Tokyo Station

Tokyo Station is one of the main stations in Tokyo. It is located just in front of the Imperial Palace and it is in the real center of Tokyo, in the middle of Ginza, Nihonbashi, Otemachi. The station was finished in 1914 and for some scholars, it was built to look after Amsterdam Central Station. In my opinion, they look pretty similar.



Until recently, the station facade was under renovation and could not be seen properly. This Sunday, before the Setsubun event and party I told you about yesterday, we went for lunch in Otemachi area and could see the station front from a nice view point. Apparently, the works finished recently, so we were pretty lucky to get this nice view over the station :)

Setsubun 節分 平成２５年

Yesterday, it was 3rd February and that means the beginning of the Spring in Japanese tradition. 3 years ago, I already talked about Setsubun 節分 in this blog .

This year, we went to Nezu Jinja with our little son for the so-called mamemaki 豆まき. Some demons dance around doing nasty things and then, some people come with many presents (oranges, rice crackers, peanuts, snacks...) and throw them to the crowd as the demons flee. Some kids bring big bags to try to get as much stuff as possible!



At night, we had a party at home to celebrate setsubun. I wore a demon mask and my nephew, niece and son threw me lots of beans for me to leave as they sang: 鬼は外、福は内。　"Demons go away, Luck come in!"



Afterwards, we ate some large sushi rolls. For the first one, you must face South South East and eat the whole roll without speaking and thinking about your wishes. They will come true by doing that! ;)

Another traditional thing to do is to eat the same number of soy beans as your age. Fortunately, 30 beans is still manageable after a sushi feast!

Japan shakes again

Another big earthquake... but fortunately, at least in Tokyo, nothing to do with the one in March last year...

Xmas illumination in Keyakizaka

In Japan, there are two main religions coexisting together: Shintoism and Buddhism. However, most Japanese do not care much about them and just use them for the usual celebrations: weddings, baby blessings, funerals... Moreover, although Christians are really a minority in the country, Christmas is somehow celebrated. There are special western Xmas food in supermarkets, Xmas decoration in shopping malls and streets and Xmas illumination. In Japan, Xmas Eve is a night to go out with your partner and enjoy a nice romantic dinner. New Year's Eve is to be at home for dinner and then, visit a shrine just after midnight. It looks like Xmas Eve and New Years Eve are swapped! These days, there are areas in Tokyo with beautiful Xmas illumination. Maybe one of the best is just behind Roppongi Hills, in Keyakizaka. Nicely illuminated trees and Tokyo Tower in the background.

 

 

 This is the exact location of this place in case you pass by Tokyo around Xmas. It is just behind the famous shopping complex Roppongi Hills, near Roppongi, Hiroo, Azabu-juban and Nogizaka stations: 

Wedding Anniversary

Yesterday, it was the third anniversary of our wedding. It is amazing already three years have flown away... it feels like I got married just yesterday!

To celebrate such an occasion, I made a reservation in the same restaurant where we celebrated our wedding banquet: Asakusa Imahan Bekkan, next to the famous Sensoji 浅草寺 in Asakusa 浅草, the heart of Tokyo's Shitamachi 下町. We had a nice sukiyaki dinner with gorgeous Japanese beef in a beautiful tatami private room!

Color changing leaves in Gunma 群馬県で紅葉

This weekend we are in Gunma-ken, watching color changing leaves and visiting several spa towns. We are visiting Ikaho onsen, Kusatsu onsen and Shima onsen and areas around them! Good food, relaxed time and beautiful scenery!

From De viaje por el mundo

Toeicho 東栄町

Last weekend, we went with some friends (part of JLA) ;) to Aichi-ken. When you talk about Aichi-ken, everybody thinks about Nagoya, but actually, we went to the border area between Aichi and Shizuoka, and Nagoya was pretty far away. The objective of our trip was to meet a friend who has just been mother and to meet her child too.

On Saturday, it was raining all day pretty heavily, but still we managed to do some sightseeing and see some color changing leaves (kouyou 紅葉) in Yuya onsen 湯谷温泉.

We got to our friend's house pretty early and we could enjoy a nice time with her and her family.

Her mother also prepared some of the local delicacies...

...including rice with bugs, which was actually delicious!!!

The house was really cool, with a large orchard and gardens.

After visiting her, we went to the place where we would spend the night, Star Forest. The place was really cool. It is like a little astronomical observatory in the middle of the mountains. They even have a planetarium and a 60-cm telescope to watch the beautiful sky in these isolated mountains. Unfortunately, because of the rain, we could not use the telescope and we could just go for the planetarium. We stayed in some pretty bungalows...

and had a nice nabe dinner after the planetarium session.

On Sunday, the weather was perfect, with blue skies, and we could enjoy our time in Aichi much more. In the morning, we went to a local festival (maybe the town did not even have 1000 inhabitants!!!) which consisted of some guys dressed up as demons and dancing to the songs the crowd was singing. 

Later on the day, we went to a famous color changing leaves spot, Assuke 足助, in Toyota (yes, the original place of the largest car marker in the world). The next photos show you how beautiful that place is in autumn. No further descriptions needed... :) Enjoy the weekend!

Mt Fuji from NAOJ 天文台から富士山

Today, weather was great in Tokyo and Fujisan could be seen clearly from the city. According to one friend at work, Miyachi-san, the roof in our building is one of the best places to see the famous mountain! So today I asked him to show me if the view was so great, and it was! I took the lab camera and took some photos. These are some of them.