Ikebukuro Diary

Today, it is a last day in 2009.....

Now we would like to say ' BIG THANK YOU TO ALL!! '
We are very happy that many people traveling and staying with us ;)

Then, we hope you all have a great new year 2010 and
we do hope to see your smile in here, Ikebukuro ;)

Yoi otoshi wo (Have a good year)!!

PS: I'm eating 'Toshikoshi soba' (Japanese year-crossing noodle) ;)
Many Japanese people eating this traditional toshikoshi noodles
on New Year's Eve and wish for health and longevity in the year to come.

Hey,
what's going on with you, Taglyn?

He looks sad....

Ah..........
His favorite chocolate, Alfort, was melted. Because he put it on computer..
Poor Taglyn......
But don't worry, Taglyn.
Since you are such a mack daddy , you can get tons of chocolate in Valentine's Day on Feb, 14th :)

Recently, doughnut is popular sweets for ladies in Japan.
Luckly, we got a box of doughnut from Mr. Shinke.

This donuts are like cream puff. There is cream inside, and dough is like a puff.
And look at this decolation, isn't it so lovely?!
Of course, it was yummy.
Thank you.

We had an event 'Kimono and work shop' on 20th December!

Many people enjoyed chooseing used Kimono and trying to make a hair accessory.
These are photos for work shop, you can see their faces are very very sirious ;)

I should inform...he making hair accessory not for himself, to his mother,
how gentle :D

I should say one more time.....that hair accessory might be suit you?

It's very nice isn't it ;)

I hope everybody enjoyed this opportunity!

........Ah! I forgot to check how it going for Sariko and Eun Jung :p
Hey? it taking long time and everybody already have gone...

Well, now they finished!
Kawaii (cute)?? :p

Well done well done!!

♪♪☆☆☆MERRY CHRISTMAS☆☆☆♪♪

How you spend this time in your country?
Tokyo city is decolated with beautiful lights....

Thank you for this beautiful photo Kikuchi san ;)

And at here, you can meet Santa sisters :p

Are you having big presents, Tomo Santa?

These snaks or sweets are present for you!

This is a present from our guest ;) Thank you!

☆Wishing you a wonderful Christmas☆

Thank you for staying with us Jason & Heather!!

They are very very friendly people from Brisbane, Australia :)
Their smiles made us so happy!

Dear Jason and Heather,
Now we would like to say thank you and we had really great time with you two!
We do hope you both come to Japan again ;)

Today's sweets is this!!

A big package of cookies from Saori who works at our cafe.
Thank you very much.
We can survive now ;)

Kate from Australia stayed with us more than 9days.
On her last day, she gave us beautiful flower.

Thank you very much, Kate.
It is getting cold but, your flower makes our hearts warmness.

Good news for kimono lover!
We will sell the used kimono on next Sunday (Dec 20th).
If you are interested, you also can join to workshop for making hair accessory by Kimono Fabric.
Don't miss to sign up at reception.

Now, it is time for introduce the Prince of our hotel.
Guess, who is the Prince of our hotel.
The answer is ...................

Taglyn!!
Though we have written about Taglyn several times on this blog, we didn't have chance to tell who he is.

Finally we can introduce...here, The Prince whose real name is Aki.

He is very brave and gentle man...!
If evil people appear, he will come to protect all of you guests just like a knight!
But if insects come closer, he will run away immediately (he hates insects),
So we have to protect him right away :p

........sorry Taglyn, it's a joke! well, actually he is friendly and really hospitable
person......(to ladies?) :p

*****************************************************************
I was waiting for him to introduce himself for a loooooooong time.
But he still hasn't done it ..
So I decide to write about him.

Name; Akiyoshi Taglyn
Hometown; Tokyo
Launguage; English, Japanese,
What he likes; wine, chocolate, cute girls?
What he does'nt like; insect
Picture
↓
↓
↓
Picture vol.1
Taglyn at work (thinking about the plan for tonight ;P, just kidding!)

Picture vol.2
After his work (He is thinking to look for beautiful ladies:p)

Picture vol.3
Pretending as if he were a basketball boy

Good enough? or More pictures?
Okay, we have one more picture.
Here we go !!!
↓
↓
↓
↓
Picture vol.4

Don't be deceived by this honey face ;P

Sakura Cafe is also decolated for holiday season.

↑
Sakura cafe prepare variety of hot drink and waiting you.

↑Branket is also waiting you to keep you warm☆

↑window decolation.

This is the last post about my journey, thank you for reading ;)

Well, I already know that weather in London is not good but I really like LONDON ;)
This is second time to visit but I still exciting when I see a double decker bus, classic style taxi, and telephone box colored red, Big Ben and so on...

Big Ben is too famous and so beautiful....!!

I got this view from 'London Eye' (London's huge Ferris wheel).
Can I say London Eye + Kayoko Eye ;)

The taxi! I like their classic style!

buddy-buddy ;) Don't you think it seems lovely?

Thank you for posing, Mr.driver ;)

And....I love traditonal pub in England....beautiful atmosphere....

I think I have to back to England to drink 'real ale' soon!!
My favorite is 'London pride' ;)

They are team hair designer from Berlin, Germany.

They stayed with us about few weeks for total.
They changed their schedule often. So we did "goodbye greetings" several times :)
It was fun that after we did good bye greeeting with guests, they come back because of missing flight or train.
We are always welcome you back☆☆

I'm not finished yet Sariko :p
Now it's my turn!

Well, I will telling you about Tunisia today ;)
It was a little adventure for me to visit there.
Now I can say, Tunisia is very safe and beautiful country.
People are very friendly and helpful.

Oneday, when I was walking on the street, a car stopped beside me, then,
Some people asked me: 'Hello! where are you from??'
I answered: 'I'm from Japan'
They smiled and said: 'Welcome to Tunisia!!'

'Souk' is a market in Medina, there are plenty of Arabic atomosphere
and there are so many things, food,souvenir,goods, and so on....
It's interesting to see and walking in souk but get lost so easy!
How many times I walked same alley way and how many people I asked to find out right way?? I don't know :p

Perfect color of mediterranean :D

World Heritage Site 'El Jem' ↑　and 'Carthage'↓

I was impressed this bright blue and bougainvaillea ;)

'The a la menthe' (mint tea), is very nice and I do like it ;)

hey, Kayoko!
You wrote a lot. I know that you have so many things to write cuz you just came back from long trip.
But I want to something to up, as well. So today is my turn ;)
Today's topic is this!
ORANGE
***********************
Do you know when is the season for Japanese oranges?
The answer is winter!!
Now, oranges are in season.

The Japanese orange is called mikan.
The typical mikan is very small and has sweets taste, not that sour.
I usually eat three of them every after meal. I also eat it at my breaktime of my work.
Once I start eating them, I can not stop ;P
Frozen mikan is also delicious. My favorite is having frozen mikan in a hot bath.
It is a heavenly good ;)

My aunt sent tons of mikans from Ehime prefecture located in a small island in the south of Japan.

Mikan has a lot of vitaminC, so they can protect you from cold.
Have some mikan and get over the winter!

I left Nice and took a train three hours.
Marseille is bustling port town and have different atmosphere somehow.

Somebody made me smile ;) Merci!

At the Marseille, I had plan to find 'natural soap factory' and 'herb pharmacy'
there.Then,finally I found out where it is ;)

This is 'Savon de Marseille', based olive oil and made since middle ages.

Don't you think it's nice to pick some soap and try their aroma? ;)

They have small guide tour showing us how to make 'savon de Marseille'

This pharmacy selling a lots kind of herb since 1815, and they seems so busy!
I bought 'camomille' for my tea time ;)

I really hope time-honored method or natural remedy and these shops
remain in the future :)

Lastly, Thank you Mr.E ;)
I'm looking forward to seeing you in Ikebukuro next time!

.............still continuing!

Well, I flew from Geneva airport to Nice, cote d' azur :)
I didn't have a plan to visit Nice but Grasse located much closer
than Marseille, so I decided to go.

Now I love Nice very very much ;)
There are beautiful beaches and everybody enjoying sunshine...

Only 20 min ride on the bus, there are another beautiful sandy beach...
And city is vibrant and I like these colours....

'Marche' such as 'flower market' and 'food market', 'antique market' are opening everyday and that's so nice ;)
Also I really enjoyed exploreing in 'old town', there are nallow alleys and restaurant and shops, work shops ,gallaries along the street...

Eze is a village located top of the hill and we can see the coast from their garden!
My face was turn into like this→:o→:)→:D

On the way to Eze, I saw such a beautiful scenery passed by, then, I tried to walk back all the way to the city!
I guess it's 8 or 9km away but I got really beautiful view,
and that was spectacular!!

Bern is lovely small city and beautiful Aare river running ;)
I was mostly feel like step into a book, fairy story....

Nice view! I really enjoyed it with beer ;) My friend took me to this restaurant.

I was so lucky!! A friend of a friend has boat and we went to sailing :D
I tried to take helm and actually it's difficult! It was wonderful experience for me!

There was competition for rock climbing! That was cool ! They were just like spiderman :0
I might be try this next time??? I will welcome you guests from the ceiling! (joking...haha)

This is a bar in the city, it's sooooo beautiful......I love this place....

And, my friend told me this is local meal called 'rosti' ,it mainly cooked with potato and I like it ;)

Hello again ;)

Now I would like to show you about my journey in Paris firstly.

It was second time to visit Paris.
I think Paris is beautiful and romantic city...I love to take a walk in Paris.....!!
I don't know how long I've been walking but never bored.

Originally I like to take a pictures and I could not stop it during my trip
because I saw many many picturesque scenes......

Can you recognize Effel Tower?
That was great view from the street.

What I really like is there are many flowers on the balcony and outside
the window, it just beautiful......!

Police officers with roller blade! How nice and good idea!They can chase faster?

Plus, me and 'pan au chocola' :D
I can speak French 'Une pan au chocola, sil vous plait' very fluently ;)

And......here...I found '5kg Nutella'!! I'm Nutella lover to be honest...
I wanted to bring it back!!