What are you doing Naoto??
Are you fixing the ceiling?

Ta-dah!!

Do you recognize what's new with our front desk??

Yes, we have WORLD TIME CLOCK now!
When you make a phone call to your family or friends while you are travelling, you may take some time to figure out the time difference.
But now, those clocks help you to find out what time at your home :D

London!

Rio de Janeiro!

New York!

Sydney!

Bankok!

It was Naoto's long-cherished dream.. and finally Benjamin made his dream come true!
Ben-chan designed those clocks. Great job!

Tokyo time?
Our Totoro clock is still here :)

"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!!!

Ben

Transformed as...

''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???

If you want to have ramen in a typical evening in Tokyo 1958, the Shin-Yokohama Ramen-Museum is definately for you.

Go down the stairs of the Naruto-Station and travel back in time.
There are several restaurants and you can play games in the market area.

If you are full you can explore the backalleys. (You might encounter the ghost if you go right on the women onsen entrance)

Back to the present you can experience how it feels to be on the other side of a ramen restaurant:

Do you know "Kit Kat"?

In Japanese, "Kit Kat" is pronounced "kitto katto".
Because it sounds similar to "kitto katsu", which means something like "You will surely win", it became a custom for parents to buy "Kit Kat" as good luck charm before an important test at school.

Now there are a lot of different flavors. Some of which are only sold for a limited time:

Last weekend, the organization "peace" organized a free sightseeing trip for guests of Sakura Hostel and other Hostels to the Ueno-Park.
The Ueno-Park is a huge Park in Ueno on the area of the former Kaneiji-Temple. The temple was build to guard the Edo-Castle against the Demons-Gate to the north-east.

The important places include several museums, a concert hall and many shrines. There also is a zoo.
The Park is a popular holiday area.

This place is famous for "hanami". Many(!) people gather here to view the cherry blossom in spring.

Here are a few pictures of the parks lush vegetation in the middle of Tokyo:

Do you know the Toushouguu in Nikkou? The shrine is dedicated to Tokugawa Ieyasu, who is also entombed there.
The place is so breathtaking that you can not describe it. I took a lot of photos and videos, but it is impossible to even remotely catch the atmosphere.

To get to the actual tomb of Tokugawa Ieyasu (which is - typically Japanese - kept very minimalistic), you first have to go through a huge temple complex with beautiful buildings and huge courtyards and climb endless stairs.

You also go through several torii and gates - you can imagine how sacred the place is.

Did you know that the three wise monkeys come from there too?

Nikkou is also very popular among our guests:

Feel free to ask at our front desk if you plan to go to Nikkou and need help.

There are many types of delicious snacks in Japan!

Taiyaki:

Anpan:

Dango:

Takoyaki:

Sudako:

How come I do not gain weight?

We have another traveler from France who is going to explore Japan by bike.

He left his bike here and will go to Okinawa by bike when he comes back!
He also left a message in Japanese on his bike:

It basically says: "PLEASE don' t take my bike!"

My recommendation is ....

夏の家(Natsu no ya)

It is very close to the Hanayashiki-Park and I go there a lot for lunch!
The people are very nice and cheery. And of course the food is fresh and GOOD and they have very good prices too!

(Protip: Ask them for the name of the restaurant.)

Last time I had Sashimi:

美味しいよ！

Here is the way from the Kuramae (蔵前) Station to Sakura Hostel
so you can see how it looks like in the morning:

This is Benjamin:
Today a guest came in and showed us this:

It' s bread from a German bakery called "Bäckerei" (O.o)
See two German guys enjoying German food in Japan:

There is a new member from Germany from today on for the next 2 months. I think if I get used to everything we can have a good time here.
I walked around Asakusa to learn about the place and took a few photos for you:

You can walk through the "Nakamise Street" to the "Sensouji Temple":

The temple area is just beyond the gate...

... but it is under construction at the moment

This is how it looks like:

And this is the garden around the temple:

Look at this beautiful buildings:

There even is a Gegege no Kitarou House:

And this is me with Naoto-san