Jingisukan

My sister and her husband took me to "Akamaru Zingis"to eat some jingiskan tonight.

"Jingisukan" is a lamb (or mutton) barbecue which is popular in Japan recently.

The name of Jingisukan comes from Genghis Khan but it's unrelated to him actually.

It's said that Jingisukan was born in Hokkaido, in the north of Japan and was influenced by Chinese food kaoyanro(烤羊肉).

Jingiskan became popular especially in women because lamb is on a low-calorie diet.

My sister and her husband wouldn't take me to the restaurant because they had been thinking that lamb is not new for me because I live in Australia.
But Jingiskan is Japanese food therefore I've never eaten it since I moved to Sydney.

We had a bottle of Climbing wine, an Australian wine. It was very nice.

I enjoyed everything. It was such a lovely dinner.

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14/10

Ningyocho

I visited to Ningyo-cho today. There are a lot of old shops and restaurant.

I bought some "Taiyaki", a Japanese waffle which shapes fish with red bean paste filling.

There are always a lot of people in a queue for the Taiyaki.

You can buy "Ningyoyaki" there as well.

I had some fried pork cutlet for lunch at Kiraku , an yoshoku reataurant.

"Yoshoku" is Western style food which is popular in Japan such as a pork cutlet, omerice (an omelette filled with fried rice), a pork saute, etc. Most of the dishes are served with rice.

Kiraku is one of my favourite restaurant in Ningyocho.

This is Kotobukido, a Japanese-style confectionery established in 1884.

There were a lot of shops which had been changed to new building but Kotobukido's building looked very old and they mantain a tradition.

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14/10

Erica

This is Erica, my sister and her husband's cat.

She is an lovely 9-year-old Percian cat.

She is so funny because she loves walking like a dog.
Both my sister and her husband works so she has to stay at home all day.
They take Erica for walk every night.

My sister always keeps Erica on a lead but her husband often let Erica walk by herself.

Sometimes he has to wait for Erica on the street for a long time because Erica doesn't come back so soon.

He has waited for Erica more than 2 hours several times.

That is why Eirca likes to go for a walk with my brother in row more than my sister.

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11/10

Tokyo Sunset

I saw a lovely sunset early this evening.

This is Shinjuku in Tokyo.

I took this photo on the roof of an apartment in Yotsuya.
It was a nice place to take a photo because there aren't so high buildings around the apartment in spite of in the center of Tokyo.

I had been missing Sydney since I came to Tokyo because I felt that Sydney is already my place. And I had been thinking Sydney is much nicer than Tokyo and the best place in my life.

However I think that Tokyo is not bad because you can often see beautiful views like this.

*****

9/10

Suku☆Haji Doz Live

I went to the Suku☆Haji Doz Live in Nishi-Azabu tonight.

It was a syamisen concert by Tetsuroku Matsunaga and Tetsukoma Matsunaga.

They have their live every third Tuesday.

They started their monthly live this year so I had never seen it before.

I visited the Doz Hall which was in Nishiazabu with my sister.

They performed seven pieces of Nagauta and one play.

Every time, they put on a play which was whitten by themselves.

They are based on European fairy tale stories.

It was such a nice story and their performance was fantastic.

I admire my friend for making efforts to increase her ability.

I thought that I must do more my endeavors like her.

*****

6/10

Monjayaki

My husband arrived in Tokyo this morning and we had lunch at Tsukishima.
It is a popular place to eat Monjayaki.

Monjayaki is one of traditional food in Kanto region (in the east of Japan).

We asked woman to fry a Monjayaki. You can also fry by yourselves.

It was very hot in of the restaurant because everybody were fring their Monjayaki.

But we were used to it soon and enjoyed some beer, Monjayaki and Okonomiyaki.

Rojiura Monja Monkichi 3-8-10 Tsukishima, Chuo-ku Tokyo

Yuko and Misaki

I visited my friend Yuko's house.

There was her daughter Misaki. She is 3 years old now.

I visited Yuko to hospital to see Misaki when Misaki was 1 day old.

Misaki was very little when my husband and I met her and her family at the airport in March 2006.

Misaki was a very lovely and friendly girl.

I showed her some photos of Sunce and TeQuiLa , she loves them so much.

I stayed there 2 nights.

At the first night, Yuko and I drunk some beer. She cooked some Japanese food for me.

Misaki joined us and it was such a funny time.

At the second night, her husband Moto joined us and we had a small party.

When we were preparing the party, Yuko and Moto's friends and their children came and joined us.

They were so interesting, it was such a funny night.

I met Yuko at the college when we were 18 years old.

It has been more than 20 years since then.

We used to go snowboarding very often when both we were single.

We haven't been to the mountain together in winter for more than 10 years.

Both we are married and Yuko has got 2 little children now.

But I think we can go sn0wboarding with the children soon later.

*****

27/9

TeQuiLa

I met my friend Rie and TeQuiLa, her dog. It was my first time to see TeQuiLa.

When I met TeQuiLa at Daikanyama Station, she looked very tired because it was such a hot day. We had lunch at a lovely cafe in Daikanyama.

TeQuiLa is a female Norfolk Terrier. She is being 2 years old soon.

She was such a good girl. She had been sitting under the table while we had lunch.

After lunch we enjoyed shopping.

I bought some Tenugui for my friends in Sydney at Kamawanu, a tenugui shop.

Tenugui is a Japanese traditional towel.

We had a coffee at a cafe then walked to Shibuya.

I met my friend's mother who had been coming to see her daughter from San Diego, USA.

Her mother looked very young and they looked like friends.

TeQuiLa was so cute as well. It was such a lovely day.

She remind me Sunce in Sydney.

I miss him so much...

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25/9

Rakugo

I went to the National Theatre to see Shinosuke's Rakugo with my sister and her husband.Rakugo is a comic story which told by a professional storyteller.It is one of Japanese mass entertainments but it was my first time to see Rakugo.It was Shinosuke's first time to play Rakugo in the theatre because it was such a big hall and usually he plays Rakugo in a small hall. I went there to see my best friend playing "debayashi".

"Debayashi" is some music which is introducing an actor on the vaudeville stage.

Shinosuke's rakugo was great. He delighted an aufience of 1,600.

After first story, 5 musicians came onstage and played a piece of music.

They were consisted of one drummer, one flutist and three syamisen players.

I was very surprised because it was a special event.

Usually they play "Debayashi" near the wing of a stage and we cannot see them playing Debayashi.

Their performance was great and I was very proud to be a friend of hers.

We enjoyed the music and Rakugo so much.

We went to the backstage to meet my friend Tetsuroku Matsunaga.

I was so glad to meet her I had not seen for 1 year and 6 months.
She is very busy these days but we promised that we see you soon later.
It was such a happy day.

I'm in Tokyo now!

I temporaly came back to Tokyo yesterday.
My husband didn't come with me because he was busy.
It was very cold in Sydney in the morning.

I left Sydney Airport at 10 a.m.
The woman who was sitting next to me was a Perth English teacher.
She came to Tokyo to visit her Japanese ex-student.
She told me that it was her first time to visit Japan and she was going to Kyoto for 3 days as well. I hope that she will enjoy travelling in Japan.

I arrived at Narita Airport around 6.40 p.m.

The weather in Tokyo was terrible and very hot.

I don't like Tokyo's summer because it's too hot and too humid.

When I got off the plane, I suddenly remember the summer.

It is completely different to the summer in Sydney.

But I'm looking forward to seeing my family and some friend of mine.

I will stay with my sister and her husband in Tokyo.

They have got a white cat Erica.

I must continue studying English every day because I don't want to decrese my English skills.

So I'll try to update the blog as often as I possible.

To tell the truth, I miss Sydney...