Megami Festival in Jiyugaoka

On Sunday evening, my boyfriend took me to Jiyugaoka since he found a Megami (Goddess) Festival there on the website. The festival is held every year in October. It's the biggest festival of all in Jiyugaoka which hundreds of thousands of people come to enjoy! There is a main stage in front of the station. There are many stage performances such as concerts, character shows, hair cut shows, fashion shows, etc... all day long. Also, there are many shops and food stalls everywhere in the town. Since I prepared a dinner at home, we shared a glass of wine and "Megami Dog" which is a hot dog with a huge sausage! While having a bite, we watched hula dancing show from Hawaii!!! The weather was nice and calm, so we had a good walk in the afternoon.

Tomorrow, I will write about Monday (national holiday: Health-Sports Day). We took a day trip to Hakone!

See you again!!!

Please click below and vote for me.

Roppongi Hills: Full-HD 3D and Rokuzo

On Saturday, my boyfriend and I went to Roppongi Hills. There was an interesting event where you can experience Panasonic's "Full-HD 3D"! We saw demo videos of Olympic games and movies. They were amazingly beautiful. I hope we can enjoy high-quality 3D images in our home soon!!! After watching them, we've got free samples of new Häagen-Dazs ice creams: Sweet Potato Pie and Truffe Chocolat. Yummy!!!

For dinner, we went to an Izakaya called "Rokuzo". They serve farm-fresh fish food! We enjoyed Fish Salad, Tuna and Scallion Kabobs, Mackerel Sushi, Salt Grilled Small Sea Bream and Hakata-Style Stone-Bowl Rice. They were all healthy and delicious. I'm glad to be born in Japan ;D

Okay, I will move on to the next post!

Please click below and vote for me.

Kyoto

The next day, we left Hikone and went to Kyoto.

Over a finite period of time, we went to see Kiyomizu-Dera (Kiyomizu Temple), Kinkaku-Ji (The Gold Pavilion), and Ryoan-Ji (Ryoanji Temple).

Kiyomizu-Dera (清水寺) is an independent Buddhist temple in eastern Kyoto. It stands in the wooded hills and offers visitors a nice view over the city from its famous wooden terrace. Behind the temple, there is a shrine called "Jishu-Jinja". The shrine dedicated to the deity of love. We took a pic in front of the entrance and bought love charms together ;)

Along the route to Kiyomizu-Dera, there are many shops and restaurants. My boyfriend found a cool lunch menu, which is called "Enmusubi Soba set", which means good luck and marriage soba set! Of course we had it for our lunch.





Kinkaku-Ji (金閣寺) or formally Rokuon-ji (鹿苑寺) is a Zen Buddhist temple in Kyoto. It takes 30 minutes by bus from Kiyomizu-Dera. The admission ticket looks like a bill. The bottom right image is the Sekka-Tei tea house. The upper left mountain is called Daimonji. The kanji "大" that means large is written on Nyoigatake (Daimonji Mountain).

Ryoan-Ji (龍安寺), the temple of the peaceful dragon, is a Zen temple located in northwest Kyoto. The temple is famous for Sekitei (石庭), the Rock Garden. The garden consists of fifteen rocks. When looking at the garden from any angle (other than from above) only fourteen of them are visible at one time. It is traditionally said that only through attaining enlightenment would one be able to view fifteen. We had a relaxing moment in the garden.

Before we leave Kyoto, we had a dinner at a restaurant by a river called Kamogawa. My boyfriend found a romantic open-air restaurant called Suigetsu. There was a nice, gentle breeze blowing at that night. We enjoyed Kyoto cuisine and went back to Tokyo.


I love him and he loves me forever ;)

Please click below and vote for me.

Hikone

This week, we had three consecutive holidays, which we call silver week: 21st (Respect-for-Senior-Citizens Day / Keiro no hi), 22nd (National Holiday / Kokumin no kyujitsu), and 23rd (Autumnal Equinox Day / Shubun no hi). Our silver week was great! On 22nd and 23rd, my boyfriend and I visited his family home in Hikone city (in Shiga prefecture). It is about 2 hours by Shinkansen from Tokyo.

On the day of arrival, we had lunch with his parents at a sushi restaurant called Izukiyo. Last time I saw them was about 2 years ago in 2007, so they were really happy to see me again. His mom was doing super fine. She rapidly recovered from the illness!!!

After lunch, my boyfriend took me to Hikone Castle! Hikone Castle is the most famous historical site in Hikone. We enjoyed walking the castle road lined with food and souvenir shops. We had Hayashiya (林屋)'s local brew beer, which was super refreshing and delicious.

At night, I requested his dad to cook something for us! He used to own a teppanyaki restaurant, so he is a great cook! He cooked us croquettes. Yay! I really love homemade food. Maybe someday I want to cook something for them ;)

The next morning, his younger brother who got married and have a child came to see us! I met them for the first time. His child was so cute. I hope I can have a child someday.

Earlier in the day, we left for Kyoto. We just had few hours until the return train, so we made a quick plan to do sightseeing. I will write about it tomorrow ;)

See you again!!!

P.S.
I will catch up with the replies today or so.

Please click below and vote for me.

Tokyo Midtown Deutsch Bier Garten

The weather was clear on the weekend, so we went to Deutsch Bier Garten in Tokyo Midtown!

Under the blue sky, we had Hofbräuhaus München's good quality draft beer along with authentic German dishes! My boyfriend and I shared 3 kinds of beer.
- Hofbräu Münchner Weisse: sharp & spicy refreshing taste
- Hofbräu Original: bright taste
- Hofbräu Dunkel: mellow dark beer
They all went great with German sausages!!!

While having a beer, we enjoyed Alpine music performed by Edelweisskapelle with Maria. The cowbell music was really amazing! My boyfriend took a video of it!



The Deutsch Bier Garten is open till September 13, so I hope you have a chance to go there!

After that, we walked around Roppongi. We found a nice open-air cafe restaurant called Del Sole to have a light dinner. We shared a pizza with 3 different toppings. I had a sparkling red wine called "Quercioli Reggiano Lambrusco Secco", which was mild and refreshing!

The weather today is nice, too, and we expect many clear days this week. I found a nice Hawaiian restaurant yesterday. I want to dine there with my boyfriend someday soon. I will write a report when I went there!!!

See you again ;)

Please click below and vote for me.

Wedding After Party at the Beach

On Saturday my boyfriend and I attended my friend's wedding after party (sorry I can't post a large image without permission). It was for the first time in 3 years to see her! I also met the other friend at that time. He came there with his daughter. Time flies!!!

The party was held at the beach in Kamakura. We had a barbecue party there. Time there was relaxing and I could savor the feelings of resort. My friend and her hubby were in love with each other. The beach was filled with love and happiness. It was a wonderful party. I had a good time with my boyfriend. They made us all happy :)

Best wishes for a beautiful life together.

Anyway, I cannot believe the summer has ended already. There have been many ups and downs this summer... whew... but it was very important time for me because it made me realize once again that I love my boyfriend.

Oops... I forgot to tell you something. The typhoon #11 was not a big deal... he-he-he! I'm glad nothing bad happened.

Bye for now!!!

Please click below and vote for me.

Tokyo Midtown

On Sunday, my boyfriend and I went to Tokyo Midtown for a change since I was off balance.

We started with a glass of beer and mojito. Then we shared the pasta of the day which was Chicken and Broad Beans Pasta. It was seasoned with Japanese clam broth and was delicious!

After the lunch, we had a walk and relaxed for a while on the patio. There was a hula show, so we watched it. Then we soaked our feet in water and listened to the music he had.

We've been together for about 6 years. I depended on his tenderness and was really into my culinary stuff. I felt very sorry to him making him lonely. I knew he loved me a lot, but I remember I sometimes ignored his love when I was busy. Normally, for ordinary couples, his mistake cannot be forgiven, but this time I will forgive him because I had a fault. I really thank to him that he came back to me and gave me another chance.

Now I love him more than ever and he loves me, too, of course. Every time I talk with him, I get so excited with a smile because I know he wants to be with me like this (not like with his mom). He won't be lonely and I can trust him in this way. What a simple answer!

The weather is going to stay fine for few days. I hope we can enjoy the rest of the summer in peace ;)

Please click below and vote for me.

Tamagawa Hanabi (Fireworks)

On Saturday, my boyfriend and I went to see fireworks near home at Tamagawa. This year, the theme was "pulse". My boyfriend took a video of part of it ;)


There were about 400 thousand people, so the station was terribly packed. We went back to the local Nepalese restaurant called Mt. Fishtail for a dinner. I seldom have a beer, but this day the beer was really refreshing!!! It was interesting that they serve knive-stabbed tandoori chicken! The mutton curry was delicious, too! We had a really romantic time ;)

On Sunday, we've been to Tokyo Midtown. I will write about it tomorrow!

Please click below and vote for me.

Aomori Nebuta Matsuri @ Baji Kouen

Hi! How was your weekend?!

Aomori Nebuta Matsuri is a summer festival in Aomori prefecture that takes place from 8/2 to 8/7. My boyfriend found the festival on his way to work by bus in our neighborhood (in Tokyo, Setagaya), so we went there for fun! There were a lot of food stalls! I don't prefer to drink beer, but the beer there was delicious! The mutton barbecue (jingiskan) and the grilled beef sausage went great with the chilled beer! Oh, by the way, I wore the scrunchy I got from my friend ;)

Then at night, we tried the Kaiten-zushi (conveyor belt sushi) restaurant nearby where we wanted to go for a long time! Of course I ordered anago (conger eel). It was great! But overall, the restaurant was so-so for the price. Ha-ha! We had a good time, though ;)

Oops, I gotta go now!!!
See you again :D

Please click below and vote for me.

Summer 2009 in New York

Our days in NY were really fast. Luckily, we enjoy fine weather with blue sky almost daily. I can't believe we are back in Japan now X(

I will select and post pics briefly since I fall behind in everything.

Bethesda Fountaint in Central Park with my boyfriend.
CHEESEBURGER Platter at Jackson Hole - topped with American Cheese with Bacon, Served with Steak Fries, Lettuce and Tomato. I ordered Veggie version of BALDOUNI BURGER instead of meat (which was light, healthy and delicious!): Topped with Fried Onions, American Cheese & Sautéed Mushrooms. We visited Ground Zero. Surprisingly, the site was still under construction. We had back and forth Staten Island Ferry trips. The ferry is free from lower Manhattan to Staten Island. However, since I had a glass of wine at Jackson Hole, I slept back and forth on the ferry...

The High Line: a 1.45-mile (2.33 km) section of the former elevated freight railroad of the West Side Line, in Chelsea along the lower west side of Manhattan.
Green grass and flowers coming out from railway tracks were beautiful. We had a nice walk ;)

July 4th dinner at our favorite restaurant josie's east. Grilled Natural Chicken Breast Teriyaki and Freshly Ground Char-Grilled Brandt Natural Beef Cheeseburger. We saw fireworks way back to hotel through 42nd Street.

We had brunch at Sarabeth's Kitchen. Their Popeye Eggs were really delicious!!! The weather was super fine on this day. We found many bridal couples at Central Park. How romantic :)




Don't you think these sculptures funny?! Water from Hello Kitty and Miffy's eyes... They were located in front of an office building.


We had a special dinner at David Burke which was $20.09! You can get an appetizer, main course and dessert of your choice ;) Everything was great for our last dinner in NY.



On the very last day, before the bus time, we went to Central Park. Under the clear blue sky, we had sandwiches and coffee for breakfast. I wished time could stop for us. Believe it or not, guess what my boyfriend said?!
"Let's come back again next year after the marriage."
Was that his proposal?!?! I was super happy. It was something more than I expected.

I need to confirm him about it, though. Ha-ha!!!

Please click below and vote for me.