拒食症になったみたいなプラスチックの人形は、温室育ちのイチゴをおいしく見せません。ロボットがいちごを食べているみたいで、人間がいなくなった後の話みたいです。
Rika-chan, a Japanese Barbie, is promoting these fresh strawberries on the packaging. Seeing that image makes me wonder if there are any humans involved in the production or consumption of these winter “fruit products.”
真夏の暑さが終わりましたが、これから夏のベランダのクローズアップの写真のシリーズをお見せします。写真は全部フィルムです。小さいスペースなのに楽しいです。これは種子から育てたヨーロッパのミニヒマワリです。
This is the start of my summer balcony details series. A close look at some of the flowers, foliage and edibles of summer. First, a pot of micro-sunflowers, grown from Hiyoko’s seeds from Europe. The leaves looks so fresh.
Does anyone need fresh mint for a mojito?
I am a bit of a shut-in during winter, but there’s something exciting about leaving the apartment lobby and entering fresh snow. It’s a solitary thrill.
金曜日、１２月２１日、２０時半から、タヌキのサンタさんと、パーティをしましょう。高円寺のDynamoで待っています。プレセントがいっぱいですよ〜。@dynamo_koenji に感謝です。
Please come to Tanuki’s first ever Koenji Xmas party this Friday at Dynamo, a skate-board bar with felafel! Thanks @dynamo_koenji.
Friday, December 21, from 8.30 pm
Koenji Kita 3-1-1, Asahi building 1F
ラッパスイセンはとても明るいです。陶芸の植木鉢の花を変えました。
It was nice to re-pot my favorite hand-made ceramics with fresh flowers. I love daffodils for being so cheerful, with a high contrast between fresh green leaves and yellow buds.
Leap Day in Tokyo saw a surprising amount of snow, falling in large gobs from the sky and from roofs. Someone tipped me off that the trains are less impacted than the underground subway, and that snow slows the city less than rain. I took photos of a routine trip from my home.
The snow helped me see Tokyo again from a fresh perspective.
三解脱門にお地蔵様が千くらいいます。お盆なので、新しい帽子や前掛けや風車を持っています。風車はみんなお地蔵様のほうを向いています。面白いと思います。
There must be hundreds or even a thousand ojizosamas at Sangendatsu-mon temple in Shiba-koen. Maybe because of summer obon, a time to communicate with the deceased, that they have fresh hats, bibs, and colorful plastic pinwheels. I love how all the pinwheels are pointed at the statues and not the people who walk by them. Close to Tokyo Tower, the parks and temples have wonderful mature trees and moss.
A new branch on Nouka no daikokoro (農家の台所), literally the Farmer’s Kitchen, has opened in Shinjuku, and is extremely popular. Housed on the fourth floor of a new tower, the restaurant brings a farm experience to urban resident with local food, an unusual interior, and information about local farmers.
Above the open kitchen and salad bar hang posters featuring the farmers who are growing the incredibly fresh vegetables being served. The posters are designed to look like election campaign posters, and the signage, including hanging cloth banners, introduce food producers to food consumers.
The unusual farm experience begins with the entrance. Customers enter the restaurant through a large walk in refrigerator full of fresh produce for sale. If the wait for a table is too long, you can also buy a 700 yen (US$8) bento salad lunch and take it to nearby Shinjuku Goen.
Inside, the interior is an odd mix of a futuristic space (silver squishy floor and sleek counters) with a traditional space of tatami mats and low tables, and another utilitarian area of counters and tables near the salad bar. The first room has a papaya tree growing in a sleek tube, and the middle room a greenhouse with shelves of green peppers.
The vegetables were some of the tastiest I have had in Tokyo, and the lunch price very reasonable (800 yen for lunch set, 400 yen additional for raw salad bar). If you can’t get a reservation, it’s best to come late for lunch or early for dinner.
Tokyo Green Space 