Japanese Pizza (or pancake) "Okonomi Yaki"

One of my favorit Japanese foods is Okonomi-yaki, and I used to eat 2~3 times a week when I was a university student.

There are at least six okonomi-yaki restaurants that I know of near my house in Higashiyama, and "Kana" in Gion is my favorite.

They have lots of side dishes in the menu. Today, I ordered stewed beef chunk as an appetizer with beer.

And the main dish! The batter is made of flour, water, eggs and shredded cabbage, and you can add other ingredients of vegetables, meat, seafood, noodles, etc. of your choice.

Adding the mayonnaise to a salty source makes the taste mild.

The pathway starts here.

When I went to Hiroshima on business last week, I saw this huge poster of Kyoto University of Foreign Studies on the wall of Hiroshima Station.

This five-storied pagoda is frequently used in magazines, dramas, etc. as a symbol of Kyoto.

However, there are many tourists who do not know the whereabouts of this place. There is a famous "Santei-zaka" slope after this "Yasaka Road," and it goes to the Kiyomizu temple.

The best route to Kiyomizu Temple is to start from here.

Hotel Okura's Terrace Restaurant "Belcanto"

I had lunch with friends at Belcanto of Okura Hotel.

I ordered their "commemoration lunch" to celebrate Okura Hotel's establishment in 1888 --- roast beef, cream soup, fried seafood and coffee, with 5 types of breads of all-you-can-eat. The menu changes weekly.



And my two friends' Kobe steak and a beef stew looked mouth watering!

Memories of Summer

Our historically hot and long summer suddenly ended and we had a long waited comfortable Autumn weekend.

These are the discarded skins of cicadas I found near my house last month. Cicadas' singing is very loud and is the symbol of the summer in Japan.

This is a Japanese gecko "yamori" and we often see them on our windows at night.