This is MA's exhibition at No.12 gallery 24 Feb 2012. Always MA is painting with big love and big hope. You can feel it with this photo.

Another good found in the Nihonbashi area where I usually stay in Tokyo. The sourdough based toast simply stole my heart and inspired me how to enjoy sourdough as a healthier base of nutritious and simple breakfast. It was impressive how popular he bakery place is - long line started soon after the opening time in the morning. Apparently they are one of the local favorites who is well known to the foreign visitors too like me:-) Fortunately they manage it properly to maintain a quality experience. Located right beside a community playground, Parklet also has a lovely grocery inside where you can find their selection of artisanal food and drinks. Will come back next trip! 

A small cafe / restaurant in the heart of Aoyama. Does a really good homemade lemonade.

Citylight Book at Yoyogi-uehara is the type of independent bookstore where I would wish to hang every week. It opens in the afternoon and runs through late night as a bookstore, as well as a meet-up place, a bar for book lovers. Founded by Kaminaga-san, a veteran who had worked with publishing industry for many years before creating his own version of bookstore, this is a cool place to browse for new titles of books and magazines of a wide range of genres/topics. The second floor works as a nice study room too. CABO, the mix place where the bookstore is located also offers other original selection of snack bar and fine dining. You can easily drift in and out, encountering interesting souls in the hood. I had a book launch and talk event here in May, 2024. It's been such a wonderful experience, good crowd and good vibes only! 

Izu-Oshima is a small island which takes about two and a half hours by speedboat from the center of Tokyo. It is 120km away, but still is "Tokyo". The island welcomes you with a distinctive landscape, having Mt.Mihara, a sacred volacano at the center. Travelers will fully realize how small they are facing the majestic landscape of Izu-Oshima.