Happy Birthday to Tokyobling!

Yesterday Tokyobling had it’s first birthday party. Last year, November 15th was the first post on this blog and I had to celebrate it a little, with a piece of cake near my office and then home to get an early night in bed (for once in a while) with a bottle of Talisker Single Malt 10 year old Whiskey. I know, cake and whiskey, the blog is getting older and so am I.

When I first started this blog I had no idea it was going to end up being a daily update thing with pingbacks and comments and trackbacks and listings and stats and scores. It was just my attempt to put up a few of the snaps I took in my everyday life, and to show the good side of life in Tokyo. Someday I hope I can get back to that more relaxed way of a blogging life. But until then, I’ll try to keep it going as steady as I can. I can’t share the cake and the dram with you, but here’s two photos I took. Enjoy, and wish me luck!

Cafe Andonand

Had an hour to spare and get myself some breakfast this morning in Yokohama. Walking around the West Exit area I came across this cafe, produced by Mister Donuts, Cafe Andonand serving a rather different kind of donut from the usual Mister Donut fare. The coffee too is different and certified by the Rainforest Alliance. I had to at least try it out, being a secret and big fan of Mister Donuts. The interior was quite well done and the music a bit of a step up, much pricier though. Check out their site for more interior shots and more info on their menu! RIght now they have stores in Shibuya, Yokohama, Jimbocho, Shiodome with probably more to come.

McDonalds Japan Goes Kawaii

There are few things currently that sums up all things Japanese as “kawaii”, cute. In Japan everything must with a certain amount of cuteness or it is bound to fail. There’s even cutified dolls dolls in the likeness of the present prime minister. So I guess it was even a matter of time before McDonalds finally got the memo and jumped on the kawaii bandwagon. Their previous campaigns have been received very cooly by the dragon of Japanese consumers, high school girls. I wonder what their reaction will be to the new line up of kawaii McDonalds characters? Sorry for the lousy picture, my 20mm Nikon f2.8 lens wouldn’t go any closer.

Dango

Yesterday I went for a long walk with a good friend, Kotomi, around a big park in southern Saitama prefecture. It was a perfect day, sweet autumn sun, warm winds and just the right seasonal chill. On the way back we came across a little shop selling these very traditional Japanese sweets called Dango. Kotomi tried a skewer of andango while I went for a variety I have never seen before, the kurumimisodango (hazelnut-miso-dango). Fantastic! I am a huge fan of all kinds of dango, and there’s nothing better than finding the local speciality dango and try it while traveling around Japan.

Interestingly, the dango that my friend had is made from the same azuki beans that were used for the Pepsi I wrote about earlier this week. Have a look! Mochi (the mashed rice part of the dango) is used is so many traditional sweets in Japan. One of my favorite being the ichigodaifuku (strawberry and azuki bean paste covered in sugared mochi) and also the coffedaifuku (a local speciality of Nerima Ward in Tokyo, with a coffee flavored bean paste instead of the strawberry). What’s your favrite dango or daifuku?