my first visit to Kawagoe (1)

Yesterday I visited Kawagoe, little Edo world,
just for a change of air.

This is my first visit to Kawagoe.
What a lovely town Kawagoe is!
I love it.

I got off the train at Hon-kawagoe on the Seibu Line



I walked up クレアモールto 熊野神社,
where I prayed silently.



I walked on along 大正浪漫夢通り to 蔵造りの町並み.







時の鐘 bell sounded noon. How nice!

Niigata, my hometown

Niigata Station is about two hours from Tokyo Station
by the Joetsu Shinkansen.

But last Sunday it took about eight hours for me
to get to Niigata Station by the Shinkansen.

The Shinkansen was delayed for 6 hours
by the power failure caused by a sudden heavy snowfall.

We passengers were given おにぎり and ヘルシア.



The limited express tickets were refunded.

The day of Dec. 9, last Sunday, was the longest day
I had ever had..

I was completely exhausted when I got to my house.

I stayed at my house for four days.

( in Niigata )






On my way back to Tokyo, I visited my sister in Tochio,
Nagaoka City.

I was glad she was getting much better than I had
expected.

Her appetite was improving.

(around my sister’s house)


I hope she will survive this bitter winter.

What a wonderful time!

Today I saw T-san whom I hadn’t seen for a long time.
We met at Freshness Burger, a burger café, in H City.

We, mountain lovers, used to meet there and enjoyed
talking or sometimes discussed political developments.

More than 10 years ago I gave my old typewriter
to this Freshness Burger in H City.

They display old things on the shelf.

Wow! My typewriter is still displayed!
I was excited to see my typewriter.

We talked and laughed away the afternoon.

What a wonderful time I had!

Thank you so much, T-san!









P.S.
I'm going back to Niigata early tomorrow morning.
See you next week.

Out and About

Today I attended Wednesday English Class.

Our teacher said to us, “What's Japanese for ‘Out and About’?”



According to my English-Japanese dictionary,
‘out and about’ means

（病後など）元気になって・うごきまわれるようになって・回復して.

These Japanese expressions are not good
for ‘Out and About’ in the picture above, aren't they?

I thought of 「おでかけ情報」.

Our teacher said NO.
'About' means 'Around' as ‘walk about or walk around,’she said.

How about 「でかけましょう！」?

Oh, translating is very difficult.

to Lake Kawaguchiko, alone

What a lovely day!

I made up my mind to go to Kawaguchuko
to see beautiful Mt. Fuji, which I saw on live camera
on the Internet.

kawaguchiko is far away from here.
It took me three hours to get there.



Alas! When I arrived at Kawaguchiko Station,
Mt. Fuji was hidden by thick clouds.

The conductor said to me, “Oh, if you had arrived here
one hour earlier, you could have seen beautiful Mt. Fuji.”
I was one hour too late to see Mt. Fuji.





I walked around the shore of Lake Kawaguchiko.
I saw many people enjoying fishing.





Then I went to Fuji Lake Hotel, my favorite hotel.
I had lunch viewing the lake.





I was excited to see Mt. Fuji when was leaving
Kawaguchiko for Otsuki by Fujisan limited Express.



I had a good day.

I walked 11017 steps in a day.