Immediate Business...

When we were in Japan, we sampled lots of food. Some of which, we do not even know the names. We sampled mostly from the small set-ups in the basement of many department stores such as Daimaru, Takashimaya, Tokyu and many other names. There were so many tempting snacks that we just had to try. There were many bakeries and cake shops with so many beautiful creations too. They are absolutely innovative with their products.

Some offer simple bread or cheese bread. One bakery offered sample in generous sizes, so generous compared to those offered in this country. This place barely gives out samples anyway. The cheese bread got us thinking, "We have to make this when we get back....!" So we did, the morning after we arrived and we even put a more generous amount of cheese than those shops in Japan. Yum.

Back To Blue Evening Sky

Back to the island, back to the warm weather and nasty rain. Back to the garden and plants and kitchen. Back and being presented with one of the bluest sky I have seen in a long time in the evening. 7:12 PM. So blue.

Asakusa, So Sweet....

Every time we go to Tokyo, we never fail to visit Asakusa. Not so much for its famous temple Sensoji, which is a tourist attraction. What we love the most is the small shops along the alley leading to the temple. They sell all sort of things. Nice looking stuff.

The shops offer Japanese souvenirs, food and snacks, sweets, bags and many other things. You can find umbrellas, teas and kimonos too.

These are sweets from one of the sweet shops over there, they are very good looking and very nicely packaged. Not being able to resist, we bought a couple packs of them. After we finish exploring the place, we normally stop by at the restaurant by the main gate and have our tempura and kakiage there. Each time, never fails.

Anything Else But...

Nearly all the food that we saw in Sapporo was tempting, the food that we ate were great. The ramen was fantastic, the tempura was delicious, the gyoza was superb and the cakes, the bread and everything else were amazing and so well done. But after a few days of those, I could not hep feeling a bit tired of all the goodness that the Japanese food brought.

By the time we arrived in Tokyo, I felt like eating something else. Anything, but Japanese dish. So did my little partner. We walked along the small streets nearby our hotel in Akasaka area and saw a couple of Italian restaurants. While DH was still trying to get in his Japanese meal, we all finally decided to go for Italian.

Thank God, they had English menu! We had salad to share and three individual dishes. The salad had some mozzarella, the dressing was pretty mild and for us, it was a nice change. We really wanted our vegetables.

The Quattro Pizza came next, with three little plates. DH had all the intention to share it and we tried some while waiting for our dishes to come.

After we finished the pizza, we waited a while before I asked the waitress to bring both the dishes that we were having at the same time. I knew that she understood what I meant, given her limited English. She told the cooks, I saw. I started to be anxious as I saw the next table of ours had their pasta arrived one by one by one. Each plate was for sharing. I started to think, maybe this was the way it is in Japan.... Then came Gnocchi, alone. That's K's order.

As I waited long enough, looking at my daughter finishing her food, I had to ask. I did. Of course, I was told it's coming. My risotto with porcini mushroom, came much later.... It was really good though. I saw a big table with a family and some adults, eight people altogether and told my buddies, they will finish their dinner at midnight!

Wet Monday In Tokyo

It was raining and raining the whole day on Monday that we altered our plan. It was wet and too cold to be comfortable enough to walk around the park or Meiji Shrine that originally we intended to go to. We took a short walk to the garden of New Otani Hotel and took some pictures, but then the rain started getting heavier that umbrella was a must. Taking pictures was getting too challenging that we decided to leave to got to Shinjuku. A subway station with many shopping malls around. Gigantic place.

Cherry Blossoms In Tokyo

Happy Easter! We are in Tokyo. Arriving yesterday from practically a whole day trip from Sapporo. Our mission today was to see Cherry Blossoms wherever they might be. They are around. They have been seen, but there are places with lots and lots of this flower.

We went to Ueno Park and apparently millions of others did too. The park was so packed, it was so difficult to walk about and to take some pictures. The lovely flowers are blossoming everywhere.I found the weather a bit too cold for my preference, after all it's Spring, it is April already and I could use a little warmth. What we got today were a little shower, chill and cloudy day. Oh, well.

Otaru, Hokkaido

Everyone that came to Sapporo seems to have to visit Otaru, a small town around half an hour away from Sapporo by train. It is like a must that we go there. So we did. It costs ¥620 for a one way trip.

Again, the phrase that "it is a small world" is just so true as we bumped into DH's friend with his wife and two kids, right inside the cart that we went into. Out of so many countries in the world, so many cities in Japan, so many different departure times and so many carts, we still saw someone that one of us knew before. How interesting.

Our train was a semi-rapid train, so it took around 40 minutes to get there. It was still fast, it was like in no time it arrived. Super convenient!

Otaru is well known for its glass works and canal. Its beer is famous too. The time that we picked to visit may not be perfect as it is still cold. I saw more activities around the canal in warmer weather, understandable, of course. By afternoon, we were back in Sapporo again.

Sapporo Clock Tower

We stopped by at the famous Clock Tower on Thursday. The write up in the map distributed to the tourist said that the Clock Tower was constructed in 1878 as a drill hall of Sapporo agricultural College. It is open for visitors and a well known tourist attraction. The admission fee is ¥200 for adult. We were happy to just see it from outside as we were heading elsewhere.

The location is right in the center of the city and again, it is within a few minutes from our hotel. Many tourists were seen dropped off by bus or came on their own.

Ramen Lunch

We took a walk to Tanukikoji Shopping arcade yesterday, just blocks away from our hotel, maybe 15 minute-walk if you do not get lost along the way and keep on going. Along the way there things that worth stopping by and looking at including the city's famous Tower Clock and TV Tower. There are many shops around as well. I am so impressed that a city with a population of merely 1.9m people, according to Wikipedia, has so-so-so many shopping malls and shops and places to eat. Just amazing.

DH took along the booklet that he took from the airport on the food guide and somehow manage to find the ramen shop that he was dying to go to along this shopping arcade. I can't remember the price of this ramen, but they are very inexpensive. It has roast pork and super delicious miso soup base and we spent less than ¥10,000 a bowl.

Tempura Dinner

What to have on our first dinner in Sapporo was not exactly planned. We wandered around and discovered so many restaurants with mouth watering displays. We probably decided on this restaurant because we have arrived at the point where we were just too hungry and too tired to go on looking. We basically wanted almost everything we saw. Everything looked so good.

The restaurant was great the hostess was very vice as most of the service people around here. The menu, however, had no picture and all were in Japanese. Thank God for the display and the finger so we can just say we want that - one and that-that-that- one. Arigato gozaimasu.

We have got some fresh batch of seafood, fried with delicious crispy batter. The rice was so fantastic that Miss K wanted us to buy a bag and bring them home. We might do that.