Eating, Meeting, Mighty, Money

At brother's house after the trip to Izu, I faced reality firmly, I will write about it again if I have the opportunity. The wound has not healed yet... I'm going with my kids this time. they don't have anything to do and are just so addicted to smartphones and iPads. If you don't take them somewhere, my son won't let go of his smartphone. The only time when he's not messing with the phone is when he is with his friends. I made an excuse to visit my fathers grave with my other brother’s family. I decided to book somewhere to stay for two night and contact with the friend who went to Izu trip with us, she also came back to Japan from the U.S. with kids. I found a place says just 7000 yen per night. I booked for two nights. The place is at Shin-Okubo, near Shinjuku. It is the same area I stayed at the end of May the last time I came to Japan. The place I stayed was expensive at this time, I liked the area because it's very convenient. The price w...

The last day / third day of Izu. I woke up in the morning, took a morning bath without children with my friends (because kids were sleeping), ate breakfast buffet, and went to a place called Izu Grand Pal Park. The admission fee was once again reduced with a coupon, but I had to buy a separate voucher, so it seems a little expensive. . The weather on this day will be cloudy and it will rain. . The 13-year-old boys team ziplines while it is still not raining. In this park, there was a place where you could play without using a ticket, so I finally went there, but it started to rain. . . Even if it is noon at a nearby roadside station, it is closed on Saturdays. Is it because it was raining? ? After having bite in a crepe shop that was open, We decided to go to Revolving Sushi. I bought dried fish as a souvenir at Michi-no-Eki (roadside station). Just after this, I saw the news that dried fish were affected by the lack of sunshine due to the continuing rain. There ...

A total of 8 children and adults arrived at  the Ito Station. After arriving at Atami Station, we will do the footbath in front of the station like we three did yesterday. At this time, I bought a towel for 100 yen. Then take a bus to Atami Castle. We wanted to get on the ropeway so We got to the bottom of the ropeway station. On the way, From the bus, I saw a famous a statue of Kanichi and Omiya. (A guy kicking a woman. Will you be criticized internationally?　Don't be stiff. There is a hidden treasure house (a museum for adults) just below Atami Castle, and there are three sensitive 13-year-old boys,  they were so excited. A view from the ropeway. It is a superb view. Atami is similar to Monaco. Slopes, buildings and the sea. Ride through the ropeway and graze the hidden treasure house (there is a funny statue at the entrance) To Atami Castle. The admission fee was a little cheaper using the coupon. Take the elevator to the top, take a picture, and then ...

I arrived at Ito by train from Atami in about 20 minutes. Japan at the beginning of July this year was unusually chilly, and it rained or stopped that day. The friends who went to Mt. Omuro haven't been able to get to the inn yet, so the three of us were going by taxi. When I asked to ask something at the tourist information center in front of Ito station, the guy told me the highlight of Ito. An old inn called Tokaikan does not do business as a hotel right now, but you can visit it, or the shopping street has a hot spring of Shichifukujin (Seven Gods of Good Fortune) and a stamp rally. Get a taxi with various maps and coupons. This time we stayed at Tokyu Harvest Club Ito. (very different/luxurious to the one we stayed last night!) We waited for about 30 minutes in the lobby and joined my friend. Two sets of mother and two children and one set of mother and son. It got noisy at once. After check-in, go to the pool and hot springs. At night, the restaurant in t...

Staying at Akasaka, Tokyo Leave Akasaka around 9:30 in the morning and head for Atami. Looking at the timetable in Jordan,　 https://world.jorudan.co.jp/mln/en/ it is 4390 yen per person for the Shinkansen from Tokyo to Atami, and it takes 37 minutes for the Shinkansen from Tokyo.  2nd option is "Izu no Odoriko" (Izu Dancer) train takes 1 hour 21 minutes and costs 4000 yen per person. 3rd option is Tokaido, the local train takes 1 hour 53 minutes and 1940 yen. Other friend families go by car. Since only 5 people can ride in the car, it is already over capacity, so we talked about going by train. I decided to get to Atami around noon, so I didn't hurry and my son had to pay an adult fee this year so I decided to save and go on the Tokaido. I thought that it would be possible to sit down during the daytime on weekdays, but it seems that there are many people thinking about the same thing. By the way, there is a reserved seat on this Tokaido, and it was 780 yen p...

I went back to Japan this summer with two children. The next day we arrived, We were going to Ito (Shizuoka) with my family and friends, so I stayed in the city for a night booked in the reservation site. It's not a hotel, it's like a private residence (with private bathroom with shower), it's not a fancy place or anything, but it's in a convenient location and the reviews are good, so I decided here. My two children were quite big (13 and 8), so I didn't want to sleep on a tight bed, so it was attractive to have a single bed for each person. This room has two bunk beds and the area is nice. I've lived in Tokyo for many years, but I am not familiar with Akasaka or the inside of the Yamanote Line. I arrived at Akasaka around 5:00 in the evening and was full of people after work. The impression of Akasaka is modern buildings and old shopping street merged. Since two suitcases were sent to my brothers' house, I will arrive at the inn with a small ...

Greetings in Japanese、Aisatsu, in Japanese. おはよう こんにちは　こんばんは   ありがとう　さようなら　すみません ohayou おはよう is "good morning".  we usually don't use Kanji for this word but if you use it, it says お早う　the Kanji in the middle means "early" or "fast" It makes sense since it's early in the morning. Ko n ni chi ha こんにちは is "hello" but we say this for the afternoon. 今日は　the first two Kanji characters says　Today, は pronounces　"wa" even though it spells "ha". In Japanese, this は pronounces "wa" works as "is" or "are" in English.　postpositional particle I looked upon a dictionary.. so, "Konnichiwa" really means "today is" Same as  "Konbanwa" night greetingsこんばんは　今晩は means "tonight is" Arigatou ありがとう is Thank you,  in Kanji, it 有難う the first kanji means "there" second one is "difficult" so Arigatou means "difficult to be there" so th...

Hello everybody, こんにちは。 I've made how to type and write Hiragana on the computer before, based on Hiragana chart. Lets talk about Katakana for a little bit today. all the sounds are the same as hiragana. Katakana look boxy and has edgy shapes compares to Hiragana. Japanese Alphabet (Katakana) Poster by falkdesigns By the way, This chart is sold at zazzle.com Please visit the the link at the bottom for more info. Katakana is used to express foreign words like, McDonald = マクドナルド　 Ski = スキー　 America = アメリカ cake = ケーキ party = パーティー all sounds are flat in Japanese. uses the long line to express long sounds　or extend sounds you may not recognize the words when it pronounced in Japanese but you'll surprised to know a lot of English words are used in Japanese. how to write / type Katakana is basically the same as how to write Hiragana. Let's practice writing / typing words. First, change the setting to Japanese typing mode, to type Japanese, ...

I'll tell you how to type beyond usual Hiragana chart. Japanese Hiragana and Katakana, if you add two dots  after those letters for example かきくけこ Ka Ki Ku Ke Ko add " at the right above those letters, they becomes がぎぐげご it pronounces Ga Gi Gu Ge Go Same for さしすせそ becomes ざじずぜぞ Za Zi Zu Ze Zo だぢづでど Da Di Du De Do ばびぶべぼ Ba Bi Bu Be Bo Then, if you put small circle at the right side above, they becomes ぱぴぷぺぽ Pa Pi Pu Pe Po Next, if you put little や、ゆ、よ after certain letters, you will pronounce for example, きゃ　＝　kya きゅ　＝　kyu きょ　＝　kyo Like when you type　kyouto (Kyoto) きょうと　＝京都 in Kanji you will see よ is little smaller. Sha Shu Sho しゃしゅしょ Tya Tyu Tyo ちゃちゅちょ Nya Nyu Nyo にゃにゅにょ Hya Hyu Hyo ひゃひゅひょ Mya Myu Myo みゃみゅみょ Rya Ryu Ryo りゃりゅりょ Gya Gyu Gyo ぎゃきゅぎょ Ja Ju Jo じゃじゅじょ Bya Byu Byo びゃびゅびょ Pya Pyu Pyo ぴゃぴゅぴょ Japanese Alphabet (Hiragana) Poster by falkdesigns

Hi, I'll show you how to type (write) Japanese on your computer. Japanese Alphabet (Hiragana) Poster by falkdesigns There are ways to type in using the alphabet. before you start, you need to set up input enabled in Japanese, If you are using a mac, go to System Preferences from the Apple menu, click on the blue flag icon labeled Language & Region. Click on the button marked with a plus sign in the lower left to add a new language, then select Japanese from the menu and click the Add button. You also need to add the setting for the keyboard. go to the keyboard, input source, add Japanese.   I think it's similar for Windows users, please google "how to type Japanese on windows" and find out. Lately, Japanese people use this type of keyboard on the smartphone. You tap the letter until you get the one you want on the row of, for example, if you want to input "う" you press "あ" three-time sinceうlocates at the third letter of a row...

I went to Japan to see my family in May.   I left Japan 20 years ago.  The price of the food is really affordable if you choose. For breakfast, I had rice, miso soup, salmon, and pickles set for only 500 yen or so, I bought a ticket at the machine and gave it to the lady who works by herself cooking, serving, clean up, doing everything! There were at least 8 customers including me. She was working hard. at 8:00 AM it was the peak time serving for guys before going to work. After everybody left, I told her, "You were doing all by yourself, what a hard worker you are!"  I didn't take a picture of the food. Too bad. On the other hand, expensive food like this one a cake for 780 yen 810 yen with tax exists. It was good though. Potato cake (heavy and filled me up)  I stayed at Shizuoka where Mt. Fuji is, and also my family. In Tokyo, I stayed at Shin Okubo (near Shinjuku). This area is a Korean town in Tokyo. I booked at booking.com the rat...

I read a buzz about Marie Kondo's Netflix show so I watched the first episode yesterday. Marie Kondo is very famous in Japan and she's called "Konmari" in short. I've read her book once or twice and I tried her method, (don't ask me if it worked or not) but after I've watched it, and I actually wrote about her book 3 years ago and I totally skipped the most important thing she's talking about. "Does it spark joy or not for you?" I have watched the first episode with a young couple with two little adorable children in a beautiful house. Their house doesn't look so bad but got a lot of junk. Before starting tidying up the house, Marie Kondo sits down on the floor in the house and greet to the house, like meditating. Then, take out all the clothes you have and put into one pile Next, take the clothes one by one in your hand and see if that particular thing spark joy or not. If not, you say "thank you" and say goodbye. ...