Swiss Bistro

Day off ..... at The Ueno Museum. The Ueno museum is quite big, we took a walk in the garden behind it...... was nice.Cherry blossoms were almost finished, but the Japanese garden was nice.    After a lot of waking  we were thirsty...... Prost!

The New Year started wonderfully..... We were invited at our friend's new year party with beautiful and delicious traditional Japanese food and a lot of laughs!!!!

KOAMI Shrine    Koami-cho, Nihonnbashi, Tokyo  Good for fortune Good protect from Evil   Good Luck Jyuban Inari   ... next time I want to go.... Azabu jyuban

「Ishiwaka Soba 」 Japanese restaurant 「Otoushi」   It is Japanese food culture... for table charge, a kind of Amuse bouche... you can not chose, so sometimes good and sometimes not...but this restaurant's "Otoushi" was very delicious!!! Fruit Tomato Oden, with Quail egg and Pork....the stock was fantastic! And Tofu...was different with a delicate taste. Skipjack Tuna (Bonito) Sashimi was fantastic! Thickly cut sashimi, very tasty sauce of ginger, garlic, onion and spring onion....bringing a  lot of flavor in your mouth..... After a hot sake first, we had a cold sake.....  the set of sake was so cute.   Agedashi Tofu is one of Georges favourite Japanese dish, this is the best! with Aubergine. Tempura   ....we were disappointed not to order two of those.... Last one was the  Japanese Soba Noodles I was longing to eat those noodles..... which have a delicious taste, texture was perfect al dente! I could have eaten anoth...

We went to the  National Museum  at  Ueno  in Japan for our day off. Our lovely customers gave us an entry ticket to look at some National treasure Buddhism.  It was very impressing. With a nice autumn weather, we took a walk in the Ueno park ....which reminded us of Hagley park in Christchurch .  We liked the fountain so took many pictures.....hahaha....  We found a big Quince tree ..... felt like pinching some fruits to make a Quince jelly.......yummmmm.... Winter cherry blossoms!? Sky tree tower over there.......... The Ginkgo trees were beautifully yellow......  We had a very nice day off.

Sad.......... While overseas I heard Japan has manners and respects but since I came back Japan has changed lot ..... The Bicycles do n't ride on the left side of the street. Riding the bicycle left side is a traffic rule but people mostly do not care, they do not obey the rule.... which will sometimes make accidents. The cars don't stop at the pedestrian crossing. The pedestrians are waiting for crossing most of the cars ignore stopping for them.... Pedestrians have  priority.  please be careful .... The cars don't give way for emergency cars. When the siren is on, ambulances, police cars and fire engine have right away on the streets, but the other cars do not give them priority .........I was so surprised.... they don't pull over  at all..... selfish !! No thank you and no sorry... Most Japanese don't say Sorry or Thank you ...I was surprised. I usually heard Japanese are polite. But I found when I came back to Japan this time, it is not the case....

Walking around " SOKA City " near the station..... It is about 30 minutes by train from the centre of Tokyo. It is not really a modern city, but it is convenient with a few old places with history ... Hudabagashi Park 　　 →   Hudabagashi park   Watch Tower Beautiful spot for Cherry blossoms in the spring. Yatate Bridge 　 96.3ｍ long  4.14m wide. It has been choosen as one of " The 100 best roads in Japan ".         The view from the top of the bridge.......... Georges says it remains him about England 40 years ago ........   Pine tree path.....with 634 pine trees. Sadly the river looks not pretty.......actually very dirty and disgusting........... In Switzerland river is this,.............             and in New Zealand is this.......... Nikko Kaido was one of the five routes of the Edo period and it was built to connect Edo(Tokyo) with the Nikko Tosho-gu in Nikk...