After work I went to Tonpo in Harajuku. Chie and Mina was already there, having started on their beer and appetizer. I quickly caught up on the appetizer but skipped the beer. I went for jasmine tea instead.
Tonpo is a very small Chinese restaurant with nice food. It has an open kitchen which makes it fun because you can watch the chef trying to burn himself to death 😉
Once we finished out dinner we went to the Eco Farm Cafe 632 for hot chocolate. Yummy 😛
After a few days in Tokorozawa with a lot of walking and a lot of good food we went back to Tokyo today. We returned late in the night to avoid most of the heavy return-to-Tokyo traffic. Still, it was a bit slow and it took about 30 minutes longer than usual.
As we returned late we spend the whole day in Tokorozawa. I took a long walk with Coco again. And we spend some time just sitting on a wood stock enjoying the sunshine. I am not sure what it is, maybe the new year, but around this time of the year the weather has, as long as I been in Japan during new year (for around 9 years now), the weather has always been great.
In the evening we had left overs and some Chinese dishes. Yummy.
Every year we also visit the shrine not far from Chie’s mother’s place. Since Coco joined the family he comes along as well. The main purpose of the walk to the shrine is to get some fresh air, some exercise and to get us each a tiger.
The tiger is protecting the “owner” throughout the year. From illness and other bad things, such as vampires and werewolves 😉
Quite a few people visit the shrines and temples in the beginning of the new year. Mainly to send some prayers to whatever god they believe in for a prosperous year without illness, or maybe to pass the entry exams for Tokyo University.
So even though we got here the first day of the year, many had already been here to get their own tiger. My guess is that in the next coming days there will be a quite a lot more tigers lined up for duty.
Once we got back home Chie went to buy some groceries. Coco took his favorite waiting position. On a chair in the living room where he can observe what is happening on the street outside. This is where he usually waits once he knows Chie and I am going to visit, sometimes days in advance 🙂
For dinner we had traditional Japanese New Year’s food. I think I wrote about this in a blog post last year as well. Basically, preserved food to last during the 4 or so days when store were closed. Maybe it doesn’t sound so nice bit it is quite tasty.
