Was walking past a park in Arakawa the other day and came across this interesting statue.

I think the name is read as Honda Takatomo 本田 貴侶 but it was difficult to find any information. I kept finding stuff showing the same statue but instead of "聖なるもののリピドー" they all show "聖なるもののリビドー"

I'm not sure what the differences are though.
Perhaps there are multiple statues in different locations?
All the ones I saw referred to this statue in Arakawa though so maybe there's a misprint or something?

Also I'm not sure what "リピドー" or "リビドー" means, but if anyone has any idea about what the statue's meaning is I'd love to hear it!

Either way it's a nice looking statue. I always enjoy finding things like this around different parts of Japan, they really add to the atmosphere of the city.

船橋大神宮

日本の行事 初詣・船橋大神宮

日本の行事 浅草寺

I didn't have enough space to write it the other day, but after visiting Fukuda Inari Shrine the other day in Nishi-Omiya, Saitama we stopped by a café called Mango Tree Cafe, a small Thai restaurant on the way back to the station.

We'd already eaten, so we just wanted to sit down and relax from all the walking and to catch a break from the cold. We ordered some frozen drinks and a mango ice cream which all tasted quite good. I think the ice cream was the best but I didn't get a picture of it.

I ordered the watermelon frozen juice and it was pretty nice, but they had something called "manaonade" アンチャンマナオネード which I guess means "blue tea" or "butterfly pea flower tea-ade" lol.
It's a type of herbal tea I guess but it seemed interesting. I was considering getting it, but I'd never heard of it before so decided to stay on the safe side and just get the watermelon.

I'll probably try it next time as I know this place is a chain restaurant with other locations in Tokyo. Plus I never really eat Thai food, so it'd be something nice to try for a change

Doesn't matter how old you are, you'll always stop to watch the fireworks.

Taken at the Hachioji Fireworks Festival in 2017.

色褪せて尚
凛とした花姿

日本の行事 成田山新勝寺

Wanted to do Hatsumode this year but didn't want to go anywhere crowded, so I decided to go out to Saitama and find a small shrine to visit. Ended up at this tiny shrine in Nishi-Omiya called Fukuda Inari Shrine 福田稲荷神社. It was super small and not a single person was there so it was like we had the whole place to ourselves.

There was no real path leading up to the shrine so we had to walk through a plot of land that wasn't being used but it ended up being a really cool place.
The approach to the shrine was really mysterious and once you get past the second torii gate you can see a bamboo forest surrounding the whole area. It was really neat as I couldn't see any bamboo from the outside and didn't really know what to expect when I visited.

The shrine itself looks almost deserted but somehow still well maintained.
I wanted to go inside to look at the pictures better but obviously I can't so I just admired them from afar.
The temizuya/chozuya or at least I think it was that, maybe this would be considered a chozubachi? didn't have a ladle to wash your hands but maybe it has to do with corona.

Anyways, it was a really nice little shrine and is a great place if you're looking for a mini adventure outside of Tokyo.
Or if you want to do Hatsumode and avoid the crowds completely lol.
Also, happy new year!

Happy new year🥳 I was interested in visiting a kotatsu cafe and finally found one in Shimokitazawa! It was called Cafe Stay Happy and made me happy 😊 The atmosphere and food was really good ❤️

木にライトアップされるかと思いきや！
地面！！周りが輝く程、哀愁が漂う冬の木を撮りました

Nakamise dori avenue in Sensoji temple. The avenue is well decorated for the new years eve.

The iconic symbol of Tokyo, Sensoji is now fully prepared for the new year's prayer. It looks very beautiful and it is waiting for several hundred people for visiting the Temple in the new years eve.

Five storied pagoda fully prepared for new years prayer. This is from Sensoji temple, the famous iconic symbol of Tokyo.

Went to a soba restaurant in Akabane called "Zenmi Kotobuki" 禅味寿.

I got the "天せいろ" Ten Seiro "Tempura Soba Served on a Bamboo Wicker Tray" If I had to translate it literally I guess lol.
Cost 1350 yen and it was 大盛サービス free extra serving of noodles.
And who am I to turn down free noodles? The choice was obvious and so I got the extra helping!

I really liked the atmosphere of the place too. The waitresses were wearing Japanese-style clothing as well, which made it a really nice experience.

I always enjoy visiting small shops like this where the owners have it decorated in their own style and you can see all of the bottles of sake or whatever else is used to create the atmosphere of the restaurant.

Anyways, as for the food, the tempura was cooked really well and the soba was the perfect texture. At the end of the meal they brought some hot soba water so I could drink the remaining tsuyu soba sauce as a sort of warm drink. Was a great experience that I haven't had in a while!

Christmas day special Tokyo Tower illumination.

Like I mentioned yesterday, I went to "Tokyo Portcity Takeshiba" over the weekend and there were a ton of restaurants.

The one that I chose to eat at was a tough choice, but I ultimately settled on "Do Miso Tokyo Portcity Takeshiba" ど・みそ 東京ポートシティ竹芝店, but there was also an Okinawan-themed restaurant right next to it called "Okinawa Bar Kafu" 沖縄酒場 かふー that looked really nice as well, and smelled good.

Either way from across the isle I got to eat some delicious ramen while listening to the Okinawan music which was really relaxing and created a nice atmosphere.

I'm not sure what the ramen I got was called it was just the normal miso ramen from my understanding and I believe it cost ¥1100.
There's another one that looks similar, has a similar name, and costs ¥1200 but that's a white miso ramen and not the one that I got.
Either way, I'm sure it tastes good as well, because my ramen tasted great!
I really liked that the restaurant had metal cups as well, it gives the water a different flavor and always makes it feel more refreshing too in my opinion at least.

One thing I forgot to mention about the building if you open up their website, another futuristic feature you'll find is that the building actually shows the number of people in the building at any one time and also shows that percentage of male and female visitors. I thought this was really amazing.
I'm not sure how it's done, but they must have censors located at the doors or in other places around the building that can analyze body structure or something similar. Either way it's a cool place!

日本の冬 立石

Lets enjoy the beauty of Marunouchi illumination. Here everyone was busy to enjoy the illumination.

Went to Takeshiba over the weekend and visited "Tokyo Portcity Takeshiba"

I was in the area for other reasons, but just happened to stop by because the building looked interesting. Turns out I was right!

The inside of the building had a bunch of really nice shops and was showing a futuristic VR robot being used to stock shelves in a convenience store. I didn't stick around to read everything that was being shown on the screen but this photo seems to be saying how they've created a VR system where users won't feel VR sickness, which I'd actually not heard about before, but it seems to happen after long periods of VR use and is similar to motion sickness I guess.

The other photo looks like a simple picture of a sink but it actually has another really cool futuristic feature.

The little slot on the right can actually disinfect your phone using UV.
I couldn't take a photo of the actual process since I only had one phone but I tried it out and it was really neat.
You just remove your case or anything else you have attached to your phone and pop it in and wash your hands.
Takes like 30 seconds, about how long it should take to wash your hands, so it's a really convenient feature.

Cool place though, I definitely recommend paying it a visit!

日本の冬

「日本の冬」

「日本の冬」

日本の冬

The beautiful winter illumination in Tokyo Station.

Went to Ootoya again and ordered something new.

The dish used to come with meatballs if I remember correctly but it seems they changed it to fried chicken.
Goes much better with the meal in my opinion and the grated radish over the top of it was a nice touch.

I also really liked the pumpkin croquettes, I'm used to just normal croquette's I'm not even sure what they're filled with, but this was a nice change of pace and was kind of refreshing, probably because it felt very healthy lol.

As always all of the side items tasted great and it was all only ¥740, so pretty much a steal if you ask me

埼玉県川越の風景です。
ここの街並みは好きでよくいきます。
最近は観光客も増えて混んでる時が多いですがとてもすきな街です。

トーベ・ヤンソンあけぼの子どもの森公園という公園です。駐車場も無料公園も無料です。1年に一度ライトアップいたします。
今はしてませんが普通に昼間もムーミンの公園でインスタ映えいたします。

茨城県にある神磯の鳥居です。ここの朝日はありがたいので是非行ってみて下さい。とても綺麗です。

Went to a place in Nihonbashi called Hakata Dojo 博多道場 and had a really nice lunch. It's like an izakaya but it had a really nice lunchtime atmosphere as well.

I ordered the 日替わり肉ランチ which cost about ¥1000 but it tasted great. I really liked the moyashi that came with the beef plate, lots of flavor and the moyashi were really juicy as well so that was nice.

It was a really nice place overall, I'd like to go back and see what it's like at night, maybe they have some special courses or something as well. I really liked the lanterns though, I think that's probably what contributed most to the place having a nice atmosphere. That and it wasn't exceptionally loud like some izakaya I've been to.
Also the interior was decorated quite nicely as well, besides the lanterns.