Mitsuwa Marketplace - Japanese foods, grocery, and merchandise

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Mitsuwa Marketplace - Japanese foods, grocery, and merchandise

I took a road trip yesterday to the Mitsuwa Marketplace up in Edgewater, New Jersey across the river from New York City.  Mitsuwa is basically the closest thing to a Little Tokyo that we'll get on the East Coast.  The mall area is basically split between two buildings.  The main Mitsuwa Marketplace building houses the restaurants, a few shops, and the supermarket.  Outside across the little alley is a line of buildings with additional shops and boutiques.  The main interest for otaku fans is the Kinokuniya Bookstore and the Little Japan USA essentials shop.  Of course being Asian I took some food shots but decided to spice things up a little by posing some Saber figures from the Fate series with the food (because why not?).

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Philadelphia Sakura Sunday Festival 2016

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Philadelphia Sakura Sunday Festival 2016

On Sunday, April 17, 2016 I went up to Philly to attend the annual Sakura Sunday event which is a Japanese culture festival at the Fairmount Park Horticulture Center.  This is basically a smaller version of the National Cherry Blossom Festival Sakura Matsuri from the previous day in Washington, DC.  Despite the weather being fairly warmer this year compared to last year the trees were only starting to green and there weren't any cherry blossoms in bloom, maybe next year the surrounding vegetation will be livelier!

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Washington DC Sakura Matsuri Festival 2016

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Washington DC Sakura Matsuri Festival 2016

This will be just a quick post from the Sakura Matsuri Festival held today in Washington, DC. The annual Japanese culture festival is back and located in a new location.  Previously held on Pennsylvania Avenue, the festival is now located in a lot near the Nationals ballpark close to the Naval Yard.  I'm not sure in terms of square footage if the festival encompasses a larger or smaller space compared to previous years, but the new layout meant less traffic choke points and made it a little easier to move around.  The location at Pennsylvania Avenue was notorious for its congestion, especially around the food areas which made it a slow crawl to get anywhere.

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Matcha Time Cafe and Ramen Noodles

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Matcha Time Cafe and Ramen Noodles

Back in January I was introduced to this nice, niche Japanese-themed cafe up in the Historic Ellicott City area.  Matcha Time Cafe is tucked away in the back corner of Parking Lot D so it's not visible from Main Street, but it is definitely well worth the short trip off the beaten path.  In addition to good food and a variety of tea to choose from, they also have a neat little gift shop set up that you can browse (and purchase stuff!) as well.

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