Posts for living and having fun
Address: 1-chōme-32 Kanda Jinbōchō, Chiyoda City, Tōkyō-to 101-0051, Japan (jimbocho station exit 3A)
Tel: +81 3-3292-0575
Pricing: below 1000 yen for me
Food: tempura
No pictures as I have not been able to go there for a while. But my favorite tempura place for the “feel”. Definitely value for money. Better call to check if it’s open before going.
Tel:+81-3-3479-9818
Pricing: About 3000 yen for me
Definitely my favorite. A place I revisit each time I’m back in Japan. I love yakitori but this place it is more than yakitori. I regard it as having more kushiyaki. There’s chicken, pork, beef and vegetables. I love it for the atmosphere, a small place in Roppongi with great food and vibe. The secret is I fell in love with the place many years back as they were playing final fantasy as their background music. I don’t think they do that now.
The menu changed over the years, so I will always go for some of the specials, along with the various bacon rolls. Oh and the umeshu. Always call and make a reservation first. It’s fairly crowded even on weekdays. Pictures from my latest trip in April 2019 are below!
Comment: Many friends have asked me for food recommendations in Tokyo. Unfortunately, I never quite kept a list that was easily shareable. (And I was not quite the food connoisseur.) So I’ve decided to use my website as a place to keep track of my favourite places.
First brew. Sweet but subtle dry aftertaste.
To Ise Shrine, I would recommend staying at Nagoya if you have lots of luggage and using the JR pass. If you can afford just bringing a small piece of luggage, perhaps you could explore other lodging options in Mie Prefecture. 三重県
(Decided to post this as I had difficulty finding a nice itinerary)
• 9 am – had breakfast at Hoshino coffee at Kyoto station 京都駅 600 yen for toast with coffee. It’s near the 八条東口
• 9:48am – took JR Tokaido-Sanyo line 東海道・山陽線 from Kyoto 京都
• 10:03am – reached Hieizan-Sakamoto 比叡山坂本 station.
• 10:10am – I used the toilet and missed the bus which departed at 10:08 am. So I took a taxi which cost 690 yen to cable Sakamoto Eki busstop ケーブル坂本駅 That’s still manageable especially if you have 3 or more people. If you take bus, the bus ride would be about 10 mins (but the next one would be at 10:38 am). Bus stop is really easy to locate.
• 10:30am – Hieizan-Sakamoto cable car to cable enryakuji station ケーブル延暦寺駅 which is the other end of the cable. Cable car departs every 30 minutes. Cost 1620 yen for a 2 way return ticket. This is the longest cable rope way.
• Ride up was about 10 minutes. Mom and I took a really slow walk – stopping to take pictures of random trees – to enryakuji. 延暦寺
• once you arrive, you could hear the temple bell ring from a distance. You know you are in the right area. Since the temple is a sprawling one, we decided to take it slow and stay in the east side where the main hall Konpon Chu do 根本中堂 was. It’s under major refurbishment. There’s entry fee. I forgot how much.
• 11:30am – we were hungry so went to the kaikan 延暦寺会館 that is nearby to have a vegetarian meal. Cost was 2,200 yen per person. Tel: 077 579 4180. Hall was big so we didn’t have to make any reservation. View of biwako 琵琶湖 was great but cherry blossoms not yet in bloom.
• In the todo area 東堂 we saw a few places including the daikodo 大講堂 where you could ring the bell. Also went to see the todo 東堂 and amidado 阿弥陀堂
• 12:43 pm Next, we took bus from enryakuji bus centre 延暦寺バースセンターto the summit 比叡山頂. Using your pasmo or suica card, you can tap in and tap out. It’s 160 yen per person.
• Went into the garden. 1,200 yen per person. I think we came too early, give it another 2 weeks the sakuras at the temple will bloom and the garden will have prettier scenes. Nevertheless, you can enjoy the view of biwako and kyoto.
• 2:30 pm – took bus back to todo area 東堂
• 3 pm – took cable car back from the same cable enryakuji station ケーブル延暦寺駅 to cable sakamoto station ケーブル坂本駅
• 3:20 pm – bus to Hieizan-Sakamoto 比叡山坂本 station
• 3:42 pm – train to sannomiya station 三ノ宮 (JR湖西線新快速 姫路行)
• 4:52 pm – Teppanyaki Dinner with Kobe beef
• 6:22 pm – train to Kyoto 京都 (JR神戸線新快速 草津行)
~ End of day ~
Comments: This was a pretty relaxed itinerary. If you like something more, you could try the eizen ropeway or visit the other areas on hiei or take the boat rides in the lake. For me this let me fully utilize my jr pass!
Just finished watching Good Partners. It has been a while since I watched a Japanese Drama with this much enthusiasm. It was definitely worth it! Loved the on-screen chemistry between Yutaka Takenouchi and Yasuko Matsuyuki. Short post. Ja ne!
Story of a 38 year old women who regretted her choice of husband (person who lived his life for his family, friends and was contented with what he has) and wanting to re-do her life. She was given that opportunity to replay her life of not choosing love over career but discovers that she is left with emptiness in her life.
I suppose it was a captivating show in the beginning – an interesting notion what might happen if given a chance to redo one’s choice and trying to change the course of your life and of others, and of course, having Choi Siwon half naked most of the time was another factor why one will watch this show 🙂
After a while, the plot was somewhat cliche – nothing changes – and kept repeating itself – Ming Yu keeps rejecting Chen Xi (Siwon). So it was hard to stick to the show after a while. Not a great fan of this Chinese modern drama and do not recommend it unless you like Siwon too. Though personally, I do not mind watching it just for Siwon and Yuan Hong.
Other random comments: This show will be better received if it is shown during summer since it is about the beach, surfing and pursuing dreams 🙂 ♥
Actors/actresses to watch for: Choi Siwon and Yuan Hong
Watched in July 2015
Story timeline Sui Dynasty 580-600AD
Randomly chanced upon this show, but am glad I did. It was a pleasant find!
There aren’t that many familiar faces in this show. I must say, there was only one eye candy in this show, Yuan Hong – who played 13th Prince in Bu Bu Jing Xin. He was a loveable and suave character then, he is a even more loveable and cute character in this show. He plays a “nerd” Zhao Yu who can be quite daft at times. But that makes his character funny and enjoyable to watch! I like Mu Lan and Zhao Yu. Unfortunately the 3rd Prince was not shuai enough, else it would be a really difficult choice in this love triangle.
Plot wise – I am not sure if Mulan was a real person in history, it seems like no one knows which period she existed in. This Mulan story it’s set in the period between Zhou and Sui Dynasty. We all know Mulan, maybe because of childhood influence by Disney, but she is famous as a female general who went to join the army in place of her father. The plot line is thus not new, but this show managed to add comedy and enough freshness to a known plot line. This show can be characterised as one of those 女扮男装, where a female strives to survive in a world led by men.
I thought the pace of the show was well done and had enough interesting dialogue and exchanges for one to keep watching without skipping too much.
All in all, good show and recommended! I think it is a pity that not many seem to know about this show!♥♥♥
Actors/actresses to watch for: Yuan Hong
Random thought:I thought it was interesting how Emperor Wen Yang Jian had few concubines and loved his wife.
I had to comment on this even when it was ongoing.
It is a drama about Tokuzo Akiyama’s ordeals and journey in achieving his dream and becoming the chef of the Emperor of Japan. Set in the early 1900s.
I was attracted to the show purely because of Takeru Sato. But the show and plot had been great so far in capturing love and dreams. Very inspiring.
Edit: Finished the show last week. It had been a great 12 weeks. This show made end-of-Mondays worth looking forward to each week.
There are many things worth watching for. First, all actors and actresses were captivating and loveable. There were a few points where you would cringe (like the last episode), but otherwise, you will root and love every single character in this show. Takeru Sato was especially worth mentioning – his acting was varied, and impressive in portraying the growth of a young rash boy, who was easily bored, deemed useful and could not stay interested in any task for more than 3 months, to an respectable old chef devoted to serving the Emperor, the craft of cooking and who loves his wife dearly. Takeru Sato’s character and acting, through in this show, grew definitely by leaps and bounds from his previous idol-type or rookie-type roles. Kuroki who acted as Toshiko (Tokuzo’s wife) isn’t a beauty at first sight, but she was appealing in her own way by the end of the show.
I loved the love story between Tokuzo and his wife Toshiko. I particularly liked how he did not express his love for his wife in a direct way but we all know very well that he loved her very much through all’s that he had done for her. Definitely a couple you will root for (and cry for).
Inspiring plot. Akiyama Tokuzo’s contribution to french cuisine in Japan makes one want to look for that one thing that we hope to devote our entire life to, to excel, to hone our skills, to contribute. Isn’t that what we live for, our value in life.
I wished that producers had given the wonderful dishes prepared by Tokuro a little bit more screen time and some explanation. There was a lot of emphasis on Tokuzo’s cooking skills (there were many scenes of Takeru chopping, dicing, slicing and peeling), but little explanation of the dishes that were served. I suppose if they did that, it would not just be 12 episodes but 20 episodes long.
For the amount of tears shed, I definitely rate this show highly! ♥♥♥♥♥ (My highest rating thus far!)
Actors/actresses to watch out for: Takeru Sato
Unfortunately, the only reason why I watched this show was purely because of SMAP’s 草彅剛. And the turnaway would have been Oshima Yuko.
This show started with a good message: do not borrow but it also brings across another message that money lending and borrowing is a necessary business. In any case, I hope this show helps to bring across that one should always think about the possible consequences and the burden that you may put on your family if you borrow. For that I recommend this show. Due to problems accessing the show, it took me a while to continue the show having stopped mid-way. I might not be giving due justice to the show…
Rating: ❤︎❤︎
Actors/actresses to watch for: Kusanagi Tsuyoshi
dreaming in ningzheaven 