Shutter life of Jazz

The last time I posted about my avocado was October 7th and I'm happy to say that the 4 seeds I tried to sprout were successful. One is growing quite well, the 2 others were just transferred to a small pot but they are both thriving well (I gave one seedling to my father-in-law) while the other, although a bit late, is showing signs of life.  I think this means that it's easier for me to grow fruit trees than any other plant or vegetables. Some of the star apple and mango seedlings I planted are now looking like bonsais in their small pots. I'm planning to keep them in pots since I really don't have an area to plant them. I hope I can keep them in 3 or more years and I'm wishing that they bear fruit, too.

Perhaps one of the newest and most sought-after tourist spots in Tokyo is the Sky Tree. This tower stands taller than the Tokyo tower. That being said, most visitors go here to see the entire view of the metropolis and other sights like the Mt. Fuji. A word of advice though, you have to expect a long queue before going up the tower especially for walk-in guests. Some people reserve their tickets ahead and they probably don't need to line for a long time to enjoy the view of Tokyo. Also, the tickets are a bit pricey so instead of going up, we just opted to look around the shops to buy souvenirs and to do a bit of window shopping. When buying here, tourists can apply for a tax refund as long as they have bought goods for a total of 5,000 Yen. Stores will provide you with a tax refund form and you have to keep all your receipts when applying for this; you also need to present your passport in the tax refund office. You can always ask the friendly staff in the shops for the location ...

Japan's capital city is the busiest city I have been to. Residents and foreigners can easily get lost in the city. The place is a mixture of old and new and a day or two in this city is not enough to cover all the spots and activities you want to do so that's why foreigners always come back to this place for more. The view from our hotel taken around 5:30 am In my case, I only spent a day there so I was only able to try out a few things but at least I did my research before going there.  Of course, before heading out to our adventure, we fueled our bodies with a big breakfast from a cafe called "Royal coffee shop" which was a few walks away from our hotel in Asakusa. After eating a lot of traditional Japanese meals in Aomori, we opted for a more Western-ish food. Since Asakusa is a popular place in Japan, you need to keep your eyes peeled for things that might surprise you. In my case, I saw a poster of "Rorouni Kenshin" somewhere along the stree...

When you mention the name "Aomori", most Japanese people would think about the words "far", "countryside", "cold", and probably "apples". Well, all of those are correct but I hope people's perspective about this place change which is actually my goal in today's post. Our second day started early as we went to visit a local fish market in Hachinohe city. As a person born in a place where seafood is the main industry, I was expecting to see a familiar scene. I expected to see a lot of people buying seafood, vendors inviting people to check and buy their products, and of course, I expected the fishy smell; however, to my surprise, their market was very clean. All their products were neatly sliced and packed and the vendors were busy arranging their products in their stalls. Though you could easily see that most sellers here are already too old to work (population issues). Traditional Japanese breakfast In Japan, pe...