these 2 salarymen look so happy!!!

friday night...shimbashi

just finished work?

going to a bar?

wife and kids at home?

harrods in ginza...empty!!!

can you see the tokyo sky tree in the distance???

it will become this...

in 2012

check out the website here

never mind mao...well done yu-na

i wanna be an office lady (OL)...

support men in the office

make tea

do copying and filing

wear a nice uniform!!!

click here for more on office ladies

unagi...freshwater eel...

grilled and served on top of rice

eaten mainly in summer and said to give people stamina

not my cup of tea!!!

can you imagine living so near the train tracks???

taken from the platform at osaki hirokoji station

the ikegami line

i live about 5 minutes from the station...

 ...and even i am sometimes woken up by the trains!!!

these residents must use big ear-plugs!!!  

capitalism gone crazy...or very clever???

cherry blossom (sakura) time (predicted to be end march this year) is very important here...the blossoms are said to be symbolic of the fleeting nature of life itself...transcience...extreme beauty...quick death

starbucks have created sakura drinks to accompany these wonderful thoughts!!!

kids in the park today...so what???

...not an obese one among them!!!

a lovely cafe off-the-beaten-track...

http://kasoyo.com/

in the back streets of mejiro station

the cafe garden

in the cafe

the interior is so comfy and retro style!!!

my choice

my companion's choice...

hoji-cha tea and warm aduki bean sweet

this cafe is lovely and worth a visit

only 7 minutes from mejiro station

(thanks chiemi for taking me)

i prefer japanese plum blossoms...

...we all love cherry blossoms...of course...and they are eagerly awaited now...starbucks have even introduced 2 drinks dedicated to them!!!

but...i prefer these plum blossoms...much more minimal with no leaves interrupting the branches and blossoms

i came across these in someone's garden in shimo-ochiai...how lucky they are to have a beautiful plum tree

hotplate cooking...okonomiyaki...a savoury pancake cooked before your very eyes...

a thin crepe is cooked on a hotplate

then it is piled high with cabbage

chopped spring onion and pink ginger

and meat and fish if you eat that kind of stuff

more stuff is piled on

these are tempura bits

another crepe is cooked mixed with an egg and put on top

served with brown sauce, mayo, sprinkled seaweed
 and sesame seeds

our chef

here she is making a crepe roll filled with cheese

usually there is also fish in it

but for me it was left out

she also cooked some naga-imo

this is a kind of sticky potato

japanese believe sticky food is very good for us

i can't think of sticky food in our cuisine?

(moriyoshi...roppongi)

after the snow this morning...the sunshine

i just heard on the radio that it's snowing...and yes it is!!!

i hadn't even looked out of the window today!!!

this is...nothing...but it takes 12 strokes!!!

my freestyle of the kanji for nothing (mu)

i have broken many writing rules here...

...but my teacher said it is ok to be free!!!

taking a break...

...gardeners in the park next to me yesterday

wearing a towel on the head is very common for workmen here!!!

while japanese men are working...their wives are artists!!!

ikebana is the art of flower arranging with the emphasis on line, form and shape using branches, leaves, stems as well as the flowers themselves..the containers are also an important element

japanese women often take up ikebana before marriage and some continue afterwards to go up the ladder and become teachers and artists

you can see the beautiful lines on these

there is a kind of triangle...heaven, earth and man

stunning

 lovely use of leaves

this says spring to me

more amazing use of leaves...sigh!!!

my personal favourite

pushing all the boundaries of ikebana rules

traditionalists argue whether is this ikebana

interesting materials

a huge high-impact installation-type

technically very difficult!!!

visually breath-taking

(sogetsu school's north branch's exhibition kita-senju...
...thanks for the ticket toshiko)

when i do or see ikebana i know why i love japan!!!

note: men do ikebana too but it is unusual!!!

kanji are little pictograms essential in the japanese writing system...

...for some of them it is quite easy to see the meaning and where the original picture came from and its change into the current pictogram...

...it actually is very interesting...tho challenging!!!

this is my kanji teacher...

...souta is 6 and way ahead of me!!!

i got valentine's chocolates...

...from  a very cute little rabbit!!!

thanks rio!!!

school uniforms...

isetan dept store...shinjuku