Hi, I’m Cherry. Welcome to Cherry’s Solo Life in Japan.
I’ve been enjoying my solo life in Tokyo since my divorce 15 years ago.
Do you ever suddenly feel down, even when nothing in particular has happened? I’m 55, and I have those days too. In today’s video, I’m sharing how I spend them, without trying to figure out every feeling or forcing myself to be positive.
Welcome to my “Down Day Party”: a little extra effort getting ready, some junk food, familiar movies, and “virtual shopping”—looking at things I love without having to buy anything. These are my personal recipes for getting through a low day. I like to imagine keeping them in a ZIP file, ready to unzip whenever I need them. Everyone’s file will look a little different. 💛
Along the way, I visit Kimura Tofu Shop, make pork loin with maitake mushroom sauce and chilled tofu, and take you to Yushima Tenmangu Shrine in Tokyo. There’s also a little Japanese lesson, a peek at my Letter Club preparations, and news about my new cooking series!
⏱️ Chapters:
0:00 Welcome to Cherry’s Solo Life in Japan
0:50 Do you ever suddenly feel down?
3:03 Why I stopped searching for a reason
4:10 My Down Day Party & familiar movies
6:00 Virtual shopping & my ultimate lazy day
7:44 A personal recipe for down days
9:11 Buying tofu at Kimura Tofu Shop
10:02 You’re not alone
10:43 Japanese Lesson: Minna & Tomodachi
12:32 Pork loin with maitake sauce & my new cooking series
13:35 Hiyayakko: Enjoying good tofu simply
14:26 Getting the next Letter Club mail ready
14:38 Your own ZIP file for down days
15:08 Saying your feelings out loud
15:37 Exploring Yushima Tenmangu Shrine
👩🏻🍳 Today’s Recipe
🍄 Sautéed Pork Loin with Maitake Mushroom Sauce
Main ingredients:
• Thinly sliced pork loin
• Maitake mushrooms
• Dashi stock
• Potato starch (katakuriko)
• Salt and pepper
• Cumin powder
Today’s main dish is sautéed pork loin with maitake mushroom sauce. Enjoy a little cooking time with me!
🥢 Hiyayakko (Chilled Tofu)
Ingredients:
• Tofu
• Green onion
• Soy sauce
Serve the tofu chilled with a little green onion and soy sauce. When the tofu is this good, I love keeping it simple!
🏮 Japanese Words of the Day
Minna (みんな) = Everyone
Tomodachi (ともだち) = Friend
Minna Tomodachi (みんな ともだち) = We’re all friends!
Try “Cherry wa tomodachi” (“Cherry is my friend”) in the comments. Minna Tomodachi! 🥰
🎬 New 5-Minute Cooking Video Series
I’m starting a series of 5-minute cooking videos featuring easy, delicious dishes with simple ingredients. I’ll also introduce Japanese words for ingredients and seasonings, so you can learn a little Japanese while discovering new recipes!
If there’s a dish you’d like to learn how to make, let me know! 😊
💌 Cherry’s Letter Club
I’m getting the next Letter Club mail ready! Members, stay tuned—and if you’d like to join, you’ll find the link below. I’d love to welcome you to my Letter Club and Japanese conversation sessions! 🌸
☕ Buy Cherry a Coffee
If you’d like to support my videos, you can buy me a coffee here 💛
💌 Cherry’s Letter Club & 🏮 Japanese Lesson
📝 Read more on Substack:
📸 Instagram:
📲 TikTok:
🎵 Cherry’s Cafe:
Original music produced by Cherry
Spotify / Apple Music / Amazon Music / YouTube Music
Search “Cherry’s Cafe”
#LivingAloneInJapan #SoloLifeInJapan #TokyoLife #WomenOver50 #FeelingDown #JapaneseCooking #LearnJapanese #YushimaTenmangu
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i was feeling down, then I found another video by Cherry AKA yasashii tomodachi
🎉🎉🍻🍻🥰
I love your beautiful apartment too and all the lovely colours. They brighten my day and are inspiring me to do the same in my flat. 😊 ❤
Thanks Cherry 😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊hope you have a great week in Tokyo 😊😊😊😊😊😊øb😊😊😊
hello Cherry thanks to you must listening to Coffe lounge or Espresso lounge or listening pearls.ambient 😊😊😊😊😊thanks
Your apartment is very cool and unique, love it
You most welcome
Love watching your videos
Watch football games on tv makes me feel good😅,
I'm sorry but not even 5 minutes in to your channel and asking to by you a coffee.a big no no from me So it is all about money your channel.i certainly will not subscribe to this.good look for the future.
🍒🍀🍒🍀❤🍀🍓🍀⛩🍀🍒😻
I am also 55 and have lived alone for several years, and I work remotely, but I rarely feel lonely. I think the most lonely I felt in my life was the last few years with my ex-wife before we divorced. You can feel very lonely with someone else.
I met a wonderful person after I divorced and we were together for six years until she suddenly died one morning. It has been seven years since she passed away, and I certainly miss her and still feel grief, but I don’t feel lonely.
I learned so much from her about love and caring for yourself. One of the most important things I learned from her was not to hide from my bad feelings from myself or try to distract myself from feeling bad. She taught me that shutting off one emotion tends to close down other emotions like happiness and joy.
I learned from her and from my therapist that when we feel something bad, sometimes not even for a reason we can identify, we need to give ourselves the space to feel what we’re feeling. When I’m feeling down, I find a time to stop what I’m doing and pay attention to what I’m feeling and where I’m feeling it in my body, and try to deeply feel it.
After a short time, that feeling has been processed and I feel relief, and lighter, and so much better. I’ve become so much more connected with myself, and it’s helped me be kind to myself. What could be more important to a solo life than being kind to yourself? You can find a very good friend you didn’t realize you had in yourself, and that makes it harder to feel lonely. Mostly, I feel a great sense of peace. 🙂✨
Sometimes people think if I found someone to be in my life again, maybe that would be helpful to me. I miss the person I lost very much, and if I could magically have her back, that would be wonderful!
But that doesn’t mean I don’t also love the solo life I have now. There is so much peace and freedom and joy to be had in a solo life once you make peace with yourself. You can miss someone very much and also have happiness and peace – sometimes people don’t realize both things can exist at the same time. This is my life now and I enjoy it!
Your “down day party” sounds great! Sometimes on Sundays I play a game where I tell myself “you are a guest today! Treat yourself like you would a guest at your house!”
And I give myself all the space to do what I want, when I want, even if that’s doing nothing or having the lazy time that you describe. I think our brains and bodies need quiet time like this. It helps us heal from the busy-ness and stress of everyday life. ✨🙂💐
I want to say again how much I enjoy your music! It always inspires me to work on my own music, I wish I was as good of a musician as you! Cherry Sugoi! 🍒🌸
Love the cooking videos too!
I would love to know how you make onigiri. I know it probably seems very simple, but I’ve been trying to make Japanese rice (I ordered some from Japan) in my rice cooker and I seem to either have too little or too much water each time, making it under done or much too soft.
When it comes out right, its so good! I worry I’m soaking it too long or somehow not straining off all the water after washing. I don’t have this difficulty with long grain rice, but I’m new to Japanese rice and want to learn how to make it well for onigiri. 🙂
Arigatou Cherry! I hope you are well and I hope you are being very kind to yourself. Mata ne! 🙂✨
you can do kirtan anytime 🙂 in happiness or distress 🩷 Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
Cherry wa tomadachi!
どもうありがとうございます
Hola Cherry!! Espero que estes mejor! Me encanta verte bailar … se te ve una persona muy alegre y divertida. Kawai 💙🤍💙! Cherry wa tomadachi! 🥰
New to your channel your place looks amazing love it subscribed to your channel watching from 🇦🇺 australia
place looks fucking cool. i would never feel sad lol. i have a million games id be playing.
also uhh..talk to jesus christ lol..there you go. you never have to be alone again haha. do it
Cherry Wan tomodachi❤?😅
生成aiかな
つまり中国人たちは日本人の変なイメージを植え付けたいんだろう
コメント工作したり発想が貧相
Did you have The Flintstones in Japan? I always feel on those random down days like i have the 'Badluck Schleprock' cloud over my head. Great video Cherry, thanks.
I know this doesn't have anything to do with the video but I just recently saw a news clip in Japan of Typhoon Dujuan :🤥😯 is this try, they say 2 million people had to evacuate? Is it o.k where your at?
Too young for me …..
You can be alone and not be lonely! This upcoming typhoon about to hit the island when I am supposed to flying eastward, lol!
Bonjour ma tres chere CHerrys je ne viens pas commenter une video mais prendre des nouvelles de mon amie . En regardant les informztions j ai vu que Tokio etait en alerte suite au typhon et qu il y a des coupures d electricite. Ma chere Chrrrys j espere que tout va bien pour toi et que tu es en securite kes elements climatiques sont de plus en plus violent ca faot meme peur. Prend soin de toi je suis inquiet pour toi comme pour un membre de ma famille car on est ta petite famille du net et quand je viens voir tes videos je viens te voir toi car je mets toujours en avant l humain plus que la technique. Je t envoie toute mon amitie et mon affection je pense bien a toi a bientot et reste bien en securite ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
Good morning Miss Cherry i think its normal for us to feel down at times a change in the seasons a change in our hormones or bad news about a loved ones health , you are surrounded by good memories in your residence your bright colors your music etc be Blessed little one.
your apartment is so cool! 😀
Get some vitamin D 😉
very nice guitars would love to hear you play
Sorry but I have not received my first letter from you yet.😢 I wanted to send back certain things to you too but everyday, no letter from you. I almost feel like I am still out at sea, during my Navy years and when there was no mail, it left you in the slumps. Thank you for sharing this and the new words… have a great week.🌹
Cherry-san! I saw this on my recommendation and I love your place it is so colorful and full of life!
It's a funny thing that even here in New York, not Manhattan but rather the forgotten towns in my borough, the oldest, grungiest places family owned for generations always had the best food. So would I but tofu from that old shop? Absolutely and it'd be the best tofu for miles around. If I liked to eat tofu, that is.
Witam.Cherry- Królowo 😊Czasami przychodzą takie dni i myślisz,,Czemu czuje smutek!? Smutek, zamyślenie lub melancholia zawsze towarzyszyło człowiekowi 😊To jest część życia i rodzaj poznawania swoich potrzeb i pragnień.Wszystko jest w porządku 😊 Następuje wymiana energii między ludźmi.To jak burza przychodzi i odchodzi.Bedzie dobrze 😊❤😊
Conbanwa, Cherry-san! Thank you for video and topic for thinking. When I feel sad I hug my cats and watch good film, for example "Only lovers left alive", or japanese films – "Sweet rain" or "Shinigami-kun". And coffee, of cours:) Minna tomodachi is nice. I don't feel loneliness when I know someone read my words and we all from absolutely different countries and cultures and we meet here. Sugoi, des ne?:) Mata ne:)
When i'm down I like to watch movies that are filled with a lot of nature scenes, animals, baby animals always lightens my mood (not the A.I. crap though)
You did a great job of explaining the feelings and why you can get down. Thank you 🙂
When I'm overwhelmed with such emotions, I feel like I don't have room to think about anything else,but just how low my mood is. It's like my own shadow. I can't escape it but, I have come up with a formula for when I'm feeling down, I spend some time with myself, I do my nails 💅🏼do my makeup 💄. I talk with my siblings and my best friend, when I do that it gets a little bit easier to deal with such draining emotions. I draw something that helps me visualize 🖊️ 🖋️ the beauty of nature. That way , "the shadow" loses its grip on me and I start to bounce back into a balanced mood. My negative thoughts 💭 aren't me, they're not who I am as a person ❤ 🫂 they're only temporary, I allow them to be there, eventually they will follow their natural course and pass by. Thank you for your daily dose of inspiration ❤❤❤❤ you're truly amazing cherry 🍒 🌸 😊😊 💕Aiwokomete, anata no kokoro kara no yūjin yori❤
I love your videos. I have my go to shows for when im down. My go to lately has been My Hero Academia ❤
Is this really a 35 m2 apartment?
Thanks for always making sharing fantastic videos ♥️🥰👍🔥💢💯☺️🙂🌸
Days like this can’t be avoided, but it’s not so bad when we have awesome people like Cherry to post good vibes and help us get through it!
Love the socks, as usual 😉
If strange days didn't exist, we wouldn't be able to appreciate so many beautiful songs or works of art created in a state of melancholy or sadness 💔Minna tomodachi 🙏
Kombanwa Cherry desu. Minna Tomodachi oyasumi yoi yume wo.
nice. video