We spent a full day in Kichijoji after having it recommended and we weren’t disappointed. It has become one of our favourites places to visit while in Tokyo.
This was shot at a small shrine we stumbled upon near the main shopping area and just as we were leaving I saw the afternoon light hitting the solid stone gate and filtering through the leaves in the background.
When I first started Japanese, I struggled to memorise certain things – some I got straight away, others took time and slowed my progress.
Over a long period of trial and error, I came to the conclusion that mnemonics work very well for me. I seem to learn faster and retain information for longer as long as it is attached to some sort of story that makes sense to me.
I first caught a glimpse of this girl with the amazing white hair from a distance walking down Takeshita Dori (竹下通り) but I eventually lost her in the crowd.
When I when made my way around to Jingu Bridge just outside of JR Harajuku train station (原宿駅), she was there with a few friends and making a call on her mobile.
The ubiquity of Twitter means you can connect to the Twitterverse in so many different ways.
Having the ability to always connect to Twitter on the run means you essentially have a free Japanese resource available to you at any time and wherever you happen be.
人 (Person) and 入 (Enter) are both JLPT4/N5 and learnt in Grade 1 in Japanese schools, however for a beginner, they can be very easily mixed up.
The only visual difference between the two is the small stroke at the top of 入 (enter), which is what I use to create a story in my mind to remember the two.
When we were last in Tokyo we visited the sprawling Ueno Zoo located in Ueno Park (上野公園), about 15 minutes train ride north of Tokyo. There was plenty to see and do in the park (and also in Ueno itself) including the zoo, an amusement park, temples and much more.
Rows upon rows of laundry detergent all written in katakana – imagine the horror when your partner asks you to grab brand X and you come home with brand Y because you can’t read katakana – oh the shame!
On a recent trip to Tokyo we headed down to Yokohama’s Sea Paradise, which was about an hour’s train ride with a few changes in between.
Towards the end of a long day of piscatorial viewing, we headed over to the ice-cream shop and found 100 flavours from which to choose including some crazy Japan classics like Black Sesame, Wasabi and Pumpkin.
