BABBI

From Italy!!
We, chocolate freak sisters, tried BABBI this time.
It is very pop and cute Italian chocolate brand.

BABBI started as an icecream corn shop, and now they treat the chocolates using wafers.
We got "Viennesi" which come with cute red clear cases.
Oh, my goodness! It was so tasty!! The wafers melt in the mouth and are good balance with sweet chocolate.

We tried another kind of candy called "Cremini." It is a small piece of chocolate, and chocolate cream and the hazel nuts cream are tiered. Six small chocolates came in the white clear case.
It was also good and sweet! I have a sweet tooth, so I liked it. I could taste the strong flavor of hazel nuts. But my sister likes bitter taste, so she prefered Viennesi...

Anyway I liked this shop a lot. The chocolate is good, the package is cute, and the wrapping is artistic. I think it can be nice present for little celebration!

Papas Cafe

After morning exercise, I had a lunch with my sister as usual.
Today we decided to go to "Papas Cafe" in Yuraku-cho. It's located in front of the "Bagle & Bagle" that I mentioned before and set up as an annex to the shop of men's & women's wear.

The aspect of the shop is very elegant and quiet. Going into the cafe, the refined apace spread out, and I feel as if I am in Europe.

I ordered the soup and salad set, and today's soup was minestrone. It was good and kind of new because I felt the flavore of shiso ( labiate). So it was very fresh taste.
My sister chose the one plate lunch. The humburger steak, salad, piece of smoke salmon, corn soup and breads came in one plate. It was kind of big, but she could enjoy different tastes. Of course I did, too......because I stole some from her plate.

I like this place very much. Tough Yuraku-cho is downtown centers, this cafe makes me feel calm and refresh.

La Friandise

My mother is going to "La Friandise" to take the cake classroom once a month. This patisserie is near my house and has a shop and cafe there, too.
According to the patissier, "La Friandise" means "tastes good" in French. That's right. All sweets that my mother brings back from the class is so good!!

Today there was sampling party here. We could taste 12 kinds of sweets that they are going to lecture next year.
Cinnamon roll, blueberry and mascalpone icecream, strawberry mousse, chiffon cake of lemon with raspberry cream, cookies, apple pie...
I shered those with my parents.

I liked the strawberry mousse and apple pie a lot! I am really looking forward to having those made by my mother, I forgot which month she is going to make, though... Shame on me!!

River Dance

Cooooooooooool!!!!!
It's so powerful, skilled, airy and enchanting dance.

"River Dance" is Irish traditional dance. Dancers stand upright to the waist and tap by moving only legs. They tap lightly and time their steps to the music.

The most incredible part was line dance. About 30 dancers lined up on the stage and tap together. It was very, very powerful! Though they danced with only their legs, the dance looked very hard. But all river dancers are top ones who got through world championship, so they succeeded in expression of not only passion but also delicateness.

I have to mention about music, too. All the music was live performance and also Irish music.
I like Irish music because it's so comfortable. One of my favorite musisians is "The Corrs" from Ireland...
Anyway the sound from this show was more modern and danceable. Traditional instruments like bagpipe, percussion, and violin made lively sounds. Their music made us want to dance.

I got a CD right after the show ended. Absolutely the BGM now is "River Dance."

Sleepless Nights

I have spent sleepless nights recently. That's because I am reading the books.

As I mentioned, I went to "Leonardo da Vinci Exhibition," though, the novel called " Da Vinci Code" made me get interest in Da Vinci at first. It's written by Dan Brown and read in all over the world. It's a murder mystery, and Da Vinci's famous works are brought up as keys to solve that matter. I don't usually read mystery, but the novels by Dan Brown really draw me into the story.

After I finished reading it, I started to read the " Deception Point." It is about the presidential election and secret of NASA. The falling stone that NASA digged up showed astonishing facts, and it plays very important role in election. It was also interesting for me. I could see both the system of the election and government in the U.S. and space science.

Then, now, I am reading the "Angels & Demons." This features about religion and science. Whether those, religion and science, can be compatible? This novel refers to this question. I don't really know because I am not familiar to the religion. I hope I can get some idea from this book.

I've already read two and half novels by Dan Brown so far. In all honesty, his work is kind of the familiar story, but the profound remarks and the fantastic idea are perfect.

Half of " Angel & Demons" is left. I am going to be lack of sleep at least two more days...

100% Chocolate Cafe

I went to 100% Chocolate Cafe in Kyobashi. It is produced by Meiji, which is one of the most famous Japanese confectioners and located on the 1st floor of Meiji headquarters. The first impression of the cafe is simple, clean- cut, and casual. The popularity is evident in a crowd.

I ordered Hot Chocolate and Chocolate Bousee. Bousee is the soft sponge cakes with the chocolate, which is called "Fresh Chocolate," between. This " Fresh Chocolate" is like cream, and there are always 5-6 kinds of flavors. So I could pick one, the plain chocolate. Both chocolate and sponge tasted very good and melted in the mouth.

If you order a drink, you can get " Today's chocolate." Their concept is "365 Days Chocolate," so they provides different flavored chocolate bar every day. And each chocolate is printed with date! Today's one is Corn which is Aztecan era chocolate. It tasted bitter and little salty.

They always have 56 kinds of chocolate bars in the cafe. The flavors are from familiar ones like strawberry and orange to rare ones like pepper and chili. You can also find the chocolates made from 22 different kinds of cacao from 16 countries. It might be fun to compare them.

All menu here is reasonable, and the mood is very casual. So you can drop by without constraint. The high- grade chocolate from abroad is good, but the taste we have grown with is also good.

Special Morning Present

This morning, I went downstairs and said " Good morning" to my parents. When my father saw me, he asked " Did you see the sky?" I went out of the house and looked up the sky.

"Wow"
The clouds were interesting shape.

"It's the sardine clouds!"
It is tipical fall clouds called sardin cloud. That's because it looks a school of sardines is swimming in the water.
I run up stairs and took a picture.

Thanks dad for telling me that. I got a special morning present.

Pierre Marcolini

I LOVE CHOCOLATE!

So I am making a chocolate tour with my sister, who is also chocolate lover.
We went to Pierre Marcolini in Ginza last Monday. It came from Belgium, and has many shops in the world. But only the shop in Ginza sets up the cafe.

Since it is famous, many people always line up. So we went there at 11 am, the opening time, but there was already a line. After we waited for 30 minutes, we finally got in.

I ordered iced chocolate, and my sister chose hot one. Mine came as a martini glass filled up with chocolate. It was the best one I've ever had. Most iced chocolate in other cafe is like iced cocoa, but that in Pierre Marcolini was not like a drink, but chocolate itself. It was rich, creamy, flavorful, and not sweet.

I fell victim to its chocolate! But it is not reasonable, so I will go back there when I have something special.

My Favorite Walking Course

Today I walked to Yuraku-cho from the office. It takes about 30 minutes... It is kind of challenging, huh?

A few weeks ago, my superior, Naoko, and I went to the movie after the work. She told me how to get there by walk then. When we left the office, it was already dark. So we could enjoy the night view. Since I really liked that sight, I sometimes walk that course from then.


Walking toward Yuraku-cho, I cross a Kachidoki Bridge, which is lighted up with blue and green lights. And from that bridge, I can see the Tokyo Tower and skyscrapers!
This is really, really nice view.
I like Tokyo because I can see like this beautiful scene.

It's getting cooler, so now is the best season for walking. In this walking course, I can also feel the sea breeze.

Leonardo da Vinci

"Leonardo daVinci"---What do you recall when you hear this name?
An artist? or An inventor? or An architecture??

Now "Leonardo da Vinci Exhibition" is held in Roppongi Hills. Since I saw the poster at the station a couple of months ago, I had been looking forward to it. And today, I went there after the work.

When you think about da Vinci, most of you might recognize him as an artist. He surely is because he left several famous paintings, like "The Mona Lisa," "The Last Supper," and "The Virgin of Rocks."

BUT this is just one side of his character. In reality, he described himself as a "scientist." For proof of that, while his paintings are just about ten and most of those are unfinished, the codex that he took his own study and experiment down are left at least 8,000 pages! The one of those codices, The Codex Leicester, is featured in this exhibition.

The room where the codex were displayed was very dark. According to the explanation, they can't light them strongly because of the quality preservation. The Codex Leicester consists of 18 pieces of paper, and we can see the entire pages in this exhibition. Each Paper was put between the glasses and the lighting was pretty weakly. In addition to it, the light faded out in shortly. So I had to move to another paper when the light faded out.

His study covered the astronomy, the anatomy, the architecture, the nature, the geology, and more. He recorded those studies with beautiful sketches. And the most surprising thing was that he wrote in mirrored character. It means you can read normally if you see it in a mirror.

How can I describe him? I can say just "He is the very genius." And I can also say "Genius is only one remove from insanity."

By way of parenthiesis, this codex now belongs to Bill Gates from Microsoft. He provides it once a year in one place in the world. Of course, this is the first exhibition in Japan. I am very curious to know which city this is going to be held next...

Easygoing Holiday

I slept late this morning. I have been busy recently, so I wanted to rest as long as I could. I finally got up around 9:30, and then I spent an hour in having breakfast. I took it easy and do nothing in the morning.

Then I decided to go to the gym in Yuraku-cho. I go there about three times a week, after the work on weekday and sometimes on weekend. I worked out for an hour today. Moderate exercise always promotes good feeling and health.

Leaving the gym, I walked toward Ginza. Those two areas are pretty close and it takes just 10-15 minutes on foot. Ginza is one of my favorite towns, and the atmosphere of the town is like downtown Seattle. They don’t have market, though. I like spending the time there especially on weekend because it becomes the pedestrian precinct.

I didn’t have any purposes there, but just walked around. In spite of the rainy weather, the town was so crowded. I think it is because today is the middle day of three successive holidays.
As I checked some shops of bag, shoes, and clothes, I found an autumn flavor. The colors of all stuffs are quiet and warm hue like purple, crimson, and brown. I like those colors, so I got to ache to wear autumn clothes.

Since I got tired, I went to Starbucks and had Caramel Mocha which is new menu of this autumn. It was good, sweet and slightly caramel flavored. I often call at　Starbucks, but their coffee in Japan is weaker than that in Seattle. I miss Seattle’s Starbucks coffee… But Caramel Mocha was enough good to ease my tiredness. I had a seat and spent two hours on reading a book.

I enjoyed my private time today. I had always hung out with somebody recently. I like sharing time with my family and friends, but I also like spent my own time by myself at times.

Japanese and Western Youkai

Today I took the third lecture at Musashi Univ. The small theme was “ The Japanese Youkai (hobgoblins) and the western ones.” I had looked forward to this lecture because the theme sounds very fun! Tradition says that there are hundreds of Youkai in Japan. Since there are still lots of movies, books, and animated cartoons about Youkai, it is very familiar to me and I can mention some of them.

Today’s teacher was American man. Since he got 15 Japanese writings from his teacher when he was 15 years old, he got interest in Japanese literature. At the beginning of the lecture, he asked us…
“ Do you think there are Youkai in other countries?”
Mmm…I hadn’t thought like that thing. Well, Frankenstein, werewolf, Casper, Moomin, Troll, Adam’s family…?? Yes, he introduced those, and vampire and plastic man, too.

In the meantime, in Japanese Youkai, followings are well- known.
Tofu Kozo – The boy who always has Tofu
Kitaro – the famous character of animated cartoon
Nuri Kabe –The Youkai of wall which have hands and foot.
Ittan Momen – The clothes which can fly
Konaki- Jijii – The old man who can be very heavy like rock
And there are much more kinds of Youkai. I regret I can’t tell everything here…

Attending to the teacher, I and my mother noticed one thing. Western Youkai are more like human-being and noble. On the other hand, Japanese Youkai are more like commoner, and not only like human-being but also animals, plants, and “stuffs” like wall or clothes. Those are kind of deformed “stuffs.”

I think it comes from the Japanese traditional way of thinking. The old people thought every thing has life. It means not only human being, animals and plants, but also desk, lamp, wall, cloth, stone, hammer and every other thing. That brings the idea that every thing has a potential to be Youkai.

As I expected, today’s lecture was really interesting for me. I didn’t know the world of Youkai was so profound…

"Koromo- Gae" Season

In Japan, around beginning of October, most people are busy changing the wardrobe from spring & summer clotheｒ to fall & winter one. We call that custom “Koromo-Gae” in Japanese. Koromo means clothes and Gae means change.

Business people start wearing jackets at all times, and almost all uniforms for like students, station attendants, and office ladies become winter-like. In plain clothes, women change to boots from sandals, and the materials of clothes are shifted to wool or velvet from linen and cotton.

I think “Koromo-Gae” became a Japanese custom because Japan has distinct four seasons. I can enjoy different types of fashion in each season, so I always get excited around the turn of the season. I already changed my uniform that I wear at the office to winter clother, but I haven’t done with my drawer in my room yet. I think I will do that next weekend.

Do you have "Koromo-Gae" in your country?

Japonism in France

I am taking the extension lectures at Musashi University on Saturdays with my mother. “ The Japanese culture seen from abroad” is the big theme, and we can take part in five lectures about each small theme through five weeks.
The lecture of last Saturday was about “ The influence of Japan culture upon France; Japonism.“ The teacher was a French woman, Ms. Bridget Koyama. She came to Japan right after she finished the graduate school in Paris, and became a teacher at Musashi. Of course she can speak Japanese fluently.

The teacher showed many pictures of arts, like drawing, sculpture, dish, and so on to us. She always compared those to the Japanese original ones. I could see the influence of Japan in those French Arts clearly. The diagonal composition and the pose of models in drawing, the description of birds, the combination of colors, the technique of japan ware…

The most surprising thing was that many nobles and famous artists collected Japanese stuffs, and they wore Kimono as a gown! There are lots of pictures that show people are in Kimonos. I didn’t know Kimonos had already gone over to France about two hundred years ago. But no one could tie their Obi well in those pics…

At the beginning of the lecture, she played music on the CD that is very familiar to us. It was “Orpheus in the under worldーoverture (J.OFFENBACH).” “Tengoku to Jigoku” in Japanese. What do you image when you listen to this music? I think most Japanese people bring the school sports to mind. Actually I did at that time. BUT according to the teacher, for French people, it is the music of French cancan, and typifies the times that the Japonism started in France. Though this is not related to Japanese culture directly, I had an interest in it because the symbol in Japan and that in France is different, even the same music. According to my sister, who graduated from the University of music, this music is originally from German opera. So if German people listen to it, they must feel different from us. Isn’t this interesting??

Tiny Little Happy

Since it was very nice day today, I went to Yuraku-cho and had lunch at " Bagle & Bagle" which is one of my favorite cafes. I chose blue popie flavored bagle with vegetable as usual, and sat on the outside table because I wanted to feel this gorgeous weather. The sky was completely blue and high, the Sun was shining, and not cold nor hot. Though I have lots of tiny little happy moments, enjoying the calm weather outside is one of those. Having good and healthy food is even better!! I could relax and refresh myself.

After the lunch, walking around, I heard the lively sound of some instruments. I looked for the place the sound came from. It was from the square in front of the International Forum Building, and I found that unique jazz band group was playing music! I took a picture of them instinctively. Can you see what they are wearing? Yes, they were in work clothes of construction! They were also wearing hardhat of course!! Isn’t that funny? I have no idea why they were like that appearance, though, their play was absolutely nice. They played some numbers from famous movies like “ New Cinema Paradise.” I run across them, and I got another tiny little happy today.

I think pieces of happy are spread everywhere in our life. So our mission is just to find those as much as we can. Gathered tiny little happies will be big, big happy someday, I believe.

Welcome to my blog!

I started my own blog! I got the idea that creating the blog in English from my friend, Maffie, from Seattle. This is nice way to keep in contact with my all precious people. Enjoy browsing and feel free to leave comments!!