I was in a bit of a hurry when I took this photo, but I wanted to take a picture of it because I thought it was interesting. Before coming to Japan, I hadn't actually seen braille blocks before (or maybe I had but never realized it or thought about what they were for), so learning about the yellow bumps at crosswalks and in stations, etc. I was pretty surprised and thought it was really cool. Recently, I was at Monzen-nakacho Station and saw this little station guide and thought it was cool because of the material it was made of and the sort of rustic look it had to it, but I was surprised to find out that it was actually a braille layout of the station and it looks like it even uses indenting to indicate where staircases, etc. are located. I was interested in learning more, so I looked up a Japanese braille handbook and learned how to read it. It's quite easy to understand when you can see it, but obviously it would take more time to memorize how the characters feel and where the dakuten, etc. are.

A photo I took a little while back while on a small boat ride through Tokyo. This photo was of Ishikawajima Park, a small riverside park that looks like it'd be a nice place to relax and have some lunch with a friend or date or just get some fresh air. I'd like to come back and visit the area when I have some time and see what else is in the park, as well as take a look at the surrounding buildings and what they might have in the area as far as restaurants and shopping, etc. It's really nice that Tokyo seems to be returning to a relatively normal state and I'm seeing more people out and about and infection numbers don't seem to be on the rise currently. Hopefully this trend continues and I can start going out more and visiting all of the eateries and stuff I've been missing out on over the last year and a half!

銀杏並木の秋景色～光が丘の秋～

I stopped by Tokyo Station over the weekend to take care of an errand and decided to have lunch at the gyutan restaurant "Rikyu" (利久). Everything tasted amazing and the stew was especially good. I always enjoy the soup served with gyutan, it's sort of like a refreshing break in between the savory bites of beef. Plus the beef inside of the soup is soft from being boiled and has a really nice texture to it. I was pretty surprised at the salad actually, as well. I usually am not a fan of the salads served with gyutan but this one had the perfect amount of beef on it and the dressing tasted quite nice, so that was a welcome surprise. The wagashi served with it tasted really good. I'm not sure about what it was exactly, but it was red bean paste with some sort of white filling, maybe even white bean paste, but it was a good way to finish the meal.

ビルとコスモス 浜離宮の秋

紅葉爛漫～肥後細川庭園の美～

鏡の国の夜紅葉～肥後細川庭園の美～

Went to Hanaya Yohei, a restaurant near Oku Station and ordered the Miso-Nikomi Udon. It tasted pretty good and cost less than ¥1000 yen. I'd like to go back as the atmosphere of the restaurant was quite nice and it seemed like there was a lot of different menu items to try. I'd walked past the restaurant so many times in the past, and just never had the opportunity to go in until now. Overall it was a pretty good place and even though it seemed like there was a lot of people we got seated instantly which was nice.

コスモス咲いた ～浜離宮の秋は美しい～

I tried to take a decent photo of Mode Gakuen Cocoon Tower in Shinjuku, but didn't have enough to to really get up close to it unfortunately, so this building is in the way lol. I didn't realize that the tower was filled with educational facilities until now. Apparently the architects liked the cocoon shape because they felt it symbolized the nurturing of the students that would be inside of it. It's pretty interesting and a great concept in my opinion. Japan has a lot of cool architecture, both modern and historic and I love seeing them both. Hopefully next time I visit Shinjuku I'll be able to get a better view of the tower, although it might be a while lol. Either way, pretty cool place!

ジャコウアゲハ舞う彼岸花 ～芝公園の秋～

Just a couple photos I took outside of Tabata Station over the weekend. I've always thought this clock tower was neat but I don't stop by Tabata Station much. Decided to take a photo of it this time for anyone who hasn't been to the station. Also a golden statue of a woman. The statue is titled "Flower" with the kanji "華" and was made by Hiroteru Kawasaki (川崎 普照) from my understanding. You can see it from the angle I took the photo, but the clock tower is titled "The Bell of Hope" (希望の鐘). I thought it's interesting that it was titled with "bell" instead of clock tower since I don't think I've heard it ring before. I must not be visiting at the correct times lol. These are both on Tabata Bridge right outside the station

中目黒の秋桜～中目黒公園で見つけた小さな秋～

水の中の秋～六義園～

赤の世界～大田黒公園

紅葉ウォーク～新宿御苑にて～

Had a really good looking and tasting bowl of ramen in Shinjuku over the weekend and decided to take a bunch of pictures of it lol. There's so many ramen shops around Shinjuku Station that it was hard to choose where to go at first but we ended up choosing this place - Manbaken Ramen (萬馬軒). The chashu looked amazing just seeing the photos so I decided to get the miso chashu ramen with an egg topping. The ramen tasted really great and the chashu was thick, had a nice salty flavor, and the texture was really nice as well. My girlfriend ordered the spicy miso ramen and unfortunately we didn't think it tasted as good as the normal miso. It was almost like there was yuzu or sansho pepper inside of it and it gave it a strange tangy flavor that neither of us were huge fans of. I still definitely recommend the normal miso ramen though! The normal miso chashu ramen was ¥1100 and a normal bowl of miso ramen is just ¥790

水の中の曼珠沙華～水の中の美～ 林試の森公園

紅葉Lovers 紅葉の中に愛 新宿御苑にて

Visited Fujiiya a small eatery in Kameido famous for its gyoza. It was definitely good, and they had an interesting tare for the gyoza as well. I think it had chashu inside of it and it tasted great. I threw in a little soy sauce as well but I think it's probably perfect without it. I recommend shaking the bottle before pouring it as I had a little too much oil come out instead of the actual sauce. It was also my first time getting shoyu ramen in a while. I'm usually a bigger fan of miso, probably because it feels warm and filling on cold days but is great on hot days too. That being said, I was pleasantly surprised by this shoyu ramen, was a really refreshing flavor and the noodles were perfect. The restaurant is really cheap too, I think a normal chashu ramen and 5-piece gyoza was just ¥780, which is super cheap. They also had a lot of cool photos and signatures on the wall from/with famous entertainers like "Downtown," etc. Cool place, definitely recommend it!

Some photos I took during my visit to the Edo-Tokyo Museum. I really enjoyed seeing the recreations of the Edo cityscape and seeing what the city would have looked like back in the day. I like that you can also get a feel for what life was like at that time and you can even see people doing various jobs or holding tools related to them. I enjoyed seeing the boats as well, as it showed how shipping would been carried out at the time, and you also get to see the architecture of the ships, which was really awesome in my honest opinion. I also tried getting a decent photo of Tokugawa Ieyasu but I was really short on time when visiting as the museum was about to close, so I definitely need to go back there again. I wanted to see some of the other exhibits as well, stuff like the Great Kanto Earthquake exhibits, etc. so I have an excuse to visit again lol.

皇居外苑の桔梗門付近から東京駅を撮影しました。

Went to a nearby waterfront park area and saw some yakatabune and other nice views. Got some nice fresh air together and even saw someone catch a fish. It looked like a pretty decent size fish too, but I couldn’t take a photo of it. We realized the planters on the way back were shaped like small boats so I took a photo of one. Thought it was kind of neat

Wow, there's so many awesome photos being posted today. I don't have any autumn related photos to share myself, unfortunately lol. I did take a photo of a building near Tokyo Tower though. I'm not sure what the name is, I didn't get the chance to look and then kanji are too small for me to read in this photo, but it reminded me of Todaiji in Nara prefecture. I think it's related to a temple or maybe a shrine, I'm not sure. The building seemed really massive though, and the people walking in front of it looked like ants lol. If anyone knows the name of this building I'd appreciate it if you told me! I'd like to go back to Nara actually this fall and see all the temples and deer again and even take some photos of the autumn leaves but I'm not sure I'll get the chance to do so unfortunately. I guess I'll just be living vicariously through everyone else's photos for the time being!

東京都の高尾山で撮影しました。地面いっぱいに落ちている紅葉の紅い葉っぱがとてもキレイだったので、ハートを描いてみました。

東京都の高尾山で撮影しました。休憩場所にかわいらしい猫ちゃんがいてとても人懐こかったです。紅葉の葉っぱでデコってあげました。よく似合っていますね。

Went out and ate ramen over the weekend. Was the first time I've done so in a while. The restaurant was called '背油とんこつらーめん 雷門' in Monzen-nakacho I got the spicy miso ramen (I don't remember the exact name, it was something special) and it was really good. My girlfriend got just a standard miso and it was good as well. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be going back there because I want to try the other ramen they serve now lol. The miso that I got was more of a brown color than the usual orange that I see so I was kind of skeptical at first, but it turn out to be delicious and the chashu was really thickly cut and also tasted great. There was even an egg topping and I didn't have to pay extra for that or the chashu! I definitely recommend it to anyone that likes ramen! Other than that the whether wasn't so bad this weekend, but the leaves have started falling so we're definitely in fall at this point. It's starting to get colder outside as well. I've already starting using the heater instead of the air conditioning. Looking forward to some hot pot and oden though!

Starting to rain more and more lately. I guess we've finally left summer and are headed into fall. I had some nice Okinawan noodles today. Really tasty restaurant. The karaage was really delicious as well. I usually eat the karaage and salad separately but I was curious to try them together this time and it tasted amazing. I regret always eating them separately now lol! I don't remember what the restaurant was called but it was somewhere in a shopping mall. I can't remember what the seaweed dish is called either but it had an.. interesting flavor. Really healthy I imagine though! The cookie was a great dessert too. Just a small little snack and not too sweet either. I definitely want to go back here and try some of the other stuff they serve!

Man, yesterday I was just too busy to even log in. I did manage to eat some delicious pasta though. It was a small restaurant I found at Oji Station called "Ombra." The noodles were really interesting. They were thick and hollow. I forget what they were called but the pasta tasted great and the salad did as well. I definitely recommend eating here. I didn't manage to take a photo of the outside of the restaurant but it shows up on google easy enough if you just search it. The interior was really nice as well. Quiet and dim and there were a lot of photos on the wall as well. It made waiting for my food quite enjoyable. There was also an award on the wall as well, although I forget exactly what it said. If I remember correctly, it had something to do with excellent quality, or something similar to that. Also the pasta seems to change daily so I'll have to go back and try the other kinds

撮影場所：IWGP（池袋西口公園）噴水で遊ぶ子どもたち3