Yanaka Town in Tokyo

 I went to Yanaka town in Tokyo with my wife a couple weeks ago.

Yanaka is famous for having traditional Japanese streets, shops, temples and buildings.

The brown ball in the picture on the left is called 'sugi dama' or 'Sakabayashi.'

Sugitama is used to inform people that new sake has been made.
A sugitama is made from fresh pine leaves, and as the sugitama dries and changes color, it lets people know how much the sake has been matured.

Daughter Emi Comes Back Home on Summer Vacation

Daughter Emi came back home and stayed for a week on her summer vacation.

She works at sales department of a major telecom company in Japan.

She was so busy on her work that she kept working even at home or at a restaurant.

Anyway, we managed to spare half a day and went to Cafe TOKO for lunch together during her stay.


 

The star shaped sliced cucumber seems to have eyes and a mouth, doesn't it?

3x3 World Tour Utsunomiya Masters

'3x3 World Tour Utsunomiya Masters' was held at Futa-ara-yama Shrine last month.

The games were so exciting that even Gods at the shrine might have been surprised.

TV monitors were set outside the main basketball court and people who could not enter the venue enjoyed watching games through the mointors.

People were dancing at the music festival held one day before the 3x3 World Tour.

I Go to Nissan Tochigi Plant

I went to Nissan Tochigi Plant to join a guided tour of car assembling lines with my wife the other day.

Since photo taking was prohibited in the tour, I cannot upload any pictures of the automated state-of-the-art  factory.

Photos here were taken at the entrance waiting hall. They displayed three cars, toy cars, engines and so forth.

We dropped by a Sushi Restaurant called Hourai-zushi on our way back home.