Monthly Archives: December 2007

New Year’s Evening

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Another day with a lot of playing with Coco-chan mixed with relaxing and eating. But in order to eat we had to buy food. So in the morning we went to the fish market in Tokorozawa. It is always fun time to go to the fish market. But today was mixed emotions. Fun but too crowded. We had to fight our way to get chu-toro (medium fatty tuna), kani (crab), and all the other things that we got for New Year’s dinner.

Fish market in Tokorozawa

While Chie and her mother prepared the dinner I entertained Coco (and myself) by playing with him and by taking a long walk. Also this was to give Chie and her mother a chance to prepare the dinner without having to deal with a very cute dog that wants attention all the time. By 6 pm the dinner was ready and we all sat down to eat. Hand rolled sushi, crab, and miso soup.

New Year's dinner

After the dinner we watched some TV. Everything from some musical competition and K1, which is always broadcast on New Year. And again Coco-chan was so tired he fell asleep in the arms of Chie.

Coco asleep

Going to Tokorozawa for the New Year

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Woke up early in the morning to go to Tokorozawa for the New Year. We wanted to go early before any rush would start. Also arriving in Tokorozawa early would give us more time to play with Coco-chan. Which we did most of the time when we were not eating or sleeping.

Coco Coco
Coco Coco

In the evening we had shabu-shabu with ponsu. Yummy.

Shabu-shabu dinner

After a long day of playing we all got tired and just rested in front of the TV. Coco-chan was so tired he could not stay awake but fell asleep in Chie’s arms.

Coco almost asleep Coco asleep

KAN in Naka-Meguro

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In the morning we went to Misukoshi in Ginza to buy a Mon-Chou-Chou roll cake for Mina-semsei. Chie and Mina-sensei have had a discussion about which roll cake is the best so they decided that the next time they meet they will bring one each and have a competition. That was the reason for going to Ginza this morning.

When we arrived there about an hour after opening it was already a long line for the Mon-Chou-Chou. We got in line and waited… And waited… And waited… And… For an hour. By the end of our waiting they started to hand out numbered cards. These was the number of roll cakes that was still remaining. We could get 3 roll cakes, just as many as we wanted. One for the manager at YASAKA and his kids. One for Mina-sensei and the roll cake competition. And one for Chie, me, and Yoshiki-san.

In the evening Chie and I walked to KAN in Naka-Meguro (they have a branch in Ginza too). We were the first to arrive, except the staff of course, but after 5 minutes Mina-sensei arrived as well. Then we had a delicious Japanese style dinner with a great “home made” ginger ale. Well I had the ginger ale and Chie and Mina-sensei had beer and chouchu (Japanese alcohol made of potato).

Mina, Johan, and Chie at KAN in Naka-Meguro

After our dinner at KAN we walked back to Chie’s apartment were we had a roll cake competition. Chie and Mina-sensei also drank some Swedish glögg (Swedish glüwein) that I had brought. Both roll cakes were really delicious but maybe the roll cake we had to wait one hour in line for was just a little bit better.

Blades of Glory and YASAKA

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Last day of work before the new year for Chie. That is why she finished working at just past noon and went directly to Ebisu where she met me. From Ebisu we took the JR Yamanote line to Shibuya where we bought two tickets for the Blades of Glory movie.

Before the movie started we had time to have lunch at DOUTOR, a cafe in Japan. We had tuna and chicken grilled sanwiches with coffee and hot chocolate. We also had time to watch part of a street show arranged by YouTube outside 109.

YouTube event in Shibuya

First up was some girls doing a lot of screaming. Second up was a school girl doing some kind of robot dancing. But third up was our favorite… Gamarjobat. The silent comedy duo that we watched on Christmas eve in Yokohama.

Gamarjobat before the YouTube show in Shibuya.

We could only see part of the show before we had to run to the movie. Still it was so funny. And Chie had a chance to talk with them before the show. Just to tell them that we saw them on Christmas eve and that we really enjoyed the show and ganbatte (keep fighting/do your best).

Gamarjobat in Shibuya. Gamarjobat in Shibuya.

Luckily we were in time for the movie. We also had time to visit the bathroom and buy a big popcorn. Then we laughed for one and a half hour. Most of the time for the crazy movie and sometimes for a silly laugh that a girl in the audience had. But we still enjoyed the movie.

On or way home we stopped to buy breakfast for tomorrow. Then we took a bus and stopped at YASAKA to have a dinner. Again the staff is so friendly at YASAKA. And next to us was an old Japanese guy that started to talk with us about Sweden, Japan, aurora, and many other things. We had a fun time enjoying good food and good new friends.

Gym and pasta

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Had lunch with Chie at the same Japanese style restaurant in Kamiyacho again. Today I had grilled sanma with rice and miso soup. Chie had grilled salmon with rice and miso soup. Yummy.

In the afternoon I went to check the new Addidas shop in Ginza but they did not have any nice shoes so I went to Bic Camera instead. There I bought a Canon D40 Lens Kit 17-85mm to a friend in Sweden and a Nikon SB-800 flash to the same friend.

Then I continued with the JR Yamanote line to Akihabara the electric town. But I was just going there because it was the fastest way to get to Awajicho from Bic Camera in Hibiya. From Akihabara it takes just 10 minutes to walk to Awajicho where they have a lot of sports stores. I checked a few for shoes but could not find any until I was leaving. Then I stopped at an ABC Mart and found the pair I was looking for Addidas Limited Edition.

When I had my new shoes in a bag it was time to try them out. I went to Konami Sports (gym) in Naka-Meguro, arriving around 5 pm. I started with some weight lifting and when Chie joined me around 6 pm we did some running together for 30 minutes. Then Chie had an aerobics class and I did some more weight lifting before taking a shower.

At home Chie cooked pasta putanesca while I took care of the laundry. The rest of the evening we had dinner and talked and took care of more laundry. By the way, the pasta was yummy.