20th September. It was the first wedding anniversary for us. The strong wind was still blowing because of a typhoon. No ships leave a port, our plan going to the Tokashiki island was postponed till next time. We went to the Makishi public market instead.

I had an unexpected reunion with Kibinago (banded blue sprat) @ a fish shop. It is a small fish (about 6cm long) but a silver line on the body is amazing. When I was a kid, I loved kibinago' sashimi which was prepared by hand and arranged nicely on a plate. Unfortunately, I don't see this fish in Tokyo. I didn't know that vietnamese fish sauce Nuoc Mam is made from kibinago.

When we woke up, Typhoon No.15 hit Naha city and it was roaring to the north with strong gusts and heavy rains. TV showed destructed Naha city but it wasn't that bad. We got umbrellas, raincoats and raintrousers from a convenience store nearby. We took a cab to the Shuri castle. The driver said "Even tourists won't go there with this bad weather"

Today's best food was chicken kara-age (deep fried chicken) from izakaya Nakaya. We enjoyed okinawa soba with a bit of koregusu (small red peppers soaked in awamori).

Tursday 18, we woke up @ 7:00am to go to AKA island which is one of KERAMA islands. It is about 40km to the west from Naha city. I've never seen a beach like the Nishibama beach in Aka island. "The Sea is Blue"!

I wanted to try Okinawa Soba (noodle) in Okinawa. We walked around and finally found very okinawan restaurant. The outside was very hot so we ordered cold Okinawa Soba. It comes with refreshing shikuwasa (okinawa' citrus fruit, similar to calamondin) flavored dipping sauce.

17th Sep, we arrived in Okinawa @ 13:40pm. There were two massive fluffy shisa welcoming us @ the Naha airport. It took us 30mins (¥200) from the airport to the hotel by bus. Actual Naha city is quite smaller than I thought. Even walking along Kokusai-Dori (which is a main shopping street) from end to end takes about only 20mins.

Niagara is an amazing train-themed curry restarurant near our house. We had dinner there last night after coming back from our holiday.

Finally, we are on a summer holiday. We go to Okinawa from tomorrow. Hurray! No updating for a while. Farewell!

On the bank holiday (Respect for the Aged Day) with a beautiful weather, we went to the Komazawa olympic park by walk. This large park (4.12 ha) with lots of stadiums was the second main venue of Tokyo Olympic games held in 1964. There were many good old "modern" architectures. Kids were playing to get on the top of the miniature of this building.

We went to the yakitori (grilled meat on a stick) restaurant Torishige in Meguro. I ordered too much because I was so hungry and didn't think enough. Sorry, everyone! We walked home to help our our digestion. By the way, it became so hot like summer again.

"Claska", a new hotel, opened in Meguro. It is a renovation of the 34 years old "Hotel New Meguro". "Claska" means "(how) we live" in japanese. It is an 8 storey building and has only 9 guest rooms. The lounge on the ground floor can be used for events, and the first floor is an interesting gallery space. By the way, the police was mobilized because of too many people in the street.

We went to the SecoBar in Shibuya after AXSIS. It was the 3rd anniversary party of the restaurant which is owned by our friend' boyfriend and also we celebrated her birthday. It was a nice surprise that the comic trio (were they barmen?) suddenly appeared on the stage for celebrating. I couldn't stop drunking + dancing and felt so sick on the way back...

We went to the reception for "Nannano? A-POC: A Work in Progress by Miyake Issey + Fujiwara Dai" exhibition @ AXIS yesterday. They gave us badges of a miniature A-POC (A piece of cloth) at the entrance. It's so cute. It looks like a piece of cloth but it becomes a clothes, if we cut along a dotted line (yellow is a sweater, blue is trousers). After seeing the exhibition, we both wanted to wear A-POC... The colorful cocktail bar appropriate for the Miyake color.

There were many events to celebrate Space Invader's 25th anniversary this summer. This lovely bag is one of the memorial goods. The makers assume that limited editions will be sold out in a day so there is no chance to get it for slow adults. Indeed, I missed it. I know it is very foolish but I got it at the auction. Oh well, I am a space invaders generation.

I like information gathering and management, and I make a sketch of the inside of closets to grasp exactly what is where. But he is worse than me. On his site, showing pictures of everything in his house. Well, i don't know whether you want to see everything, but I'm sure it's so fun for him. I feel that the similar OTAKU blood is flowing to me and him. His blood is much thicker compared with mine though.

On the platform of our local station, there was a photo shooting this afternoon. Asato Izumi who is very famouse columnist (and otaku) was doing the pause reading a newspaper in front of the kiosk. He was also asked to squat down on the floor! I wanted to took a photograph secretly and took the bit of distant, but it flashed! No! A night view setting had been carried out from last night' Mars. You can read Asato Izumi' food article (japanese only). Actually, I prefer Sadao Shoji if I read some food colum.

I heard the news about Mars closer to Earth than at any time in nearly 60,000 years. But I haven't checked it yet and I saw it tonight finally. Because Mars has a rendezvous with the moon tonight. I could see it with my naked eyes! @ 6:20pm, Mars was shining in the lower left of the moon. Mars and the moon will approach further more around 8:40pm for 6 minutes. They are getting closer @ 6:50pm.

I ate black natto for lunch today. (because you mentioned it, Mr!) It was 4 years ago that I saw this black natto for the first time, and I enjoyed so much. A each bean was about 2cm and they had a strong flavor and quite chewy. But this brand' black natto was not that good. Disappointed.

I LOVE MARMITE. I don't eat everyday but sometimes and suddenly, I need it extremely. The best way of eating marmite is spread thinly on buttered toast. Yum! It said the suggested serving is 4g for adults on the bottle, and I measured how much I'm using. It was 8g. Ooops, dangerous? We enjoyed this marmite on toast or chips with lots of malt vineger after drinking alcohol in London, like people eat ramen noodles in Japan. Everything is carbohydrates, no wonder. You can buy it here (japanese only and super expensive!). It is also good in the morning of a hangover. Just like today...

While I was ignoring Ms. apple, I was playing golf with princess peach! I haven't played any games these days but Mario Golf Family Tour is fun to play. I like it! Mario' game is always very nice graphic and I like all characters. Even golf courses are lovely! But characters' voice and animations are a little bit too much for me...

It was only 3 days since I talked about my mac. After I restarted my powerbook (as usuall), a ? mark came up instead of a happymac! Nooo! At this situation, always same sentences go by my head "when did I get backup?","sad to lose e-mail addresses" etc. I thought about initializing HD, but it was unnecessary. sigh! Ms. apple got into a better temper but I decided to ignored her for a while. I didn't check my email, internet and no weblog. Well, I should get backup ...

A cool sesame grinder from a nice little shop. It carries out the ultimate sesame flavor. I want iiiiiit!

Living in Japan, a name stamp is very necessary item. Since I got married and changed the surname, my name seems too long for a stamp (usually 1cm diameter of a circle). Is it possible? I asked the digital stamp' website to make a gif image of our name stamp (no charge!). Wow, all characters fit in there! I might ask them to make a real one!

It has been lighting more than 10 mins. Crazy. I really hate thunder usually but I was concentrating of taking photographs and forgot about scare of it! It seems like the Yamanote line is not working (news @ 18:58)...

Here is another Mac story, it is also happy mac. I started to collect McDonald's happy meal toys since 1995. We sometimes went to Mac, even while dating! Mac has been stopped making toys with Mc characters for about two years and I am having a quiet life! I have moved 7 times in these eight years, and all toys are in boxes at the moment. Some day, I want to build a shelf using a whole surface of a wall (or 2 walls) to put all my toys up. If any toys which I do not have are rolling in your (or your nephew and niece) room, please give it to me!

My lovely PowerBook G4 freezes very often everyday. Carsten offers me a new mac but I don't need it yet. I'm not ready to say good bye to the mac icon which I smile together and cry together for a long time. I know OS X is good but I cannot bear the new desk top icons. Yuck! Can I customize startup picture and all other icons?

Last night 11:50pm, on the way back from a film, we found a bunch of people standing in the dark. What were they doing? Hmm? Queuing for THAT bakery?! I have only seen this bakery open when I took the last train home (after 1:00am) and every time there were only a few buns left on the shelves. During daytime, they don't sell anything and the shutters are half-closed. I thought they might be a bit lazy. Never thought about people queuing for it. Last night's scene caused us great excitement. We went to the convenience store to calm down until the shop opening at midnight (hard to believe!).

It was great to see interstella 5555. This animation film (67 mins) with thrill, love, tears, friendship and everything is a music clip for DAFT PUNK. Excellent!