Over the 2 days

Good evening♡

A few days ago, I saw a photo of a Torii gate standing on a rock in the ocean,

and the caption said it is located in Ibaraki prefecture.

So I booked a hotel in Ibaraki as soon as I saw that,

and caught a bus on Friday to travel to the torii gate.

And... Nemophila, which is supposed to be in full bloom now!

My co-worker said I drew a radish right there,

well... I wouldn't argue against it, 

but the things on top are supposed to be the shape of Ibaraki Prefecture and Tokyo :)

Self portrait before heading out!

Camera face

View from the rooftop...

It's so exciting to be up there!

The buildings are so short in Ibaraki!

The roads are neat and clean aren't they.

******

On the second day, I woke up at 1 in the morning.

Had a long warm bath (The best part of the whole traveling thing), got ready and headed out to capture the sunrise.

I popped outside and... saw no taxies anywhere.

So I took a train to the neighboring big station and caught a cab... (either way...)

It took a while for me to get there and I missed the sunrise... >< but

We got a lot of water splashing!

Yay! I am at the toriii!! (where?)

Ther.... there....!

Behind the splash....

Ta da!

It is really lucky for me to see and feel this massive splash anywhere I travel at all really.

There are rocky shores but you can't always get a high tide/strong wind/good timing all together.

It was just so exciting to keep pressing the shutter to the timing of the splash.

Of course it would have been much more ideal if I have arrived 10 minutes earlier but

seeing and enjoying the morning with this Torii was a great experience for me.

Plus I met this awesome girl on the rock (cliff?) and became great travel friends :)

we took photos of each other and she even drove me to my hotel!

Can't wait to travel to and around her neighborhood this year!

Another place I needed to check out beside the Torii place was the Nemophila garden,

it is the famous Nemophila garden by the shore called Hitachi Seaside park.

I enjoyed the train ride to the park too! The locomotive looking train was so cute♡

As the taxi driver said - It was full bloom on last Sunday and they are going now...

Cherry blossoms bloomed much earlier this year too, it started to get warm really early this year!

This is just my perspective though.

I am a big fan of monochrome colors, Black, White and... maybe not monochromatic but gold, and silver.

But I have been feeling that blue is the color most similar to neutral, closest to transparency.

I really liked how the hill was colored in blue so it looks like the ground is merging with the sky♡

Honestly, I thought this yellow flower was gorgeous.

But turned out I seem to be dreadfully allergic to this flower and whenever I was around them I couldn't stop sneezing and my eyes were itchy and...

How does that happen!? I haven't interacted with this flower so much in my life!

Next time I will definitely need a mask... *crying laughing emoji*

I don't know why it feels so relaxing to watch pink and red...♡

Is it because I am a girl?

Tulips were so relaxing to watch. Loved this garden♡

I needed to rush back out because of my hay fever but it was a great park!

Ibaraki prefecture was a prefecture of flower,

every season, different flowers bloom and it's so blessing.

********

I have always been a staying in my comfort zone

laying myself on the gravity kind of person.

I don't know where my current impulsive wanderlust comes from.

But I will keep seeking a place to belong, not to run away from my territory.

And I love bath♡

Onsennn! (I scream for onsen!)

Can't wait to plan the next spontaneous trip♡

Thanks for reading my blog :)

Anna

Sakura Sakura

Good... afternoon already.

I was going to go out in the morning though...

Anyway, yesterday was the April first.

Yesterday morning I opened my email and

I saw amazing news.

I have received an amazing offer and I was so, so excited.

I was congratulating myself for a few hours and...

Realized it was April first.

*Pulls off a very awkward expression that emoji can't even express*

I am actually very nervous to think if it could be actually an April Fool prank.

Please, do not be.

Anyway!

It was supposed to be raining today so I decided to check out the sakura in Yoyogi park yesterday.

When the rain comes, Sakura will go.

It is the most fragile flower yet unimaginably powerful.

No wonder sakura is everyone's favorite flower.

In the morning when nobody is still out there in a festival mood.

Are they measuring the square? Got me a little curious.

I have always been and will always be a rose person
since I fell in love with the thorns roses let surrounding themselves.

But I thoroughly understand sakura fans.

I feel blessed from my brain to the skin when the cherry blossoms are in full bloom

and the mortality mesmerizes me whenever I see them up there.

I really hope to still be traveling around chasing these little beauties everywhere in Japan.

These things always fascinate me,

massive blue sheets all over the park,

enormous rubbish bags made out of blue sheet - ruining the scenery.

They are not necessarily the most beautiful things

but it's interesting how those convenient things adapted in the culture.

I adore the contrast between early morning and mid day on a day like this.

The change is drastic and I just wonder where those people come from.

I am a morning person so I am only active in the morning when not many people are out yet,

it obviously feels great, but I enjoy watching this too.

Or night, I am really really keen on photographing or videographing at night.

Anyway.

Hope the April Fool prank (or not) will turn down the offer within today...

Thanks for reading my article! I will come back soon ♡

Anna Kirishima

Okinawa romance

Hello dear beautiful friends of mine!

I have been... doing a lot of things♡

HEHE.

I have decided to wander around the entire island of Japan over the next... year and a bit!

Let me introduce you this beautiful island Okinawa.

http://townske.com/guide/13642/without-knowing-okinawa

(I am also on Townske as your travel guide! ♡)

It was my very first time visiting Okinawa.

Simply saying... Okinawa was a huge color palette.

Started off my journey in Ikei island - East coast of Okinawa.

The sunrise and the reflection of the sun were nostalgic and I was drowning in the beauty of the morning.

Okinawa- where the water is translucently emerald green... 

How I wish I could dive! 

It was absolutely blessing to view the ocean from above.

It was the most luxurious thing I have done in a looong time...

American Village in the morning!

It loses its funkiness and full of fun! 

You can't tell how vividly gorgeous this place is at night, looking like an Easter show!

Kouri island where the romance comes true when you "desperately" wish for it...

You need to be desperate on that beach I heard.

Two heart shaped rocks and couples taking a selfie with them..

Love♡

No matter how many photos I post the picture pulls off different color, different tone and different atmosphere...

How blessing is this!

I fell in love with this sunset as the sun fell slowly behind the horizon...

Little Santorini I call it♡

Santorini is definitely on my to go list! :)

I LOVE the color white and surrounded in white,

this purely white place was absolutely stunning.

Staying there and feeling the whiteness was sheer bliss...♡

I was there super early in the morning so all I could do was walk around this beautiful open castle but

hope someday I can drop by a few of those cafes and relax on the terrace chair...♡

Okinawa has a strong sense in peace, and they are beautifully colored.

360 degrees, every where you turn, Okinawa shows you a whole different color you haven't mixed yet.

This enormous object in a kids park next to the Peace Memorial Park was my favorite!

There are wind turbines nearby and look at the colors of this object! Surrealistically beautiful♡

I tried to sneak into one piece and realized how big I was ... physically

(Mind still being a child though...)

I couldn't leave Okinawa without having these perfectly spheric ice creams at Blue Seal.

I heard that there are still Blue Seal stores in mainland Japan too, but it was extremely exciting to have those traditional ice creams in a warm, tropical weather.

I will be painting, singing with my beloved guitar and traveling this year, a lot.

I will update my blog on my journey, hope you enjoy, and find out something new...

Hope I can show you a brand new face of the world!

Wishing you a wonderful spring ahead!

Anna Kirishima

Travel guide

Hello the world!

I haven't forgetten about my blog, just that... 

(I  forget the password all the time and I cannot log into this account very often),

what a horrible blogger am I!

But I feel so insecure if I set a really easy password!

So my password usually goes like G82hlx4Rdl08DaMwU38X and there is no way I can remember all of them (true story, sometimes above plus ^#$&*;+ ...).

Anyway.

I just wanted to write about how I have joined this incredible travel website Townske to write about travel guide and tips.

I haven't even written about my Kanazawa trip on here yet, but I have summerized my trip in one article and wrote about recommendation so if you are interested in the old Japanese traditional culture and traveling to the art town Kanazawa- please check it out. 

The Must Goes In Kanazawa, Ishikawa Pref. Japan

I also simply write about the trips on wordpress

http://annakirishima.wordpress.com as well!

I post more photos on it, if you are interesed.

I personally have decided to go traveling once a month, or at least every second month on a weekend.

I will definitely update my Townske, blog or instagram so please stay tuned if you are interested in seeing my perspectives while traveling.

I shall be mostly traveling within Japan this year,

Most definitely traveling to - Kanagawa, Yamanashi, Hiroshima, Kagoshima,

Mie... and - Thailand. Hopefully USA too but not sure.

Really wanting to go to Cuba, and Singapore again.

Australia? Hm, if I go I won't be able ever leave there! *homesick*

Besides travel, I will be writing a lot about cafes in and outside of Tokyo.

Cafe - Omotesand

The first Cafe article was on Harajuku - Omotesando.

I hear a lot of people traveling to Japan again this year or sometime soon.

Hopefully my blogs will be an useful information even though I am not the master of Tokyo at all.

There are certainly beautiful places in Tokyo and I would be happy for you to find out about them.

I will do big travels too this year but also will be exploring more of the Tokyo 23 wards.

I want to explore... Tennozu Isle, Iidabashi (Suidobashi, Nihonbashi),

Zoshigaya, Sumida, Shiodome, Ginza... and writing a proper guide of Yokohama ( My home town! ) again.

Kanazawa was an incredible travel destination.

I am not sure if the entire city of Kanazawa is like that or only some part of it is but

someone who has spent a long time in Kanazawa has told me that

the local people in Kanazawa hated to fight, and they knew that if they don't fight, the enemies wouldn't be invading their castle either, so they trained to perform and produce art or craft works more than fighting, but they were still worried about someone entering the castle so they made the interior of the castle like a maze.

And that's how Kanazawa has become an interesting, art and entertainment oriented city.

It was a very peaceful and laid back city.

Everywhere we went, we saw a street full of galleries and art shops.

Small city, a lot of entertainment.

Thanks for reading my blog again, I just fixed my password today so hope I can log in easily next time!

Love

Anna

2016

Happy New Year!

Welcome 2016♡

No matter how hard the time could get,

in the end of the day, I always get to experience and feel someone's kindness.

It always makes everything I go through a day worth it.

I have been feeling this over the past number of years.

Hello!

I was back home for the New Years.

I wouldn't make this simply my diary of New Years,

I would rather want to track the color of the sky and water I have seen over the 2 days.

Hello a stretching man!

I liked his silhouette though, personally.

He might have felt really awkward having someone taking photos of him stretching for...

good 20 minutes.

First sunset of the year♡

I fell deep in love♡

Super early in the morning.

It was simply amazing.

It's like the time everything starts moving, getting back to a life.

It is the time of dawn when the sky is too bright for the stars to shine but too dark for the moon not to glow.

2nd of January 2016,

it was so warm and comfortable standing on the mountain.

The sunrise was a sheer grace and it did promise me a soft, tender year full of love and warmth.

And that got me totally determined,

to... this year, I will turn off my phone and chuck it in the drawer on the weekends.

It is written as a definition of "Day off" in the dictionary too.

I don't feel like anything has ended and started all over.

I would say... R.I.P. 2015, I needed you once, but I left you to move on.

2016 is like a stable boyfriend to me ( I know nothing about it yes ).

But I got this feeling that it will be flowing smoothly through the history

after having the most dramatic year - 2015... well it's just my feeling, though.

What a warm beginning of the year.

I might write "throw back to new years day" diary sometime later this year.

But for now, happy new year and I wish all of your 2016 be full of love and blessings.

Love, so much love.

Anna Kirishima

Ending gives me hopes

Today is New Year's Eve.

The word "New Year's Eve" reminds me of that awesome movie I've watched ... 4-5 years ago, on New Year's Eve with my single friend.

I still love that movie, I should rent it and watch it maybe over next New Year's Eve night.

2015 was HUGE. It has been so dramatic, I would say it was 4 years put together in one year.

My 2015 has started off with snow.

I got up at 5, headed straight out with a camera, found out it was snowing...

It's safe to say, it was snow storming.

Traveled down to the harbor, where I wanted to see the sunrise.

Obviously, couldn't see a thing and saw many people waiting at the ferry terminal sleeping or walking around.

Apparently, the ferries couldn't depart due to the heavy amount of snow.

When the sun shined through and the sky went all beautifully translucent, I swore to god I will benefit someone this year, I will work hardest I can ever do.

And it really did make me believe it was going to be an amazing year, and it did, end up being an amazing year.

It was snowing on the way or snow was blocking the way or something and.. we were stuck in the bus for 15 hours on the way back to Tokyo.

I love night rides, it didn't bother me at all and I rather enjoyed the view from the window as I could see - Mount Fuji, Beautiful sky and bird, snow... on every other suburbs.

I've started instagramming in April,

I almost forgot what I have done in 2015 but instagram is a great way to keep track of it.

 Instagram was the breakfast I ate to inspire myself in every morning.

It really opened my eyes wider and made me feel so comfy to be connected with incredibly inspiring people.

 As always, I was melting in summer but it's a good memory now.

I am really cold-tolerant but heat impacts me so badly.

I just can't walk outside when it's... humid.

Simply, humid, and warm.

I think I have taken photos of girls this year as well.

Properly got back to painting.

Been so workaholic that I couldn't get manythings done this year, possibly.

But really it was a great time to start/restart everything I was staying away from for a while.

So I can go accelerate harder in 2016.

Boxing day lunch with grandma♡

She looks like Christmas! Cute red overcoat.

I have been asking her about my genes.

Apparently our family has a thick artistic blood flowing.

It's really either.

Hater or Euthusiast.

My grandma is a calligrapher so looking to collaborate her calligraphy into painting next year.

None of my family members is a coffee enthusiast.

I am the only one with espresso flowing in my veins.

Now I miss coffee already.

I will pour one as soon as I wake up tomorrow morning...

First cup of coffee of the year!

Started taking photos from rooftops or high places,

"ONLY" to keep my friends away from Japan missing Tokyo.

- http://instagram.com/annakirishimaphoto

And it's been quite successful!

I have been getting "Aw, now I miss Shibuya!"

Come back~ Come back~

Anyway, 2016 will start in a few hours and it will be a wild year.

Thanks for reading my blog, staying in my life and spending time with me.

I am so happy to have lived 2015 and hoping to spend more time with you.

May your holiday and new year be filled with love and miracles!

With a lot of love

Anna Kirishima