A week off.

With some complicated, annoying matters happened to me, eventually I decided to cancel all of works and stuff, going back to my hometown tonight. I'm going to spend a whole week there, take some rest, will be a fresh start then. Don't worry, I'll be alright :)

Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum, pt.3.

Where's pt.2?! Here it is :)

Cycling on my bicycle, I was heading to the place where I like the most of all museums in Tokyo.

There are many museums in Tokyo, but I have hardly been most of them since I'm not cut out to be art. However, Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum(Official site, but what a poor information site it is...), I could feel I'm in the middle of something really important.

The building I like the most in this museum is this one, a house of a former politician in Japan. He was murdered in this house when he was asleep, it was before Second World War.

There's nothing like this house in current Japan.

Windows, interiors, I like all of them deeply :)

It was around 9:45 in the morning at that point, right after opening this museum and there's nobody there.

I put an old lens which my father gave me by the way. He bought it before he left Japan to the U.S. for studying. It was about 30 years ago yet this lens still can use with my state-of-the-art camera...How nice ;)

You see? Glass are not flat because these are made in Meiji-era, about a hundred years ago. You can't rebuild once you break it. I can't even touch them, haha.

It's a kitchen! :D

Oh oh oh....out of focus, It was too dark to realize it :(

The weather wasn't good, as you can see. It was a cold morning and I found pigeons walking on the ice of the surface in a river.

But by the time I was about to leave this museum, the sky turned blue. Yes, I like shine :)

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It's the first time to upload a picture of mine :)
(Or maybe second time?!)

I didn't use anything such as soft filter. I was just standing in front of a mirror and shot it. Unfortunately (or fortunately?) mirror was too duty to reflect something clear. Anyway...

Hello again! :)

Oliebollen!

About a month ago I cooked Oliebollen in my home.

My very special friend sent ingredients and surprisingly, she sent me how to cook it with her drawings as well. Thanks to this all, I think I made a good one :) Yummy! :D Thank you very much again, Suzanne :)

Kanazawa and Hokuriku region.

Okay, I got back on my feet and I'm fine now. I'm sorry I sometime have you worried. My depression....it happens now and then, some kind of the bad routine of mine. I'm going to get through this, so don't worry :)

Well... time for talking with this post! ;)

I went to Kanazawa city, located in northern part of Japan so called Hokuriku. It was the first time for me to visit there in the winter, and that was absolutely beautiful season to visit. (It's so cold though!)
(See here and here about last time I visited)

We've lost many historical buildings in wars, especially in the Second World War. But here in Kanazawa, some districts remain their shapes about 400 years. 400 years!! I can't imagine how long it is... Buildings in Japan is typically made of woods, not stones like Europe. It's burned easily, plus due to natural disasters such as earthquake, Tsunami, volcano and so forth, it's really difficult to remain something as it is in Japan.

I visited one of the old house which is under preserved. Called "Nomura-ke", which is well known as a beautiful garden and its oldish house. It costs 500yen for admission fee, however, it's definitely worth spending! :)
(Official site of Kanazawa, see here)

This is "Butsudan" mainly for respecting ancestors. Although houses these days don't have it (I don't have it neither), some old houses still have their own Butsudan in it, like my grandmother's house.

Nomura-ke was a family of warrior. They had come into their equipments of war for a long time and it is displayed now in the showcase.

There is a small museum along with this old house. Swords, paintings and stuff you can see.

Walking along the narrow corridor and...

Here it is :D You probably know that I love Japanese gardens!

Totally stunning, I know! :)

By the way, the weather was really unstable at that time. Sometime raining,  sometime sun was shining.

There is a tea room upstairs :) Oh my, I forgot to shoot it :(

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Hokuriku region is a famous place with heavy snow in the winter. Accumulated snow sometime hit a meter or two. Besides tremendous snow, we have a big problem, it's declining the population. Many young people leave their hometown to big city like Tokyo, and never coming back.

 

However, who can blame whom? First thing you do when waking up in the early morning is getting rid of snow on your car, on the roof of your house, a path to the main road from your house. And after that you will work all the day? Most people just can't do it, at least I can't. That is a big reason why younger people give up living such a snowy region.

I was born in a rather big and warm city but my ancestors were traditionally there in Hokuriku region for a real long time and my grandmother lives there alone. I could ask her to live with me or my parents, however, she loves there. So...I decided to do what all I can do. Visiting her as much as I could, a few times a year. It's far away from Tokyo to her place (It takes 6-7 hours by night bus), but it doesn't matter!

Yes, Hokuriku region is still there and will be there, however, things are getting worse. The worst thing is that people are about to forget it and I'm really afraid of it. You see, my two brothers hardly come visit there, only once in 5 years? I can't even remember. I will never ever forget my grandmother and there as long as I live.

After getting back to my home in Tokyo, The sun was shining and there was no snow around, as if there is no snow in the world. Well, I won't forget anything I felt in the snowy place. So, don't worry.

Kanazawa.

I'm in trouble with something right now, but soon it will be gone. So.... Just wait a moment :)

Tsukiji market, February 2013.

I visited Tsukiji market, located along with Tokyo Bay yesterday. Looking back on my first post in this blog, it was also about Tsukiji market. What a coincidence! :)

I love markets. I've been to many markets in many countries. Rwanda, Syria, Cambodia and so on... Things they sell and prices are quite different each place I visited, but there is something in common. They all have much energy in markets. Anyway,

It's oysters from Hiroshima :D

I can stay there forever, I really love this place :) Many kinds of fish, vegetables and fruits.

Tsukiji market is a place where many small shops are gathering. this shop seems to only sell salmon.

It was around 9 a.m. and most of shops had already finished their job and they were in the middle of washing their floor and tables.

Oh.....these are testing foods. Take some even if you don't plan to buy ;) It's okay for just eating and leaving. You buy only if you taste and think it's good.

Well, I heard once before that they cut fish's head to prevent it from going off. I'm not sure if it's true or not, but I found many fish cut their head partly.

Guess what, it's Tuna! Japanese really love it, it's the most popular and the most expensive as well. Do you have any idea how big this red thing? It's about one meter! :D

I asked him to buy 4kg and that was 16,000 yen. I must say it's really really cheap. You can't buy such a good one with this price. But since I bought it with my friends (We were nine people with me!) and we were with a sushi chef, so he asked some discount :)

After wrapped with green papers...

It really looks like katana, or Japanese sword, right?

This is Wasabi, or Green horseradish and it says this wasabi is 18,000 yen for 1kg. 18,000 yen!! I always put 100 yen wasabi for sushi in my home, haha....

This is Tuna. You can see on the top is colored with deep red. This is called "akami", the cheapest part of Tuna in sushi but there are many people who love this part. Look at the right side. It looks whiter and this is exactly the part where is the most expensive one called "Oh-toro". I sometime find it in Sushi restaurants and although it depends on where you eat, it sometimes hits 600 yen for one portion of Oh-toro.

Well, that's it for today. Did you enjoy reading this post about Tsukiji market? It's really impressive place to see, I'm glad if you read and want to visit there :)