Asakusa Diary - The Staff Blog

Spring in Japan is known for two things.
One is the beautiful cherry blossoms that bloom all over the country.
The second is the cedar pollen that forces many people to don their surgical masks in hopes of combatting its annoying effects.

Symptoms such as itchy eyes and running noses force many Japanese to wear Ninja style masks in hopes of some mild relief.

People are not the only ones who feel the stresses of this allergy.
The economy is also greatly affected.
Economic losses can reach as high as $3.7 billion through coverage of prescription drugs and sick days.

The number of people affected by cedar pollen has steadily rose since the 70's.
Eating habits and air pollution are leading causes for this increase.

If you suffer from cedar pollen allergies, you may want to consider wearing a gasmask.
Just be prepared to explain it to the police when they question you as a suspicious person.

Let's see who was the chef last night.

He learned how to make " Tastira " from Ghazi san, and tried to make the same thing.
Unfortunately,
because Tomo bought smoked pork liver, the taste was totally different from the one Ghazi san made.
I was surprised even one ingredient made a big difference in taste.

He cooked two kinds of Nabe ( Hot Pot dish ), which is very popular winter dish in Japan.
The one is Miso flavor, and the other is Salt flavor.
He put a lot of vegetables, chiken and meat ball.

Once we eat, we can warm ourselves to the bone. Yum Yum （*⌒∇⌒*)

Nabe Bugyou means a person who takes care of Nabe dish while other people eat.

Thanks to this Japanese guest Sato san, everybody can just concentrate on eating.
We all staffs were in charge of eating at this party.( *´艸｀)

Sakura Hostel Asakusa

Address: 2-24-2 Asakusa Taito-ku, Tokyo
tel +81-3-3847-8111
fax +81-3-3847-8112

e-mail: info@sakura-hostel.co.jp
URL: http://www.sakura-hostel.co.jp/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SakuraHotelTokyo
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/asakusa_hostel

Sakura Hostel Asakusa by no means works for Apple.

But....You know what !?

Almost all staffs here are iPhone user.
Always some of us charge iPhone here.

Wait a minute......Can we distinguish instantly whose iPhone it is ??

YES !!
Each iPhone reflects our taste.
Now, I want to show you our iPhones.

So cute !!

It's Tomo's !!

Cool !!

It's Naoto's !!

Lovely Mickey !!

It's Johrel's !!

Interesting !!

It's Hiro's !!

My hero, Anpanman !!

It's Agu's !!

Skeleton !!

It's Tomoyuki's !!

Cleaning staff Egashira-san is iPhone user too !!

Which one do you vote for ?

Sakura Hostel Asakusa

Address: 2-24-2 Asakusa Taito-ku, Tokyo
tel +81-3-3847-8111
fax +81-3-3847-8112

e-mail: info@sakura-hostel.co.jp
URL: http://www.sakura-hostel.co.jp/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SakuraHotelTokyo
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/asakusa_hostel

What do you image with summer?
Beach? mountain? Summer vacation with your family?

I introduce seasonal traditions of summer in Japan.

Fu-rin

There are a lot of traditions all over the world.
In the case of Japan, most of it are written fishes, flowers and so on in clear glass.

Uchiwa & Sensu

Uchiwa is not only used to cool off during the summer time, they have other uses such as fanning away smoke while cooking and chasing away insects.

Sensu differs from uchiwa mainly because of its compact shape when folded, making it easier to carry.

Kingyo sukui

Kingyo sukui "Goldfish scooping" a game in which the aim is to scoop goldfish with a thin paper scoop out of a shallow water tank, is a staple attraction at summer festival.
A goldfish scooping competition is held every year at Yamato-Koriyama city, a center well-known for goldfish.

Kingyo sukui is limited of summer festival.
However, you can see and buy the others in Asakusa.

Would you like it for souvenirs?

Do you know " hostelbookers.com " ?
It's one of the most popular hostel booking site.

Under the name of " HOSTELBOOKERS AWARD ",
they award the prizes to the top hostels in the world.

There are some categories in this award.
Best Location, Best Atmosphere, Eco-Friendly etc

Among those categories,

This is awarded according to the highest customer rating for 'cleanliness'.

So that means,
Sakura Hostel Asakura is cleaner than any other hostels !!

We will continue with our effort.

*ﾟ:*･q(ﾟ∀ﾟ)p Enjoy your comfortable stay in Sakura Hostel Asakusa.q(ﾟ∀ﾟ)p･*:ﾟ*:

There are many bautiful flowers to be found all over the world.
However many Japanese, inpaticular, love and connect most with the cherry blossom.

In ancient Japan the samurai, when they committed an unforgivavle act would cimmit "Seppuku".
In the West, this is known as "Harakiri" or suicide.

This act of taking responsibility for ones actions showed how short life is, much like the cherry blossom.
A cherry blossom's life is very short but vibrant and beautiful.

There are always cherry blossoms by our side during many milestones in our lives such as graduation and starting our first job.

This is why many Japanese associate encounters and farewells with the cherry blossoms.

Our hostel's name is SAKURA HOSTEL. Sakura means cherry blossom.
We hope to have many encounters here but unlike the Sakura, We hope they are long lasting and not brief.

As you know, we had a huge earthquake in Japan.

A lot of the news focus on tsunami effect in Sendai area, but Ibaraki, where I live, was damaged as well due to the earthquake.

It was after my night shift and I was sleeping when it happened. I heard a big sound.

I woke up all of a sudden. My PC monitor, a clock fell off.

"What is this? What is going on?", I thought to myself.

I didn't know what was going on because I was just getting up. But I managed to held on to my PC.

The shaking stopped, and I got out of the room, this is what I saw.

The floor. First, this is what I saw when I got out of my room.

From the other side. My home is quite old, a wall fell off.

Knowing that it may sound imprudent, I laughed.
I just laughed.

I went outside and a lot of things were broken.
Of all the broken parts, this was the worse.

This is Japanese cemetery.
Because my home is a temple, there are a lot of cemeteries, and many of them fell over.
It's almost impossible to move them by human hand.
But many of them fell over. That's how powerful the earthquake was.

Despite of what happened, I'm so glad that all my friends and family are safe.

I wish I could show you more pictures, but I was very busy cleaning up the house, plus there was a blackout, so I couldn't take pictures.

No power, no water, no heat. We were in the dark, freezing.
In this kind of situation, the neighbors help each other and give food, get in contact.
If you live in a big city, they say "you don't know the face who lives next door". But in a small town, that is not the case.

If this human to human connection is strong, helping each other and such, I believe we can recover from this horrible disaster soon.

On 27th next week is TOKYO MARATHON DAY !

The first was held in 2007.
The number of applicants has increased every year.
This year there were 333,147 applications for 35,000 spots.

It's the one time during the year where you will find Tokyo's streets empty of cars as the route takes runners past such landmarks as the Imperial palace, Tokyo Tower, Ginza, Asakusa, and the Tsukiji fish market.

"Asakusa Kaminarimon"

If you are interested in taking part, registration starts in the summer.
It's a great way to see Tokyo.
And healthy too !

Official website

http://www.tokyo42195.org/2011/index_en.html

Please check this movie.
↓

It's funny!

Are you interested in Japan, Please ask us without constraint by twitter "asakusa_hostel.

Sakura Hostel Asakusa - The Promotion Movie

Today,
Santa Clause came along to Sakura Hostel Asakusa in Japan !!

Who is this Santa Clause?

It's Enoki Santa.
He is carrying the bag in which a lot of presents put !?

Oops. He must be a bad Santa Clause!!

And then, Jack Santa showed up.
The reindeer next to Santa Clause is ........... Tsuyoshi Reindeer !!
What a sly look it is!!

Now, Agu Santa and Johrel Reindeer came to the hostel.
Look !! His antler is pink !!
Is he an angel one !?

Those Santa Clause may sneak into your room and give you a present, or may not.

Best wishes to you and your family for a joyous season filled with health, happiness and prosperity.

Japan is full of delicious food during this season.
Chestnut, sweet potato, persimmon, and so on.

My recommendation is Ankou←click.

It's "MONKFISH".
We call this fish "ANKOU" in Japanese.

It's very ugly, isn't it?
You doubt we actually eat it.

Believe it or not, it's very delicious.

Ibaraki where I live is famous for ANKOU.
It's deep-sea fish.
The best season is from November to February.
Yes !! It's NOW !!

Because of luxury fish, the price of ANKOU is a little high.
It's worthy of the price. It's very delicious.
To your surprise,
you can eat everything such as skin, internal organs, and gill, except bones.

My favorite is monkfish liver.
I guess you have no clue of it.
It resembles foie gras.

Is there anyone who wants to challenge ANKOU, reading this?

If you are, would you please come to Sakura Hostel Asakusa?
I'll give you a ride to the famous ANKOU spot by my car, if you want.

I can not treat you to ANKOU dish, though.

Not too far from Asakusa, there is a place called "Kappabashi"

In Kappabashi, they have a lot of shops that sell professional culinary equipments, as well as rare items.
Some shops you can buy or experience making "Food samples" or I should call it, "fake food samples"

（Warning： You cannot eat this）

Anybody can buy these items. For a souvenir, there are key holder types.

As I mentioned earlier, you can experience making these fake food samples. You should try making one when you are in Kappabashi.

It completely got cool weather, and autumn has come.
Various vegetables and fruits ripen in this season.
In Japan, it is said that autumn is the season for big appetites.

During my travel all over the world, one African guy said to me.

"Japanese people eat the snake, don't they? That's why I don't like Japanese."

You know what !? We don't !!

Even if Japanese people actually eat the snake, does this cause you to hate Japan?

In the first place, each country has their own food culture.
Sometimes, there exists the food beyond our sense.

From the view of Japanese people, we are astonished at the escargot and frog in French food.
From the view of non-Japanese people, you think Japanese food "Natto" is disgusting, don't you?

However, I didn't deny what he said.
I accepted it as the difference of food culture, and I tried to eat anything without prejudice.

BUT,

There exist one food that I couldn't accept at all.

Brain of Sheep !! I saw it in Iran.

I could never ever eat this......

You can see it in the sandwich shops all over the town.
Iranian people says, "It's very delicious !! ".

If it was unrecognizable, I might have been able to eat it.
It's apparently the "BRAIN". Don't you think so?

So as not to misunderstand, I want to say something.
I never ever hate Iranian people even though they eat the brain of sheep.
In addition to the fact that Iranian people are very kind,
Iran is the very attractive country for sight-seeing.

We had farewell party for Ryoko last night.
She worked in Sakura hostel for a half year, and took charge of our staff blog.
I think you enjoyed her blog a lot.
Now, she decided to start her new life in the U.S.
She will work in Disney Land in Florida for a year!!
We believe she do a good job over there as well as in Sakura hostel.

Here are some photos we took last night.

with her best friend Enocchi

Sakura Girls!!

We gave her message card.
Was she so happy that she couldn't help crying!?

We will miss you, Ryoko!!
Come to see us when you come back to Japan!!

Today is my last day working here.
Time flies so fast these past 6 months.
I really liked the international atmosphere here.

I'm glad to work with awesome Sakura staffs.
Everyone has interesting characteristics;
Tsuyoshi=Looks scary, but warm hearted

Naoto=Not only just a crazy fighter, but a laid back & generous guy
Tomoe=Shy and indoor image at first, but friendly, active, and surprisingly beer lover

Ebi=Sensitive guy in contrast to his wild appearance

Jack=Supportive and gentle, but keeping a gang sta mind in secret

Johrel=Fashionable and peaceful, but scared at a cockroach

Enoki=Serious and organized, at the same time, funny and hilarious

Instead of me writing this blog, new staffs, Agu and Aki will take care of it.
They'll give you lots of info about Japan from their different perspective.

I'm going to the States for a year to work as a cultural representative.
Working here at Sakura gave me good opportunity to share my own culture
and customs with guests from all over the world.

This place is the second home for guests, but for me at the same time.

I'll definitely stop by sometimes to say hello.

See you then!! Muah!!

"Himonoya" is such a nice Izakaya restaurant.
It's just 8 mins walk from the hostel.
It delivers a nice interior design, together with all the classics of Japanese izakaya food,
like yakitori, grilled fish, salads, etc., and a wide variety of drinks.

We played interesting masks that were hanged on the wall.
I can't tell the difference between Enoki and this funny mask.

Tomoe and Johrel

Haha, Ben chan. You look like Namahage.

Namahage= A person dressed as scary looking demon, and scare young children
in the houses to encourage them to obey their parents and to behave.

Hit the Taiko (Japanese drum) to call the servers

Naoto loves to go there during lunch time.
Lunch menu is just 580~680yen includes main dish, miso soup, Rice and natto (sticky beans).
You can get rice and natto as much you can.
Naoto always has at least 2 rice bowls and 2 natto packs.
That's why he gains 2kg recently. lol

Their size of beer mug is quite amazing!! That's HUGE!!

Even though you are good at chugging a beer like this guy, you would have hard time.

Himonoya is our paradise!!!

''What is your blood type?''

Westerners might think that this question sounds a little bit creepy.
However, for Japanese people, blood types carry significance and are similar to horoscopes.
Each person with a certain blood type are commonly known to have specific
characteristics and traits.
There are four blood types: A, B, O and AB.
If you don't know your blood type, Japanese people will be shocked.

According to the blood type assessment,
A-type people are regarded as calm, polite, responsible, sensitive,

Type A Enoki

Type A Ebi

but also they are perfectionists, anxious, nervous and over cautions.

Type A Ryoko

B-type people are strong, creative, outgoing, optimistic, flexible,
more laid-back who do things at their own pace, but eccentric and selfish.

Type B Jack

O-type people are curious, generous, romantic and tolerant.

Type O Tomoe

Type O Johrel

Type O Naoto & Ben chan

They love to be the center of attention and appear very self confident.
They don''t always finish what they start.

AB-type people have both types of A and B, so they are shy and outgoing,

Tsuyoshi B side
They easily switch from one opposite to another.

Tsuyoshi A side
They are trustworthy and responsible, but can't handle it when too much is asked of them.

Most Japanese are type A while most Westerners are type O.

The reason why Japanese like linking blood types to personality is that
Japanese are group-oriented.
Japanese do not like to be isolated to do things differently from others.
They are fond to stick together: eating, working, or traveling in a group.
Being with people of the same ''blood'' gives them a kind of carefreeness and joy.

Are you getting interested knowing your blood type???

Jack: What are you doing????

Enoki's promise is just broken...

Oh you....

Enoki's excuse: I love cigarettes more than anything, like girls and drinks.
No matter what people say about smokers, I'm always Tobacco industry's side!!!

Before

After

Which one is cuter?

My Aniki (Boss) is killed by Kunoichi...
Enoki: ''Since Aniki is gone, i am such a disparate...''

''Aniki.....come back....''

''This is a time for 敵討ち (Kataki-uchi ：means Japanese revenge killing)!!!!''

Our security camera recorded everything.

''I'll come & get you, Kunoichi...''

Kunoichi: ''So hot in here. I'll get a drink right after I get off here.''

Kunoichi: ''What a...''
Enoki: ''Haha!! Get you baby.''

Enoki : ''Aniki no Kataki!!!!''
Kunoichi: ''Gyaaaaaa''

You became a witness right now...

I was only smoker in the hostel.
But, It's different now !

I'm trying to stop smoking and two weeks went by.

In fact, I failed it two times in the past.
Third　challange is....

I'm useing two items.
Nicotine patch and Nicotine gum.

If I don't use them, I can't continue to stop smoking.

My friend told me, "You can do it if you have a lover dislike smoke."
Does Love win smoke ?

Tsuyoshi got national uniforms, and all staff wear them for FIFA world cup next week!!!

England!

Argentina!

Brazil!

Cameroon!

Portugal !

Spain!

Germany!

France!

We are waiting for your arrival with passionate heart.

Our common point　is "Drinking the Protein"
We are always getting in shape.

Be careful !
If you drink and be loud, I hold you back.

There was a football game yesterday, Japan VS Koria.

The result is, Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.....

× Japan 0 = 2 Koria ○

World cup will be held next month !
Is Japan all right !?

I couldn't work by the bad news today.

I'm sad, but I　hope to win in the World cup.

One tourist said me,"Kanji is cool !"

Japanese kanji

Last few years, Kanji tatoo is very popular.
But, Be careful.

I saw a man has Kanji tatoo in Thailand.
That kanji is "冷奴".

"冷" = Cool
"奴" =Guy

But "冷奴" is not "Cool guy"
It's meaning "Tofu(Japanese food)"

Cool guy

Tofu

It's big different !
Please ask Japanese If you want Kanji tatoo.

It's hot today.
Beers in our vending machine　are already sold out.

Next month, FIFA World Cup will be hold in South Africa.

So, they are from South Africa.

It's one of my favorite country.
I ate terrific food , saw some good landscape spots and met many kind people when I was there.
I want to go back there again !

If you love football, Let's go to South Africa.
I can assure you that everything is fun !

Hello.
Today is the final day of "Sanja Matsuri"
So many people in Happi in Asakusa.

Too much !!

And I tried to take a picture of Mikoshi(portable shrines) for this blog.
But I could not find it.
Where is it ?
Are Men taking a rest now?

But, no problem.
I'm very happy because there are a lot of food stalls.

Taste is terrific !

When I came back to hostel, Tomoe was angry.
"Why didn't you take any pictures of Mikoshi ?"

I'm sorry.
Please forgive me, this is a present, Takoyaki(octopus dumpling) for you.

Hi, I'm Hiro.

Do you know "koinobori"?
It is meaning "Carp streamer".

I love it, And I feel spring has come when I see it.

I have thought "The carp is child of Dragon".
Because there is one fairy tail, "If carp climbs up the waterfall, It will changes to Dragon" in Japan.

If you want to know about it, Please check this↓
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koinobori.

Hiro stopped by at the hostel in this morning.
He finished work at 5 am, and went to Tsukiji fish market directly after.
He brought a popular Japanese style omelet and egg cake.

Delicious!!

Hiro told me when he stays overnight, his eyes turns to obscene. lol

Let me introduce our new staff, Hiro.

Hello.
My name is Hiro.

My house is Japanese temple, My father & big brother are priest.
Very traditional family.

But,I love Overseas culture.
I have traveled around the world by a motobike.
And I learned Brasilian sports"Capoeira" for 4 years

Sorry,I can not speak English well.
Everybody, please teach me English.
Let's talk about Martial arts!
Of couse, come on persons who wants to fight with me also!!