Cafe Penny Lane

On our driving way to the company's recreation facility in Nasu, we stopped over a cafe called Penny Lane.

There were lots of The Beatles' related goods and pictures displayed, needless to say its music was played.

Even short time, staying at the cafe gave us memories of our young days.

Merry Xmas & a Happy New Year

We Stay in My Company's Recreation Facility in Nasu

My wife and I went to my company's recreation facility in Nasu highland to stay and relax in a hot spring one week ago.

The facility is going to close in two weeks because, my company's intranet web site says, the building has been too old.

We were able to fully relax and enjoyed staying one night there.

I thought that if proper maintenance was applied to the building, it could withstand at least one more decade.

Italian Cafe Vineria

My wife and I went to an Italian cafe called Vineria the other day.
It couldn't be nicer sunny calm day.

Atmosphere and taste at the restaurant were perfect, but the bread was as tough as old boots for me.

I broke my front tooth when I bit the shell of the bread.

I took a day off and went to a dental clinic the next day, sigh.

I Go on a Business Trip to Kawasaki City.

A couple weeks ago, I went on a business trip to Kawasaki city.

Kawasaki city and my home prefecture Tochigi are divided by the capital Tokyo.

I got up early, jumped on a bullet train bound for Tokyo, then changed trains to a local one heading to Kawasaki city at Tokyo.

Since I go to my office by bike every day, I enjoyed viewing morning scenery from commuter train.

The river runs in between Tokyo and Kawasaki city.

I also saw Mt. Fuji from the train heading back to my home town Utsunomiya.

Rock'n'Roll Street Live

I happened to see a rock'n'roll street live show on my way back home after shopping last week.

Their performances, both music and dancing were quite good as well as their clothes and makeup.

It reminded me of a good old days.

Chrysanthemum Fower Festival

When I went to Kitsuregawa town the other day, I happened to find a local chrysanthemum flower festival.

This kind of the festival displaying chrysanthemum flowers is quite popular all over Japan in this season.

The flower of chrysanthemum is special to Japanese and has been cherished for a long time.

Because, it is the symbol of the Japanese royal family.

Do you know that the Japanese passport has a chrysanthemum emblem?

Miso Shop Opens a Cafe on its Second Floor.

Left :'Aogen Kobo' is the name of the miso shop

fermented rice yogurt

A Shop, near my home, selling miso has recently opened a cafe on its second floor.

Miso is a traditional Japanese seasoning produced by fermenting soybeans with salt and the fungus,

My wife and I went to the shop and had lunch.

The lunch menu included fermented rice yogurt, fried fish with salad, a bowl of miso soup, boiled rice with beans and pumpkin cake with honey & fruits.

Among all the dishes, miso soup was top and perfect.

This Year's Tennis Team League Finishes.

Utsunomiya Companies' Tennis Team League finished last October.

Our team is in a  5th league consisting of eight teams.

We couldn't be promoted to 4th league this year same as last year, because we had lost a match against SUBARU which is a car and small plane manufacturing company's team.

UCTTL are divided five categories from a top 1st league to a bottom 5th league.

Only one winner team in each league is given a right to battle against an upper league's worst placed team.

It's called a replacement match. We couldn't even get a chance to battle a replacement match this year.

Anyway, we had a party to reward every member's effort of practicing tennis and to pledge next year's promotion up to 4th league. lol.

2013 Japan Cup Criterium in Utsunomiya

Japan Cup Criterium was held at the street just in front of my condominium on October 20th.

I took several pictures from the balcony.

The linked movie is far better and exciting.

Please, just take a look.

Cafe 'Yumeya' or Cafe Dream Shop

 I went to cafe 'Yumeya' in Nasu highland about an hour driving from home with my wife a few months ago.


The cafe was renovated of an old farm house in beautiful and quiet mountains.

The served traditional Japanese dishes and Indian dishes arranged for Japanese tastes.

It's a bit hard to access because I had to drive through winding narrow streets to get there.

 I enjoyed the atmosphere of the cafe both inside and outside very much.

Cafe Black Cat / Kuroneko-Kan

The menu, on the left, was hand written on envelops.

Two months ago, yes, quite long ago, I went to Cafe Black Cat in Mohka city with my wife.

It was a hot summer day.

Rice, bread, vegetables and tofu were colorfully put on a lunch plate.

It was delicious and the fat free foods would perfectly fit for those who concern their healthy diet.

We took a walk along a brook dropped by on our driving way to Cafe Black Cat.