Emma Goto
Software engineer living in Tokyo 🗼 tinkering on my blog @ emgoto.com and hiking Japan's mountains one peak at a time ⛰️ Currently taking a break from full-time work, but on the side I'm also helping build @hardcover.app 📚
June 2026
Exploring new coffee shops, getting to enjoy my cherry tomato plants and trying my hand at art.
Kanto Earthquake Memorial Museum
The Kanto Earthquake Memorial Museum is a free museum in the Sumida area, built in 1931 to commemorate the Kanto Earthquake of 1923. With the additional devastation that Tokyo suffered in air raids during WW2, the museum now has exhibits covering both of those tragedies.
Genraku Ramen, Kuramae
Looking for a place to grab lunch while walking around the neighbourhood of Kuramae, we came across Genraku Ramen. Now I'm not usually a big ramen person - partially because for some reason there's always long lines outside the good ones.
Attention Span
This book came with a rather bold subtitle - "A Groundbreaking Way to Restore Balance, Happiness and Productivity". In it, author Gloria Mark refers to some rather rather in-depth time studies she has done to discover when and how people are getting distracted.
Tofu Room Dy's: a vegan tofu store in Sendagi
Last month when we visited the Aoyama Coffee Roaster and noticed their signed autograph of Snoopy, one of the store's customers mentioned that Snoopy fans like to visit both the coffee roaster and a nearby restaurant called Tofu Room Dy's.
CROSS COFFEE ROASTERS
After wandering our way around the neighbourhoods of Kuramae, we found ourselves at CROSS COFFEE ROASTERS. I always like finding new coffee roasters, and this one had some great reviews on Google, so we decided to check it out.
Leaves Coffee Roasters
I recently ventured out to Asakusa to visit Leaves Coffee Roasters. Along with Glitch and Koffee Mameya, these three shops seem to be the trifecta of Tokyo pour over coffee shops commonly recommended on the internet.
armadillo bakes&coffee, Sendagi
After visiting the Yanesen area a month ago while walking between Ueno and Nippori, we made a re-visit, this time checking out the recommendations of some friends who live in the area. First stop on the list was armadillo bakes&coffee, a little cafe near Sendagi station.
Mt Houou: an overnight hike in the Southern Alps
Mt Houou is one of the major peaks in the Southern Alps of Japan. I chose to take it via the Dondoko-sawa course as an overnight tent hike.
Baggage Coffee, Harajuku
Shibuya and Harajuku can be quite a crowded placed to visit, and so I welcome any opportunity for a coffee in a more quiet place. Enter BAGGAGE COFFEE - a coffee store tucked away on a residential side street.
Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland
I'll admit I had heard only vaguely of "The Troubles" of Ireland and that there was some car-bombing involved by the IRA. So this book served as a nice overview of that period (albeit a little slow to get through - it took me two weeks).
Driving around the Izu Peninsula: a 3-day camping roadtrip
At the end of May, my husband and I took a 3-day road trip down to Izu. It's a peninsula directly south of Mt Fuji in Shizuoka prefecture, and the main road runs right alongside the coastline, so you can enjoy some great seaside views, not to mention all the little caves and beaches you can check ou…
ITOKU COFFEE, Izu
On the first day of our roadtrip down the Izu Peninsula, we stopped by a local coffee roaster called ITOKU COFFEE. I'm amazed by wherever I go in Japan, there seems to be a coffee roaster somewhere nearby (isn't it great).
Mt Omuro: hiking Izu's extinct volcano
Hiking Mt Omuro on the Izu Peninsula, a grassy volcanic peak. Take a chairlift up to the peak and enjoy some great views of Mt Fuji and the sea.
Shuzenji
The hot spring town of Shuzenji was our final stop on our Izu road trip before heading back home to Tokyo. To be honest, we weren't really planning on checking it out, save for the fact that our return route basically passed by the town anyway, so then we figured we may as well stop.
Tombolo Land Bridge, Nishiizu
The Tombolo Land Bridge is a rather interesting feature along the Dogashima coast in Nishi-Izu. It's a pathway leading to an island, only accessible at low tide. At other times, it's just a random island off the coast and it doesn't look crossable at all.
Matsuzaki
After visiting the Muroiwa Cave we chose to have a quick stop in the local town of Matsuzaki. On our drive in, we saw it had been designated as one of Japan's "Most Beautiful Villages". There's a fair few of these villages scattered across Japan.
Muroiwa cave, Matsuzaki
We kicked off the final day of our Izu road trip with a drive to the Muroiwa cave, which is next to the town of Matsuzaki. This was another one of those random "I saw it on Google Maps"-type finds but it was quite a fun little detour.
Nishiizu Auto Camping Ground
Nishiizu Auto Camping Ground (西伊豆オートキャンプ場) is where we spent our second night on our 3-day Izu roadtrip.
Cape Tsumeki, Shimoda
Near the town of Shimoda in Izu is Cape Tsumeki, a picturesque lookout with a lighthouse. It's particularly famous when its daffodil fields bloom in winter - so we came in a bit of its off-season, but it was still beautiful nonetheless.