I'm in London now. It was raining on my first day of London but the weather has been great every day (5 days in a row!) since then. In park, there are full of people who want to enjoy the sun without much cloths on! On Saturday, I went to Duke of Cambridge with my old friends to have good pub lunch. After that we moved to a little park in Angel, had lots of white wine. These days, the sunset time in London is after 8pm. I can't get used to it yet. (because the sunset time in Tokyo is 6:30pm)

The image of the Queen is everywhere on British coins and notes. Yes, she is a very popular and respected person. But on some bank notes, numbers are written on her face. I guess people use these notes for calculations, but those numbers would be easy to remember. I wonder if the Queen is disappointed with her people's mental arithmetic.

Anyway, I'm leaving and I hope to use some British Pounds on my trip. I might be able to write from the other side of the world, but I can't promise. See you in three weeks' time!

In Japan, there is lots of reasonably priced tasty food, but I haven't found any good orange juice yet. POM juice (my childhood favourite), Minute Maid and Tropicana (I tried 2 different types) are not good enough. I miss Tropicana Sanguinello 100% Pure Squeezed Red Orange Juice which I used to buy in London. Maybe I will plan an orange juice tasting party, to find the best juice in Tokyo.

My mother in law' birthday is soon, so we went to Shinjuku and Shibuya for shopping even we were hangover from the day before. We had been walking around in 4 different department stores but there was nothing we want to buy for a present. Because of the weekend, in front of stations were very crowded, it was almost as bad as New Year's Eve. I hate it! Just before the shop close, we finally chose what to buy at Seibu Department store. I love their wrapping paper designed by Ikko Tanaka.

Our friend Y invited us to a flower viewing party. We had food and drink with 'auto xylophone' marinka, not cherry blossoms. What a great party. I was impressed with their ethnic food, good fish dishes etc. We enjoyed to meet with lots of people, and we stayed there until 4:30 in the morning. We woke up with a proper hangover today...

The other day, in the cab on the way home after drinking a lot with C, I listened to a really old Japanese pop song from a radio. The vocal is double speeded (the voice sounds like Itchy & Scratchy opening song) and starts with 'Ora wa shinjimatta da- (I'm dead), Ora wa shinjimatta da- (I'm dead)'. When I was a kid, I didn't understand the whole lyrics, but laughing with friends singing 'I'm dead, I'm dead'.

Yesterday was a little bit cold because of the rain, but the other day the highest temperature was 24.7℃ and I suddenly thought about a British summer drink PIMM'S No.1. It is a gin-based liquor with herbs and spices, bit bitter but sweet. I didn't drink that often when I was in London, but I feel like I'm missing it. I ordered a few bottles online, and I received a packet yesterday. After a dinner, C saw a bottle and he started to make a cocktail for us. Yesterday wasn't summery enough to drink it but it was nice. We didn't have any cucumber so we put strawberries instead.

I noticed that a package of Mild Seven (Japanese Cigarettes) has been replacing by a new design. I've never thought that the old package is a good design, but it is so much better than the new one. I liked the super fine pinstripe background. JT (Japan Tobacco) changed the design because the old design is unpopular by young people. I think the cigarettes package should be an old man style. The design of Hi-lite 'pronounced as high-light' (1960〜) by Makoto Wada, Peace (1957〜) and Lucky Strike by Raymond Loewy look always great. There is a Raymond Loewy exhibition showing at Tobacco & Salt Museum in Shibuya.

Yesterday, when we were eating grapes, I told C that eating seeds is not good for your stomach. But today I swallowed the filling of a cavity in my tooth when I was eating a pancake! It was a big one (the filling). Nooooo! The other day, the filling came off when I tried a banana flavoured candy which I didn't even want to eat. I stuck the filling back in the tooth and thought it would be fine but... of course not! I should have gone to a dentist. Now I feel a funny feeling in my stomach.

Today is a memorial day of bread in Japan. On 12 April 1842, Tarozaemon Egawa baked the first bread to introduced to Japanese. In 1983, the bread promotion council in Japan set the day as a memorial day. I've never heard of it! When I was at ¥99 sop the other day, I was given a slice of bread for tasting. It was even in a plastic bag. I've never seen anything like that before!

I found mint flavour TimeOut at a ¥99 shop. I used to eat the original blue TimeOut in London. I was surprised to see it, but then I found out that Cadbury Japan exits since 1978. Unfortunately it's not very popular in Japan, but I've seen Cadbury's Dairy Milk Chocolate at our local supermarket. Kit Kat and Polo mints are long time favourites in Japan. Maybe some people don't even know that they are originally from UK.

We went to the event called 'electric pub' at Secobar last night. I guess electric music fans were very happy to see Thomas Brinkmann playing there as the special secret guest. It was good! I was surprised to see our friend Y there, to see the business of a tarot reading and an aromatherapy were offered on the sofa next to the bar. But the real surprise happened when we tried to get a cab.

I used to drink a lot, my friends called me 'a sieve' (so that alcohol doesn't stay in a stomach!) sometimes. But the mesh of a sieve has blocked, I can't drink much anymore. I love beer, and also I drink wine, gin and vodka. I want to start drinking Japanese sake too. But I don't like Japanese distilled spirits 'shochu' which is very popular in Japan. I can't drink whiskey and brandy either. My husband started to drink Maker's Mark with our favourite Wilkinson since we moved to Tokyo. For a bottle recycling, we have to take off the red plastic seal. It's a bit of work.

This candy is called 'ito-hiki ame (pick a string candy)'. There are different sized/flavoured candies on strings. When I was a kid, we could buy this at a newsagent. Pay ¥10 (5 pence) to a shop owner and pick a string carefully. It's almost impossible to get the one you want. I knew about this candy but I've never tried it. I found Fruits biki (pick) by Kose in a wholesale shop, and I bought a box. I opened it when we had a cherry blossom viewing party the other day, but kids were the only one who ate those candies. Everybody knows it's not so tasty...

I received a packet from US which I bid on an internet auction the other day. This Wilton Christmas cookie cutters were on my mind for a long time. I can make a Christmas tree stacking 10 star shaped cookies in graduated sizes. It was $14 including a Christmas tree shaped pan, a patty shell (i don't know this food, is it like a doughnut?) set and postage. Quite a good deal, I think. A tip for internet auctioning: 'get seasonal goods out of season'!

Last night, we celebrated our friend' recovery from his illness, and we drunk a lot... There is an old saying 'Liquor is the best of all medicines' but we shouldn't drink too much. In Japan, a moderate amount of alcohol a day is set to 500ml of beer, 240ml of wine, 180ml of sake, 150ml of shochu or 60ml of whiskey. It sounds like we shouldn't go for drinks. But we have to take care of our livers to be able to enjoy alcohol forever!

My husband bought this radio about 7-8 years ago at a car boot sale in Germany. It's quite worn out but I like it. I put batteries in the radio and tried to use it for the first time. I thought I can hear only the noise but I received the NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) news channel in the end! Put an ear next to a radio and tuning in for a station. What a great analogue happiness! It receives AM (54 to 160MHz) and FM (88 to 108Mhz). My friend told me that there is a clock version of this product. It says CLOCK, of course.

Yesterday, we were invited to a cherry blossom viewing party at our friend house. This was the 4th hanami for us this year and probably the last and the best of 2004. We had a perfect weather and a great cherry tree in the garden. This year we could enjoy cherry blossoms for a long time because of the recent cold weather.

I and my husband have our hair cut by our friend who is a hairdresser. We usually go there separately but we went there together today. My hair is shorter than usual, and I think I (or only the hairstyle) might look young. Thanks M!

I bought this soft cheese spread because of the lovely package. I was surprised at the size of a box. It is exactly same size as a Japanese '6P' cheese box. 6P cheese is just a little thicker. It says Made in France, but there are only English and Arabic on a box. 8 portions (140g)/¥198 (£1)

It is April. From today, the Eidan subway (Teito Rapid Transit Authority) transformed into a private company called Tokyo Metro. I use subway quite often, I'm going to miss their unique moss green uniform. Yesterday, I asked a station staff if I can take a photo of him. He said he also prefers the green one. He did a very long pose (confirming safety by pointing in both directions before a train comes on a platform) for me. Thanks!