The other day, I visited a restaurant in Kisarazu, Chiba, known for its delicious fried horse mackerel. The namerou I ordered alongside it was also incredibly tasty. Namerou is made by finely chopping raw horse mackerel with flavored vegetables and miso.

Marugame Seimen's "My Town Udon" sales period is ending soon. I tried udon from three more regions. Shizuoka: Sakura shrimp and aosa seaweed grated yam soup udon Gunma: Pork cutlet with rich demi-glace sauce bukkake Kanagawa: Whitebait, kakiage tempura, and grated daikon radish bukkake

A penguin I bought from a felt doll artist in Kakegawa. He has bedhead. The penguin, prepared for the cold with a cap and scarf, looks very warm.

I visited Kakegawa Flower and Bird Garden in Shizuoka. We encountered many birds, but our true favorites were still the penguins. That day, artists who love penguins gathered at this location to hold a sales event for their works. I bought a penguin Christmas postcard.

Across from the Taiwanese cafe is the famous taiyaki shop "Wakaba." Their waffles filled with sweet red bean paste are best when freshly baked. I bought enough snacks to last me several days.

I came to this Taiwanese cafe to eat pepper cake. This shop doesn't use an oven—they bake them in a real traditional pot. It's a very popular place. I'm so happy eating this spicy pepper cake.

I got a wonderful Star Trek: The Next Generation postcard book. I found it on a flea market app. It's old, so the back is slightly yellowed, but it's in good condition. I'll definitely use it for Postcrossing, but for now, I'll just enjoy looking at it.

Mornings without baseball... feel so lonely. (In Japan, MLB games air in the morning due to the time difference.) Baseball season has ended. I don't know how I'll make it through until spring. Just then, two great Major Leaguers came to me. They're the Usagi mascots from Chiikawa.

Mount Fuji from car window. So far away.

As the year draws to a close, you'll see small envelopes sold in stores. What do you think these are? These are otoshidama envelopes. In Japan, there's a custom where adults give children pocket money during the New Year. This is called otoshidama. These are the envelopes used to hold the bills.

What an incredible game! Congratulations to Yoshinobu Yamamoto on winning MVP!

My local shopping mall has reopened after renovations. It boasts a huge food court and restaurant area. I'm excited because there are so many shops I want to try. Oh! They even had a message brick from Funassyi, our local celebrity!

At Marugame Seimen udon restaurant, kamaage udon is half price on the 1st of every month. I had dinner with the half-price udon and free chicken tempura from a special voucher. I was completely full for just 180 yen (US$1.16).

The 2026 New Year's stamps are now on sale. I bought 110-yen stamps for Postcrossing and 85-yen stamps for domestic use. Asian countries have zodiac signs, and 2026 is the Year of the Horse. Horses are depicted on the stamps.

I got a postmark with a jack-o'-lantern-style design. This is a postmark from a small post office in Kanagawa Prefecture, available year-round. But October is surely the most popular time for it.

Post-shaped postcards. I bought some with winter designs since they're now available. In Asian countries, 2026 is the Year of the Horse.

Whoops! I forgot to buy New Year's cards for the Moomin fans. There were two kinds, so I bought both!

Marugame Seimen is currently selling regional specialty udon noodles. There are 47 varieties nationwide, each featuring local specialties and famous dishes. I've tried the udon from my hometown of Chiba and neighboring Ibaraki. Chiba: Udon with seaweed and clam tempura Ibaraki: Lotus root curry udon

The other day, there was a Star Wars pop-up store at Tokyo Skytree. After a moment's hesitation, I looked for postcards. But they weren't selling any. I felt a bit relieved. Because I'm a Star Trek fan. Even for Postcrossing, I'd hesitate to buy Star Wars postcards.

Impatient Japanese people bought Christmas stickers at the 100-yen shop. Seasonal items at 100-yen shops rarely get restocked, so you have to buy them early.

Impatient Japanese have already bought their New Year postcards. For Postcrossing, of course. Unlike other Asian countries, Japan celebrates the New Year according to the Gregorian calendar. I buy Snoopy postcards every year, so I'd be delighted to meet someone who likes Snoopy.

The local stationery shop has Christmas cards on display. I like this 'Little Santa's Trip to Japan' series. Little Santa Clauses are visiting memorable places in Japan. However, these are not postcards, but folded greeting cards. They cannot be used for postcrossing.

Japan's first female Prime Minister has just been appointed. We look forward to her achievements. She faces the important task of welcoming President Trump later this month.

I ate gyoza at White Gyoza in Kameari, Tokyo. The gyoza at this shop are distinctive in that they are round and pan-fried, unlike the usual variety. Many gyoza restaurants offer both pan-fried and boiled gyoza. Would it be clearer to write 'gyoza' as ' dumplings'?

I dined at the same udon restaurant twice last week. ← Weekday set meal: ¥1,300. Weekend set meal: ¥1,900. → On weekdays, the tempura included aubergine and maitake mushrooms; on weekends, it featured two prawns and maitake mushrooms. Which is better value? I prefer the weekday set meal.

Have you heard of the anime Dirty Pair? It's an anime from 40 years ago. I was in primary school back then and was a huge fan of it. I even used a Dirty Pair desk pad. It turns out my husband was also a big fan of Dirty Pair. A Dirty Pair exhibition is being held in Tokyo, so we went along together.

Yesterday I went there again. The Tokyo Skytree. Where the commercial complex includes Chiikawaland. Yesterday was the launch day for new products, so I went to buy them. The mushrooms in the pot beside the checkout counter were rather cute.

A collaboration with Chiikawa has begun at COCO'S, a casual restaurant. My husband and I visited straight away and tried the collaboration menu. Ordering a campaign menu item gets you a special gift.

Yesterday I obtained the first day postmark. I also made a maxi card to go with it. It's a beautiful postmark featuring cosmos flowers. In Japan, cosmos are representative autumn flowers.

Good morning from Japan! Today marks the release date for new stamps. These stamps feature plants from autumn through to winter. In Japan, cyclamen are sold in abundance as Christmas approaches. Today I shall go and get a first-day postmark on these stamps.

This is the oyakodon I ate in Akita the other day. Oyakodon literally means 'parent and child rice bowl'. Translated like this, it sounds rather cruel! The 'parent and child' refers to chicken meat and eggs. Akita's Hinai region is famous for its delicious Hinai chicken.

I ate Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki. It was absolutely delicious. There are Hiroshima-style and Osaka-style okonomiyaki, but I believe only Hiroshima-style is true okonomiyaki. Osaka-style mixes all the ingredients together before cooking, whereas Hiroshima-style is layered and cooked.

I'm preparing to send my friend some Halloween-themed tea. This tea has a grape flavour. I'll put it in my favourite envelope and post it with a pumpkin-patterned postmark.

I've never sent a sweet package via Postcrossing before. But these sweets seemed perfect for sending, so I bought them. Japanese sweets rarely come in boxes close to postcard size.

I found a Funassyi capsule toy. It's small but very well made. His comical expression is captured perfectly.

I went to a museum of stamps. The building here is magnificent, but the exhibition hall is very small. There are two small stamp shops here. I got some stamps for postcrossing there. I got the stamps I wanted from this basket. It's like a treasure hunt.

I visited the Moomin shop in Ginza the other day, but the good postcards were sold out. I hope they will be sold the next time I come back. The shop shelves were already full of next year's calendars and schedule books.

How would you like to celebrate Christmas with Shiba dogs? It's a bit early, but I also bought some Christmas postcards. You may have seen this Shiba dog postcard before. They are a popular series.

The Jimbocho and Kanda areas I visited yesterday are famous for their bookshops and second-hand bookshops. It is also a town of curry. There are many famous curry shops. I had a soup curry at one of them, Audrey.

I also came to Bunbodo in Jinbocho, Tokyo. A postcard of a beautiful old Japanese woman I bought earlier. I liked it so much that I came back to buy more. This is a Japanese woman from about 150 years ago. Not bad for Japanese, is it?

The Snoopy shop in my town is closing. I am very disappointed. The shop had postcards exclusive to my city. When I went to buy the postcards for the last time, there were already fewer products in the shop. The postcards were sold out...

I recently ate gyoza at Masashi, a gyoza restaurant in Utsunomiya, Tochigi. This restaurant is amazing. There is nothing on the menu except gyoza! There is no rice or beer. (water is free to drink)

I had a bowl of yellowtail marinated in soy sauce. The pot contains fish soup. When you have eaten half the bowl, pour this soup into the bowl and eat it as a 'chazuke'. Overnight dried sardines are grilled and eaten whole, bones and head included.

Today is World Postcard Day! The weather is bad in my area and the temperature is low. Days like this are great for writing postcards. I have three postcards lined up at the moment and am trying to decide what to write.

The tea from the all-you-can-pack is given to friends. 10 in a small plastic bag.

I went for all-you-can-stuff tea. I filled a plastic bag full of tea. The rule is that if the bag closes, it's OK. In all, 56 pieces went in! There were also tea-flavoured ice-cream tastings at the event.

I came to Shinjuku, Tokyo. I have no idea what is where! Shinjuku station is a huge labyrinth and I am easily lost because I am not used to this station. I proceeded cautiously and took the exit I wanted. A bronze statue of Suica's penguin stands outside the new south exit.

I visited the Chiikawa Park. Look at the photos taken by the staff because they were very dynamic! (Of course, some of the photos were taken properly)

Yesterday I had the fried horse mackerel set meal and sashimi of kanpachi. This is a very popular Kanagawa-Odawara diner. The fried horse mackerel is a recommended dish at this diner and was fluffy and very tasty.

Yesterday's lunch was a grilled meat set meal. Pork marinated in miso and variety meat were grilled over charcoal. Both are specialities of Atsugi, Kanagawa.