Jiyugaoka

Now, I will introduce you to Jiyugaoka.

Jiyugaoka is a good residential district which
is famous for its fancy shops and cafes.
For this reason, Jiyugaoka is in the top 3 districts where people would most likely want to live in Tokyo.

It takes 30 minutes to go to Jiyugaoka by train from the Tokyo station.

I sometimes go to Jiyugaoka to eat lunch or buy cakes.




In this picture, there is a row of cherry blossom trees, and people are being comfortable on the wooden benches.

In early April, the cherry trees are almost in full bloom. It is very beautiful during that time.









Many roads in Jiyugaoka are very narrow.
There are a lot of small shops along the road.

The shops are very unique so there are many original goods.









This is the entrance to the Sweets Forest, which is the theme park of sweet foods.
There are about 10 shops and cafes in the building.











This photo was taken inside the Sweets Forest.

The pink decoration is an artificial cherry tree.
The women are buying the cakes.









I bought the ice cream which is mixed with pie, strawberry and custard.

It was very delicious.

Tokyo Dome

I will now introduce you to the Tokyo Dome.

Tokyo Dome is a baseball stadium.
The Yomiuri Giants which is the most popular Japanese professional baseball team uses Tokyo Dome as the home-stand.

Tokyo Dome was opened on 1988 as the first dome stadium in Japan.
If it is raining, the baseball games cannot be held inside a roofless stadium but in the Tokyo dome the game can be played even if it rains.

Tokyo dome is used not only for baseball but also for various events such as concerts and exhibitions.


I took this picture in November 2006.
On this day, the game was played between selected major baseball league players and selected Japanese professional players.
From the major league, top players earning over 10 million dollars joined this game.
The people lined up for three hours before the playball to watch the game.



This was taken inside the Tokyo Dome.
The green part is the turf.
The height from the ground to the roof is about 62 meters.







The pictures of musicians who have played in the Tokyo Dome are displayed in the hall.

Not only Japanese pop musicians but also international musicians such as Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney performed at Tokyo Dome.





This is the map showing the whole Tokyo Dome.
There are a lot of facilities such as an amusement park,a hotel, a shopping center, restaurants and a bowling center.







I took the picture of the merry-go-round from the shopping center.









This is the shopping center. This picture was taken in November so perhaps the decorations were for Christmas.









This is the roller coaster.
The max height is 80 meters and the max speed is 130km/h.
The fare is 1000 yen (about 10 dollars).








The coaster goes through the building.










This is the Tokyo Dome Hotel. It takes only a few minutes to walk from Tokyo Dome to this hotel.
The height of this hotel is 155 meters.









This is a night view of Tokyo Dome.










The tree is decorated by lights.

okonomiyaki

I will introduce you to the japanese food "okonomiyaki". It is one of my most favorite food.

Okonomiyaki is the Japanese-style pancake containing cabbages and other foodstuff.
Okonomi means "as you like" ,so you can include anything in the okonomiyaki.
In general, We use pork or seafood as ingredients in cooking okonomiyaki.

Okonomiyaki is a very popular food in Japan, especially in the Western part of Japan.

Today I will cook okonomiyaki, so I will tell you how to prepare it.


These are the foodstuff.
On the lower left is pork back ribs.
On the center you can see eggs.
And on the lower right lower is yam.

On the upper left is fish sausages.
Next to the fish sausages is fry dregs.
Next to the fry dregs is flour.
Next to the flour is cabbages.




I mixed the flour with water , eggs, and grated yam.











I cut the cabbage into strips and put it into the bowl.
Then I mixed it.










I cut the fish sausages into strips and put them into the bowl.
Then I mixed it.










I put mixed flour roundly into the frying pan .
Then I sprinkled fry dregs on it.









I put pork back ribs on the mixed flour.











After 5 minutes, I flipped the mixture upside down. Flipping over is my special skill. Please see this video.




Within five minutes , The Okonomiyaki is ready to be served.











I placed the Okonomiyaki in a serving dish.











These are the condiments.
The far left is mayonnaise.
Next to mayonnaise is dried bonito fish.
And then beside it is green laver.
The far right is the sauce for okonomiyaki.









I put the sauce and mayonnaise on the okonomiyaki.












I put dried bonito fish and green laver.
Okonomiyaki is ready.

I ate whole okonomiyaki. Of course it was very delicious.