A sunny day.

 Opening up the door of my entrance, I found Mt. Fuji lies in the blue sky. "Must be a good day today" I said to myself.

 It was a day off for me, well, the's not exact. I sometimes work but most of the time I spend hours and days reading, learning, and cooking. Many people consider me as strange or dumb person, but this is my way: pursue for something what I really, really believe it as deserving to. I cook because I'm a big fun of cooking and eating alike, I read a lot because I'd like to understand what I haven't touched yet :) Since I'm not cut out to leave something special behind, I live like this no matter how many people say anything.

 Heart of cities in Tokyo is too busy to live. I have to be honest that I'm happy I live outskirt in Tokyo. Only you can hear at dawn is sounds of birds whistling.

 Well, I skip to explain about city centers in Tokyo for now :)

Pickles I cooked :) Ah, it's time for dinner! :D Let's go eat!! :)

Visiting Tsumago, an age-old town in Japan.

 Before the winter comes, I visited Tsumago, a town located in the Chubu region in Japan. Since it's on a mountain and hard to get in while snow covers there, I decided to head to see it :)

 Prior to embarking on a trip there, I ate this :) What do you think it is?! Actually this brownish thing is kind of sticky rice with a sauce based on soy and sugar, which means it's not sweets like cakes yet sweety. Many Japanese foods are cooked with sugar and I like it a lot ;) Oh, the name of this food is "gohei-mochi". You can't find it in Tokyo or other regions but there, it's a local food :D

 Okay, we're here :)

 Unlike last time I was there (I think it was 2009 or so), I found many tourists including people from other countries. Plus, I saw  a  group of coverage for TV, they seem from Europe. It stunned to me such a rural town is now featured.

 Beauty was everywhere, indeed. It's not as-is, they keep maintaining houses and stuff. Most Japanese architectures are made of woods so we can't keep it like forever. That's why we repair it every now and then. Personally, I think it's a good way to do it, elders give their skills to the children like taking over.

 The weather was good enough, but a bit cold due to its high elevation. I regretted coming here with T-shirt like everyday, haha.

 Woods. There is a whole bunch of woods surround the town. So naturally, they make many kinds of things, from box to paper by wood ;)

 What's that?! It was hung up under an eave of a house. Let's look what it's like...

 You can see them along the eave. I hit one of these when I tried to enter the shop, haha.

Sweet chestnut is widely gathered and eaten there. I bought a pack of them of course :D

 They have a place to eat it with green tea though, I didn't eat there since it was getting dark and colder than arrived at Tsumago.

 The sunset, I enjoyed mountains changing their color from green to bright orange.

 By the time I finished seeing, the sun had already gone and became dark. "Next time," I said to myself, "I would like to visit warm and calm season". I drove back to my home by using google maps app :)

Photographs in 2008.

 The year of 2008 was a remarkable one to me. For the first time in my life, I got my own SLR camera. First time I was confused, I still remember. Too many things to follow, complicated rules about taking pictures. I remember this picture was the first or second day of my photography life, I found a golden dog sitting (or sleeping) on a bench during my walk.

 Taking pictures is something fun. It usually doesn't go the way I want. Over exposure or something. Still, 5 years was enough to gradually find my way to live with my camera.

 Sure, it doesn't mean I can take "great pictures". Actually I'm still considering what it's like to be great and the question seems to be never solved since my favorite changes more often than I'd like.

 I don't leave my home in Tokyo or my country without bringing my camera ever since. I found myself that shooting pictures when I travel is like taking an exam. The photos in traveling reflect pictures daily basis such as food photo. Trying to take pictures frequently is a good exercise of mine.

 Photo shooting in dark places, portrait and so on. You can do it in your place as well as on your trip.

 Wow, Russian! Yes, I've learned Russian for a year and a half. I barely speak it now, but I'm proud of brightening days in studying it.

 2008 was also the year as a university student, which means I somehow had plenty time to spend. I'm way busier than that old time, however, I'll keep on taking pictures however it gets busier ;)

5-day trip around Tokyo, Autumn 2013 :)

 Well, let's begin with sushi with my grandmother, shall we? :) I went to a rather northern region a few days ago to see her.  'I'm lucky if I can live for three years you know.'  'You keep saying that for two decades now, grandmother. Still you're completely healthy and no worry about your future, okay?' Spending a night with her looked encourage her a lot.

 This is the best room in her house, traditional and old yet always tidy and clean.

 I like bright rooms so much, probably because of the influence of this room. My room in Tokyo is not like the traditional one, but thanks to two big windows you never feel sad out there :)

 Then...

 Moving on to the other place (again!). I found many trees changing colors of their leaves. It was 12 degrees out there, a bit cold. Unlike Tokyo, it already has autumn leaves.

 Dams and...

 Beautiful scenery :D

 After 1,200km trip and on the way back to Tokyo.

 Anytime I begin to pack my belongings, many of them say 'Traveling again?!'. I like outing somewhere rather than staying put. I could be standing still, however, I need sometimes to spend unusual places, at least for now ;)

After a funeral.

 After hearing an information that one of my relatives's gone, I immediately got back to my hometown to attend a funeral. It was weird for me, since I've never even met her in my entire life. She was 95-year-old, I wore my suits for the first time in 3 years or so, surrounded many relatives that I don't know who's who. I checked out many displays in the hall where the funeral took place. Buddhism things, candles here and there and fruits such as banana and melon. I've been several funerals before though, it was the first time to see the fruits. The style of funerals in this country deeply depend on their religions, areas they live and even their personal intention before they died. 'Life's always hard.' I just told myself.

 Well, I'll see my grandmother tomorrow :)

Eating Nabe, a Japanese hot pot dish

 It's "Nabe",  Japanese hot pot dishes. Many Japanese enjoy taking it with their family, especially in cold winters. Of course you can eat it in restaurants (it usually costs from 2,000yen, or about 20US$ for one person), however, it's something familiar to most of them and many people like cooking it in their home. Here, I cooked my own nabe :D

 What does nabe mean by the way? Originally, the word means a pan used for the meal. My milky colored pan is made from soils by the way. I like the pan with the material because it stays hot and keeps ingredient warm with low heat, oh, it also has foods inside it stable ;) One more thing. It's extremely cheap to get it. My pan was 780yen (about 8US$)! And because I had a coupon to be available, it became 280yen (around 3US$). Everything is fine, don't you think? :) Well, let's start, shall we? :D

 One huge reason why nabe is so popular and obsess people is that it's really, really easy to cook. All you have to do is just chop ingredients, that's all. Still, I precooked carrots. Hmmm... It seemed I was too much free time to think things simple, haha.

 Here's other ingredients. Can you see the right one? It's a soup for nabe. You can cook from first, like mixing soy paste, alcohol, salt and stuff but I took the ready-made one, yes, I was too tired at that time :S

 What's this?! It's sliced and banded konjac (We call it "kon-nyaku" by the way.). Truth be told, I was terrible with it when I was a kid. Gum-like texture yet the taste was almost nothing, I had thought. I chewed it, but couldn't think I was eating something. It was terrible food to see in my old days :)

 And what about it? If you wonder, then see this post ("Visiting Tama Zoo, in Tokyo.") . It's made from soy after all, however, I can't see how soy changes like this =)

 I like it so much by the way, that's why I took two photos :D

 And champignons as well ;) I cut their surface partly to make them look more beautiful. Japanese like foods looks good by the way, they always try to do it by cutting, placing on plates carefully and such.

 After pouring the sauce and boiled it, I put chopped salmons, vegetables and wait moments.

 Wow, gorgeous! I like waiting meals ready to be eaten, it's kind of a dilemma for me. I really want to eat as soon as possible, yet I enjoy waiting for meals get better at the same time.

 If you have enough vegetables and fish, pork, chicken or anything in your fridge, why don't you try to cook nabe?  It must be nice and fun, would be fascinated! ;)