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I found a turkey.
I found a turkey. Frozen. Priced at 3800 yen; the store didn’t even an attempt to pricing it by weight, but it works out to about $3 per pound, I think. Soon it will be thawing in my refrigerator waiting for Christmas dinner. This will be the first traditional holiday meal I’ve cooked in many…
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Yuki, yuki, yuki. (That’s
Yuki, yuki, yuki. (That’s ‘you-key,’ the word for snow, not ‘yucky.’) The weather report says 70% chance of snow today and a high of 5 degrees (that’s 41 F). This is unusual for December–the weather is usually clear and mildly chilly until mid-January. Then we get some rain but rarely snow. I’ll bundle up in…
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At 2 am, there’s
At 2 am, there’s nothing but taxis on the streets. The trains stop running at midnight and late-night revellers catch cabs to get home. The taxi drivers must make a fortune with their 50% late-night surcharge. Last night the streets around the Imperial Palace, hub of central Tokyo traffic, were jammed with taxis and their…
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Two towers of brightly
Two towers of brightly colored Christmas toys flank the entrance at Olympic, a local discount store. On the left are the hot pink selections for girls: Hello Kitty kitchen set with a plastic stove and food; a Pengin pudding maker that steams real food; manicure kits with glitter stickers and fake nails. On the right…
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Yesterday morning, the Mita
Yesterday morning, the Mita line was running late. Tod arrived at Kasuga station to board a train for work, but had to wait on the platform for 30 minutes. When he finally made it to Otemachi station, a train employee gave him a note to hand to his employer to explain why he was late.…
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It’s always a little
It’s always a little bit sad when guests leave. We’ve packed these two weeks with a thousand activities (though you wouldn’t guess it from what I’ve written here lately) and from today, life goes back to its normal routines. But the break from the usual grind was really nice. We did creative things like candlemaking…
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My digital camera is
My digital camera is full of images that I promise I will share soon. Until then, you might want to take a look at some other people’s photos of Japan: Reflections of Japan Mine will pale by comparison.
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I might be the
I might be the cleanest woman in the world. We went to Hakone and spent the night at Yamadaya at Souzan. They have the most beautiful baths–three different rotenburo (outdoor hot springs) plus two mineral baths inside. In addition our room (#501, named Kintoki after the mountain it faced) had its own cedar tub with…
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Kappabashi is Tokyo’s wholesale
Kappabashi is Tokyo’s wholesale restaurant supply district. A kilometer of shops line boths sides of a four lane street. Side streets shoot off with even more shops. All of them offer up specialty goods–pots and pans in this one, signs and menus in that one. Over here we have cast iron; across the street are…
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Walk signal blinks green.
Walk signal blinks green. Policeman calls “Abunai!” But I sprint across.
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