RAGLANPEAR

Hokkaido Photo Diary (part 3)

2014-08-15T23:34:00.001-07:00

(taking a little detour to Furano to check out its beautiful flowers)

(Back to Sapporo: more Ramen Yokocho, proper sushi, parfaits for dessert, and corn in the park)

(Goodbye~ またね！)

Well here it is! The last part of our Hokkaido series. Thank you for following us on this journey. After spending 2 days in Sapporo, we decide to detour to Furano to get away from the city and really see the nature of Hokkaido. We had a lovely albeit rainy bus ride and had the opportunity to ride this super old school looking train. We encountered a few bumps (getting really lost...) but we had a lot of fun at Farm Tomita which is known for its lavender fields. After an exhausting day, we spent the night going back to Ramen Yokocho and the next day finishing up in Sapporo. We hope you enjoyed our trip to Hokkaido!!! Next, we hit up beachside for summer! :)

Hokkaido Photo Diary (part 2)

2014-08-08T21:54:00.000-07:00

(lhassi drink, our good friend Paulo, and delicious soup curry at Suage+)

(seriously this park is gorgeous!!! Odori Park大通公園, aerial views, and children playing)

(rich creamy dark chocolate truffles and chocolate galore at Le Petite Boule Chocolatier)

(kaiten sushi at Hanamaru花まる）

As you can see, this post is food heavy. Let's just say that every trip without food is a big NO in our book. We had the opportunity to meet up with our good friend, Paulo, whom we met in our university days, and had the chance to try delicious soup curry, walk around the beautiful park and go up the TV Tower to see the view of the city. For dinner after many hours spent walking and shopping we hit up a kaiten sushi bar. We have to admit that our tastes have been spoiled by good sushi in Tsukiji, so if you're looking for cheap go here, if you're looking for quality I would suggest otherwise. Well, hope you enjoyed the second part of our Hokkaido series! Look forward to our final post which will also feature Furano!

Hokkaido Photo Diary (part 1)

2014-07-29T18:30:00.000-07:00

(Sapporo's red brick building known as the Former Hokkaido Government Building)

(Checking into the hotel room late at night)

(kara miso ramen at Kunimitsu - can I just say DELICIOUS)

(Above 4: Ramen Yokocho - famous ramen alley in Sapporo; and the lovely chefs at Kunimitsu)

(It's a bit cold for a festival isn't? Apparently not for these locals. Dined for breakfast at the hotel and explored the festival in the nearby park afterwards)

(We couldn't resist when we saw that we could paddle our own boat in the beautiful pond)

We apologize for the very late post! Things have been delayed since we were so busy most of June to July, but here it is. Since our trip to Hokkaido is pretty photo heavy, we'll let the pictures do the talking. We had so much fun despite the rainy weather up there back in mid-June, and we were able to experience all Sapporo had to offer. This is part one of the series. Enjoy!

Shimokitazawa Street Food

2014-06-25T19:15:00.000-07:00

ニックンロール
Our first of many stops. Here they serve rice balls wrapped with meat and you can choose from a selection of toppings such as kimchi and natto. We tried the original nikkun roll and tomato cheese, and the tomato cheese was by far our favorite.

咖喱とカレーパンの店　天馬屋

Piping hot curry pan off the street? Of course we couldn't resist, so we hit up this little stand outside this curry shop. Here they serve tasty curry-pan (curry-filled bread) for to go at a reasonable price.

たぴヤ

In California, it's often easy to find some good boba, but living here in Japan has deprived us of it. Searching far and wide, we came across this boba stop while walking around and we must say that Tapiya was pretty legit. We had a little chat with the owner Yasunori-san, and he was kind enough to offer to take a picture for us.

Tsunami Dining & Cafe

This isn't necessarily street food, but we decided to end our day with a nice and relaxing Hawaiian dinner. Their servings are American-size and their menu includes local favorites such as loco moco and poke salad.

1) Nikkun Roll (ニックンロール)

Address: 2-14-15 1F, Shimokitazawa, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, Japan

Website: http://nikkunroll.com/index.html

2) Tenmaya (咖喱とカレーパンの店　天馬屋）

Address: 2-12-12 Kuwata Building, Shimokitazawa, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, Japan

　 Website: n/a

3) Tapiya (たぴヤ)

Address: 2-12-15, Shimokitazawa, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, Japan

Website: http://tapiya.lolipop.jp/

4) Tsunami

Address: 2-30-2, Shimokitazawa, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, Japan

Website: http://www.tsunami.co.jp/index.html

Monotone Rain

2014-06-11T18:06:00.000-07:00

Misa- Sly trench coat / Bershka crop top / Zara sweatpants / Bonita wedges / Forever 21 bag

Remy - Nasty Gal ombre knit top / Zara white top / Zara corduroy pants / Jeanasis booties / Zara bag

Treasure Factory Style (〒155-0031　東京都世田谷区北沢2-3-9 1F）

Hey readers,

Hope you're all enjoying your week so far! We've entered into Japan's rainy season, also known as 梅雨. These days we can never leave the house without an umbrella (the cheap clear ones from a convenience store, of course). The gloomy weather also seemed to have an influence on our color choice for this shoot going with blacks and grays for this week's theme.

This past weekend we revisited one of our favorite spots, Shimokitazawa! If you're into thrifting, live house music, or unique fashion, then this is the place to be. We hit up several shops and scrounged through racks of used-clothing, walked until our feet throbbed, and tried new food in which we will talk about on our upcoming posts.

Also, we will be flying up north to Hokkaido for the first time this weekend - so stoked!

Taiwan Photo Diary

2014-06-04T17:59:00.000-07:00

Left to right: tea time, old houses, vinyl album covers, view of Jiufen, dark caves, Shu-ku Tea House, street food, flaky pastry of sorts, street vendor signs

These are few of my favorite photos that I took while on my first trip to Taiwan last year in November. In Japan it was starting to get quite chilly, diverging from the cool autumn into winter, however in Taiwan, it seemed as if it was summer at times. I wanted to capture the fascinating sites of Taipei's famous street vendors and cheap food as well as the more calm mountains and nature of Jiufen. Jiufen is most famously known for its tea houses, which was an inspiration for Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away (which I implore all of you to see).

The photos here are taken with a simple Fuji Film disposable camera, which I've come to love. I do have many more photos that I've taken with my DSLR that I may or may not put up. We'll see :)

(Note: click to see an enlarged version)

OUCA

2014-05-28T18:58:00.000-07:00

BEST ICE-CREAM EVER? Maybe not, but it's pretty damn good. OUCA specializes in Japanese flavored ice-creams. You have the choice of 3 flavors for 4 different cup sizes. The interesting thing about this place is that you can pour yourself a free cup of warm tea to drink with it and it also comes with konbu as a palette cleanser and small cracker.

Flavors as shown: Matcha, Ichigo Milk, Kabocha
Price: Namimori size 430 yen
Location: Ebisu station, west exit
Site: http://www.ice-ouca.com/

Spring Daze

2014-05-11T19:16:00.003-07:00

Misa- Zara denim jacket / Zara t-shirt / UNIQLO jeans / Vans shoes

Remy- Zara military jacket / American Rag dress / Nasty Gal boots / Zara fringed clutch

Hey everyone,

Spring is here! The month of May has been good to us so far. We're fully embracing the beautiful weather in Tokyo before it gets scorching hot and humid. Ugh, summers here are another story. Thick winter coats have been stored away and now we're making our way into thinner layers and sleeveless pieces. For this shoot, we went exploring through the narrow streets of Sangenjaya (三軒茶屋). Sangenjaya is located near the heart of Shibuya and is known for their quaint shops, cafes, and wooden houses. We're constantly discovering hip shops and cafes each time we come here!

On another note, we're very excited to share our adventures and journey in Japan with our friends and family, and the world (wide web). Cheers to new beginnings.

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ToothTooth

2014-05-11T01:39:00.004-07:00

(Top dish: Peperoncino pasta with octopus and spinach. Bottom dish: Hayashi omelette with potatoes.)

(Salads, drink bar, bread bar)

During Golden Week, we spent the time to explore a bit of Ebisu. We originally planned on visiting one of our favorite French inspired cafes, only to find out that it was gone! Shocked and disappointed, we decided to head over to an alternative restaurant on the west side of the station. Toothtooth (don't ask about the name, I really have no idea) has a spacious interior with interesting arrangement of chairs, lamps, sofas, and slightly baroque style pieces.

Lunch set: salad + all you can eat bread bar + all you can drink bar, + main dish
Total: 1000 yen
Location: Ebisu station, west exit
Website: http://www.toothtooth-tokyo.com/

Not bad for its price I say! If you're looking for a relatively cheap Italian meal, go check this place out.

(Note: click on the photos to see an enlarged version)

California Dreaming

2014-03-16T06:51:00.005-07:00

Left to right: Corona Del Mar, LACMA, LA, home, CDM, Bro's home

After a year of living in Japan, I went back home to sunny California December - January 2013/2014. It was a good reminder of what I had left behind and made me even more appreciative of the place I called home. It was time well spent with family and friends at home, beaches, restaurants, museums, and more.

(Note: click on the photos to see an enlarged version)