Long time no see!

Dear Friends,

Hi, how’ve you been? Long time no see.

I haven’t touch this page for a long time(1.5ys!), so some friends kindly mailed me if we are OK. Thank you very much and I am sorry for having caused you so much worry. We, my wife, daughter K, Lee and me, are all fine. Lee has become 11 and a half years old, over 60 in human age. Several years ago, we often enjoyed a long distance walk for weekend, but with considering an excessive burden for his joints of feet, currently we are limiting the walking time within 60 min and walking slowly. He’s already in retirement age,,, but even now, he is still cutie boy who loves meal time, morning walking and acting cozy with us.

Let me show you the current Lee’s photos, taken in the morning after the last heavy snow (Feb. 2014).

 

 

 

 

朋友们你好，好久不见了。我最近工作很忙所以不能重新这个博客，哎哟，一年半左右我放手不管了。 有个网友热情地担心我们好不好，给我发电子邮件问问。谢谢 & 让你们担心不好意思啊。我们（我妻子、我女儿、小李、和我）都很好。小李已经11.5岁，那相当人的60多岁了。几年前，我们每周末散步的时候，常常走得太远，不过为了它的骨关节保重，我最近不让它走60分钟以上。他已经成了大爷了。。。可是，他还是喜欢散步、爱吃饭、特别喜欢缠绕我们的可爱小李。

让我介绍最近的小李的情况。这些是上次在东京下大雪的时候拍的照片（今年2月）。

Kaiseki cuisine @Sugamo Tamura

I'd like to say very sorry I haven't posted for a long time..... if there are any kind guys who look forward to reading my new article. You do? Wow, I appreciate it!

Actually, I've been suffered from my PC trouble since this July. My PC does shutdown & reboot automatically every 20 minutes. It could be a fatal damage for a slow hand-writer like me, and this is why I haven't renewed this blog for 3 months long. I think it may be a sign of the time for the PC replacement. Good grief... Anyway, the times they are a changing, regardless of the PC trouble. The hot and muggy summer has gone. It's time for new posting. I don't give a damn about rebooting!

Today I'll introduce the autumn flavors what we enjoyed last month. We had a gorgeous(!) Kaiseki lunch in Ryoutei, Japanese traditional restaurant.

Kaiseki Ryori (Kaiseki cuisine) is a kind of Japanese most authentic and traditional full course cuisine. The base-line of Kaiseki is soup+sashimi+grilled fish+simmerd vegetable. Adding to that, meat, seasonal ingridients and some deserts are lined up by the artistic sense of the cook. You can enjoy that delicate flavors, textures, taste and appearance.

The theme of that day was "early autumn".

1st dishes

From the upper left to bottom right, Kurumi Dohfu(walnut-Tofu), Tamagoyaki(Japanese style omelet)+ beans with sweetened miso-paste, Prawn-sushi + Canard viande, Gindara Saikyouyaki(grilled sablefish with miso flavor), Terrine + eschalot.

2nd dish

Clear soup with mashroom.

3rd dish

Sashimi; very fatty tuna.

4th dish

Tempra; Kisu(Sillago), Shishitou(green chilli pepper), Shiitake, Shimeji, Sweet potato, etc.

5th dish

Simmered vegetables. The texture and flavor was so delicate.

It was in a cute bowl.

Closing

Miso soup and rice with otsukemono(pickles).

Basically, they serve plain white rice for closing, but Sekihan(red rice) was served at that time.

Usually, Sekihan is served as a congratulant meal.

Desert

Did you enjoy the lunch?

Sugamo Tamura; the Ryoutei where we enjoyed the Kaiseki lunch.

(from Tamura's website; http://www.sugamotamura.co.jp/)

I think its a very good Ryoutei where you can enjoy authentic Japanese cuisine with comparatively reasonable prices.

Tamura is located next to the Shinsho-ji temple. Around 5 minutes from JR Sugamo station.

Reunion @ Chinatown (2) / Yokohama

(Continued from previous posting)
Let me show you other photos I took at Yokohama Chinatown.

Kantei byou(in mandarin: Guan Di Miao) is located in the center of the Chinatown. This temple enshrines the historical hero Kan-u(Guan Yu). As my friend Kazu mentioned in his comment on the previous posting, you can see Kantei byou temple in most of the Chinatown all around the world.

Kan-u was a real warload of ancient China who was active in the end of 2 centuries ~ the beginning of 3rd centuries. And also, he is a very popular character in the historical novel Sangoku-shi (Sanguozhi Yanyi / Three Kingdom Saga).

Here is a question; why is the famous warrior Kan-u enshrined by Chinatown people although most of them are not military personnels but restaurant owners or merchants? Why do they pray to a warrior?
They say there are several reasons.
At1st, Kan-u has been a very attractive and popular hero. Chinese people(and other people who have read Sangoku-shi; including me) love Kan-u. That is why they have enshrined him.
2ndary, Kan-u has been credited with a person of honor who had a loyal heart. I heard that ancient Chinese people thought it was the most important part in their business, then, Kan-u became a god of business.
Does it make sense?

Can you see his face? I heard that his red face means loyal.

He had a long and beautiful whisker and was called Bizen-kou (Mei ran gong / Sir Handsome Whisker(?). Sorry for my awful translation. I would appreciate it, if anybody could tell me an appropriate English name. )

Kantei byou official site(Japanese)

Reunion @ Chinatown / Yokohama

Last Sunday, our family had a reunion at the Chinatown in Yokohama. My relatives on my father's side who live in Kanto area joined the party. The total 10 participants gathered, my parents, my causins & their son, my sister & her daughter, and I. Unfortunately, my daughter caught a cold, so she and my wife had to give up to join.

When I lived with my parents, we used to go to the Chinatown for treating the guest to lunch. Now I'm living in Tokyo and visit there less often than the past. I found there were some new findings in the town after quite an absense.

Maso byou
I'm not sure how I should introduce the name of this temple. "Maso byou" is Japanese name, but this is Chinese temple. In Chinese(Mandarin), this is "Mazu miao". However, in this Chinatown, people who speak Mandarin seem to be the one part of the population. Maybe there are people who speak Guangtonese, Sichuanese, Fujianese, Shanghainese, Taiwanese, etc. So, please allow me to write it in Japanese. Sorry for my too lengthy preamble. Anyway, this temple was SO beautiful.

They said the Maso byou was brand-new, just built up last year. I heard that this place had been bought by a land developer at 1st . When the developer layed out a construction plan of new condominium(!), all of the Chinatown people opposed it, and, finally, they bought up the land from the developer and built the new temple. Wow. It's a nice story, isn't it?

Shoufuku-mon
This is the dim sum restaurant where we enjoyed the lunch. I'd never seen that kind of restaurant in the Chinatown before, it was a "all-you-can-possibly-eat" type. No time restriction. Great! We ate a lot as much as we could. Of course, I didn't forget buying some takeaway dim sums for my wife and daughter.

....borrowed from Shoufuku-mon HP.

That was a good reunion. Thank you for joining, everybody. See you again!

Yokohama Chinatown official site(Japanese)

Shoufuku-mon homepage(Japanese)

Maso-byou homepage(Japanese)

New Year days

Yeah, I know it's toooo late to post such topic, but I'd like to start this 2007's posting with the Oshogatsu photos. Please allow me to introduce our New Year scene.

Let me start with food.
< >
There are variety of Ozoni in Japan, white miso-based soup, red miso-based soup, chicken-based soup or bonito-based soup / round-shaped Mochi or square-shaped Mochi / baked or not baked. My wife is from Osaka, a white miso-based soup with round-shaped Mochi(not baked) is popular there. Meanwhile, I was raised with Ozoni with chicken soup and baked squre-shaped Mochi. Of course I love both.
I heard that the Ozoni of Shikoku-area(southwest Japan) include Mochi with Anko(sweet bean paste). I've never had that and I cannot imagine the taste. Does anyone know the taste?

Janualy 2nd, we visited my parents in the suburbs of Yokohama.
BTW, do you know the Hakone Ekiden race? This is the intercollegiate marathon relay race which held on 2nd and 3rd Janualy. 10 runners of 20 teams from Kanto-area relay the Tasuki baton between Tokyo and Hakone. This race began in 1920. It has become a signature event of New Year.
Our parents house is located near the Ekiden course and I went out to see the live race.

During the Ekiden, the Route #1 is occupied by runners, staffs and broadcasters.

Hurrah!

Hakone Ekiden has produced lots of great runners, including Olympic medalist.
I reckon some of guys who entered this year's race will perform great run at the Beijin Olympic game 2008.

Let me introduce the guests who visited my parents house.
My father put a cut orange on the tree for birds. Two Mejiro came to the yard.

Please click the photo to enlarge. You'll can see 2 Mejiro in this pic.

I took these photos from behind the window. Not bad, is it?


I hope this year 2007 will be a happy and successful one for you all!