Smoking in Japan.

It's getting more and more difficult to smoke recently in Japan. Not only increasing the tax for cigarettes, but also decreasing allowed space to smoke. Near stations, big cities and offices... Many places are prohibited from it. Well, it really doesn't matter to me since I don't smoke at all. ("What is this picture?!" you say? I smoked to take the picture :D) For non-smoker like me, it's your call whether you do it or not. But I don't like people smoking in restaurants except Izakaya, which serve alcohol and meals. I can't taste anything if someone smokes near my table, so I ask the restaurant to move other table such time. Smoking is their joy as well as their right, as long as no harm for others I believe.

Water pipe has an another story :P I take it once in a year in a park near my home. Smoking in this park is no problem, you can even enjoy fireworks in summers. The problem is that most people in Japan have never seen this in their entire life, and seemingly, it looks as if I'm taking some terrible drug. They have no idea what I'm doing. They don't call police, they don't say anything to me though, I noticed they never come close to me. That's why I bring water pipe outside only once in a year :)

Shinagawa Aquarium, and more ;)

It was my inaugural visit to Shinagawa Aquarium yesterday. My friend, my family, and  I all had thought that it was located in or next to, or at least near Shinagawa Station. Prior to our visit there, I happened to check their public website on the way to Shinagawa and found myself that it is not in that station: its nearest station is 6 stops away from Shinagawa Station (oh...)! But it makes sense, considering that we have Shinagawa City in Tokyo. It's not only a name of the station, haha. "It's okay", we said. The weather was perfect, the temperatures were a bit higher than we expected, but it didn't matter to us. We jumped into a Singaporean restaurant before moving to the aquarium.

It was a first time for me to eat food in Singapore. I chose a meal of cooked crab. Along with the Japanese ' love of seafood, they truly love eating crabs. I don't think crab is not that delicious. It always makes me confused when I eat, I can't make it good with scissors and a unique spoon  which is only made for eating crabs.

I couldn't eat it like I expected, so my family took my dish and made it instead of me.

 The dish tasted good, the atmosphere was well enough :D

After enjoying Singapore food, we took a train and finally...

We were here ;)

Shinagawa Aquarium is not a big one I personally think. However, I like it because of its compact, well thought out program and such.

Looks like ^_^ ?! He's a ray! I heard his Ocellated things  are actually his nose :)

 

Aquariums are one of my favorite pastimes. Sitting in front of tanks and absently take a glance it once in a while, I could easily spend hours there. I like fish and once kept many kinds of them in my room when I was a kid. Taking care for creatures was the happiest moment of my childhood and aquarium reminds me of it all.

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Can you tell what it is? It's a durian! I found it the day before yesterday in a grocery. Because you can't find it easily in Japan, I bought and ate it with my friend and family.

 

It's been 8 years since I last ate durian. Back in 2005, I was 18-year-old boy who lived in Cambodia where supplies plenty of it. Oh, I still remember that ;) The smell wasn't strong, we really enjoyed chatting during eating.

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My friend who met yesterday and I first met each other at the funeral of our common friend who dove into a train in the summer of 2006. I just came back to Japan from the Middle East at that time, and more importantly, my friend and I kept a promise that we were going to see each other a week later to talk about my experience in the Middle East. I brought some souvenirs for her that couldn't give forever as a result. That's how we met. 7 years flied, I still couldn't help but thinking if she is here with us. Soon we have a summer which reminds us of our bitter ends. Well, don't worry, I'll always remember you.

One unstable day.

Having trouble with my mental health happens on a daily basis. There's no prediction I could do early on, it just shows up by surprise, knocking me out, and gone suddenly just like when it emerged. This severe problem happened a few days ago. Doing overdose of sleeping medicines was the only way not to let me down anymore at that point.

I have been just after waking up when one of my family came back. She brought me to a restaurant (I don't remember that), the first picture of this post speaks I ordered and ate a noodle, although I didn't even remember until I checked my camera out the next day.

I.... I'm sorry for everything and everyone. Living in peace is my only wish. My doing which did a few days ago was completely opposite and insulting everyone who warmly care for me. Indeed, I am on the way to make a change, make things better. It takes time perhaps more than once I imagined. But I will never give up, like my past life.

Pictures in and around Tokyo, taken lately.

 

It's always my pleasure to see tender green during this season, late spring. It reminds me of the upcoming summer. Yes, I definitely like summer more than any other seasons. Enjoying everyday and showing respect for it are one of my irreplaceable mottos. Like making coffee in the early mornings, caring for things around me also mean caring for myself. It's 7:58 in the morning here in my country, the sun is bright, the temperature is good enough. Well, I'll be out soon :)

Toyama Prefecture, where I really like.

It was mid February when I was told my grandmother went into hospital because of sickness. I decided then and there that I was going to go to Toyama Prefecture where she lives to take care of her. Soon after that information, I packed all of things in my bag, left my home in Tokyo. It took almost two weeks spending there, forced me to quit one of my job in Tokyo as a result. Well, I don't regret anything about it. That is that.

Toyama is a beautiful place to visit, nice to place to eat sushi and so forth. Many people from abroad could skip there though, I emphasize that it's one of hidden places to see.

I brought my lovely dog to Toyama, lived with him in a big house where my grandmother lives, but not lived at that time. Typically I have nothing to do, just went to the hospital to see her once or twice a day, ate sushi  on the way back home, fed my dog and slept early in the evening.

 While there, I ate sushi almost every day. There was a sushi restaurant which serves good ones yet budget friendly. Since Toyama is famous for fresh seafood, especially in winter, it was a good opportunity for me to eat it.

 I like there a lot. Not only because it's my ancestors' home, but also it's a good place to visit repeatedly. You can find fascinating old street and easily spend hours there, the food is great.

 Fortunately, my grandmother became better and came back to her home. Well, I'll be always thinking of my short stay :)

:D

Ekiben, boxed meals for train.

One of the most enjoyable thing when I get on a train is eating Ekiben, or lunch box for a train. They are sold in and around big stations such as Tokyo Station, and you can choose from variety of them. Since I bought some of them a few days ago, let me show you them, okay? :)

It says "Tokyo Bento". The name "Ekiben" means "Station (eki)" and "lunch box (bento)" respectively. "To" is gone somewhere, probably it's abbreviated I think.

When you open a cover, you'll see colorful meals like Japanese pickles, broiled salmon (It was amazingly good taste!) and so forth. Let's see the next...

Recently they put a menu of Ekiben inside, you can find where ingredients are gathered, what kind of food they put inside it ;)

I found a lot of Ekiben in Tokyo Station by the way, maybe they are over 30 of them available. Not only Japanese style, but also Chinese, Italian, and European style Ekiben are there.

The last one is seafood sushi style lunch box! I like it! ;) Most of ekiben are about 800-1200yen each. Not that cheap as a boxed lunch. But it's surely one of the traditional things in my country :D