The Night

A quiet night after a hectic week.

Friday nights are usually for going out. But it's nice to have some downtime once in a while. Have a great weekend everyone!


Take a look at different skies all around the world here.

Take Your Pick

This is a baby Horsetail, which we call 'Tsukushi (土筆)' in Japanese. It's one of the mountain vegetables that everyone enjoys to eat here in the spring. I found a lot of them growing on the riverbank near Lake Sayama.

Some people make Tsukushi tempura or just boil it and eat it with other veggies. It can be cooked in various ways. I really like Tsukushi rice.

Today is Showa Day here in Japan. It's the birthday of our previous emperor, Emperor Showa, who reigned from 1926 to 1989. It's a beautiful sunny day, a great day to go and pick some Tsukushi for dinner!

The Silver Lady

Zoomed in on an abandoned (or maybe just a badly kept) car in the parking lot the other day. I went to get a better look and saw that it was a Rolls Royce.

Like I've said before, I'm not very into cars. But even I know that this hood ornament. The Spirit of Ecstasy.



We are heading into our Golden Week here in Japan. It is a period when we have consecutive holidays so basically we get almost a week off. This year, if you take a day off this friday, you can have a full 7 days of vacation. Some people even take thursday and friday off next week and enjoy 11 days of vacation.

I don't know how people can go back to work after taking such a long break. But I'm looking forward to my 5 days of Golden Week and feel just like the silver lady. Feeling the breeze and ready to take flight!

Everywhere You Look

Aren't these flowers fantastic?

I love how they grew the same flowers all over the place! It looks as if the house just happened to land in a field of flowers. And what's so amazing is that the flowers aren't planted in the yard but in numerous planters and then placed all around the property. Fabulous.

Omatase!

This is the entrance to the women's bath at Yunomori (湯の森), a local Super Sento (a public bath and spa facility). Here at Yunomori they pull up natural weak alkaline hot spring from 1100 meters underground. They also have many other types of baths, saunas, and massage booths.


Everyone puts their luggage and clothes in these lockers before heading into the bath area. Some people bring their own shampoos and soaps, but the facility also provides shampoo-in-conditioner and body soap. You can also borrow bath towels at the entrance desk.

Outside the men's and women's bath areas, there are places you can sit and watch TV or eat something light from the snack booth. Usually you will find the men sitting around and waiting for their women folk to come out. I'm sure Japan is not the only place where women tend to take longer baths than men!


I happened to see a cute old man and woman with matching Hawaiian hats the other day. The lady came out saying 'Omatase!' which means 'Sorry to keep you waiting' in Japanese.

If you ever get a chance to go here, or any public bath, you will here a lot of 'Omatase!' because the baths are so relaxing it's hard to pull yourself away!

Oh So Green

Spotted the newly green Momiji leaves, also called Japanese Maple, on my walk the other day. The woods surrounding Lake Sayama are turning into a lush green area.

We've been having a couple of really great sunny days for walks!

The Window

CNS Consulting Group's head office is located right next to Kitanodai Park. I took this photo last month. It's a little dark but you can see the reflection of the clouds and electricity lines on the big window.

I miss cherry blossoms...


See other reflections from around the world at Weekend Reflections hosted by James.

Friendly Flags

I was walking by a local car dealership in Tokorozawa when I noticed all these flags above me. There were so many of them! And it was as if they were waving at me. Saying in a very friendly manner to come on by and buy a car!


...well, I don't really have a drivers license.

So instead of buying a car I can't afford (it was tempting, very tempting!), I decided I'd take a whole bunch of photos of the friendly flags for my post today. Aren't they great?


Take a look at different skies all around the world here.

Tully's Coffee

This is the only Tully's Coffee in Tokorozawa. I was there this weekend and had a cup of Honey Milk Latte. I also love their English Toffee Cookie.

Tully's first coffee shop in Japan opened August 1997 in Ginza. Our Tully's opened inside Daiei, our local supermarket, when they renovated the building in 2008.

Although we have a Starbucks closer to the station, a lot of people go to Daiei to shop so it's always full of people. They have seats outside that are popular in the summer. Tully's also has a Kid's Menu, which gives the whole family a chance to enjoy a little break from shopping.

Four Pink Petals

After much searching, I'm pretty sure this lovely flower is a type of Flowering Dogwood, which we call 'Hana-mizuki' in Japanese. This tree is standing in front of Kita Akitsu Preschool.

I really like the light coral pink color of the petals.


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Tall Gary's comment is fasinating!

What is interesting is that the clump of yellow/beige guys in the center are actually the flowers. The four pink “petals” are bracts.

Wow. I had no idea! So I'm going to have to rephrase and say that "I really like the light coral pink color of the 'bracts'"! Thank you, Tall Gary!

The Next Picasso

This is a photo of the cute drawings I found the other day. They are all along the wall of the Kita Akitsu Preschool grounds.


It said that the children drew on the walls in memory of graduating preschool in 2004. I really like all the smiles on their faces. I'm sure some of the children will end up being artists!

Poor Fellow

This cute bird is perched on top of a steel bollard at the entrance of a park next to Kita Akitsu Preschool. I think it may be a sparrow, which we call 'Suzume (soo-zoo-meh)' in Japanese.

There were four birds in all but I noticed that one had a band-aid on its stomach. I wonder how it was hurt and who was kind enough to aid the poor sparrow.

Brrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Can you believe it? It's the middle of April and it snowed again!

I was actually half asleep when I took these photos in the morning but you can clearly see the snow on the rooftops. Of course it all melted by afternoon but still. I've never heard of snow in April. I worry about our world sometimes.

Hot 'n Cold

The weather can't seem to make up it's mind. It's 22 degrees one day and 9 degrees the next. Sunny one afternoon and raining the next. Wearing a t-shirt one day and a fur coat the next.

I keep on putting my winter clothes away then having to dig it back out. But at least I got a photo out of this crazy weather. The slick wet roads made for a great reflection!

See other reflections from around the world at Weekend Reflections hosted by James.

Near The Cross

This is the cross above the Tokorozawa Seventh-day Adventist Church. I thought it looked quite pretty against the sky.

Happy weekend, everyone!


Take a look at different skies all around the world here.

The Last Of Them

This is the cherry blossom of the Weeping Cherry Tree, which we call 'Shidare-zakura.' They were in full bloom last weekend.

There are 119 Shidare-zakura trees stand alongside Sunagawabori, which I learned is actually the city sewer. Hmmm. But there are beautiful Shidare-zakura on both sides for over 500 meters.

Spilt Over

This yard was filled with these lovely white flowers with a hint of purple. So much so that a few of the flowers spilt on over to the sidewalk.

I wonder what they are called...

The Only French I Know

Taking a break from cherry blossoms...this is the McDonald's french fry I got the other day. Usually a size M french fry is 250yen. But recently they've started this 'Any Size for 150yen' campaign!

This tempts me to go for a size L french fry...although my hips are screaming at me not to. Because why get a size M when you can get an L for the same price? Although now that I think about it, 150yen is pretty cheap for even a size S.

So how much are the McDonald's french fries in your city?

I remember snickering over the Big Mac Index when I first started working...but now I'm tempted to make a French Fry Index.


Also, for a limited time only, you can get the new 'Teri-tama' hamburger! The pink posters for the Teri-tama hamburger are everywhere right now. It uses the ever popular Teriyaki sauce on the burger and the 'tama' stands for the egg sandwiched in between.

I'd definitely give it a try if I weren't vegetarian. If you're ever in Japan, you may want to try it!

Off The Track

There is a D51 steam locomotive on display at Kotesashi Park.

This D51-118 steam locomotive was put together in the city of Kobe on July 30, 1938. It was then transported to Hokkaido prefecture and ran in various districts for 38 years until it retired in 1976. It ran a total of 2,419,862 kilometers, which is about 60 laps around the earth.

A very hardworking locomotive, don't you think?

Down the Street

Okay. So I couldn't pull myself completely away from cherry trees. But this is the street that I was walking along taking pictures the other day.

There's a river that runs alongside the street and there are Shidare-zakura (Weeping Cherry Trees) growing all the way down the street.


See other reflections from around the world at Weekend Reflections hosted by James.

Late Afternoon Walk

You're all probably getting tired of seeing cherry blossoms. I may have been a little too excited about the cherry blossoms season this year. I promise to move on to other photos of Tokorozawa!

Anyways, this is the path I take to get home from the station, between the Seibu buildings. The Tokorozawa Central Hospital is located across the street from this building.

There are many people who are admitted in the hospital but one of the patients was enjoying her walk under the cherry blossoms this afternoon. You can see her and with the hospital staff. It really was a nice day for a walk!


Take a look at different skies all around the world here.

Lantern Lights

Cherry blossoms at night look very different. We call it 'Yozakura' in Japanese, which means something like 'Night Cherry Blossoms.' We Japanese love seeing the cherry blossoms lit up at night just as much as we love to party under the blossoms in the daytime.


There are over 800 cherry trees standing alongside the Azuma River and it's all lit up during the cherry blossom season so you can enjoy Yozakura! Seeing the cherry blossoms under the lantern lights is very beautiful and so is the reflection in the river below. So if you're in the area, now is the time to go!

The Yozakura lights will be up until April 14th from 6-11pm.

The Potomac Cherry

I spotted this beautiful cherry tree in a bicycle parking space, next to the Seiyu in Kotesashi, the other day.

Upon closer look, I learned that this cherry tree is actually one of the descendants of the cherry trees that were given to the United States in 1912 (Thank you Al for the info!). Probably why they're called 'Potomac Cherry Tree.'

Although I have no idea how it ended up growing in the middle of a bicycle parking space, it certainly does brighten up the whole area.

I never really knew it took so long for the cherry trees given by Japan to be planted in Washington DC. It's a very interesting story and you can read about it here.