Shinagawa Tsumami

梅が咲き誇っている頃の着物散歩の写真を覚えている方もいますでしょうか。 Do you remember our photos from Kimono walk in the beginning of this year?

当時オープンしたばかりだったキモノ時間「ソレカラ」さん。先日、再びアトリエを訪れました。今回は「くのいちへの道」講座に参加しました。 We visited their atelier KIMONO SOREKARA and joined a class to learn how to move elegantly in Kimono. As it was summer, we wore Yukata, a summer version of Kimono.

ゆかたを着て、二人一組になって身体をじっくりゆるめることから始めました。これが、とても気持ち良かったです！ その後、歩き方や立ち座りを教えていただきました。 We learned how to sit and stand elegantly in Yukata, but we found out that it wasn't an easy task at all! To act beautifully in Kimono (Yukata), we need some practice. 

着物を着た状態でおしとやかに立ち座りをするのは、慣れなていないと難しいことを実感。それでも何度か練習を繰り替えすうちに、当初座った際にしてた「ドスン！」という音は聞こえなくなりました。 普段は使わない筋肉をたくさん使ったせいか、しばらく筋肉痛でした。

Follow the yellow signboard to Kimono Sorekara/ 黄色い看板を目印に Kimono Sorekaka usually welcomes people to rental Kimono. They have many variation of Kimono and gives us great advice on how to coordinate them. 「旧東海道品川宿を着物姿の人でいっぱいにする」という素敵な目標を掲げているソレカラさん。オシャレな柄の着物のレンタルも充実しているので興味のある方はぜひ、facebook pageを覗いてみてください！

【Tsumami Info.】Kimono Sorekara / キモノ時間「ソレカラ」 >>> 8min walk from Keikyu Shinbamba / 京急線新馬場駅徒歩8分

KAIDO books & coffee opened facing Tokaido last summer. As there are not many cafes around the area, we were excited when it has opened !

昨年の夏、オープンしたKAIDO books & coffee さん。写真は撮りためていたものの、またもやのんびりしてたら1年経っていました・・。というわけで、タイムリーな写真と共に、夜のKAIDO books & coffeeさんの雰囲気をちょこっとご紹介します。

We've stocks of photos which we haven't shared here, which will be coming soon, but for this post, we'll share how comfortable KAIDO books & coffee is at night time.

The first floor has the door is usually open thus has a feel of open air, which is very nice sitting there to just relax. The cafe holds exhibitions often and the display and selection of books changes according to its theme.

天候などにもよるとは思いますが、1階の入り口は開いていることが多く、とても開放的な雰囲気が魅力です。店内ではフェアをやっていることも多く、そのテーマに沿ったディスプレイや本のセレクションも興味深いです。

As of today, the exhibiting was on "Basque cuisine".

今日の時点では『バスク料理展』となっていましたが、近々新しい展示に変わるそうです！

You can spend time having coffee while chatting, reading books related to the exhibition, or just relax. We'll follow up with how the 2nd floor looks like in another post as it's a quite interesting space as well..! 

ゆっくりコーヒーをいただきながら、お喋りしたり、展示関連の書籍を読んだり、街道沿いの外の音を聞きながらボーッとしたり。夜は外も静かなのでしっとり過ごせます。

2階は少し違った雰囲気で、本好きにはたまらない空間なのですが、またの機会に紹介しますのでお楽しみに！

We didn't expect such a refreshing open air space just 6 mins walk away from JR Shinagawa station. SHINAGAWA SEASON TERRACE was a great place to lie down on the grass and relax. 

You can see Tokyo Tower!! 

目の前に続く道の先には、東京タワーが・・！

There are shops & restaurants inside the building, and a big park behind. Some of the cafes were really popular and fully booked! There were people enjoying BBQ in one of the restaurants as well.

人工のガーデンとは思えないほど、広大な緑地が広がっています。小さな池もあり、子どもたちが興味津々な様子で池の中を覗きこんでいました。

小さな子ども連れのファミリーも多く、気持ちよいそよ風も吹いていてリラックスできる場所でした。遠出はできないけどのんびりしたいときにおすすめですよ。

【Tsumami Info.】SHINAGAWA SEASON TERRACE / 品川シーズンテラス >>> 6min walk from JR Shinagawa Konan Exit/ JR品川駅港南口徒歩6分

The annual grand festival at Shinagawa Jinjya (Shinagawa Shrine) is taking place this weekend!! 1年のうちで最も品川宿が賑わい、地元の方のカッコイイ姿が見られる週末がやってきました。そう、品川神社の例大祭です！

Here are some photos from last year’s festival. 

The highlight is mikoshi parade which is planned on both June 4th (Sat) & 5th (Sun). Mikoshi is a portable shrine which is a divine palanquin. 

On Sunday, the mikoshi will be carried up the steep stone stairs leading to Shinagawa Shrine, which is amazing!

This is a scene from last year where the mikoshi was lifted in front of Miuraya, a locally popular Tempura restaurant which was closing down. 

「これは何味だろう〜？」とみんなでワイワイ分け合うのも楽しい、孝庵さんの『宿場ロール』。

"Shukuba Roll" at Kyo-An might be another great choice for omiyage from Shinagawa. 

この『宿場ロール』、ただのロールケーキではないんです！クリーム・スポンジに加えシュークリームの皮で巻かれているので、まず食感がふつうのロールケーキとは違って面白い！スポンジ生地には小麦を使用していないのが特徴で、口の中でとけるような感覚が魅力です。

Roll cake is very popular in Japan nowadays and you may see it in almost every cake shop, but what's striking about "Shukuba Roll" is that its feel in your mouth is very unique. The roll is covered by a layer which is similar to that of a cream puff.

There are several flavours which we enjoyed guessing what it is. It was fun to have home party and get all the flavours so that we could share it and taste different ones!

味は食べてみてのお楽しみ・・・ということで（見れば分かるものも多いかもしれませんが）！

初めてお店を見つけたときは一瞬和菓子屋さんかと思ったけど、店内に入るとケーキと焼き菓子が並んでいてギャップにビックリ。ちなみに、店内でも

【Tsumami Info.】Kyo-An / 品川菓匠 孝庵（きょうあん） >>> 4min walk from Keikyu Shinbanba / 京急線新馬場駅徒歩4分

More photos from the Kimono walk back in February.

For lunch, we went to Yu, a cozy little Izakaya. They are open for lunch time, serving Anago (conger eel) speciality lunch. 

ランチは遊さんで、穴子御膳を。お口の中でふわりととろける、柔らかい穴子に「おいしい〜！」と幸せをかみしめる一同。上品なボリュームなのも特に女性にとってはちょうどよく、可愛い小皿に丁寧に盛り付けられたおかずを少しずつ味わうことができるのも嬉しいポイント。

After lunch break, we headed towards Ebara Shrine.

おなかが満たされたので、散歩再開！

朱色の橋を渡って荏原神社へ。

Kanhi- zakura (Prunas Campanulata), a type of cherry blossom was blooming beautifully.

この日、寒緋桜が満開でした。

荏原神社は東海七福神のうち、恵比寿神を担っているそうです。朗らかな表情が素敵な恵比寿さん。

みんな並ぶと、一気に華やかに！

Last weekend, we went out for a walk around Shinagawajuku.

先週末は、キモノ時間『ソレカラ』で着付けをしてもらい、旧東海道を着物で散歩。お日さまもポカポカあたたかく、絶好の散歩日和でした。

It's a project named "SOREKARA" which is a rental kimono shop where they can also help you wear them. We call this "Kitsuke （着付け）" in Japanese.

Here, we're on the way to fill up our empty stomach!! We had an awesome lunch, please look forward to our next post!

This picture is from this year's Mochi-Tsuki.

As always, time flies so fast and it's already a month since this event.

There were 4 kinds of flavours, which I'd say, were all delicious!!

1. Kinako (Soybean flour) 2. Anko (Red bean curd) 3. Nori-shoyu (Seaweed+soysauce) 4. Karami (Grinded Raddish+soysauce)

A Mochi-tsuki Event today at Hinkai-Koen (park) from around 11am today!!

Mochi-tsuki is a festive event for Japanese New Year, pounding steamed rice to make rice cakes. You can eat freshly pounded mochi dusted with red bean curd & soy bean flour, which is really delicious.

It’s 100Yen per adult & free for kids!!

Omiyage (お土産) is one of the fun part when people go travelling in Japan. After long vacations, you may see people exchanging Omiyage with their colleagues and friends. It's also popular for people to bring small gifts Temiyage (手土産) when visiting a friend's home.

This Japanese tea from Ippukuto may be an ideal Omiyage from Shinagawa. The famous Ukiyoe artist Hiroshige's work is featured in their package design. Isn't it pretty?

昨年秋にオープンした日本茶と和菓子のお店、一福桃（いっぷくとう）さん。品川宿場まつりで出会い、かわいいお茶のパッケージに一目惚れ！

広重の浮世絵をあしらったパッケージデザインが魅力的な「かりがね茶」はちょっとした手土産に喜んでもらえそう！食卓にさりげなく置いてあるだけで、雰囲気が出る素敵な一品です。

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2016 !

Wishing you all happiness & hopefully to have a chance to visit Shinagawa.

本年も品川から日々のちいさな発見、楽しいイベント情報を発信していきます。願わくば、イベントも企画してみたいです。品川あんぱんのように、中身はお楽しみということで！

皆さまにとって2016年も笑顔あふれるお年となりますように！

Here are some photos from the Kid's Halloween Parade in Shinagawajuku back in October. We're happy that finally we have some time to share this great event.

Adorable kids and their parents were divided into groups of around 30 people, and went trick-or-treating around the shops and guesthouses which supported the event.

We, the Shinatsuma members also enjoyed this event guiding the kids!

The amazing thing about this event was that it wasn't planned by the Shotengai officially, but started from an initial idea by a shop owner proposing to have a Kid's Halloween Parade. Hearing her great idea, the other shop owners and people in the neighbourhood joined to support making the event possible. These kind of community bonds aren't seen so often in Tokyo nowadays, therefore we think it's surely what makes this area unique.

The air is getting much colder here as we enter Shiwasu (the name for December in old calender), but the warm-coloured street lamps greet us once we're in Shinagawa.

しなつまメンバーの愛ちゃんの写真展がクロモンカフェで25日（日）まで開催中！ちなみに、24日（日）は1時半過ぎごろから北品川商店街でキッズハロウィンパレードもあるので、ハロウィン気分を味わいがてら北品川へ是非遊びに来てみてはいかがでしょうか？

Our shinatsuma member, Ai is having her photography exhibition at Kuromon Cafe until 25th Oct. There will be a Kid's Halloween Parade on Sat 24th Oct from around 13:30~ so it might be fun to visit the area on the day.

The photos of Kansas exhibited in a total Japanese setting somehow seemed to be working very well. We won't post the works so that you can actually go to the site and enjoy it there !

Actually, it's the second time Kuromon Cafe appears in shinatsuma !

Since in the previous post, it was just a picture to let you imagine the rest of the space & food, we want to introduce a little bit more today.

It is usually open at daytime (sometimes closed on Sundays), and open in the evening from time to time. Please check in advance if the cafe will be open.

As you can see in the picture above, the menu depends on the day as well !

Appetiser / 前菜　

Falafel / ターメイヤ（そら豆のエジプトコロッケ）

It was sooooo delicious~!

Dessert!!!!!

【Tsumami Info.】Kuromon Cafe/ クロモンカフェ >>>5min walk from Keikyu Kitashinagawa / 京急線北品川駅徒歩5分

【Shinagawa Shukuba Festival 2015】 

The people joining the festival were so creative and cool!!