by Yuji Ozawa (Japanese site)
You are the th guest of my site. (since99/02/10)
Rose Garden (Minato-no-mieru-oka kouen)
Minato-no-mieru-oka kouen is a famous park in Yokohama city. This name means a park on hill and from where we can see Port of Yokohama. This park is at Naka Ward, and very near from Moto-machi and Yokohama China Town.
And this park is famous for its rose garden, many kind of rose flowers bloom in spring and autumn. Middle of May is the best season for rose flowers.
There are many kinds of colorful rose flowers. White, yellow, pink .... I think the red rose is the queen of rose flowers.
These flowers has its own name. Below rose flower's name is 'Lady Like'. I think many young lady love pink color, then this name is 'Lady Like' ?
May 17th (Saturday), weather is fine. then many people visit Minato-no-mieru-oka kouen. They enjoyed colorful rose flowers and its perfume.
Today was a peaceful day of Yokohama city.
Okonomiyaki (Japanese popular dish)
The materials of okonomiyaki are wheat flour, egg, and various ingredients such as meat, spotted shrimp and so on. We bake okonomiyaki with the iron plate.
Kansai area and Hiroshima area are famous for okonomiyaki, but we have some delicious okonomiyaki restaurant in Tokyo. Sometaro is the one of famous okonomiyaki restaurant in Tokyo.
Sometaro is at Asakusa and five minutes walk from Kaminari-mon gate. Asakusa is a sightseeing spot of Tokyo, then many foreign tourist visit Kaminari-mon.
Sometaro is very famous, then many TV stars visit this restaurant. And Sometaro has its original menu. O-some-yaki is typical of that. (Below picture is O-some-yaki before cooking.)
Dango (Japanese Dumpling)
Dango is a traditional snack made from mochi (rice paste) , anko (Azuki bean paste) and so on. In Tokyo we have 2 famous Dango, one is Kototoi Dango and the other is Habutae Dango.
Below picture is Kototoi Dango. These Dango is very sweet, and young girls like this Dango. But it is too sweet for me.
And next picture is Osen Dango which is made by Habutae Dango company. This Dango is sold at the Kishibojin Shrine in Toshima ward (Middle of Tokyo) .
The green drink of cup is Japanese Tea. Dango with green tea is a best couple of afternoon snack of Japan.
Japanese Castle
In Edo period (1603-1867), many castles were built all over the Japan country. These castles were built because of military reason, and many of them were located at the center of local city.
Many castles were vanished in 19th century, and some of them are re-built in 20th century. Now these castles become a site spot or a tourist mecca. Below picture is Kakegawa-jyo (Castle of Kakegawa) in Shizuoka prefecture. This caste was re-built in 1994.
Ancient Kakegawa-jyo was built in 1469-1487 by Daimyo Yoshitada Imagawa. Daimyo means feudal lord.
Below picture is Hamamatsu-jyo (Hamamatsu Castle) . Hamamatsu is a big city in Shizuoka prefecture. This castle was re-built in 1959.
Ieyasu Tokugawa is the founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan. He conqured this castle in 1568.
Upper 2 Castles are re-built in 20th century, but some Castles in Japan remain as original. Himeji Castle and Matsumoto Castle are typical of those castles.
Tulips and Cherry blossoms
Yokohama Park is famous for tulip flowers in spring. And this day 5th April, tulips and cherry blossoms are harmonized.
Many families enjoy beautiful flowers, and spring sunshine.
I think best season of tulip is maybe the end of April. But this day many early flowering tulips can be seen at Yokohama park.
If you have a chance to come Yokohama Park in Goolden Week (29th April to 5th May is Japanese special holiday week. ), you can see many colorful tulips.
Yokohama baseball stadium is in this Yokohama Park, then many fans of Japanese professional baseball will gather when game is held.
I am a Japanese Engineer born in Tokyo. Now I'm living in Yokohama which is near city from Tokyo. I love mountains, classical music, personal computer, novels, movies, trip and so on. Let's enjoy my web site. Thank you.
My site opened in 1997, and I wrote only in Japanese since then. Now I have many foreign friends, co-worker. Then I decided to start English page today (02/24/2008).
[ Special thanks to Amanda (USA), Tanya (Canada), Gustavo (Venezuela) ]