My best friend and colleague, Alisa planned an interesting dinner party at her nice apartment.

She is really interested in joining or organizing events, especially food events.

On October 2nd, she invited all colleagues who are working in the Tokyo branch office to her apartment.

At first, she had trouble deciding the dinner menu. She wanted to impress the guests.

I helped her to think about menu.

I thought of having Tsukimi Dango, white rice dumplings which are generally eaten while viewing the moon on Tsukimi, at the party, because the day after party was Tsukimi day.

She also wanted to eat special Sushi, especially that which she had eaten in America.

Furthermore, the party would be held after work on Friday, so we didn’t have enough time to cook the food.

So, we decided to buy some things on the day before the party, and to buy some juice and beer on the day.

Also, I wanted my colleagues to listen to my shamisen music, so I brought my shamisen to the party.

One colleague who is interested in foot massage recently, also suggested by email in advance giving us massages.

The following images are of our party.

The owner of our Tokyo branch office building is an old nori company, so we bought special nori at their shop.

I was in charge of making Tsukimi dango, so Alisa helped me to drink beer.

It was very easy to make Tsukimi dango. Here is the recipe.

Step1: mix the dango powder with water and knead into dough.

Step2:roll the dango dough into small balls.

Step3:throw the balls into boiling water.

Step4:scoop them out when they float to the top and cool them down on a dish.

I also prepared soybean flour, bean paste and a tin of fruit.

The above images are not the correct way to eat Tsukimi Dango, however I just wanted to eat various style of dango, so I made my own version.

The following image is of the correct way to decorate Tsukimi Dango.

The following image is of Origami rabbits. Although I couldn’t buy Japanese pampas grass for Tsukimi, I made these with origami paper.

In advance, Alisa researched some combinations for Sushi on the Internet. I really respect her passion for food.

Some colleagues finished their work on time, and went to the apartment ahead of us.

Other colleagues arrived there gradually.

The following image is of the correct way to making temakisushi. However I couldn’t make it well.

Some colleagues cooked salad and made delicious cocktails, and a Taiwanese colleague brought Taiwanese dumplings.

In the latter half of the party I played the shamisen, and my colleagues praised me.

I think my technique is not so special, however I’m happy that they could know about the shamisen a bit.

Some colleagues wanted to hold my shamisen, so I took photos for them.

The following image is of the scene of massage.

Actually some arguments happen between some colleagues, however their personalities are not bad.

I don’t know when I need to leave my company, however I want to enjoy my life with them until that day.

My private English teacher opened a Thai massage salon in Tsujido, so I went to visit his new salon last weekend.

I like massage, so sometimes I receive some kinds of massage, such as Indian and Aromatherapy, when I feel tired. However I had never tried Thai massage.

Now, Thai massage is 30% off during August at his salon, so I planned to go to his salon for a massage and an additional English lesson.(My English lesson is usually on weekdays after work.)

Although it was my first time to go to Tsujido, it was not so difficult to reach his salon.

From Shinjuku to Tsujido I only needed to take 1 line, the Shonan-Shinjuku line(JR). It took about 1 hour, and it was not crowded, so I relaxingly read a book.

From Tsujido station to his salon was not so far. Please check this web page for access to the salon.

By the way, I know his passion for health and healing, and I also know his personality, because he has been my teacher for about 2 years.

I think the important thing for a therapist is not only their technique, but also personality and atmosphere.

His character makes me relaxed and open minded.

His technique was also very nice so I was very surprised. After the massage, I felt my body became light.

I think that having an additional English lesson before the massage was a great idea.

I highly recommend you to go to his salon, if you want to feel relaxed or want to experience an international atmosphere.

It may also be a good idea to go sightseeing in Enoshima, Kamakura or Yokohama etc after your massage.

On that day, I also met my friend after the massage in Yokohama. She asked me to go to a N.Y style cafe there.

The cafe’s name is Bubby’s Yokohama. It originally started in N.Y in 1990 as a specialty pie shop.

My friend’s home country is the US, so she talks to me about American food very passionately especially every time she explains about American local food.

We shared some delicious food.

At that cafe, we talked about some topics, and after lunch, we walked around the Yokohama area.

The 150 year anniversary event is being held in some areas in Yokohama now.

Unfortunately, it was not so interesting for us, so we just enjoyed shopping and chatting.

Oh, I need to tell you about one delicious bakery near the massage salon.

The menu was original, and the bakery’s staff was very kind.

The best bread at that shop is “curry bun”, which uses white bait. The white bait is one of the specialties in the Shonan area.

I bought some breads for my teacher and my friend, and I ate one at the bakery before going to have a massage.

I enjoyed my weekend very much.

I went to Tsukuba space center with my friend on June 1st.

He and I met in Korea by coincidence. We stayed at the same guest house in Seoul and talked about many topics and ate lunch together, so we became friends.

He said to me, he is a researcher of solar batteries and he is working at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

It sounded very interesting! So I wanted to go to his office.

He said to me there is tour to visit the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency 4 times per day.

He kindly reserved this tour for me.

I arrived at Tsukuba station early in the morning, because I had to join the practice of AWA-ODORI in Koenji from 4:00pm.

We didn’t have enough time to visit there and eat lunch, but he kindly fitted in around my schedule.

This day was a special day for all Japanese, because a Japanese astronaut, whose name is Hoshide, went to space.

His mission was very important.

In space, 15 countries are forwarding their plans to develop an International Space Station.

Japan are involved this project and developed “Kibo” which is the first manned facility for Japan.

Hoshide’s mission was to fix the robot arm on Kibo.

At Tsukuba space center, we could some real parts of “Kibo”, rockets and artificial satellites!

It was very amazing!

If I had had these experience when I was a child, I would have been interested in space and wanted to be an astronaut.

I found out that only 1 astronaut is woman!

He said to me, it was a rare experience for him, because he has been working there everyday.

After visiting of the center, we ate Soba at an old house with windmill.

I like this style of house very much, because I like the local areas of Japan!

After lunch, we went to a famous cake shop which he recommended to me.

We ordered 3 cakes and shared them. I like cake….

I left Tsukuba at about 2:30pm, and joined the AWA-ODORI practice.

I was very satisfied with such a wonderful experience.

by the way, Tsukuba is not so far from Tokyo.

There is the Tsukuba express from Akihabara to Tsukuba. We can go to Tsukuba from Akihabara in about 1.5 hours.

In Tsukuba, the air is very clean and there is a lot of nature. I wanted to run there.

I want to go there again, and try to running or climbing Mt.Tsukuba someday.