Kaikaya

We love this restaurant Kaikaya, located in Maruyama-cho, Shibuya-ku -- very close to the Shinsen stop on the Keio-Inokashira line (or a 10-minute walk from Shibuya station). The last time Terry and I ate there we were with Pat's family, visiting from California. We arrived after having spent the day in Kichijoji --a suburb 20 minutes west of town, also on the Inokashira line, so it was basically on our way home. (Brilliant planning on our part!) As usual, the sashimi, fish carpaccio and tuna jaw were all excellent. Photos by Patrick:
'No Fish- No Life'!Sake


Oh, and Leo-sama is also a fan

Yakoo-toh!

Baseball games are a blast here. Fans are rowdy (by Japanese standards -- which is to say, they cheer loudly but in an orderly fashion) and love to use props, like toy umbrellas, whistles, towels, banners and plastic bats to beat together.

We took Terry's brother's family to a Sunday afternoon Yakult Swallows game at Jingu stadium -- a clean, bright and cheery place, and small compared to major league fields back home.

Beer is served from kegs in backpacks. There's the Yebisu girl, in the maroon socks. Also in the photo above, to the right, is a guy holding a foul-ball warning sign. (Awesome photo, not mine.)

My brother-in-law managed to film the jumbo screen just as one of the field cameras zoomed in on our section (caught off guard, we waved to ourselves, rather than the camera). Above is a still he pulled from the footage. (Cool, right?)

Our group, minus the photographer. (You can see more of Patrick's brilliant photos by clicking here.)

tall building

Took my brother's kids to the top of the Tokyo Tower last week. They loved it. You can't go to the tip top (the thing is 333 meters high) but the top "special" observatory is a respectable 250 meters up, and there's a cool glass elevator.

Click here, here, and/or here to watch some video footage that I posted on youtube. (Warning: these videos are probably boring if you don't know me or my brother's family. The first clip features a 6-year-old's monologue, accompanied by shaky camera work; the second gives a glimpse from the "lookdown window," and the third is what you see and hear from inside the elevator.)
The Noppon brothers -- twins born in 1998 -- are the Tokyo Tower mascots. The one in red overalls is, according to the official website, "cheerful and lively, but often feels lonely and misses people." His twin wears blue overalls and is "shy and cool."

Asakusa

My nephews Owen, 6 (left), and James, 9. Visitors from New York...

Brad Pitt's Softbank commercial

click to watch

new dress

And it looks exactly like this on me. Exactly.

girl time

Today my 3-year-old niece and I spent the morning window shopping along Omotesando street, then popped into Oriental Bazaar to purchase this Hello Kitty mirror.

square watermelon, $150

My nephew Patrick, 12, checks out a square watermelon at the fancy fruit store near Shibuya crossing. That's a Hanshin Tigers baseball cap he's wearing...

neko cafe in Akihabara

At JaLaLa, you can pay to play with a kitty-cat.
This is Curl. He's from America, and looks just like Finnegan, the orange tabby our family abandoned when we moved to Japan. Or, I should say, turned over to the competent care of the boys' Nonna in St. Louis.

And this is Anne, the friskiest of the bunch when my 12-year-old niece and I were there last Sunday.

All the cats are pictured and profiled on the wall.
The place is tiny. Upon arrival, a friendly human staff member briefs you on how to properly wash and disinfect your hands before touching the felines, and runs through a list of rules printed (in English) on a single laminated page.

For one thing, you're not allowed to pick a cat up without asking first. ("If you want to hug, please tell us and we will help you.") They choose which cat to place in your lap. They do not guarantee, however, that the cat will remain there.
The rule sheet also instructs if a cat is sleeping, that you touch her softly and not wake her up. Oh, and you can't abuse the cats either. ("Please refrain from treating them as they don't like...")

These rules seemed reasonable to us.

It cost 800 yen (about $8) total for one adult and one child to spend 30 minutes in the place, tea included.

Small groups of adults stopped in while we were there. I had read that these places are popular with lonely people who yearn for a pet cat of their own but for one reason or another can't have one (most likely because the landlord forbids it). But the folks we saw seemed like regular old cat lovers, quietly sitting and chatting and enjoying their tea and the furry company.

I would totally go back there. I think Emma would too.

But do you have any deltoid?

The all too literal English menu at Jinya, a Japanese grill joint in Ebisu notable for the flaming torches out front (if not stellar food) notes that the item on the left, listed as a chicken "arm," resembles "the bicep of a human."

Mizuno window display in Jingumae

I always run in my black knee highs.

Gundam!

My niece and nephew, here visiting from California this week, pose with Gundam, star of a 1979 Japanese TV series said to have pioneered the real robot era of mecha anime. (I just copied that from the wikipedia page.) The name Gundam actually represents a whole franchise; the statue, recently erected in Shiokaze park in Odaiba (not far from the Statue of Liberty) to commemorate the series' 30th anniversary, is a 59-ft. replica of the original concept/character known as Mobile Suit Gundam, or Mobile Soldier Gundam -- think Iron Man, but on a much larger scale. (The thing is controlled by a human pilot, from the cockpit inside the torso, and there's a camera inside the head.)

I don't know how long it will be up, but it's worth a look.
At night, it lights up!
(Photo from pink tentacle)

statue of liberty in Odaiba

In 1998, France loaned Japan its bronze replica (America's gift to Paris in 1889) for one year. The Japanese loved it so much that after they gave her back to the French, they had a copy made, and so here she stands.
That's Tokyo Bay and the Rainbow Bridge behind her

my dentist is across the road from Tokyo Tower

And yet I still have not been to the top.

lazy Sunday

Playgrounds in Tokyo can be a bit sad -- ancient equipment, loose dirt as ground cover -- but this little one near Ebisu Garden Place seemed, I dunno, almost cheery when we stopped by a couple days ago. Of course the trees are a lot greener now that summer is here (check out that trellis) but it also looked like somebody painted. That's Dylan on the slide.

silly purchase of the week

I bought myself this cheap pair of geta from a shop I happened to walk by in Azabu Juban called Koizumi footwear.

The shopkeeper tried to tempt me with these (maybe because the ones I picked out are really for guys -- most of the geta and more formal zori designed for women are too narrow for my feet) but they were 3x the price, and I sort of pitched forward with every step. Their style is more authentic-traditional Japanese because of the two "teeth" on the bottom.

This pair, featuring a black velvety thong, cost even more, perhaps because each sandal was carved from a single piece of wood. Cloppetty-clop!

rainy season etiquette

Tokyo Metro's latest

best little dog outfit ever

photo by Katy Dix

heartfelt sorrow at the ATM

Photo by Katy Dix (that I stole off facebook!)

little piggies at the market

Andersen's bakery shop

city kids

Missha cosmetics shop in Shibuya

The M Shimmering Ball Blusher comes in two shades: pastel glow and berry glow...

Dylan turns 7

shady business

On line to see a special exhibit at the National Museum the other day, my friend Brenda and I roasted in the blazing sun while virtually everybody else kept cool in their own personal patch of shade (it was mainly little old ladies on this particular Tuesday morning). Eventually we were given a loaner parasol from one of the museum attendants.

want some candy little girl?

For some reason, here in Tokyo I don't hesitate when a stranger offers me candy, as my taxi driver did the other day. "Candy, please," he said, then shut my door, using a hand lever next to the steering wheel. He motioned to a little basket of wrapped taffies hanging off the lace seat cover and smiled. How could I say no?

17 months here and I'm still lovin' the sushi

When Terry and I make a lunch date, it is now understood that we will come here to eat as it is relatively inexpensive and oh so fresh and good: the popular and always packed Midori sushi, in Mark City Shibuya, past Starbucks somewhere between the East Mall and Shopping Avenue (two separate wings of this enormous train-station-and-shopping complex). I'm told there's also a Midori in Shimo-Kitazawa, a 2-story location, the chain's original establishment. I've gotta go! But first need to have someone who reads Japanese take a look at their website for me...

uppers and downers

Low point of the day: slipping and falling down - hard - in the rain, just like Charlie Brown when Lucy pulls the football at the last second.

High point: Being told by an absolute stranger, a young woman from California waiting next to me in the queue outside a sushi bar (see above), that I looked like I was in my "late 20s."

well, my birthday is coming up...

I so want to buy one of Di Conroy's quilts! These photos don't do them justice. She uses a combination of antique, vintage and new fabrics, which she buys in bolts in Nippori (Tokyo's fabric district) or Yuzawaya (a big craft store in Kichijoji I hope to visit soon) or in the form of previously owned yukata and kimono. (Di hosts a monthly craft morning, where I go and drink coffee and eat cake and do a little mending while the others quilt and crochet and knit...).

This blue-and-white one's got my name all over it..

high-minded tennis

T-shirt for sale at Windsor, a tennis superstore in Shibuya