Asakusa Diary - The Staff Blog

What do you do on the new year's eve in your country?
In Japan, we gonna clean our home or office and
welcome a new year with clear mind.
Then, we'll eat japanese noodle at night.
Noodle represent a long life in Japan.

I didn't clean my room yet though...

On 23rd, we had a christmas party here with our guests.
We enjoyed Mr. Mori's concert and Bingo game.
People got some prizes. like free accomodation ticket, kimono and so on.
Some people got an instant noodle★
What did you get from your Santa Claus?

We went to Tsukiji Fish Market on Monday, and saw wholesale middlemen slaughtering a tuna.
Not only tuna auction, but slautering of the tuna is also fascinating.

Two Italian guests cooked rissoto for me and it's sooooo tasty ★
I wish I could have some wine with it...
Tsuyoshi and I enjoyed our dinner tonight.
We are always waiting for someone who gonna cook for us ;)

Last night, we had a good bye party for MJ, who was staying our hostel for a long term.
We always miss our guest when they leave and will remember most of their faces.
That's why we will be happy when some guests return to our hostel.
Come back again, MJ!!

Hi, today's Santa Claus are Naoto and me :)
If you want to try these on, please ask us anytime!
But don't ask us for a present, please...

These are hands and autographs of singers, comedians and actors
who are associated with Asakusa area.
You can see them in front of Asakusa Koukaidou(浅草公会堂）, 5mins walk from our hostel.
They hold many kind of plays and entertainment programs almost everyday.
For example, Kabuki, Classical Japanese dance, concert and so on.

People say that one of the most powerful fighter is sumo wrestler.
They have 6 tournaments in a year and some tours everywhere in Japan and even abroad.
On January, May and September, Sumo tournament takes place in Tokyo.
It's worth to watching their competition.
The ticket price is from 3,600yen/person. Do you think it's expensive?
The tournament starts at 9am and finishes at 6pm.
You can stay there all the day watching them and eating special lunch box.
Or you can go out to have lunch or go shopping and come back again.
The wrestler is getting stronger as time progressed.

そして翌日は神戸へ行く。以前サクラホステルに泊まってくれた
Ｆｒｅｎｃｈ　ｃｈｅｆ　のお店「Ｃａｆｅ　Ｔｅｒａｓｓｅ　de Paris」にいく為だ。
神戸もまたウン十年ぶり。ガキの頃に愛しの人と来て以来のご無沙汰よ?（遠い目）
しかしまぁ、大きなビルがボンボン建ってしまって
三ノ宮駅周辺の変わり様にもおおびっくりよな。
　お電話にてランチの予約を入れ、お店を探しながら北野坂を数分歩くと、
あったありましたよ！おしゃれなお店。中に入り、Ｍｒと軽く挨拶を交わした後
さっそくステーキのコースを頂く。

　お食事の後には、ちゃ?んとサクラホステルのパンフも置かせていただきました！
お料理も美味しかったし、ん?宣伝も大成功?!?
Azuzさん、本当にありがとう。また必ず神戸にきま?す！
てゆーか、早速翌日にサクラホステルにお泊まりに来て頂きました。
どうもありがとうございました?！

んで、腹ごしらえの後は早速
「ＯｓａｋａＴｏｗｅｒ」に登るための行列に並ぶ。
意外とお客さんが多いのに驚いた。
眼下にひろがる広大な大阪の街。あの太閤殿下の
大阪城ははるかかなたにぽち?っと見える程度。
すぐ下には、天王寺動物園が！都会の中の
シマウマは新鮮だったりするのだ。
Lights up Osaka Tower at night.

いんやぁ?サクラホステルでの夜勤明けに
新幹線に揺られること２．５Ｈ！
久々に行って参りましたるわ、西の大都会「大阪」。
あんのゴチャゴチャ感は東京のそれと違ってこれまたよし！
現地のお友達に連れられて行きましたるは、あの「通天閣」。
イワユル「Ｏｓａｋａ　Ｔｏｗｅｒ」といったところでしょうか？
さて目標にお登りする前に、まずは関西食で腹ごしらえでありまする。
で、行きましたるはココ！商店街のお空の上にフグが飛んでるよぉ?
さっすが大阪？つーか、いいのこれ？などと軽く疑問に思いつつ、
「フグカツ丼」なるものを頂きました?。おいちぃよぉ！
やっぱ味付けがおいらに合うわね。

Bell is located in front of Asakusa Public Hall.
This restaurant is popular among locals.
You'll enjoy lovely meals at reasonable price.

Sky Bus Tokyo is the only open top sightseeing bus tour in Japan.
The tour starts from Tokyo Station and takes 50 minutes.
On the tour, you will see Imperial Palace, Supreme Court, National Diet (Parliament), and Ginza (shopping district) and Marunouchi (business district).
You will have spectacular view from the upper deck.

http://www.skybus.jp/English/index.html

We hold Ueno Park & Rikugien Tour.
Ueno Park is one of the oldest park in Tokyo. There was Kaneiji Temple in Edo Period on this site. then in 1873(Meiji Period) it was open as a park.
There are a lot of cultural building in the park, such as concert halls , national museums and museums of art. and there is a zoo as well.
This park is famous for cherry blossoms, so many people come for cherry blossom viewing and get drunk in spring.

After visiting Ueno Park, we went to Rikugien Garden, famous for autumn colour of leaves .
The garden normally closes at 5pm, but it was open until 9pm in late Novemver and early December for night viewing of illuminated trees and leaves.
The garden with autumn colour of leaves was very beuatiful not only during the day, but at night.

It's already December and we only have more 30days left this year.
We japanese call December Shiwasu (師走） in an old way.
Shiwasu means that “too busy to make teachers run”.
We are told that do not run corridors or hall in school by teachers.
But in December, because people have a loooot of things to do in a year,
teachers have to run necessarily.

I've never be busy in December though...