Cosmos bloomed ~Autumn in Hamarikyu is beautiful~

I tried to take a decent photo of Mode Gakuen Cocoon Tower in Shinjuku, but didn't have enough to to really get up close to it unfortunately, so this building is in the way lol. I didn't realize that the tower was filled with educational facilities until now. Apparently the architects liked the cocoon shape because they felt it symbolized the nurturing of the students that would be inside of it. It's pretty interesting and a great concept in my opinion. Japan has a lot of cool architecture, both modern and historic and I love seeing them both. Hopefully next time I visit Shinjuku I'll be able to get a better view of the tower, although it might be a while lol. Either way, pretty cool place!

Musk swallowtail dancing red spider liliies ~Autumn in Shiba Park~

Just a couple photos I took outside of Tabata Station over the weekend. I've always thought this clock tower was neat but I don't stop by Tabata Station much. Decided to take a photo of it this time for anyone who hasn't been to the station. Also a golden statue of a woman. The statue is titled "Flower" with the kanji "華" and was made by Hiroteru Kawasaki (川崎 普照) from my understanding. You can see it from the angle I took the photo, but the clock tower is titled "The Bell of Hope" (希望の鐘). I thought it's interesting that it was titled with "bell" instead of clock tower since I don't think I've heard it ring before. I must not be visiting at the correct times lol. These are both on Tabata Bridge right outside the station

Autumn cherry blossoms in Nakameguro ~ A small autumn found in Nakameguro Park ~

Autumn in the water ~Rikugien Gardens~

Red World ~ Otaguro Park

Autumn Leaves Walk ~At Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden~

Had a really good looking and tasting bowl of ramen in Shinjuku over the weekend and decided to take a bunch of pictures of it lol. There's so many ramen shops around Shinjuku Station that it was hard to choose where to go at first but we ended up choosing this place - Manbaken Ramen (萬馬軒). The chashu looked amazing just seeing the photos so I decided to get the miso chashu ramen with an egg topping. The ramen tasted really great and the chashu was thick, had a nice salty flavor, and the texture was really nice as well. My girlfriend ordered the spicy miso ramen and unfortunately we didn't think it tasted as good as the normal miso. It was almost like there was yuzu or sansho pepper inside of it and it gave it a strange tangy flavor that neither of us were huge fans of. I still definitely recommend the normal miso ramen though! The normal miso chashu ramen was ¥1100 and a normal bowl of miso ramen is just ¥790

Manju Shaka in the water ~Beauty in the water~ Hayashi no Mori Park

Autumn Leaves Lovers Love in the autumn leaves at Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden

Visited Fujiiya a small eatery in Kameido famous for its gyoza. It was definitely good, and they had an interesting tare for the gyoza as well. I think it had chashu inside of it and it tasted great. I threw in a little soy sauce as well but I think it's probably perfect without it. I recommend shaking the bottle before pouring it as I had a little too much oil come out instead of the actual sauce. It was also my first time getting shoyu ramen in a while. I'm usually a bigger fan of miso, probably because it feels warm and filling on cold days but is great on hot days too. That being said, I was pleasantly surprised by this shoyu ramen, was a really refreshing flavor and the noodles were perfect. The restaurant is really cheap too, I think a normal chashu ramen and 5-piece gyoza was just ¥780, which is super cheap. They also had a lot of cool photos and signatures on the wall from/with famous entertainers like "Downtown," etc. Cool place, definitely recommend it!

Some photos I took during my visit to the Edo-Tokyo Museum. I really enjoyed seeing the recreations of the Edo cityscape and seeing what the city would have looked like back in the day. I like that you can also get a feel for what life was like at that time and you can even see people doing various jobs or holding tools related to them. I enjoyed seeing the boats as well, as it showed how shipping would been carried out at the time, and you also get to see the architecture of the ships, which was really awesome in my honest opinion. I also tried getting a decent photo of Tokugawa Ieyasu but I was really short on time when visiting as the museum was about to close, so I definitely need to go back there again. I wanted to see some of the other exhibits as well, stuff like the Great Kanto Earthquake exhibits, etc. so I have an excuse to visit again lol.

I photographed Tokyo Station from near the Kikyomon gate in the outer garden of the Imperial Palace.

Went to a nearby waterfront park area and saw some yakatabune and other nice views. Got some nice fresh air together and even saw someone catch a fish. It looked like a pretty decent size fish too, but I couldn’t take a photo of it. We realized the planters on the way back were shaped like small boats so I took a photo of one. Thought it was kind of neat

Wow, there's so many awesome photos being posted today. I don't have any autumn related photos to share myself, unfortunately lol. I did take a photo of a building near Tokyo Tower though. I'm not sure what the name is, I didn't get the chance to look and then kanji are too small for me to read in this photo, but it reminded me of Todaiji in Nara prefecture. I think it's related to a temple or maybe a shrine, I'm not sure. The building seemed really massive though, and the people walking in front of it looked like ants lol. If anyone knows the name of this building I'd appreciate it if you told me! I'd like to go back to Nara actually this fall and see all the temples and deer again and even take some photos of the autumn leaves but I'm not sure I'll get the chance to do so unfortunately. I guess I'll just be living vicariously through everyone else's photos for the time being!

This photo was taken at Mt. Takao in Tokyo. The red leaves of autumn leaves falling all over the ground were very beautiful, so I drew a heart.

This photo was taken at Mt. Takao in Tokyo. There was a cute cat at the resting place and it was very friendly. I decorated it with autumn leaves. It looks great, doesn't it?

Went out and ate ramen over the weekend. Was the first time I've done so in a while. The restaurant was called '背油とんこつらーめん 雷門' in Monzen-nakacho I got the spicy miso ramen (I don't remember the exact name, it was something special) and it was really good. My girlfriend got just a standard miso and it was good as well. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be going back there because I want to try the other ramen they serve now lol. The miso that I got was more of a brown color than the usual orange that I see so I was kind of skeptical at first, but it turn out to be delicious and the chashu was really thickly cut and also tasted great. There was even an egg topping and I didn't have to pay extra for that or the chashu! I definitely recommend it to anyone that likes ramen! Other than that the whether wasn't so bad this weekend, but the leaves have started falling so we're definitely in fall at this point. It's starting to get colder outside as well. I've already starting using the heater instead of the air conditioning. Looking forward to some hot pot and oden though!

Starting to rain more and more lately. I guess we've finally left summer and are headed into fall. I had some nice Okinawan noodles today. Really tasty restaurant. The karaage was really delicious as well. I usually eat the karaage and salad separately but I was curious to try them together this time and it tasted amazing. I regret always eating them separately now lol! I don't remember what the restaurant was called but it was somewhere in a shopping mall. I can't remember what the seaweed dish is called either but it had an.. interesting flavor. Really healthy I imagine though! The cookie was a great dessert too. Just a small little snack and not too sweet either. I definitely want to go back here and try some of the other stuff they serve!

Man, yesterday I was just too busy to even log in. I did manage to eat some delicious pasta though. It was a small restaurant I found at Oji Station called "Ombra." The noodles were really interesting. They were thick and hollow. I forget what they were called but the pasta tasted great and the salad did as well. I definitely recommend eating here. I didn't manage to take a photo of the outside of the restaurant but it shows up on google easy enough if you just search it. The interior was really nice as well. Quiet and dim and there were a lot of photos on the wall as well. It made waiting for my food quite enjoyable. There was also an award on the wall as well, although I forget exactly what it said. If I remember correctly, it had something to do with excellent quality, or something similar to that. Also the pasta seems to change daily so I'll have to go back and try the other kinds

Location: IWGP (Ikebukuro Nishiguchi Park) Children playing at the fountain 3

Location: IWGP (Ikebukuro Nishiguchi Park) Children playing at the fountain 2

Location: IWGP (Ikebukuro Nishiguchi Park) Children playing at the fountain

Weather wasn't too bad this weekend! I managed to get a little shopping in as well. There were a few things I needed to buy and I went to Akabane for the first time in a while. I really like the layout of the area. It's really convenient and the shopping street has a bunch of stuff that you can look at. I'd like to explore the area more one of these days, but that will have to wait until after the pandemic ends I suppose. I managed to find some interesting statues around one of the shopping centers as well. I wasn't able to take a photo of all of them because people were sitting next to them, but I took a photo of one of them at least. I'll have to go back to get photos of the other 5 or 6 next time. There was one statue of a man fishing, I thought it was pretty cool. Anyways, here's the first one right outside of the entrance. A small warrior in armor holding a spear in one hand and what looks to be some sort of pagoda in the other.

A photo I managed to take while walking today. Wasn't able to get up close unfortunately. I think it's Katori Shrine although I could be wrong on the reading of the kanji. The weather was pretty decent today, not as cloudy as usual. I'd like to go back here and see what the inner portion of the shrine is like so I guess I'll have to make another trip over here. Been keeping at my workouts. I want to buy a bench but I'm not sure where I'd even keep it lol. I'd rather workout outside if possible anyways, the outdoors in Japan is great. Even in the middle of Tokyo you can find places covered in greenery. I want to start jogging to work on my lung capacity and overall health but I really hate jogging lol. I know the track along the Arakawa River would be perfect for it too, but I'm not sure. Maybe I should get a bike since it's a really nice cycling route. Then again I'm not sure where I'd keep the bike either lol. Anyways, hope everyone is having a great Friday!

Lots of awesome photos being posted today. It's kind of making me jealous with how beautiful they all are. I went for a walk today and took a picture somewhere along the Arakawa River. I'll have to try and walk it all the way to Kitasenju someday lol. That or maybe take it all the way to Chichibu in Saitama. I know it's a really long river. I don't think I could make it that far though sadly. Kind of disappointed that summer is basically over already but at the same time I'm excited for the autumn colors this fall. Hopefully I can get out and visit some temples and shrines out in the countryside or something. I saw some photos like that mostly in Kyoto but I'm sure there are some places nearby Tokyo or in the Kanto region in general where I can see some nice scenery. If not then I'll just have to go somewhere and find it!

I managed to get a good workout in today as well. I can already feel my stomach muscles starting to get sore. I found a pretty decent coffee today. Decided to try something besides a black coffee today. Still a Boss coffee but it has a pretty low sugar content and doesn't taste too sweet or too bitter. Considering trying a new one tomorrow but this one was quite good so I might just be drinking this from now on. I want to keep my options open but it's hard to keep searching once you find something good. I found a photo that I forgot to upload before. I visited the Edo Tokyo Museum and outside there was a statue of Tokugawa Ieyasu riding a turtle lol... It's probably one of the more interesting statues I've seen in Japan but I suppose it symbolizes power and longevity, which Ieyasu certainly had both of.

I got another good workout done today. Just gotta keep at it. I was hoping to see Blue Impulse today but I didn't see them anywhere overhead and didn't manage to hear any jets in the air either. I saw a lot of photos being posted on social media though so that was pretty cool. I'm looking forward to checking out the Paralympics though, hopefully it gets good coverage on tv. I'm not really a coffee drinker but lately I've been trying different coffees from the local convenience store in an attempt to find one that I like. I tried the Boss coffee today since I always see commercials for it and it seems to be pretty popular, but it seemed a bit watery to me so I think I'm going to have to keep searching. If anyone has any coffee recommendations for me I'd love to hear them lol

Man the rain today was pretty crazy for a bit. Glad that it stopped sooner than later. Wasn't able to find any parks this weekend, was busy being a nurse for my girlfriend after she received her second dose of the vaccine lol. Bit of a shorter post today as I'm pretty tired from doing that over the weekend. Wasn't able to get any decent pictures this weekend sadly, but I did get this picture of a fountain near Toyo Station. Thought that the statues were quite interesting so I managed to take a quick snap of it before leaving. Was hard to get a good angle because of the pillars being so close to the fountain, but I did my best.