Guess what I found in Jiyugaoka today! I saw pictures of this bridge and little canal on guide books about Jiyugaoka, but I was never able to find it until today. It is a lot smaller than I had anticipated, but it looks like a small slice of Europe in my backyard. Once again, I'm reminded of just how thankful and blessed to be living in this neighborhood. 

One of the most interesting things about this neighborhood is the juxtaposition between the trendy, European influences and the reminder of old, traditional Japan. The canal shown above is right next to the Kumano Shrine. 

I also tried Nana's green tea for the first time~ I had the　白玉あんずき抹茶ラッテ. It costed about 600 yen for this. Quite expensive, but I think it's worth the value, especially if you like green tea. 

Today, I woke up, did my chores. Afterwards, I just strolled Jiyugaoka, taking my time to really take in everything this neighborhood has to offer to me. Jojo and Lei met up with me a little later and I took them to see the shrine and the canal. Afterwards, we walked to this store called Accent Style where they had funny looking bunny dolls and stuffed animals. Jojo bought a Fuku- bukoro- a big bag of mystery products. The things inside were extremely cute and I kind of want to buy one of my own! 

Then, they came over to my place. I love playing host and I would like more people to come over so I can host them ^-^.

Later, Emma joined us and we had Thai food. It's deemed authentic and judging by the 40 mins we had to wait, it's super popular. Although I was not terribly wowed by the food, it was pretty good. The music there was also great.