Visited Shibamata for the first time over the weekend.

I'd been meaning to go for a while because it seemed like an interesting place to visit in Tokyo, but I just hadn't had the chance until now.

It was a really nice place and I was surprised at how few people were there.
There was a ton of shops lined up along the main street and the wooden buildings gave it a really nice atmosphere.

I haven't seen Otoko wa Tsurai yo, but there were statues and posters of Tora-san everywhere, even inside shops and stuff. I guess I'll have to watch it some time when I have the chance.

We ended up eating lunch at one of the restaurants along the main road and they had some Tora Miso Ramen so we decided to try it. It was pretty good and had a decent amount of vegetables in it as well, so moderately healthy for ramen I suppose. We also got some dessert at a cafe afterwards and she got some dango while I ordered an ice cream float.

We also went to the nearby temple Shibamata Taishakuten (柴又帝釈天), or Daikyoji Temple and walked around the main temple grounds and also bought tickets to see the garden and the architecture inside the temple. The garden was really pretty and the walkway around it was quite nice to walk on.

I really enjoyed viewing the inside of the temple as there was a ton of hand-carved panels depicting different scenes. There were descriptions below each of the panels that described them as well, and they were interesting to read.

It seemed like they were all carved by different people but they were all highly skilled.

When we were leaving we found a nice little shows style candy shop and we bought some snacks and played a round of pinball on one of the pinball machines inside the shop. Haven’t played pinball since I was a kid, was pretty nostalgic.

If you're in Tokyo I definitely recommend giving this place a visit on the weekend.

On the final day of our trip we were a bit tired but still wanted to see a few things and just casually enjoy our time.

We ended up going to Marugame Castle as our first destination. It was really cool as it's one of the 12 castles in Japan that still has an original castle keep. The castle itself isn't very large, but the area surrounding it is. From the bottom of the castle the keep is quite small so it's hard to get a good photo of it, but we got a photo of it with one of the turrets along the moat wall which was cool.

We reserved a rickshaw ride the previous night as well so when we got to the castle we did a little exploring and then we went on a guided tour around the lower area of the castle. The rickshaw guide was a really nice guy and quite funny as well. Apparently he was a comedian but he enjoyed doing this job as well. He told us a bunch of different things about the castle and it's construction while also telling some jokes occasionally.

After the rickshaw tour we climbed our way up to the top of the castle and there were saw really amazing views waiting for us at the top. You could see the entire city almost. We also entered the castle keep, but it was relatively small. It was still nice to see the architecture on the inside but the stairs were a bit scary. They were incredibly steep and I was holding the handrails the entire time going up or down them.

After checking out the castle we were pretty hungry and so we decided to get some lunch. Being Kagawa is the udon prefecture we went to an udon specialty restaurant. I haven't been to many udon restaurants so it was kind of a new experience for me. They had it set up kind of like a cafeteria and you go through and choose what you want and other toppings to go with your udon.
I didn't see the trays for the extra toppings so I just ended up putting the karaage on top of my udon lol.
I got niku udon and it tasted really good. The karaage was a nice touch as well. Not the usual tempura most people get but it went surprisingly well with the soup.

After eating we headed towards Nakazu Banshoen, a garden with art exhibits as well. Before getting there we decided to stop by a Lupin-themed cafe though. It was a really tiny shop but we were able to cool off for a bit and relax which was nice since we were walking quite a bit.

The garden was quite large and had a lot of different points of interest within it. The stepping stones were fun to cross and the row of torii gates was pretty cool as well. You can definitely take some nice photos with them.

And that concludes our trip to Takamatsu! Overall it was a really fun trip and I definitely recommend it to anyone who hasn't been to Shikoku or Kagawa before. We didn't even get to do everything we were looking at but we still had a blast!

Went down to Takamatsu over the 3 day weekend last week. It was the first time either one of us had been to Shikoku before and it was a lot of fun. I'm surprised it's not talked about more, as there's so much stuff to do. We stayed near Takamatsu pretty much the whole time and we still didn't get to visit every place that we wanted to go.

The first day mostly consisted of Ritsurin Park.

The park (garden) itself was quite large and there was a lot of beautiful sights to see. We really wanted to go on the boat ride throughout the park's pond, but unfortunately it started to rain just a tiny bit and they closed the boat for the rest of the day, just before we arrived...☔️

Even still we had a lot of fun walking around the park. There were a lot of koi and turtles swimming in the pond too.
We stopped by a small cafe-like building inside the park and i got an ice cream float and she got a coffee.
In front of the shop one of the custodians came by with a big bucket of fish food and created a feeding frenzy amongst the koi. I'm pretty sure I saw a single catfish in there as well. After we finished our drinks we climbed to one of the best viewing spots in the park which had a really amazing view of the bridge and the pond. You can see the people on the boat we didn't get to ride too lol?

The one building shown in photo 9 was actually a tea house where I think you could try traditional tea ceremony and eat sweets as well, but they also seemed to offer just a normal tea drinking experience as well.
We decided not to try it, but if you like tea ceremony it looked quite nice.

[Englsih／日本語]
We recently went on an excursion to the Takao Komagino Garden. It was a 15-minute walk from Takao Station. It was a very hot day, but there was a stream running along the way, which was very cool. It was very cool inside the Japanese house, and the students looked in wonder at the bonsai trees that were displayed in various places. I was amazed at the beauty of the dry landscape in the garden, and was fascinated by the beauty of Nishikigoi carp. The lotus flowers were in full bloom.

先日、遠足で高尾駒木野庭園に行きました。高尾駅から徒歩15分。とても暑い日でしたが、道の途中で小川が流れていて、とても涼しげでした。日本家屋の中はとても涼しくて、ところどころに飾ってある盆栽を学生たちは不思議そうに眺めていました。学生たちは庭の枯山水のすばらしさにおどろき、錦鯉の美しさにうっとりしてました。ちょうど蓮が見ごろでした。

[Englsh／日本語]Continuing from last week, here are some photos from Komagino Garden. The garden was magnificent. There was also a suikinkutsu (a device in which water droplets fall into a hollow created in the ground and reverberate the sound they make), which made a very cool sound.
先週に引き続き、駒木野庭園の写真です。庭園も見事でした。また、水琴窟（地中に作りだした空洞の中に水滴を落下させ、その際に発せられる音を反響させる仕掛け）もあり、とても涼しげな音を奏でていました。

[English／日本語]
The Takao Komakino Garden is a 15-minute walk from Takao Station, the next station to Nishi-Hachioji Station where the school is located. Visitors can enjoy traditional Japanese gardens such as karesansui (dry landscape garden) and ponds with Nishikigoi (Nishikigoi carp). The school plans to visit the garden in early summer as a field trip.
学校があるに西八王子駅の隣の駅、高尾駅から徒歩15分で行ける「高尾駒木野庭園」です。枯山水や錦鯉のいる池など、日本の伝統的な庭を楽しむことができます。学校では初夏の校外学習として訪れる予定です。

佐賀県武雄市御船山の岩山と桜はよく合う。

Some photos I took at Nijo Castle in spring 2018. You can see the cherry blossoms in some of the photos just starting to bloom, but not quite in full bloom, and the rest of the gardens were really enjoyable as well. I really liked the gold decorations/designs on the buildings. The gate was also really cool. I believe it's called Karamon Gate although I'm not 100% sure on that. The moat around the castle was pretty neat as well, I can imagine it was a strong fortification, especially since it belonged to Tokugawa Ieyasu, although I'm not entirely sure about the rest of the castle's history. The photos of the moat and surrounding area were taken from on top of a small vantage point, and I wonder if it was originally some sort of turret, but I'm not sure about that either. Either way, I definitely recommend giving it a visit to anyone in Kyoto or anyone planning to visit Kyoto. I believe it was relatively close to the Golden Pavilion as well, so if you have the chance, why not?

きれいな赤と黄色に染った紅葉?
紅葉が始まると写真を撮りに行くのが家族の恒例行事。
東広島市の三景園で撮影。

紅葉が綺麗な庭園で恋人を撮りました。
紅葉で色づいた日本庭園をデートするのもなかなか楽しいです。
お抹茶と和菓子を頂きながら、綺麗に染った木々を見るのは至福のひとときです。

茨城県 雨引観音のアジサイ
初夏の風物詩

Such a picturesque rock garden, I can't even imagine how relaxing it would be to just sit down somewhere nice in the garden on a quiet day and enjoy lunch or some tea. Mibudera is another temple I need to add to my list for the next time I visit Kyoto I suppose. I wonder if there are any koi in the pond at all. I never knew that this temple was the headquarters of the Shinsengumi either, that's some pretty cool history. I guess that explains why they have such a nice rock garden though. I'd like to explore this place a bit, I guess there's a graveyard dedicated to members of the Shinsengumi here as well. Sounds like a really interesting place to visit. Of course it's Kyoto too, so that's to be expected

日本三名園の後楽園です。
広い敷地とゴミ一つ、雑草すら見当たらない庭園に感動です。
桜吹雪にうっとりです。

日本三名園の偕楽園です。
広い敷地とゴミ一つ、雑草すら見当たらない庭園に感動です。

日本三名園の偕楽園です。
広い敷地とゴミ一つ、雑草すら見当たらない庭園に感動です。

春の雨
お庭のハナミズキ
雨の雫がキラキラ輝いていました

兵庫県西宮市、大東公園にある今津紅寒桜。少し前に撮ったもので、今はもう散ってるでしょうね。
ソメイヨシノとは違った美しさがあります。
逆光で撮影。

昨日と同じく、西宮市内のとある場所にて。
オリジナルから若干トリミングしてます。
今年の桜は早いですね。散るのも早いでしょうけど。
昨年はとても長く桜が楽しめましたいい年でした。コロナさえなければ……。

これも甲東梅林です。
いろんな品種がありました。梅を撮るのって難しいですねぇ……桜だと、わっと咲いてるのでごまかし効きますが……。(笑)

まだ肌寒いなか、日中の暖かさを求めて咲く梅
冷たい風の中に「春の匂い」を感じさせてくれた岡山市にある後楽園。

Ahhh I can't wait for the cherry blossoms to start blooming. Only about a week left I guess. Today was nice and warm in Tokyo so hopefully that's a continuing trend from here on out as I'm kind of done with the cold weather this year lol! The winter scenery was all really beautiful but I think it's time for spring already. I need to look into buying a new BBQ so I can visit some parks and just relax for a whole day while eating delicious food and admiring the cherry blossoms. Hopefully Shinjuku Gyoen is open around then cuz I think it's been closed for a bit now, we'll see though. Anyways Mishima Taisha looks really cool. I always love seeing a row of cherry blossoms creating a tunnel. I'll have to add it to my list of places to visit in Shizuoka!

What a beautiful photo! I've seen a Japanese friendship garden in Portland I think it was but this one has a totally different atmosphere. It's really cool to see the different styles. I hadn't heard of West Lake before but I looked at some pictures of it and it looks like a beautiful place. I like how the architecture of the pavilions is very similar as well. I'm certainly a fan of all of the winter scenery I've gotten to see this year, but I feel like the cherry blossoms would certainly look amazing here. That or even the foliage in the autumn. I'd like to check this out when I get the chance. It looks like there are some interesting restaurants in the area as well so I can look forward to some tasty food!

この世のものとは思えない幻想的な空間✨

岡山後楽園のライトアップイベント「幻想庭園」✨

日本三名園のに数えられる岡山後楽園の幻想的な風景は来園者を魅了します?✨

美しい庭園の背景には、ライトアップされ真っ白に浮かび上がる岡山城が圧倒的な存在感を放ちます✨?

動画で「ミシュラン・グリーンガイド・ジャポン」では三つ星の評価を受けた日本庭園の風景を体験しよう！

今夜は岡山後楽園にオンラインGoToトラベル！

和カフェ

京都、南禅寺 天授庵の紅葉。
秋には夜のライトアップの特別拝観があります。
額縁いっぱいに広がる赤に染まった庭園は日本の美しさが凝縮されています。