Rachel Doin' Stuff

assorted adventures -in Japan and beyond!-and lots of bugs

[racheldoinstuff]

Spotted near Sannomiya, Kobe

[racheldoinstuff]

Fresh new exoskeleton for this fashionista!

[racheldoinstuff]

See that crow in the background, just taking flight? It swooped down into the road, picked up this little alien, and dropped it on a wall. Not a yummy treat for the crow, but a lucky rescue for the alien

[racheldoinstuff]

Big moth! Not entirely sure what kind of moth it is, though

[racheldoinstuff]

Yeah, I didn’t need to sweep the balcony today anyway

[racheldoinstuff]

They are EMERGING!!!

And one little tiny baby mantis is eating an ANT!! What VICIOUS HUNTERS!!

[racheldoinstuff]

First one of the year! Welcome to my balcony, little mantis

[racheldoinstuff]

Teeny visitor to my balcony garden jungle!

I love these little springstar (Ipheion uniflorum) flowers!

[racheldoinstuff]

Beautiful sky after the rain

[evamostly]

Sleepy kitty! Meanwhile outside…

[racheldoinstuff]

It’s cherry blossom season!

[racheldoinstuff]

Caught the first sunrise of the new year by the Akashi Bridge!

Watching 「初日の出」 is a common New Year tradition in Japan, but I was still surprised by just how many people were out on the beach this chilly morning. Families with small kids, young people with friends, people with their dogs… all sorts were out to see the first sunrise of 2026!

It was a bit funny to see that more people were on the beach today than during the actual beach season. 😆

[racheldoinstuff]

A nice pair of manhole covers from Matsuyama City in Ehime Prefecture

[racheldoinstuff]

Mr Donuts does a lot of Pokemon collaborations, but today they had donuts with Pikachu’s face, Pikachu’s butt (hole) and tail, and FOONGUS!

[racheldoinstuff]

Tis the season of hummingbird hawk moths!

And very nice sunsets

[racheldoinstuff]

Aha! They appeared on my favorite bug podcast!

[racheldoinstuff]

Rooftop chickens in Sannomiya, center of Kobe

[racheldoinstuff]

Aaah capsule machines. Gacha gacha. ガチャガチャ。

They have everything: funny poop toys, build-your-own-snow-globes, shampoo bottle keychains (the brand I’ve been using! [do not actually contain shampoo]), and miniature trendy boots!

Among all the things we can get from gacha, I get the biggest kick out of the meta-gacha: gacha that contain gacha toys. My kid got some mini capsule machines that can stack like the real ones, and even contain little tiny capsules that come out when you turn the crank.

The other day, I got such a kick out of these little politely seated capsule machines and capsules. I didn’t buy any (instead I got a keychain of the recently trending again Furby), but I was very tempted.

[racheldoinstuff]

Finally got a photo of our balcony gecko! Today, I discovered we actually have *two* of these little cuties!

These little yamori are considered good luck 🥰