えどじだいぽいそば屋さん

Nice reflection on the lake

Soba and Tempura

At weekends to get away from all the gray concrete of Shibuya, I've been visiting a local park in nearby Yabashira in Chiba Prefecture. What I thought would be the usual excuse of a park (a small stretch of grass) turned out to be a very large park with lake, forest paths and a beautifully situated wooden built soba restaurant. Despite it being September the weather was clement enough to sit at the small wooden tables outside the soba shop. Without a sniff of the 21st Century around us we could have swore we were back in the Edo period （江戸時代 - えどじだい) with the old styled traditional wooden houses 木造 (もくぞう） next to the park. People often talk of "disappearing Japan" (消えて行く日本文化 - きえていくにほんぶんか) but it still very much exists in small pockets here and there. I definitely plan to return to this park again.