A carpet of autumn leaves seen at Hondoji Temple in Matsudo City. The world colored in red was very beautiful and impressive.

Hirai Sports Park Skytree and Cosmos were ? lovely

Went to Chiba over the weekend and we were originally planning on visiting Mt. Nokogiri but decided to stay near the bay area instead since the weather was so nice. It really felt like we were in a resort area and it was a lot of fun. We managed to book a cruise of the nearby factories and it was a blast. They had snack bags for feeding the seagulls on board the ship that you could buy for ¥100 and once we started moving the seagulls started to follow and it just became a feeding frenzy. You’d throw the chips out to the seagulls as the flew side by side with the ship and they were really skilled at catching the chips as well. If it was a weak throw or the wind caught it, the seagull would dive down to catch it. Even if they missed it, another seagull behind it would swoop into the water and grab it. We bought two bags and halfway through the second bag you could tell the seagulls were getting full or tired because they weren’t as agile as they were at the start?. We also ate at a few restaurants. The steak and fried rice and the beef ramen was from Niku no Gyuuchu (肉の牛忠) I’m not sure if it has an English name or not. And the pizza was from a place called “Salvatore Cuomo.” Both tasted pretty good, I enjoyed the Italian restaurant more I think, but the steak restaurant had a nice, relaxed atmosphere compared to the rest of Lalaport which was pretty lively. I somehow lost the pictures I took of my pasta and the salad unfortunately. We also went inside Chiba Port Tower and it had some nice views and a “lovers corner” for taking photos, etc. They also had heart-shaped locks that visitors could buy and lock to a wall to signify their love or something to that effect. Overall it was a really fun experience and not too far from Tokyo. Would definitely like to go back and visit again!

I was in a bit of a hurry when I took this photo, but I wanted to take a picture of it because I thought it was interesting. Before coming to Japan, I hadn't actually seen braille blocks before (or maybe I had but never realized it or thought about what they were for), so learning about the yellow bumps at crosswalks and in stations, etc. I was pretty surprised and thought it was really cool. Recently, I was at Monzen-nakacho Station and saw this little station guide and thought it was cool because of the material it was made of and the sort of rustic look it had to it, but I was surprised to find out that it was actually a braille layout of the station and it looks like it even uses indenting to indicate where staircases, etc. are located. I was interested in learning more, so I looked up a Japanese braille handbook and learned how to read it. It's quite easy to understand when you can see it, but obviously it would take more time to memorize how the characters feel and where the dakuten, etc. are.

A photo I took a little while back while on a small boat ride through Tokyo. This photo was of Ishikawajima Park, a small riverside park that looks like it'd be a nice place to relax and have some lunch with a friend or date or just get some fresh air. I'd like to come back and visit the area when I have some time and see what else is in the park, as well as take a look at the surrounding buildings and what they might have in the area as far as restaurants and shopping, etc. It's really nice that Tokyo seems to be returning to a relatively normal state and I'm seeing more people out and about and infection numbers don't seem to be on the rise currently. Hopefully this trend continues and I can start going out more and visiting all of the eateries and stuff I've been missing out on over the last year and a half!

Autumn scenery of ginkgo trees ~ Autumn of Hikari ga Hill ~

I stopped by Tokyo Station over the weekend to take care of an errand and decided to have lunch at the gyutan restaurant "Rikyu" (利久). Everything tasted amazing and the stew was especially good. I always enjoy the soup served with gyutan, it's sort of like a refreshing break in between the savory bites of beef. Plus the beef inside of the soup is soft from being boiled and has a really nice texture to it. I was pretty surprised at the salad actually, as well. I usually am not a fan of the salads served with gyutan but this one had the perfect amount of beef on it and the dressing tasted quite nice, so that was a welcome surprise. The wagashi served with it tasted really good. I'm not sure about what it was exactly, but it was red bean paste with some sort of white filling, maybe even white bean paste, but it was a good way to finish the meal.

Bill and Cosmos Autumn in Hamarikyu

Red World ~Matsudo・Sokoin Forest~

Autumn leaves ~The beauty of Higo Hosokawa Garden~

Night Autumn Leaves in the Land of Mirrors ~The Beauty of Higo Hosokawa Garden~

Went to Hanaya Yohei, a restaurant near Oku Station and ordered the Miso-Nikomi Udon. It tasted pretty good and cost less than ¥1000 yen. I'd like to go back as the atmosphere of the restaurant was quite nice and it seemed like there was a lot of different menu items to try. I'd walked past the restaurant so many times in the past, and just never had the opportunity to go in until now. Overall it was a pretty good place and even though it seemed like there was a lot of people we got seated instantly which was nice.

Falling autumn leaves The fallen autumn leaves are also tasteful

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~

Autumn leaves and bells

In rainy Kamakura

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

Oguninuma in Fukushima Prefecture Shot from Kanazawa Pass LAOWA 15mm flare is interesting

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

Kitaibaraki, Fukushima The sky taken from the Kanazawa Pass Observatory

Every year through the big traffic jam Nikko Iroha slope ...