A railway crossing

The sky is dark.
It threatens to rain.
And crossing signal is noisy.
I feel it is long the signal cahangs.

Nishi funabashi station

"Nishi" means "West".
So nishi-funabashi station is located in western part of funabashi city.
We usually call this railway station "Nishi funa".
This station is one of principal railway station in chiba prefecture.
Three railway company use this station. East Japan Railway(JR- east) , Tokyo Metro , Toyo Rapid Railway.
Every morning and evning, it is so crowd.
You can go to Nakayama horse race course from the station by bus.

Koban

Koban is a small police station which serves security needs of local community.
If you visit Japan, and you have trouble such lost your way or lost something and other, just go to koban and ask help to police officer. They are very kind.
This photo is a koban in front of Funabshi rail way station.

Under the high way

I some times walk under the high way.
It's not so noisy.
Because the wall attached to both side of the high way, and shut the noise.
It is near the tokyo bay.
Cool wind blows from the bay.

After rain

It was raining this morning.
I have waited for rain to stop, and go out.
I feel little cool.
I suppose rainy season is coming soon.

Fish shop

This is a fish shop.
Such fish shops has decreased.
Because we usually buy fish in supermarket.

But, to eat the fish fresh and delicious, I think that we shuld buy fish in such shop, and ask the shop owner for fresh order.

Soba shop under railroad

This soba shop is close to Funabashi station.
I some time go to there, when I want to have soba.
Because the dishes are low price and good tast.
JR line runs above the soba shop.

Kakiage

Kakiage is a type of tempura.
Some sea foods and some vegetables are mixed in tempura batter, and deep fried.
Combination of ingredients are various.
In this photo, ingredients are shrimp, onion, long green onion, and carrot.

Manhole cover

I took this photo in front of Funabashi station.
This is a manhole cover.
It is designed by ships and sasanqua.
The ships are "Godairikibune", had been sailing in tokyo bay ( edo bay ) since edo period to early modern times.
Sasanqua is symbol tree of funabashi city.

Boats

This is a first article I introduce you bay area of funabashi city.
Bay area of this city was prospered as fisherman's town .
The place in this photo is by a highway.
It is not so far from city central.

Sgt. frog

This is a Japanese Manga, "Keroro gunso".
Sergent Keroro came to the earth to invade.
But he is easily caught by chirdren.
And started to live in a familly.
He is so funny.
I took this photo infront of the McDonald.

An old house

I took this photo in western part of funabashi city.
Many of old style houses still remain in this city.
I suppose almost of them are farmer's.
Those houses are very simple, but live long.
Because thoes were made of fine wood and made by carpenter who had good hand.

Maneki neko

"Maneki neko " means good- luck-beckoning cat.

The cat raising right paw bring money to the owner, raising left paw bring customers to the owner.

they are usually placed in shops, or in showcases of shops.

but rarely placed out of shops, like second photo.

I think they are so lovely.

There are various type of manekineko in Japan, I will show you interesting manekineko in this blog!!

Zaru Soba

Zaru soba is a typical soba dish.
Soba noodles are made from buck wheat.
Boiled soba is rinsed in cold watter to cool it. Served top with shredded nori.

First, we put wasabi and finelly chopped green onions in the sauce(soba tsuyu). and take a bite full of noodles with chopsticks, dip into sauce slightly and eat.

Musashino line

I rarely take this train.
It runs further out in the suburbs around central Tokyo.
The station in this photo is located close to the famous horse race couars.
The station is so crowed on the day horse race is held.

Azalea

We call this flower "Tsutsuji".
It is one of typical flower that bloom in spring.
Tere is a lot of Tsutsuji-park in Japan.
Of course I love it.

Sake at Soba shop

Soba is one of Japanese noodel.
( about it, I will post someday)
When I go to soba shop, I sometime order Sake.
I drink sake before soba is served.
It's so good!

In this photo, on the tray, there are a small bottle of sake, a choko ( one of sake cup ), and some pickles.

Construction sign in Japan

These signs are on the fence of construction site.
I think you can see the meaning of those signs.
Above two sings means "No enter".
Below two sings means "I'm sorry for annoying you".
Those characters are manga-tic and interesting.

Woods

This is one of my favourite walking course.
It takes only few minutes to go there from my hause by walk.
Very silent, and air is clean.
This place, city agency borrow the land from the landowner for long term.
And, volunteer preserv the woods.

Miyako Konbu

This is a seafood based snack,"Miyako Konbu".
"Miyako" means Kyoto, in this case.
"Konbu" is a kind of kelp.
Konbu is usually used to make soup stock in Japan
This snack is made of Konbu.
It is a little sour because of pickling in vinegar.
The paccage is small .
So we can put it in pocket, and carry it anywhere.

A crossing in central Funabashi

Funabashi city is located chiba prefecture in Japan.
The city faces to Tokyo bay.
If you have been to Tokyo, you would have passed through this city to go to Tokyo from narita airport.