Starbucks coffee in Tokyo.

Starbucks coffee is very famous coffee shop chain in many countries.

Everyone knows.

So, Tokyo(Japan) has a lot of Starbucks.
Japanese people called Starbucks "Sutaba(スタバ）".
You can find Sutaba any places in Tokyo.
Station, shopping mall, street corner, and more.

Japanese Starbucks has these sizes,
short (236 ml), tall (354 ml)、
grande(473 ml),and venti(591 ml) .
Prices are about 250〜600yen(3〜7.5$）

I like to go to Sutaba after weight training finished.
I often order short size cafe_mocha or starbucks latte.
Especially, in winter, It's a good rest time for me.

I think,It's a very good thing that there are many Starbucks in Japan.
Because, Starbucks's taste is accustomed taste for foreigners
and travelers who came to Japan.
And that taste will relieve them even in Japan.

When you came to Tokyo,
Let's go to Sutaba with me.

Have you ever eaten raw liver sashimi ?

Japan has a culture of raw fish eating.
Sushi, sashimi is a famous food.

Sometimes, Japanese people also eat raw meat.
Mainly, beaf, chicken and horse meat.
We don't eat raw pork.
(a few Japanese Yakitori, Yakiton restaurant serves raw pork. But only guts.)

I like sashimi very much and I also like meat sashimi.
Occasionally, I want to eat raw liver sashimi.

Last month I and my friends went to Japanese yakiton restaurant Kagahiro,
Soka city, Saitama prefecture.

Kagahiro is famous yakiton restaurant(Izakaya/居酒屋)
in people who live in the vicinity.
So, Kagahiro is always clouded.
The friend of mine who lives in the vicinity reserved that restaurant for us.
We ate a lot of yakiton and Tsukune(chicken ball)
with Tare(thick flavored sauce of soy sauce based).

And we drunk a lot of beer and shocyu(Japanese liquor).

So, that day's main menu was raw liver sashimi.
Japanese people call it lebasashi (レバ刺し）.
And we also ordered raw heart sashimi (hatsu sashi/ ハツ刺し）.
We ate lebasashi with soy sauce or sesame oil and salt.

Taste was so good.
Meat was very fresh and other dishes was also very nice.

Then I felt, I got a big stamina.

Tokyo, Saitama, Kanagawa and Chiba has many Izakaya.
When you go to Izakaya,
you'll find menu of raw liver sashimi/レバ刺し sometime.

If you can, please try it.
But I think, you can't understand why Japanese people eat raw lever sashimi
when you eat lebasashi first time.

I like raw liver sashimi.
But I know this is very strange food to foreigners.

MMA(mixed martial arts) event at Kabukicho, Shinjuku

Kabukicho is a famous amusement area of Shinjuku.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabukich%C5%8D,_Tokyo

There are a lot of bars, Izakaya(Japanese style pub restaurant),
and movie theaters and concert places.
Many people are there day and night.

Fighting sports event is sometimes held at Kabukicho.
(MMA,Pro-wrestling,Boxing,KickBoxing)
Last month, I went to an event hall at Kabukicho to support my friend who is a
professional Mixed Matial Arts fighter from UK.
We train together every weekend.

This MMA event had  very tough rules.
Every fighters can use punch, kick, throw, elbow, knee, headbutt, and stomping to opponents face.
My friend Stew had fight at main event heavy weight division fight.
He knocked out his opponent with right knee kick and pound from back mount position.
He came back from serious knee injury.
It was very great day for us.
Fighters support work is very hard.
But it always gives me a very great experiences.


------------------------------

By the way, Kabukicho is a drinking and playing spot.
Next time , I'd like to go to Kabukicho with my ease mind.
haha, just a kidding.

Kabukicho is 3~5 minutes from Shinjuku station.
There are beers, foods, and  man and women.
If you have a chance please enjoy this area.

Asics running shoes

Do you running ?

I run 3～5 times in a week.
Then, distance is about 2～5 miles.

I always use Asics running shoes.
My Asics shoes is GT2110.
http://www.amazon.com/Mens-ASICS-GT-2110-Running-Shoe/dp/B000CMHIB0


I like Asics brand's shoes since I was
junior high school student.

I have used shoes of some sports brands.
New balance, Nike, addidas, Mizuno.
Each brand has good points , but asics shoes are best for my foot.
sole cushion, wide sole, toughness ... very nice.

Asics is a famous sports brand in Japan.
Especially sports shoes products.
I have heard not a few foreign people
who likes runnning uses asics sports shoes.

Asics shoes worth trying.
I recommend it to runnner who has wide foot.

Japanese Fireworks "Hanabi"

Hanabi means fireworks. [hana=flower, bi(hi)=fire]
Hanabi is very famous and popular event of Japanese people.


Especially summer season,
big and small hanabi festival held on many places in Japan.


Every year ,the last Saturday in July, Sumidagawa Hanabi Taikai
(Sumida river fireworks festival) is held.


Sumida_river is one of the mainly river in north east area of Tokyo.
The river runs between big cities.
The point that this fireworks festival is harmony of big fireworks and big cities.


This hanabi festival started about 280 years ago.
Recently, 20,000~22,000 wonderful fireworks are launched.
About one million people visit seeing & enjoy.


when you come to Japan, if the schedule matched, please go to watch hanabi.
It will become a good opportunity that you feel Japanese culture.


You can see the hanabi events information at this site.

http://japan-fireworks.com/eindex.html

Rainy season has passed.

Rainy season has passed already.
Japan is summer now.

This 3~4days , over 30℃.
It's a violent sunshine.

But Japanese summer is a good season for drinking beer.
Do you like drinking beer ?
I like it.

In this season, Japanese people likes cold lager beer.

I will write about Japanese beer other time.
 
 

Japanese rainy season.

Japane is a rainy season(east asian rainy season) now.

(except Hokkaido)

Japanese people called rainy season "tsu yu (梅雨)"　

The rainy season starts in the first ten days of June,
and continues until the end of July.
(almost 40 days or more)

It will rain(or cloudy weather) 4days or more in one week.
It is very sultry. Uncomfortable season.

If you will come to Japan in this season, don't forget umbrella.

But rain falling at this season is very important to the growth of grain.
Japan is a country of rice.

Only beautiful hydrangea(ajisai) improves our feelings.

Great debut of pitcher Stephen Strasburg.

When I was a Junior high school & high school student,
I was a member of school baseball team as a pitcher.
Now, I still love baseball. Especially, I like MLB.

Because MLB's ball park atomosphere is very nice.
Japanese ballpark is too loud(cheereaders) for me.

By the way,
I watched Stephen Strasburg's MLB debut highlight on internet.
That highlight is gethering of his taking strike out scene.

Of course his fastball is very nice.
It's not only that, he can throw good change up, breakingball, 2seams.
His good control gave him strike count easy.
It was especially impressive that his fast ball to out low when he against the left handed batter.
It was a very strong ball.

I heard Strasburg is biggest rookie and good pitcher.
But he's debut pitching was exceeded my imagination.

But his career just started.
I hope he will keep good condition, no injury.

I'm looking forward to watching his good pitch  this season.

Suicide problem of Foxconn and Apple.

Recently I want to buy next generation iPhone.
I like Apple products.

But now , there is a big problem.

The problem is a lot of people suicide in chinese electric company Foxconn.
Foxconn is parts making company for Apple(iPad,iPod,iPhone) and
other big computer company(Dell,Intel,HP).

http://gizmodo.com/5553223/another-foxconn-employee-dies-after-working-34+hours-straight

According to news report,
In this year about15 people died by themselves at Foxconn factory.

15 people.... is too many !

I will stop buying Apple products until this problem will be clear.

A horrible working environment might be concealed in the manufacturing process of
other products that I am using.

However, I have no way to know that.

But I want to do something for the things if I could know.

good beer

I drank good ale beer a few weeks ago.