Dropped by a cafe near Oji Station the other day and ordered a small chocolate cake and a tea. It looks strikingly similar to the one I had at the pasta restaurant a few days ago, with very minor differences lol. I didn't take a photo of the tea unfortunately, I was too focused on eating the cake?. I suppose it's a popular dessert combination as it seems quite easy but delicious at the same time.

The cafe is called Dining Cafe Tagen (ダイニング カフェTAGEN). When I passed it on Halloween they were opening the large doors at the front of the shop and preparing some sort of Halloween event, although I wasn't able to see exactly what was going on with it. They had a big speaker as well, so maybe they were going to sing and give candy away lol. I'm not really sure though. I think they were wearing costumes as well, it looked pretty interesting. It's a nice place though. It can be a bit cramped at times but otherwise it's a nice place to go for a coffee and dessert if you're in the area. You can also take the streetcar (Tokyo Sakura Tram) to get there as well which is a plus!

Went and had some pasta at a small cafe called Abbraccio the other day. I got a cream and mushroom sauce penne which tasted great. The salad was served with a small slice of bread which complimented it quite well. The desert was really simple but tasted excellent. Just add a bit of the whip cream (I think it's whip cream anyways) and the (what I thought was) cherry sauce and it a great way to finish the meal. They had a PayPay campaign going on as well and we managed to get a 50% discount and only ended up paying ¥700 per meal, which was pretty incredible considering we got the drink sets as well, which unfortunately aren't pictured here, but I ordered a chamomile tea I believe. Or something similar to that. It was also quite refreshing. The place seems to have a couple of balcony seats as well but I'm not sure if you have to request them or reserve them or what, but by the time we noticed them we were already seated so we decided not to ask. Overall it was a pretty good place and the service was good as well

Went to the local restaurant Gigi again and ordered ahijo with some bread, always a great combination, french fries like we usually get (we'd already eaten some before we took the photo lol), karaage that reminded me of zangi a lot with the texture and flavor, and then we ordered an assorted appetizer platter with a bunch of stuff. I really liked the bread and the potato salad, and the crackers were great too. I think they were served with cream cheese or something like that on the side, but it tasted great. I also ate them with the thinly sliced meat that was on the plate. Every time we come here the food is always really good and the atmosphere is nice as well. The lights are dimmed and it's really relaxing. We also ordered a pizza but forgot to take a photo of it this time. The Japanese name is「ピッツェリア＆トラットリア ジッジ」I believe

【秋ひとりじめ】
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大学の敷地内で車が通らないので、ゆっくりと散歩ができます。
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学舎と銀杏の組み合わせが素敵で、ドラマや映画の世界の様です。
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場所：東京大学

【都会の真ん中で秋散歩】
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東京の県庁所在地にいることを忘れてしまいそうな空間です。
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地面からニョキニュキと顔を出す根っこがかわいいです~（笑）
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場所：新宿御苑

国営昭和記念公園で撮影しました。
テーマは回想です。
しゃがみ込んでる姿を撮影した時に何かを思い込んでいるように見えたので、それに合うように暗めのレタッチにしました。この写真を観て、自分自身もその日の事を思い出す事があるので"回想"をテーマにしました。

Went to Diver City in Tokyo over the weekend. We'd visited in the past as well but my gf's friend was in town so we decided to go again. There's so much to do there that it would take a month to do everything probably.

We decided to go to the "Unko Museum" this time lol. It was a lot more fun than I was expecting to be honest. When the clerks would say "thank you" they would say "arigatounko" and it was pretty funny.

It was really colorful and there was a bunch of different games you could try as well. We heard people yelling "unko" extremely loudly and were confused until we found out that it was a game. The objective of the game was to yell "unko" as loud as you can, and whoever managed to do so, would create the bigger poop. It was embarassing to do, but at the same time pretty funny (I managed to win lol?).

Besides the "Unko Museum," we also did the VR experience and ran away from zombies, etc. Couldn't take photos since we were in VR but it was fun.

We also ate dinner at a steak restaurant that was pretty good and picked up a couple desserts before leaving. Lots of fun though. Definitely plan on going again lol.

Went to Shinjuku over the weekend and found a really awesome plaza with an open-style food court that had several different shops inside of it. I was kind of craving some tacos or something ethnic at the time so I went and got a burrito at "Chronic Tacos" because it looked really tasty. It's kind of a "build-your-own burrito" system which is nice. You can choose the type of meat you want in your burrito (I chose spicy pork) and and other toppings I think. I also added guacamole to mine. You can add it on the side or have it put into the burrito as well. I wanted to try a taco as well but since there were other restauraunts I grabbed two slices of pizza at a place called "Cucinova."

The pizza tasted great, and the spicy slice that I got had the perfect amount of spicyness! The food was definitely great at both places, although maybe the burrito was a bit expensive. I think it was ¥1200 for a drink and the burrito. They could probably make it a little cheaper, although Mexican cuisine always seems to be a bit expensive in Japan. Maybe it has to do with ingredients. Not sure though.

Overall, I definitely recommend checking it out. They've got a coffee place as well and while I didn't get a coffee from there the scones looked pretty tasty! I think there was a bar as well if you're looking to grab some drinks with a friend.

Went to dinner last night at Tokyo Butchers in Okachimachi. The place had a really great atmosphere and reminded me of an American restaurant sort of. The food tasted great and there was a lot of different stuff to try. A lot of the stuff they served was presented very stylishly and each dish left an impression on me. I particularly liked the steak and fries (probably something to do with my American roots lol). I believe the second dish was "Pate de campagne" which is French for "country pate I believe. It tasted really good though. I think it's a ham steak with ground pork? Not entirely sure what type of meats are used in it exactly. The salad was great too, I really liked the dressing as it was quite refreshing. The champagne glasses came nice and full as well! Can't complain about that lol! The strangest thing we ordered was definitely the melon and ham. It was... an interesting combination. I wasn't really a fan of it so we just ate it separately and it tasted good that way as well. I really like that olives too. Now that I think about it, I don't get the chance to eat olives much since I've come to Japan. Definitely recommend this restaurant for a date or just a fun night out though!

平井運動公園
スカイツリーとコスモスが素敵でした?

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!

銀杏並木の秋景色～光が丘の秋～

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.

ビルとコスモス
浜離宮の秋

紅葉爛漫～肥後細川庭園の美～

鏡の国の夜紅葉～肥後細川庭園の美～

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.

コスモス咲いた ～浜離宮の秋は美しい～

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!

ジャコウアゲハ舞う彼岸花 ～芝公園の秋～

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

中目黒の秋桜～中目黒公園で見つけた小さな秋～

水の中の秋～六義園～

赤の世界～大田黒公園

紅葉ウォーク～新宿御苑にて～

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

水の中の曼珠沙華～水の中の美～ 林試の森公園

紅葉Lovers 紅葉の中に愛 新宿御苑にて

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!