Let's face it : Christmas in Tokyo just can't compete with Christmas at home. Japan is not a Christian country, so there is no suprise. Despite the overdose of Christmas songs in the shops, the so-called crhistmas menus in the restaurants, and the girls wearing red and white mini-skirts on the street, will, it dosn't feel the same. December 25th will be a noraml busy day, and all the snowy decoration will disappear in a blink at the end of the day. Fortunately, illuminations can save the night - if you don't go during week-ends or rushing hours : yesterday, it was a two-hour queue in the cold wind just to have a look at Roppongi Midtown Christmas lights. Ah, Japan.

An ocean of blue lights at Shiodome

A red and gold light cone at Roppongi Hills

Christmas inside

Stags and mooses are the ultimate stars this year (Maison du Chocolat)

Cosmic Christmas lights at Roppongi Midtown

Christmas Love

Wish you all a Merry Christmas !

Tokyo trees are shamelessly exhibiting their sexy red hair and their blushing underleaves. No decency, no moral, no modesty. Flaming gingers, hot blondies showing off in the city. Lust, lust, and lust. It's like their one and only intention is to fulfill the guiltiest color fantasies of the public. So dirty little minds we have. Don't hide anything, guys, we love your autumn porn show!

Yoyogi Park

Inokashira Park

Last week on the Japanese morning news, between two essentiel pieces of information like where to find the best pop-corn in town or which combini is offering the most competitive pumpkin pudding, there was a program about this year's autumn leaves. Be strong, because this is going to be a shock : as we had an especially rainy month of October because of the succession of typhoons that stroke the archipelago, the momiji (Japanese maple trees) are not as gorgeously colourful as they are supposed to be. The TV program was even comparing pictures of the same spots between last year and now, and the cruel reality is : 2013's autumn leaves are darker, irrugularly coloured, and more damaged than they should be. The Sunday photographers are bitterly disappointed, and the general public is lost, wondering if some areas have been preserved from the bad weather and could save the week-end letting see decently coloured autumn trees. That's a national tragedy, friends, a real national tragedy.

But don't loose faith. Never give up. The program was also delivering the results of a careful investigation, that revealed the few places where the tradition of watching koyo would be as great as usual. And in the ranking, they mentioned the Showa Kinen Koen that I visited first time last spring - remember the neverending field of cosmo ?... As a pathetic media-victim, I followed the instructions and paid a visit to this beautiful park located close to Tachikawa station. Behaving like a sheep ? Maybe. But have a look at this purely perfect autumn scenes and tell me if it wasn't the right thing to do.

A spoiled season ? Oh, come on...

Not too ugly for a bad year, uh ?

Showa Kinen Koen, the right place to be

And now, my favorite ginkos, my brothers and sisters the blond trees!

There may be a second round, so wait for the next autumn porn serie !

Every year you're dying to see them again : the splendid koyo are coming again soon! Preview!

Let me introduce you this strange fruit coming from the mountains of Tohoku, the Northern part of Honshu island : Akebi.

Akebi is amazingly purple, it really looks like and alien fruit. When you open it, the flesh is sweet and milky; you can eat it raw, like passion fruit. But the skin is fresh and bitter, and you can cook it like vegetable. I mixed it with beef, onion, miso, sesam oil, soy sauce and sugar to prepare my hiking obento. Love the taste!

Bon appétit !

After the sea, the mountain! Mount Mitake is a 929 meters high mountain located 90 minutes away by train from Tokyo, and a great playground for the city rats. The perfect week-end deal when you are looking for fresh air and green landscape. Take your bento, grab your friends and let's climb it all!

The royal way

Totoro is hidden in these pictures. Can you find it?

View from the top

Down in the valley

No more 3-days week-ends for September, but October will come soon! Follow me!

Mid-September : the deadline for a sea-bath in Honshu, the main island of Japan. There is still a chance to fly to Okinawa in autumn to get the final touch on your tan, but it's far away, and quite expensive. But the Tokyo sunflowers are lucky : 3 hours away from Shinagawa station by local train (change at Atami; around 4000yen in total), Izu peninsula is waiting, with its white sand beaches, its beautiful coast, its waterfalls and its fresh sea-food... All you need is a three-days week-end as there are so many in september-October, and to make your way between the seasonal typhoons. So if you're the lucky type of girl like me... jump into your swimsuit, baby!

The great thing with the region of Izu is that the shore is not made of dark sand like most of the Japanese beaches. Here the coast is bright, sun-catching, and miraculously clean. For some reason, the tourists seem to respect a bit more their white shores than the dark ones. Look at this transparent waters!

 Nabeta beach

Enjoyyyying

Shimoda city is a small town with a deep historic background because this is the place Perry came in with his black ships in 1853 to force Japan to open their ports (and their economy) to the Western trade. His famous quote "I came here as a peace-maker" is written everywhere, though you could replace "peace" by "pressure". Some see this event as the end of pure, honor-driven and traditionnal Japanese spirit; others as the first step of Japan towards modernity. Anyway : this is Perry Road, a very cute street along the canal with nice jazz bars and small restaurants.

Perry Road

Shimoda, it's also big Western-style mansions along the coast...

... and old-fashion coffee and tea places.

Now, the hotel! We booked at Tokyu Hotel, for we could go by foot from Shimoda-Izukyu station. The hotel also has onsen, and it was a delight to stand in the outdoor bath, totally naked, with the sweet sun beams falling on me...

The view from my room!

Spotted between the palm-trees : our hotel private pool!

Very close, Shimoda Park offers refreshing shadow, stunning sculptures lost between the trees and a great view on the port.

And now, THE major reason to come and spend time in Shimoda... Shirahama beach. Pure, soft, shining ivory sand; transparent waves, green cliffs and SPACE, my friend. Is it Japan for real??

By the way, what should you eat and drink around Shimoda ?

Summer hits : fresh lemon juice and green tea kakigori

Grilled fish and my favourite ikura-don

Greatest sashimi ever

Local cola : Shizuoka cola (green tea flavor) and Fuji-san cola

Hey, next week is a three-days week-end too. Where do you plan to go ?

Under the bridge just un front Meguro kumin center, there's a bunch of girls painted on the wall. I thought you should know.

Two friends of mine are always celebrating their double birthday in insanely chic places in Tokyo, and this year, the theme was "Be like Stars"... And for a blond girl like me, who's more a star that Marilyn Monroe, THE Marilyn Monroe ?

Poupoupidou

And it's not Halloween yet...

Believe it or not, but so far I didn't have the chance to wear my yukata this year. What's the point to live in Japan  if it's not to wear a beautiful yukata in summer ? Fortunately, IMA and AFJ proposed to raise money for Tohoku having fun on a big boat cruising in the Tokyo bay, and yukata were highly recommended. Tokyo by night, unlimited beer, plenty of friends and yukata everywhere : that's what I call a Japanese summer !

Why is it still essential to raise money for Tohoku ?

The Japanese government and society are more or less taking in charge the situation in Tohoku, financing the temporary housing of the people who have lost their homes, paying the unemployment fees of those who have lost their jobs, replacing the damaged infrastructure... But there are many little things to do which are not exactly a top priority but which can really improve the life of the inhabitants : planting a garden, painting a wall, installing public benches... And this is why there is still a need for small money, and charity events are a great way to participate to small-scale projects. So keep having fun, keep smiling and keep giving to AFJ and IMA !