Seafood, in general, is something that tourists have such high expectations when they visit Japan. We, Japanese people, love sushi and sashimi too. It is, however, not the only way we appreciate this kind of food.
I have been in living in Tachikawa. I live in a Oakhouse apartment called Tachikawa Garden Town. On this post, I’d like to introduce my favorite seafood bowl restaurant really close to where I live.

The restaurant only serves nothing but a seafood bowl

Seafood bowls are the one of the most popular (inexpensive) ways to enjoy seafood. Technically speaking, it is basically the same thing as sushi or sashimi. It’s a mixture of several kinds of raw fish and shellfish served on a rice bowl. It sounds simple but the taste can be extremely complex.
I would not say sushi and sashimi are simple taste. Well-prepared sushi can be complex as well. Even the best sushi in Japan is still the beauty within a single fish. It’s a beauty in the single note in music whereas the beauty of seafood bowl is a harmony of many notes. It’s not fair to compare sushi and seafood bowl becuse you cannot compare a single music note and a symphony, if you know what I mean.
The next question is where we should eat seafood bowl at. I have a perfect place to recommend.
Tsujihan (つじ半), is a restaurant only serves their original seafood bowl. There are many seafood restaurants in Tokyo but their bowl is really amazing.

Two different tastes on a single bowl

The original restaurant of Tsujihan is located in Nihonbashi, basically in a walking distance from Tokyo Station. There’s a restaurant in Tachikawa as well, located inside the food court of Lala port, one of the biggest shopping mall in the area. From Tachikawa Garden Town which is where I live now, it’s extremely accessible too. Take a monorail at Shibasaki Taiikukan station, 5 mins walk from Garden Town, and head straight to Tachihi Station which is the station connected to Lala port.

What’s so unique about this seafood bowl is that it’s served not just with a bowl but also with a fish soup. You’re supposed to eat only half of the bowl first, then pour the fish soup into the bowl and eat them all together. First of all, the bowl is really good as it is. It comes with some soy sauce and you pour it over the bowl and you don’t need anything else to flavor the food. Pouring the fish soup changes the taste of the bowl dramatically. The fish soup is very well prepared and it’s so good that you would feel like you want to drink it just by itself. After going through this unique two-stages meal, you would not believe this bowl is only 980 yen. It’s like eating two different meals for a single meal pricing.

The reason it comes with a little plate with Sashimi

You might find it strange that the bowl comes with a little plate with a little sashimi on it. It’s not for eating right away. You’re supposed to keep it until the moment you pour the fish soup in the bowl. I love this kind of little details.

Once you know how Tsujihan’s seafood bowl tastes like, you would know what I mean when I said sushi and Sashimi are very different food. It’s not about which is better or not.
If you have a chance to come around Tachikawa, Tsujihan is a must-go Japanese restaurant, in my opinion.

エルニドの風光明媚は

なににもかえがたく、かえがたく。

死ぬほど趣を詰め込んで、

最強の陽気をふりかけたようなところでした。

そしてここのすごさは、美のバリエーションにもあります。

エルニドという広い地域の中で、

中心（上写真）、北海岸、北の離島、南、西の離島と

移動してわかったのは、どこも超絶美しく、どこも風景の方向性が全くちがう！

どこもかしこも、声を大にして訴えたいほど感銘をうけましたが、

なかでも北の離島、ダラコタン島での【ソロピング】＝ひとりグランピングは強烈すぎて!!

人生でも5本の指に入るほど空気とトロトロに溶け合った時間……(*´°`*)

やばすぎて、現地で原稿仕上げたので、帰国して間もなく

連載【旅色アンバサダー】にアップされました。

どうぞ、やばい時間を、文章と写真と動画で感じてください。

そうそう、海面スレッスレ疾走から始まる動画、きもちいですよ〜、ぜひ！

　　　↓　↓

ドローン旅だから行きついた最高体験。フィリピン“奇跡の楽園”で「ソロピング」

ちなみに帰国してすぐ石垣です★

でもドローンは入院中です！笑

Snowboarding has becoming my thing to do on the weekend especially this year. My first goes way back and it was when I was studying the U.S. It was fun but very painful. I was away from snowboarding for several years until I tried for the first time in Japan two years ago.

Taking bullet trains for snowboarding

I don’t really know how it’s like to snowboard in other countries but at least I can tell you how it’s like for people in Tokyo.
There are so many mountains in Japan which makes it easy to find ski resort. But how should we choose? First, you need to get to the ski resort and it often times already is quite a journey unless you live in Tohoku region or Hokkaido. For people in Tokyo.
There are basically 3 ways to go to reach the ski resort; bus, car and train. I guess getting on a train to reach ski resort is something hard to imagine for most people. Even I tried this for the first time just a week ago. I think it’s so much easier taking trains than taking a bus or car. Let me tell you why and how the trip looks like.

Faster, more time to have fun at the resort

This is the biggest reason that I like taking Shinkansen for snowboarding. It takes at least 2-3 hours to reach the closest ski resort from Tokyo. Shinkansen only takes 90 mins to reach Niigata, the hotspot for ski and snowboarding. Last year, I went to Norn Ski resort in Gunma prefecture, the bus I was taking caught in traffic jam and lost so much time on the highway, my friends and I ended up having only 3 hours to snowboard.
Shinkansen snowboarding, on the other hand, took only 1 hour and half to reach the ski resort. We took 6 am train from Tokyo station to reach Echigo Yuzawa station at around 7:30AM. The ski resort is open from 8AM to 5PM which means we had 9 hours at the resort. It’s always better to have longer time at the resort because you won’t always be snowboarding. Renting gears and changing could take like an hour depending on how big your group is. You have to have another hour or so for lunch and short breaks.

No car sickness, No traffic jam, more personal space

I guess this is no-brainer but it’s something important for some people. It’s stressful that you have to worry about getting sick on the way and being stuck on the subway. There are bathrooms equipped with shinkansen cars. You can go to a bathroom any time you want. There are more personal space in shinkansen cars compared to cars or busses, which makes the entire trip much more comfortable.

Drinking on the way home

This is probably the biggest reason that like the shinkansen trip better than other trips. The station we dropped off at is Echigo Yuzawa station and it’s one of the biggest stations in that entire region. The prefecture of Niigata is know as the biggest rice producer in Japan it means they have very good sake brands. In Echigo Yuzawa station, there are so many shops ran by the local sake breweries.

My favorite spot at this station is the place called ぽんしゅ館(Pon-shu kan)
It’s a sake tasting store where you get to choose 5 sake cups out of 200 sake brands. It’s cool that everything is fully automated as there are sake servers and you insert coins for the sake you want to try. You can get 5 coins for 500 yen at the entrance.
Basically what you do is choose the sake, insert coins, and drink. Some brands only require just a single coin, whereas some require 3 coins.

Each cup is very small and they only serve 15-20 ml for the single sake tasting. It’s obviously not enough to get drunk but that’s not entirely the point. If you think of it as an opportunity to find your favorite sake, it makes so much sense. Just like wine, there are so many sake brands in Japan. It’s impossible to try out all of them. With this store, you get to know at least what kind of sake you like better than others.

Sake bath

There are also many hot springs around this region. I have not tried yet but there’s a sake bath in the station. It’s more like a sento but they pour sake into the water where you bath in. I heard it’s good for the skin and it obviously warms you up even faster. Sounds intriguing? Give it a try and tell me. I’d like to know too.

More than just the snowboarding

As you have seen above, I guess doing snowboarding is not just what we do during the whole trip. There are so many other things that you can do during the trip.

Hope you get to try this Shinkansen snowboarding while you’re in Japan. Make sure to buy the trip here at JR site as they often offer a better deal than buying shinkansen fare individually. We paid 11400 yen for a round trip Shinkansen and the lift fare at the resort. Renting gears cost additional but it’s only 3500 yen or so.

蒲田は食の街でもあり。
有名店もいっぱいある。
住民に教わっては、いろいろ行ってみた。

僕は自称facebook芸人。
友達も、フォロワーさんも各4000人弱いる。
なので、情報がすごい入ってくる。
『のぶきさん、蒲田なら、ぜひここ食べてみてください』
そー教わった牡蠣ラーメンのお店。

僕は教わったら、すぐ行く。
自分のやることリストをどんどこ消せるほど、人生は勝てるから。
教わった当日に行くことも多い。
やることリストが溜まってく一方の人が大半だ。
そーすると、いますべきベストが判断しにくくなり、人生はスローダウンしてしまう。
『俊敏性行動力』は、昔から仲間に褒められてきた。

あっさりが塩としょうゆあるので、全部で４種類ってとこかな。

一口食べ、五口を食べ、感じる。
『ここ、僕の蒲田いち』
食べてすぐ一番って感じるラーメンって、なかなか出逢わない。

ちなみに、オークハウスの渡辺部長に教わった練馬のラーメン『濃菜麺 井の庄 』も何度も行った。ここも激ウマ！練馬近辺に行ったら、必ず食べてるｗ　渡辺部長さん、教えてくださり、ありがとーございます。
https://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1321/A132102/13094245/

んで、話を蒲田１ラーメンへ戻すと・・・
数日後に2回目へ行った。
なんでも『２回目へ行くのが自分にとって本物の証！』
今回は、13時50分にお腹へったので、検索したら『14時ラストオーダー』とあり、チャリで5分にて到着し、食す。
今回は、あっさりの醤油味を食べてみた。

個人的な好みは最初の牡蠣ラーメン。
（１回目はカメラを持っていなかったっす）
明日は煮干しラーメンにしよーかな。
書いてるとお腹すくｗｗｗ
結局、８日で４回も行った。
その後も、毎週、通ってるｗ

https://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1315/A131503/13221764/

蒲田って、羽根つき餃子や、行列のとんかつ屋さんなど、美食な街。
ソーシャルレジデンス蒲田の仲間と一緒に食べにいこーー
https://www.oakhouse.jp/house/465

はじまりました、カンボジア旅の新連載♪

11月にシェムリアップで超満喫のアンコールタイムを過ごしましたが

その旅についてのお話をこれから毎月

ベトナム王さまのサイトにてお届けいたします。

１回目は、旅の不安解消編！

個人的旅アイテムや、乗り継ぎ方に入国方法などなど

調べるのが面倒なことは、こちらのお話でまるっと解決してください。

ぜひこちらからご覧いただけますとうれしいです( *’v`* )

ただいま～♬

しばしエルニドでした。

国はフィリピン、うたい文句は「最後の秘境」「奇跡の楽園」。

たいそうでしょうw

ほとんど信じずに、出発したんですけど、めっっちゃすごいとこでした!!!

そもそも、なんで行ったかといえば、たまたま見た写真が

へんな岩とキレイな海。ちょっと複雑な海の地形を飛ぶのが大好きなので

奇跡の楽園かどうかはおいておき、ピンときちゃったんです。

果たして行ってみると、へんな岩とか言ってる場合ではなく

島レベルでめっちゃ複雑な形をしている奇岩ならぬ奇島が

超絶キレイな海に渋滞してるではありませんか！

キレイとか、青い海とか、そういうのはもう当然で

キレイな海を入れる箱のなんと風光明媚なことでしょう。

ほれちゃってほれちゃって……

いい旅でした。

新しい経験も出会いもぱんぱんに満タン、

朝から晩まで飛びまくった大満足な日々でした。

あーよかったなー。

そうそううたい文句の「最後の秘境」の方はいくぶん納得いきます。

だって、Wi-Fi使えない話題の地域ってあんまり知らないもん。w

日本から持って行ったWi-Fiはほとんど機能せず

いいホテルに行ってもほとんど使えず

けっこうな高級ホテルに行くと、まぁなんとか……

アップロードとかはできないけど、検索くらいはできる！

レベルでした。w　秘境っぽくていいですよね！w

今後、このブログや、Instagram、連載などで書いていきたいと思います。

わくわくするなーぜひご覧いただけるとうれしいです★

有名ブロガー、かさこさん。
どー有名かというと、フェイスブックでシェアされた回数が一番多い方。
とはいっても、フェイスブックは、僕の友達がシェアしたのしか見ることはできない。
つまり、僕の友達限定では、一番有名なブロガーということになる。

いろんな記事を読ませていただいた。
そして、いろいろ学びになった。
どちらといえば、僕も想ってたことを厳しく指摘されていることも多め。

大事なのは、『厳しく指摘できる』ってとこ。
読む人が読むと、簡単にアンチとなってしまう。
嫌われるのを承知で、あえて指摘する。
愛ある方じゃないとできないかなって感じてた。

話は、飛ぶけど・・・
僕はすてきな仲間のおかげさまで、毎週講演させていただいてる。
何人もの企画者＆イベンターが、年に１～10度とか、ご依頼してくださる。
そのうちのひとりで、イベンターの冬ちゃん。
冬ちゃんが『第３回ぶっとんでる人飲み会』の
ゲストスピーカーに僕を呼んでくださった。

その第２回目のゲストがあの『かさこさん』だったんす♪
僕自体が申し込もうとしたけど、気づいたときは、すでに満席。
でも、冬ちゃんが僕のことを話してくれた。
それで、つながることができて、お逢いすることに。
♪いやっほい♪
人の御縁だけで、すてきな人生になってるっす♪

そして、ブログの記事にもしてくださった。
あの何度も読んだブログに載せてもらえて、光栄っす♪
よろしかったら、読んでくださ～い♪

https://ameblo.jp/kasakot/entry-12422329780.html
https://ameblo.jp/kasakot/entry-12422726948.html

さらにだいぶ経ってから、追加記事。
追加記事を書きますと言ってくださったけど、
忘れずにしてくださるのが、かさこさんのプロのすごさかと。
https://ameblo.jp/kasakot/entry-12433027839.html

I recently got a new phone Pixel 3. I’ve been an iPhone user for many years but I did not feel like getting the latest iPhone for some reason. I’m ok with the general experience but it was getting expensive and expensive with the functions I probably don’t use. One of my friends in the U.S. recently got a Pixel 3 and it got my attention. I looked it up and noticed there are many things that I’d like to try out. Smart phones, nowadays, does not really impress me because I’m so used to using it and all the new features they keep adding every year seems to be something so trivial that doesn’t really excite me. Just browsing through Pixel 3 functions and reviews, on the other hand, got me excited and made me want to use the phone.
Ever since then, I was waiting for the Google store sales. Make no mistake. Pixel 3 isn’t cheap at all. The official price starts at 95,000 yen and that’s the minimum storage. After a week or so, Google finally started a Valentine’s day sale which was 20,000 yen off and I did not miss that chance.

Night Sight photos of Tachikawa

One of the big reasons that I got Pixel 3 is the camera. Even though it’s equipped with just a single camera lens, it takes some great photos. Google’s Night Sight is probably the best night mode for any smartphones available in the market. It’s a well-known fact that smartphones are not good at taking photos at night. Well, not anymore with Pixel 3.

These photos below are shot just from the balcony of my house, Tachikawa Garden Town. You can obviously tell which one is shot with Night Sight. This stand alone AI-powered night mode does all the trick. Just to remind, it was extremely dark when I shot this. The right side photo was also shot on Pixel 3 but not with Night Sight. It’s still not bad but it’s much darker.

I was shocked to see the difference actually. Look at the detail of the lawn on the ground. It’s amazing how detail the camera captured in the darkness.
For the record, I did not use a tripod or any other camera equipment. I was just holding it with my hand when I shot these photos.
The detail is even obvious with the photos below. It slightly rained before I took these photos so the ground was wet. The floor was so clear. I can bet my old phones could capture nothing but darkness.

*Shot at Tachikawa park right behind Tachikawa Garden Town.

I have to admit that these photos are way brighter than it actually seems. In other words, these photos are not exactly what I saw with my naked eyes. This is the part some people are not really happy with, I assume. I love it. At least, Night Sight made me feel that I can go out at night and still enjoy photo shooting. And, that is a game changer.

*Shot at GRANDUO Tachikawa, one of the biggest buildings around Tachikawa Station. Note that there are some reflections on the window that you can see.

It’s not just Night Sight that is remarkable. These photo below was taken earlier without the Night Sight. You can see it’s still good even without the night mode. The colors are vivid compared to other cameras.

*Shot at Tachikawa Minami, one of the monorail stations of Tama monorail.

*Shot at the Instant Ramen Museum in Yokohama.

The photos I showed above are not very professional but still turned out fine. I’m generally happy with the Pixel 3. Especially the camera really impressed me. Next time I’ll try to take a photo with my housemates in Tachikawa Garden Town.

目指せ、オリンピックｗｗｗ
いま、我らがソーシャルレジデンス蒲田は、卓球が熱い！

卓球好きな女子が入り、
もともと卓球うまい女子もいて、
かなりうまい卓球男子も２人いる。
って、260人いるから、もっともっとうまい人いるのだろーけど。

毎日、誰かが卓球している。
僕も熱くなって、毎日ペースでしだすのはいいけど、
手にタコできたり、皮むけたり、アザになったり。
慣れないラケットを持つと、そりゃ手も痛めつけられるｗ

卓球大会しよーって声すら挙がってるとこ。
卓球部を創ろうって話も♪
女子がなにかに参加してくれると、男子も加わってムーブメントになる。

これと同じ教えを、人気チェーン展開してる飲食グループ会社の方が教えてくださった。
仲間のお父さんで
『外国人が来ると女子が引き寄せられ、その女子に男子も引き寄せられる』とのこと。
なるほどです。
実際に、『盛り上げるなら、この流れだと楽に創れる』と感じてるとこっす。

さぁ、毎日24時間、卓球ができるシェアハウスへ♪
ソーシャルレジデンス蒲田
https://www.oakhouse.jp/house/465

ホームページちょこっとリニューアルしました。

トップ画像３枚をとまこドローンならではの作品に変更しています。

本人がアクセントとなり、広い世界をより広く華やかに。

朝焼け夕焼けを意地でもおいかけ。

ドローン目線ならではの自撮りをしてます。

作品を通じて、「心にいい風が吹き抜ける」感覚を味わっていただきたいんです。

（この思いに至る理由はこちらをどうぞ）

いらないものは吹き去って、本当に大切なものは置いといてくれる、いい風。

風がつくってくれた心の隙間には、いいことしか舞い込みません。

これからも、そんな心地いい作品を作っていきます。