Two years ago when I moved to Yokohama I rode my bike about 30 kilometers from my old house to my new one.
Well I moved, and once again made the long journey to my new place with same bicycle. Truthfully, the bike is pretty old and rusted now. The brakes barely work, pieces are missing, and the color is nowhere what it used to be, but the tires still hold air and that is all that is required.
I took a bit more pictures of the places along the way this time: (more…)
The first homemade sweet in my new house:
I made lemon curd from fresh lemons but wasnt sure what I should do with it. After having pancakes one morning, I came up with the idea of using the curd as filling between layers on a crepe cake. The result was a bit on the sweet and messy side as I probably used too much filling in each layer, but overall pretty good.
My friend was in Tokyo for the weekend for a wedding, so I took her to get a haircut from my other friend, who is a pro that always cuts my hair, and works at an upscale hair salon in Aoyama.
Afterward, we went to dinner at Maisen. Probably one of the most famous and expensive tonkatsu places in Tokyo.
My new house:
After a bit of searching I decided on a new place to live. My new guest house is called Well Yokodai, and is located 20 minutes south of Yokohama on the Negishi line. It is a smaller house, about 20 ppl, but there were a lot of interesting points. For example: the rooms and house are kept very clean, there is a nice view of the surrounding neighborhood, there is a garden will all kinds of vegetables growing, the lounge has a nice TV with a Wii and PS3 connected, and there is a large Mandarin Orange tree. I have been eating oranges every day 
However, most importantly, the other people I met seemed friendly. So far I am enjoying it here, but who knows where I may be in a few months.
My Utsunomiya friend took me to Mashiko, which is a nearby small town famous for pottery.
At the town center.
We rented bicycles and rode around the town stopping in at the interesting pottery shops, bakeries, etc…
Guy making soup in a giant pot. One bowl for 100 yen.
Lastly, after biking all day we went into a Japanese tea and sweet shop to relax.
I spent the first week back in Japan at a friends place in Utsunomiya. Needless to say, I ate lots of gyoza while I was there as that is what Utsunomiya is famous for.
I also went to Nikko to do some hiking. The area I went was called Kirifuri, and the long course I chose took me in the mountain forests, up to Mt. Oyama, through mountain cow pastures, and down along the river to see 4 beautiful waterfalls:
On my way over one of the streams I found a soccer ball that seemed to have washed downstream from somewhere. I was able to fit in in my bag and take it home
It is not a very used path, and it was sometimes hard to find.
At the top of Mt. Oyama! 1158m
Looking back at where I started from.
