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Cocoro Japanese Restaurant
Living on a prayer… You all know how obsessed I am about Japanese food, so I was surprised when a friend suggested we go to a place I’d not even heard of. Cocoro is next to our favourite kebab place Mustafa and the super-famous Currywurst 36. This street has a LOT of good food peeps! I had the chicken teriyaki don (chicken in teriyaki sauce on rice) and I have to say it was delicious. Everything tasted fresh and juicy – the rice was cooked to perfection too, which I find rare outside of Japan. The Genmai Tea was beautiful. Often it is said that because of the differences in the water…
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Ishin – Best Japanese in Berlin?
Oh I do like to be beside the seaside… As you all know, Jason and I are obsessed with Japan and more than anything else, Japanese food! We have been hunting around Berlin for somewhere good Japanese food and we have had one absolutely horrendous experience and a few good ones. However, there is just one place that we keep going back to called Ishin Restaurant (from the heart). There are 5 dotted all over Berlin, but we go to the one in Mittelstraße as it is near Dussmann where we love to get our cheesecake dessert. In general, it’s impossible to get really delicious fresh fish outside of Japan. However, salmon seems…
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Top 10 questions I was asked by Japanese People
I’m turning Japanese… I spent nearly 5 years in the Land of the Rising Sun and I absolutely loved it. The food, the kindness of the local people, the food, the great travel destinations, the food… did I mention the food? Because the food is AMAZING! Anyway, I like to write a little bit about Japan on this blog, as it’s still such a big part of my life and it seems people love reading lists, so here is one for you with all some of my answers alongside them. I would like you to know that I was asked some of these questions almost every single day, sometimes repeatedly by…
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Tom Sawyer Restaurant
I’m a little teapot, short and stout… Officially my favourite restaurant in Japan! This is an amazing post for you all. I lived in Japan for almost five years and have eaten literally all kinds of weird and wonderful things, from stuff that’s definitely still alive or smells highly inedible. There has been a lot of very cheap meat on rice alongside priceless sushi. In comparison to Berlin, the customer service is amazing, but I have never had bad service anywhere in Japan, so picking my absolute favourite place is difficult. However, Tom Sawyer in Komono Town, Mie Prefecture wins every time. And here is why: – Hiro is the coolest restaurant…
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Kurashiki
In the good old days… Both Jason and I have been to Kurashiki before, but it’s so beautiful and we had a couple of hours to spare between leaving Hiroshima and arriving in Shimane, so when we looked for a fun stop-off, we both knew two hours would be enough to run around and make the best of this little historical city. There is a Starbucks at the station for my daily Matcha Frappachino fix. Drink in hand, we walked the ten minutes towards the Kurashiki Bikan Historical Quarter. You can wander the little alleyways, littered with cafes and cute shops, take a stroll along the river – you can…
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Claire Usmar – Professional Photographer in Japan
Claire has been in Japan for five years as an English teacher, blogger and professional photographer. L&A caught up with her while we were over there and grabbed some tips on how to take amazing pics… Claire is a professional photographer from Brisbane, Australia. Currently back home in Australia for a short break, she travels all over Japan and Asia taking photos. In a few short weeks she will be moving back to Western Japan to continue photographing this amazing country she calls her second home. L&A: What made you choose to live in Japan? Short answer – A gorgeous German Shepherd named Leo. Some years back, I used to…
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Sadako and her 1000 paper cranes
I want to fly away… Many of my Japanese friends and also foreign friends who have lived in Japan have never heard this story, so today I will share the story of Sadako. It’s not a happy story, but one that needs to be told. Yesterday I wrote about Hiroshima and the atomic bombing on August 6th 1945 at 08:15. I will always remember the date and time, because when I worked in the Town Hall in Japan, every year at that precise moment, the mayor would make an announcement and every single person would stand up from their desk. There would be a moment of silence and my colleagues then…
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Hiroshima
May it never happen again… As you all know, when we arrived in Japan, we jumped on the first train that came along towards Hiroshima, to eat Okonomiyaki. This is probably the most famous meal of the city, but Hiroshima became famous in the world for a very different reason. It was during the final stages of WWII that America dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. On August 6th 1945 at 08:15, an atomic bomb detonated in the air above Hiroshima and Japan was never the same again. Around one third of the population of the city (about 75,000 people) died and a similar number were injured. Japanese officials…
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Matcha Frappachino
You give me reason to live… There are so many wonderful things about Japan. Seriously, I could spend a whole lifetime telling you about them and I would still need more time. BUT this is my most favourite thing that money can buy in the land of the Rising Sun. Matcha Frappachino from Starbucks (plus a hot cinnamon roll). For those who have tried it, you are already converts. I know. There is nothing to dislike about this most miraculous of drinks. Some might think it’s a weird green iced tea with cream, but it is so so so SO much more. Green tea is already one of the most amazing…
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Travelling light…
Wherefore art thou? It’s always exciting to arrive in a new country. Most of the time, your luggage arrives too, but when we got to Japan it didn’t come around the belt to greet us. The very friendly staff were apologetic and sweet and immediately gave us 10,000 yen (about £60) per suitcase. She said it would surely be at our hotel by the next morning, so we didn’t worry at all. These things happen. All the time in fact. I have had my luggage not turn up so many times. Usually it’s actually very convenient. Once in France, a friend and I had a horrendous journey from the airport…