Japan is now a season of cherry blossoms – our hotel is located in Asakusa, one of the most beautiful cherry blossoms in Japan can be seen, but really sorry we cannot let foreign travelers see this cherry blossoms due to COVID 19. Hereby let us share the photos taken today.
隅田公園 Sumida Park
山谷掘公園 Sanyabori Park
今戸神社 Imato Shrine
来年こそ多くの外国人の皆様に浅草の桜を見て頂けますように！
Hope Many foreign travelers can see this beautiful cherry blossom next year!
Spring has come to Japan! Spring of Japan begins with blooming plum flowers. Kairakuen, located in Mito, Ibaragi prefecture, is famous for plum flowers, but we have another plum flower spot in Tokyo – Yushima Tenjin, This shrine enshrines Michizane Sugawara who is famous for super intelligence so Michizane Sugawara is also known as a god of examination, many students who prepare for examination rushes to Yushima Tenjin for wishing. Today we visited Yushima Tenjin to see blooming plum flowers, please take a look.
It has been a year since foreign travelers cannot come to Japan, we feel really pity that we cannot guide foreign travelers to this beautiful scenery of Japan. We hope this COVID-19 pandemic will be soon over and we can guide foreign travelers to this beautiful scenery of Japan soon.
A happy new year! as this is a beginning of 2021, I visited Sensoji temple in the midnight of a new year day. People was far less than last year – probably due to absence of foreign travelers, cancelation of all night operation of trains, serious spread of coronavirus… but still many people visits a new year pray to Sensoji temple.
We welcomed guests to all rooms this year again – managed to run this hotel for a year, welcomed a lot of great guests, this is really a joy for us, and we hope we can give joy to more guests as we have Olympic games this year. Wish 2021 is a happy year for you!
Fell on guest loss again. This time it is caused by the three years old boy who checked out today. He shined our hotel for the last two weeks like a real family.
The three year old boy appeared in front of me with his mother in Haneda Airport two weeks ago. I drove them from airport to the hotel for just 3 minutes but he says the drive was such a fun, which pleased me a lot. For the last two weeks he visits my room everyday and asks a lot of questions (air conditioners, personal computers, my clothes…), when he leaves my room he always waves hands, says bye-bye. He runs and jumps in the room naturally as he is just three years old, but his smile makes everybody happy.
This morning when I sent off the boy with his mother, I really missed him just like I was separated with my family. The last moment I saw him was in the taxi, he waved hands and said bye-bye as always, and I will never forget this scene… But this is probably what hotel business is like, create family everyday, miss family everyday. I really thank this boy who brings happiness to me and our hotel!
The year of 2020 will soon be over – and what is famous event of a year end in Asakusa is “Hagoita-ichi” (Battledore market)in Senso-ji Temple. Shops are fewer than usual year due to Coronavirus, but still you can see variety of shops of battledores. Battledore market is open until tomorrow (19th), please visit Asakusa!
Autumn leaves are also very beautiful in Tokyo now! The most famous autumn leaves in Tokyo can be seen in Rikugi-en. Please see photos of beautiful autumn leaves in Rikugi-en that I took recently.
December has come. Hotel Little Bird Oku-Asakusa will be 1 year since open. Last December, I was struggling to prepare for health center’s check, was quite worried whether I can smoothly get the license of of hotel business. We got the shock of COVID 19 this year, but still we managed to continue welcoming guests – we are so happy now.
One of our guests who has been staying here for long period sent us a flower – really impressed us a lot. What we can do is to offer a place where guests can comfortably enjoy their lives everyday, and we need to do the best effort.
A vary famous festival in Asakusa which is held at the end of the year is Tori-no-ichi in Otori Shrine. This festival is so famous that Ichiyo Higuchi, a famous female author has viewed how great this festival is in her famous novel “Takekurabe”. Merchants in Asakusa come to this festival to buy Kumade (rakes) to wish good business. This Tori-no-ichi festival is held on Nov 2nd / 14th / 26th this year and I visited this festival on 14th.
鷲神社の前は見渡す限りの屋台！たくさんの人！コロナで苦しんでいる世界ですが、ここは別世界です！
Full of food stalls around Otori Shrine! So many people! World is suffering from COVID 19, but here is a different world.
Finally arrived at Otori Shrine. We heard a letter from this shrine is required to enter, but actually it was not necessary, only required to submit “health check sheet”. This year we could see thousands of Kumade (rakes)!
Addition : Autumn leaves are very beautiful in Tokyo now. Hereby we upload Ginkgo tree photo which is in Jingu Gaien and was taken yesterday. We hope next year more foreign travelers can see famous beautiful autumn leaves in Japan…
If you drive a bit from Tokyo, you can meet a great nature. Really sorry many travelers only see Meiji Shrine in Tokyo and get back… Hereby I want to introduce Nagatoro mountain stream, a great nature near Tokyo.
Nagatoro is just 1.5 hours from Tokyo by car – and the mountain stream is great. You can experience river cruise here, only costs 1800JPY (I visited Nagatoro yesterday, pity I didn’t experience this due to time restraint…)
I want to recommend you to enjoy “Ayu fish dish” with this beautiful scenery – a unique meal offered here. Grilled Ayu fish with salt is yummy, but a super yummy dish is “Ayu-meshi” (Cooked rice with Ayu fish). You can taste this dish in a restaurant called “Tan-ichi”, please try when you come to Nagatoro!
There are few old buildings in Tokyo as Tokyo was mostly burnt by air attack in World War Two. But you can still visit a beer hall which was built more than 80 years ago, and located in the center of Ginza! This is a beer hall which you must visit when you come to Tokyo. The name is – Beer Hall Ginza Lion Ginza Nanachome Store.
Built in 1934, hall built in bricks, beer offered in a one time pouring. Tremendous taste! Meals are also yummy, especially croquette. Please visit Beer Hall Lion!
I was born in Yokohama, lived in Yokohama until marriage. I live in Tokyo now, but I still love Yokohama, my hometown. Last week my mother attended a photo event held in Yokohama so I visited Yokohama to see this photo event.
Yokohama – long time to see. Yamashita Park at bay side. Quite different from Tokyo, really good space. Only 30 minutes away from Tokyo by train, you can meet this beautiful scenery.
After seeing photo event, we enjoyed meat and beer in a bay side restaurant quite near Yokohama station. Really good place. Please visit Yokohama when you come to Tokyo!
