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.

Kuri-gohan or Boiled Rice with Chestnuts

How to Cook Kuri-gohan,

1. Buy a net of chestnuts.



2. Choose twenty good shaped chestnuts.




3. Cut open the shells, then peel the skin with a small knife.
   Take your time, be careful not to cut yourself.
   Peeling uncooked chestnuts is laborious.

   If you soak chestnuts in hot water for about 30 minutes before peeling them, it'll be easier but you lose the flavor a little.

If you like mushrooms, carrots, podded peas or pieces of fried bean curd, those can be added.

4. Cut them in pieces, then put them in a rice cooker with chestnuts.

5. Start the rice cooker.

6. When rice is cooked, let the rice steam for about ten minutes before opening the lid.

Ingredients:
  20 pieces small chestnuts
  3 cups Japanese rice
  1 teaspoon soy sauce or 1 teaspoon salt
  1 tablespoon mirin or sake
  3 cups water

Wtih soy source version

Without soy source, podded peas topping version

Cosmos Flower Fields, 2013

'Kinu Green Park' run by Utsunomiya city has tennis courts, baseball fields, an outdoor obstacle course, camping fields, a rollerblade course, and flower fields.

My most visited and most favorite tennis courts are in KGP, because of its huge flower fields just next to the tennis courts.

It has been on the top season for cosmos flowers since half a month ago. 

I carry my tennis rackets and a camera when I go to KGP. 

The pictures I uploaded are all taken in KGP.

We Take a Walk in Matsue City

We took a walk along the moat of Matsue castle on the first day of our trip to my hometown.

At that day, Emi still had enough energy to enjoy walking and eating sweets.

It's one day before Emi caught a cold and was sick in bed.

My Mother's 88th Birthday

On our way back to Tokyo from Shimane, I took a picture of Mt. Fuji

My two daughters, my wife and I went back to my home town Shimane prefecture to celebrate my mother's 88th birthday last week.

My brother arranged a river-viewing room at locally famous restaurant Naniwakan for the celebration party.

Front Left: my brother, Front Center: my mother, Front Right: my sister in law,
Back Left: Rina, Back center: me, Back Right: my wife Kiyono

Unfortunately, my daughter Emi was sick in bed because she caught a cold at the day of the celebration party.

I feel very very happy to celebrate the day with my mother and other family members.
I sincerely pray that my mother's healthy and happy life last as long as possible.

My mother likes flowers. She likes to grow vegetables and flowers, and also she likes hand-knitting.

Cafe Ammonite

 Even the season in Japan, according to the calendar, has changed into autumn, it's been very hot these days.

I went to Cafe Ammonite with my wife the other day.

The cafe was located in the suburbs of Utsunomiya city surrounded by vegetable fields.

The foods they served were very nice.

But, it's a bit hard to access to the shop because there were no nearby bus stops, no train stations and streets around the shop were very complicated.