productive weekend walk : March 22 2025

weekend spent at home; the first after spending the last 2 weeks out. so what to do? it has been a while really, and the sun was very welcoming. such a shame to spend it indoors, that welcoming sun was extending its hands for us to step outside and bask. this picture of a train track was my last picture though, so deserving to be the banner pic of this entry. so let me recall the day.

city hall fiasco

before noon, i dragged myself slowly out of bed. it took my whole being to get out of the blankets. and i honestly thought that it was a sunday. yesterday was so crazy that i thought the weekend started a day ago.

i really had to get up, the plan was to get to the city hall and get a tax certificate for my visa extension request. my current visa will expire soon, and i would have gladly go home if my company refuses to extend my services. i guess i did well over here to be extended.

the city hall grounds were not deserted at all, but the city hall itself was out of service. oh my! i should have checked earlier. but i guess that is a plus for stacking steps early in the day.

look at those birds washing up in the fountain though. at least one of us took a bath. oops.

food food food

the housemate has been bugging me the minute i got home; he wants to eat out for lunch. i had food, it is still in the pot. but the lunch out invite was really tempting. my brain just said yes (such a weakling).

it was at a new shop, omelet rice was the food of choice. that shop was quite pricey, i ordered a medium size with katsu (breaded pork) topping in demiglace sauce. that katsu was tender, my teeth had no struggle with the bites. i do admit it was on the bland side, i guess that was what the condiments on the side were for. and the egg enveloped rice? delicious! we ordered demiglace sauce, and we knew how it should taste, but both of us had no idea how it was made. this was a great conversation over lunch.

minutes into the eating, we then realized how heavy this meal was. here we are again on underestimating serving sizes. this should be a learning, when a shop offers an "extra small" size that just means that the servings are huge. "medium" was quite much, "small" should have been perfect. kitchen eggs was the name of the shop and you can see it in maps from here.

we went out, walked a little and ordered a "to-go" cafe latte. the plan was to walk this fullness out. and that coffee tasted amazing. what a great find!

the kita-senju neighborhood walk

as said, our stomachs were huge after that lunch we just had. it was quite difficult to walk but that was what we are doing at that point. people often say that walking it out would help with the digestion. i don't know how true that is really but might as well do it.

so here are the neighborhood picture dumps.

senju motohikawa shrine - it was in here where i bought three plants when they held a succulent fair in its grounds. i hope they do it again, my hands are itching to get new plants lately.

just look at those colorful flowers! an old woman was happily taking these pots outside here home when we passed by. i just had to take pictures. spring is here i suppose.

choenji - it was a buddhist temple at the end of a narrow side street. it was a quaint place and very tranquil. a good place to meditate.

and wood carvings were great too! outside was this altar where you could offer your prayers. i don't know why they had plates with the characters "めめ" on. so if anyone in here knows, please share your knowledge.

and the last of the shrines, senjuhikawa shrine. this one had a bigger grounds, perfect for festivals.

these temples and shrines were very close to each other. i too was astonished with the sheer number of religious and historical places in this area. i usually just go to the commercial sites when i have my nightwalks in here.

that science university

after hours of discovering what else kita senju has to offer, we eventually headed home. i was surprised that my housemate was still willing to walk it out till home. it was already a long day, and walking home would take another 4 or 5 thousand steps more.

we passed by this circular installation near the teikyo university of science and i have been itching to take a picture of this every time i pass by the place. but in all those times, it was dark; thus, it was impossible to take a great shot. this is now my chance and yes, i am satisfied.

this installation is officially called the ghost chimney monument and i read that this was originally part of one of the four chimneys of the senju thermal power station which stood in the area from 1926 to 1964. "ghost" in the name was actually because these four chimneys would appear as one, two, three, or all four seen depending on the angle and the lighting of where they are seen from. i really thought that "ghost" was because when you see this monument, your brain plays a trick on you as if you see a tube which connects the monument to the perfectly circular picture on the wall. by the way, that was the actual picture of the chimneys.

that university was quite a tongue twister in japanese, teikyo kagaku daigaku. try it, i fail at repeating the name fast.

this walk took more steps than i thought. no wonder my feet started to ache as i was nearing home. but it was a fun one, my weekend was definitely spent on something interesting. hope you had a great weekend as well.

as always, AMPING KANUNAY!