Adventure Time limited Shop in Shibuya

Just the other day my friend told me about the opening of an "Adventure time" shop in Shibuya. My best friend is a huge fan of adventure time so I got quite interested in it. It is only a limited shop though. Only up until the 11/24/2014.

When I was walking around Shibuya I came across the mascottes doing commercial and taking pictures on the street.
Beside the shop there are also various other events going on during that period.

The shop is in Shibuya inside the Marui Jam building at the 1F. 

Directions: From the Big crossing keep Starbucks on your left side and walk on the other side. It's right after McDonalds.

Don't worry if the store closes: Adventure time articles are available in several toystores around Tokyo. There is one in Harajuku.

Fall Time in Nikko, Tochigi - Lake Chuzenji-Ko, 10/26/2014

Fall is definitely my favorite season in Japan!! The weather is nice, it's mostly sunny and enough warm to just wear sweaters outside.
Even more exciting is Japan's nature during Fall. It looks so magical. This is why we decided to go outside of Tokyo and visit Nikko.

Instead of going by train, my friend rented a car for a day which was less expensive, if you are going in a group of more than 3 people. I only paid 4000 Yen for transportation. By train it would be more expensive.

We didn't go exactly to Nikko city but to a mountain close to the city. On that mountain there were two different lakes. A small one and a bigger one. That place is also famous for the waterfalls around the lakes.

We went up the mountain by car and hiked around the lakes.

 

On the way to the second lake we walked by a waterfall, it's the Ryuzu-no-taki.

Unfortunately the weather started to change towards the late afternoon. It was still really beautiful.

After the second lake there was a much bigger waterfall. It's called Kegon-no-Taki.

Kawagoe Aki Matsuri / Fall Festival 10/19/2014

Kawagoe is a city in the north of Tokyo in Saitama. From Shinjuku it takes about 50 minutes by train (Saikyo-sen) to get there. They call this city little Kyoto because it is built in a traditional way.

I finally found the time to go visit it. As I arrived at the station, it was full with people. I thought it might be because it's the last station of the train and because it's Sunday.
For my surprise the day I went there they were having a fall festival. The festival was held during the entire weekend.

There was a parade with traditional music and the people were wearing traditional clothes.

They had lots of foodstands and souvenir stands spread all over the city.

Since there were soo many people I didn't get to take a lot of pictures from the buildings.
Eighter way it's true that there were many old buildings and what I personally liked was to take a look at the traditional shops. There were many tea shops and also traditional japanese clothing stores. I had a lot of fun just checking them out.

traditional japanese tea pots

Fuji-san and Shibazakura Matsuri Mai 2014

After almost 1 year that I've been in Japan I finally went to see Mount Fuji (富士山). I went towards the end of May.

Once a year from the end of April till beginning of June, there is a Festivity called Shibazakura Matsuri.

Shibazakura is a type of "cherry blossom" that grows from the ground. It comes in different types of pinkish colors.

Unfortunately for us the wether wasn't on our favor. It was really gloomy and cloudy that day... From time to time it was also raining. At the beginning I feared that I wouldn't be able to see Fuji-san at all. Luckily he decided to show up sometimes.

In the Fuji-san area there are 5 different lakes. We went to one lake in the area Yamanashi, Fujikawakuchiko, Motosu lake.

To get there we went on the train and had to change several times. The last station was Kawaguchiko. From there we took the bus to go to Motosu. We bought in Shinjuku an all-day pass that was around 4000 Yen. It's really worth buying that pass. From Saitama or Tokyo it takes almost 2 hours to get there!

We also went to the Kawaguchiko lake before leaving.

... we had to hurry up since it seemed like a storm was coming...

I still got some really nice pictures despite the gloomy day...

All in one I loved it!!! The nature around Fuji is just magical. It was one of the best experience that I had since coming to Japan. It's definitely worth going near Fuji-san.

Let's get some foodporn here!!! They had all Sakura themed food there!! I ate Sakura Ramen!! Ouuu yes!!! That was some delicious ramen!!

Sweets paradise!!! Everything just looked sooo delicious!!

Sakura flavoured cake!!! I wish I could eat it again!!

Sakura has bloomed in the first week of April 2014

The Sakura right in front of my home - Kita-Toda

It's my second time to be able to see the beautiful sakura in Japan. It usually blooms towards the end of March until the beginning of April. This year it was in the first week of April. The Winter was longer than usual so it bloomed quite late.
Usually in the south of Japan it blooms earlier than in the north.

I personally think the blooming time is one of the most magical moments in Japan.
Last year I saw the cherry blossoms at the Ueno Park. This year I was able to see them at the Imperial Palace and Ichigaya.

Ichigaya

Imperial Palace Chidoya

 

They say the cherry blossoms at the Imperial Palace are the most beautiful in Tokyo. Indeed I spent a very magical day there!!

This beauty last for a couple of days until...

 

... the blossoms fall and the trees grow leafs.

It's definitely worth seeing a beauty like this live!!