of the participants (basically our neighbors) were wearing their summer kimonos.

It’s a good time for neighbors to bond as well.

We dropped by the Obon Odori when we were on our way out. Later, laden with heavy purchases from the grocery, we were able to catch the last part of the Odori for a (very) short video.

Happy weekend everyone!

Sugamo Konaya (Landmark Tower)

Posted on August 20, 2011 by goodfoodhunt

I thought I had mapped out already all the restaurants in Landmark Tower. But when hubs suggested we eat at the curry udon shop for dinner after office, I totally had no idea as to its location. Situated just right the corner, just before Soup Stock Tokyo, this restaurant’s facade really looks quite unassuming.

But I was mighty impressed with it’s interior.

Traditionally, udon is dipped in soy sauce or 醤油 (shōyu). However, this shop offers a different kind of alternative.

I’m not big on curry; if I can avoid eating it, I’m happy. But for Konaya’s curry sauce, I wouldn’t mind having it with udon several times a week.

Oh, see that shrimp above? They have several set menus that offer this angel shrimp (yep, that’s how it was called). Now, I really love shrimps but this one is just sooooo good.

Surprisingly, it comes really affordable at only 1050yen for some set meals, including the ones we ordered.

Do try it out! 😉

Hanabi

Posted on August 17, 2011 by Marjorie

Hanabi, or the Fireworks Display is one anticipated event here in Japan. Yes sure we’ve all seen fireworks every now and then. But there’s nothing quite like the Japanese Hanabi – especially if you consider that these continuous pyrotechnic lasts an hour at the least, with some lasting for two full hours! And it’s not just the length mind you, the organizers go to lengths as to provide displays that can just make you smile real wide like a kid even when you’ve been to countless hanabi in the summer, every summer.

This year though, the hanabi has been more a treat as compared to the previous years. A lot of the usual hanabi events had been called off this year, both as sign of mourning over the March 11 disaster and as cost-cutting as well. But of course, there’s still reason to rejoice and probably it’s because of that that the major Hanabi in certain cities still pushed through.

Yokohama’s hanabi was held this evening. This actually was our (mine and hubby’s) first hanabi together as husband and wife. And so we spent it watching together at the 34th floor of our office where we currently are billeted (pretty ironic yes, that even when our building has 36 floors or so, we happen to be assigned on the same floor though maybe not for long since he’ll be moving to another floor next month for another project). And yes, we were working overtime.

Here’s some of the pictures I’ve taken. Totally unedited (still trying to get to know our new gadget).

Mitsuike Park

Posted on August 7, 2011 by Marjorie

Seeing the need to exercise and burn some calories, Atsushi and I were determined to go out and explore even when it was terribly humid what with nowadays being the peak of summer.

I initially proposed to go to Taya Cave and then to the Zoological Garden but thinking that it was already 1pm and we’re yet to set out and the sightseeing places close at 4:30, I urged Atsushi to go to Mitsuike Park in Tsurumi area instead.

Mitsuike Park is considered one of the 100 best places to go for hanami or sakura/cherry blossoms watching in Japan and the only one among the list that’s located in Yokohama. They boast over 1600 sakura tress with a number of sakura varieties.

They even have a variety that blooms not only in early Spring but in October ~ December as well. Curious.

My best friends and I went there years back (and I distinctly remember it was a month before Atsushi and I worked together 😀 ) but we went there towards the end of the sakura season already so we weren’t able to witness its full glory. Still though, the place was still beautiful even with only a few lingering sakuras.

Got above photo from my other personal and teetering-to-being-defunct blog because I can’t find yet my set of photos during this trip.

Now that it’s summer though, the place is wholly green.

Some kids were having fun catching small fishes with their handheld nets.

There was a man-made stream near the bench where we rested and the sound of trickling water indeed helped us relax some more.

I wonder if the designers of this fountain had Zen in mind when they made it.

So yes, even sans the flowers (and sans the hotdogs which we thoroughly enjoyed during our last visit there!), we still got what we looked for – a place to relax and enjoy nature and at the same time get some much-needed exercise albeit it’s just walking.

Thinner us?Hoping.

It’s easy to reach really. One can take the bus from Tsurumi station to get to the place. If you’re worried where to take the bus, just look for the friendly map near the station exits. Direction points bus station is accessible from the train station’s West Exit.

As is typical with any Japanese bus stations, the route of the bus is displayed by the bus stop.

Yes, it’s in Kanji so you just have to memorize the Kanji character of your sightseeing destination which in this case is 三ッ池公園北門.

What I love with trains and buses here in Japan is that they also post train and bus schedules hence very convenient for planning tours.

And mind you these schedules are strictly followed although buses can sometimes be delayed by a minute or two.

Bus fair from Tsurumi station to Mitsuike Koen is 210 yen.

Let’s go there come Spring, shall we? 😀

—-

A side story.

There was a Book Off outlet by the bus station and so Atsushi urged me to go there after our Mitsuike Koen walk. We went home 9 books richer but 5,000yen poorer. Thankfully they’re all second hand books so it’s really much much cheaper than they should have been. This time though, half of the purchases are mine. Bookworms!

On Chocolate Hill

A chocolatey journey, with Yui!

Tag Archives: japan