On Sunday afternoon in the super busy Harajuku, I finally had a chance to go to Hachiku. It looks like a really expensive Japanese restaurant from the outside, but it is an old Osaka-style Sushi store, for take-out service only. While they prepared my sushi, I was sitting on an old wooden stool, drinking the hot green tea I had been served. It was very quiet, I was the only customer and I couldn't believe that I was next to Meiji street. Apparently there are lots of grannies in the shop during weekdays and there is also a Yotsuya branch which was established in 1924.

I had been using the same BRITA nearly four years, and I bought a new BRITA Liquelli the other day. The old model I have is called Cool, which is slimmer than other BRITA jugs, but I chose even smaller model. The filtered water capacity is only 1.2L, but I really like the simple design. It is only available from BRITA Japan. I guess they know the size of our fridge.

Yesterday my sister, her husband and I went to IKEA Funabashi, which opened on April 24th. When I saw the IKEA pencils and tape measures in the store, it made me nostalgic for my college days in London. I used to go to IKEA in Croydon with my friends. IKEA Japan is pronounced /i'ke.a/, so I have to change from /aɪ'ki:ə/, which is how I used to pronounce it in London.

Last month, our friends brought SOREEN Fruity Malt Loaf from London. The last time I had this was almost two years ago. I really like this heavy and sticky raisin malt loaf. It's always hard to cut with a knife, but our friends brought one that was already sliced. I found this very useful! I'm quite confident that this malt loaf would be popular in Japan, so all people involved in food import, please consider it!

I asked C to get me lots of little things for my birthday and the swim cap and goggles from the SPEEDO and Comme des Garçons swimwear collection were among the presents I received. I don't think I mentioned before that I go swimming at least four days a week.

Golden Week is over! It was a five day holiday this year, but we just stayed in Tokyo. We enjoyed lots of nice food and drink every day, including dinner at LA BETTOLA bis (in Japanese) in Ginza, which is the second branch of LA BETTOLA da Ochiai, aka 'Japan's most difficult Italian restaurant to reserve seats in'. On my birthday, which was also during the holiday, not only my age increased, but also my weight. Boo!