Trip to Cairns

Hi, everyone. I am finally back.

During my break I cuddled a koala for the first time in my life!
The weather in Cairns was great and the Great Barrier Reef was spectacular. The water was so crystal clear that it convinced me to go cruising. Usually I don't like to go abroad on any boat because I get sea sick. But I took some pills and on board I went! It was definitely worth it.

I hope you all enjoyed your New Year's holiday, too!

  

Christmassy

It's a great relief to see the town all dressed up after work!  

Tea For Two

I finally found the tea shop which my fellow British blogger Joolie was writing about. Peter Rabbit Tea Garden in Juyugaoka is quite small but cozy place in Jiyugaoka and Peter Rabbit will welcome you at the entrance. Even if you're alone Peter might come over to your table to have tea with you.

I wanted to have English tea there but it started to rain that I rushed home. I would definetely want to visit there sometime soon. The best tea I ever had in my life was in Bermuda and not in Great Britain. I guess the water in Bermuda is different because of the rain water filtering system using their limestone roofs.  

Tooth Fairy

Little Rabbit's Loose Tooth by Lucy Bate is one of my favorite picture books. It is about a bunny girl who had her first loose tooth and she decides to put it under the pillow for the tooth fairy to come get it. In America, kids who place the tooth under the pillow gets a penny or dime from the tooth fairy. The baby rabibt thinks the fairy will give her tooth to a little baby rabbit just born.

In Japan, kids throw the tooth high up on the roof of the house if it is a bottom tooth and throw it under the foundation of the house if it is an upper tooth. I just had my wisdom tooth pulled out but I think I'm gonna keep it since I heard that with lastest technologies. doctors can make artificial skins from the cells attached to the wisdom teeth. I would like to show my tooth here but it is sooo unpretty, so enjoy the cute rabbits instead.  

Eeny Meeny Miny Mo

I had pasta at Goemon tonight at Yokohama. There are so many kinds of pasta that you can choose from. The fake spagetti dummies looked so real and yummy that I had to stand in front of the showcase about 5 mintutes to decide.

When I narrowed them down to three pastas which was chicken cream pasta with spinach and Wafu (Japanese soysauce based) pasta with mushrooms and leek, and Tomato Spagetti with Mozzarella cheese. And then I went Eeny Meeny Miny Mo. Catch the tiger by the toe! In Japanse, that would be Dochira ni Shiyou kana. Ten no Kamisama no Iutoori! The Final Answer was Wafu Spagetti and was quite satisfied with it.  

Winter Fashion

Who are these tiny shirts for? Cute little babies? Actually, these clothes are for puppies! As December nears, dogs also need to prepare for the cold winter to come.

Or, doggies might want these shirts in case they get to see baseball games in the Yankees Stadium. Now that many Japanese baseball players are playing for MLB in America, some travel agencies in Japan have the group tour to go see Matsui or Ichiro play in America. I hope one day those enthusiactic puppy fans do get a chance to see them play.  

Violin Concert

I went to Mariko Senju's violin concert this Sunday. She is one of the world famous violinists in Japan. The concert was held not at a huge concert hall like the ones she usually performs in but at a local small music hall. She was specially invited there because she is one of the resident in the area.

There was also a talk session during the concert and we got to hear her talk about herself and her appreciation of music. I really liked the sponsor's idea to give the local citizen the opportunity to appreciate first class music close to home. Usually, we have to travel all the way to central Tokyo to see a famous artist perform his or her music.  

Vegies Plus

I had lunch at Jiyugaoka the other day. I found a cozy place called Yaoya Plus. Yaoya is a vegetable shop in Japan. The vegetable shop in Jiyugaoka has a restaurant on the second floor. They use fresh vegetables for their meal so everything tastes really great!

I had some croquettes and radish salad with special red rice and it cost only 500 yen. It just as cheap as McDonalds but much more healthier. But after I had lunch, I went to Sweets Forests also in Jiyugaoka. There are 20 or so cake and icecreamshops and some good cafes to have them in. I had some sweet potato and marron cream cakes so I guess it was not so healthy in way of calories after all...  

The Magic button

In many franchise restaurants in Japan, you will find a button on every table. When you want to order, instead of calling the waiter, you only need to press the red button. It is just like calling the flight attendant on airplanes.

I guess this is an original invention of ours. In places where customers tip the waiters for their service, this system would be unnecessary but in Japan, we don't have the system to tip the waiters. So we hardly ever enjoy the conversation with the waiters so just pressing the button will just do.

I sometimes miss those little talks with the waiter here. I like it when the waiters ask me "Everything allright?" "Would you like coffee with you dessert?""Enjoyed your meal?" in Western countries. I guess in countries where there is a tipping system, the service at restaurants are nicer.  

Pudding Shake?

There are tens of millions of canned drinks that you can get from vending machines in Japan. I found this very wierd drink called Pudding Shake but I didn't have the courage to press the button. I think that puddhing flavor milk shake would taste good but I would never want to have a look at it. Scared that it might look gross! I hope they won't start selling it in plastic bottles.

I like to drink canned corn soup or Oshiruko (red bean sweet soup) in winter. I love living in Japan when it comes to the very convenient machines. I heard that in Akihabara where it is famous for good electric appliances, there is a vending machine selling Oden. In the heated can, you will find some vegetables like Chinese radish or carrots and eggs cooked in soy-sauce based soup. If I have some rice balls, it would be a nice lunch already.

  

Anpanman

Anpanman is a cartoon that kids in Japan love to watch. Anpan is a very popular sweet bun in Japan. An means red bean jam and pan means bread from the French word pain. Anpanman's head is made of Anpan.

Anpanman is the hero like Superman and he fights against his rival Baikinman. Baikin means germs and he tries to spread cavity in Children's teeth. When Anpanman is injured(being bit in his bun head) he goes back to the bakery to get a new Anapan baked. His friends are Currypanman and Shokupanman. What a creative story!! I think his round face makes him a very popular character with children just like Doraemon and Cabbagepatch.  

L-O-V-E

There is a big Korean boom in Japan. The boom is called Hanryuu which means Korean trend. There are many Korean TV drama series broadcasted here. The Korean movies and dramas are also popular for their music. The soundtrack CDs are so popular that some are hard to get.

The book store at Hiyoshi had at least 20 score books featuring Korean movies. I bought one of them titled "Yasashiku Hikeru Hanryuu", which is friendly to beginners of piano. My favorite song is L-O-V-E(a song by Bert Kaemfert and composed by Milt Gabler) from Sad Love Story. I liked this song since I heard Natalie Cole singing it in her album, Unforgettable. Also like Shubert's Selanade from the Scent of Summer drama! I would LOVE to visit Korea again soon.  

Sick in Bed

When I am sick, I try to drink a lot of green tea because it is said to be rich in vitamin C and cathechin. I don't exactly now how cathechin works with cold but recently the substance is having a lot of medical attention these days. There are cathechin cough drops and cathechin rich sports drink on the market already.

Anyway, I found another good way to make use of the cathechin rich grean tea. Grab the plastic bottle right out of the fridge and use it as a Tea Pillow. Although you cannot move an inch while using this new method. I recommend it only when you don't have any water pillow with you. Don't you ever try it with the gallon bottle! Only with the little ones.

Sweet Dreams!  

Sunkus?

When you read Sunkus what would native English speakers think? Would they know that it means thanks? A lot of English words are pronounced differently in Japanese. The vowel sound tends to be stressed so McDonald's would be Makudonaludo.

When I was learning Japanese, I really had a hard time getting the kanakana right. I often thought of an English pronunciation first and tried to find a closest Japanese katakana word that reflects the English. So I would write the word cake, ke-ku but it is supposed to be ke-ki. Spagetti would be Supageli when the right Japanese is supageti. SO confusing.

But the Sankus convenience store has the wit to use the Japanese way of pronouncing thanks into its logo! Interesting!  

NANA

I went to to Kawasaki to see a movie this Sunday. I saw NANA starring Mika Nakashima and Aoi Miyazaki. NANA is one of the most popular manga comics written by Ai Yazawa. It is about friendship between two girls named Nana but with the opposite personality.

After I saw the movie, Glamorous Sky song by Mika Nakashima wouldn't go out of my head. It just kept going on and on in my head. Very impressive song. I like her quiet songs better, though.

Thanks to the e-ticketing system, I did not have to line up at the ticket office and say "One ticket, please". I just had to book a seat from home PC and print the ticket out of the machine at the cinema. The internet is very friendly to the lonely movie geeks, I guess.  

Scariest moment

I took this photo in a department store in August. It was far from winter but the store was selling many winter boots already. Fashion world evolves so fast. The weather is gradually getting cooler here in Japan. The scary season is to begin.

The problem is that some boots are too tight for my calves. The moment to pull up the zipper up my calf is the scariest moment. I really cannot try any boots when there's a cute store clerk guy in the boots area. It is embarrassing to let him see my struggling to zip it up. I'm going shopping with my friend next Wednesday, so better work on my diet real damn hard!  

Turkey Icecream?

When you hear the word turkey, which one comes to your mind? The country or the delicious Thanks Giving meal? I was talking to my American tutor the other day about eating Turkey Icecream at Aichi Expo and he was so confused. He was trying to picture the turkey meat grinded in the icecream, gross!!

Homonyms are sometimes very annoying because there is no way to differentiate them by pronunciation. Anyway, Turkey icecream is from the country Turkey. It is so sticky and spreads like cheese. If you look at the photo, you will see the guy holding icecream in the air just like like pounding mochi. I wonder how they make it so sticky.
  

Miso Cutlet

When you visit Nagoya, you cannot miss this tasty Miso Katsu. It is a pork cutlet with sweet miso sauce. The miso sauce goes surprisingly well with the pork. What was great was that this Teishoku (set menu) came with Kishimen noodle another speciality of Nagoya.

I knew that I was on a diet but as I was away, I made this an exception. I hope you guys would understand. To be honest, I had some refills of rice and sliced cabbage which was free! I did a lot of walking at the Expo so it wouldn't be too much of a problem, would it?  

Aichi Expo

I visited the Aichi Expo on September 23. There were many last minute visitors, there being only three days left before the Expo closes. There were around 250,000 visitors that day.

I took the earliest Shinkansen from Shin-Yokohama to Nagoya. By the time we arrived at the Expo it was nearly 11 so there weren't many people lining up at the entrance.

I was able to see the frozen manmoth before noon so it wasn't that bad at all. I also saw the JR Central's Linear motor car (super conducting technology) lab and the 3d theater which were quite amazing!

Everything seemed to go as planned before I visited this very beautiful Japanese Garden. The garden was fine but the restroom there were so crowded. I think I almost stood in line for 45 minutes!!! The longest queing time record for me at the Expo that day. I never imagined having to endure such an archaic problem in this highly-advanced world of Expo.  

On a Diet

Look inside my fridge! It is filled with pineapple jelly I made myself. I used Japanese agar derived from seaweed, called Kanten, instead of normal gelatin powder. The agar is said to be good for diet and lowering the choresterol in your blood.

I plan to have one Kanten jelly every meal and I also sprinkle some powder kanten into the rice cooker before cooking rice. I am on a diet right now. In Japan, Autumn is said to be a season for appetite. We call it Shokuyoku no Aki. The weather being so nice and cool that people tend to eat more than they did in the hot humid summer. I am definetely going to get the slim boots this winter!  

Shibuya Festival

I took this photo right in front of the 109 department store in Shibuya. I was surprised to know that this crowded and overdeveloped city still had its tradiational Omatsuri ritual going on. I've seen many Omikoshi carried around town.

Most of the guys surrounding the Omikoshi wore a Happi, a jacket like kimono and short pants but some of them wore Fundoshi, like the ones sumo wrestler wears. The sumo wrestler's pants is called Mawashi and not exactly the same with the cotton fundoshi. Fundoshi is basically a long cloth you wrap it around your private area. I saw in Trivia no Izumi(Spring of Trivia) TV show saying that some department store call it Classic Pants. What an interesting name!? Anyway, I got to see some sexy butts thanks to this traditional "invention".  

Be My Baby?

My friend gave birth to her baby girl recently. Usually in Japan new born baby is put into a baby's room called Shinseiji Shitstu and moms can only see them at milk time, when they breath feed them. My friend's hospital was a special one that she got to stay with her baby all day from the very first day.

I got to see her lovely daughter Rina in her room on the third day. She made me cuddle the baby, which was my first time to carry such a little person. I was surprised to know that the tiny baby's face was showing many expressions already. She frowned at times and yawned and even sighed. I felt like I could stare at her all day. But I know it wouldn't be that easy to raise a baby myself.

When we name babies in Japan, sometimes the baby is named after their parents but we never name a baby junior. Instead we take one Chinese character out of parents name. Rina was named after her mom Rika. I myself succeeded one of the chinese character from my grandmother's name.  

Omatsuri Festival

There was an Omatsuri in my town last Sunday, the same day as the election. This omatsuri is different from those seen in Western countries. People were carrying a Mikoshi, a shinto shrine miniature on their shoulders.

Mikoshi means God's Throne. It was carried by many Ujikos, local people who worship the Shinto God and the whole crowd traveled through our neighborhood. The God's spirit who usually resides in the Shrine in our town is believed to travel on this Mikoshi to oversee our town.

We pray for town's prosperity, good catch or good harvest, and neighboors safe and health. I only go to the local shrine at New Year's and I am not really religious but I feel thankful for the God Spirit to come see us how we're doing.  

Election Day

It was Election Day yesterday. I went to a local junior high school to vote. I thought that it would be more crowded because a lot of people are interested in the Prime Minister Koizumi's reform policy, but it was very quiet there. It only took 3 minutes for me to vote.

If it is this easy to vote, more people would have come vote but the problem is the location of the voting place. The junior high school is about 15 minutes walk from my apartment and it is nowhere near the city center or the railway station. If it was located at the place where you can go along the way, the voting rate must be much higher. Another reform I would like to ask Mr. Koizumi's new government.  

Teru Teru Boy

Ashita Tenki Ni Shite Okure! We say this to the hand-made Teru Teru Bouzu doll, wishing it to be sunny the next day. Children somtimes make this white doll before a school sports festival or before a school excursion they look forward to. I should have made this myself before my trip to Saipan which turned out to be a typhoon distaster.

We hang the Teru Teru Bouzu under the roof outside the window the night before. People who wish it to rain the next day would hang it upside down. I made this with only some tissues and a rubberband. It is really simple, you only need to roll some tussue into a ball and cover it up with another tissue. The rubber-band is used to make the neck.

If this works it shall be sunny tomorrow! We will see.  

Omiyage Gifts

These piles of goodies are all omiyages (holiday gift) that I bought in Saipan. In Japan, there is a custom to buy gifts on a journey and hand them out when returing from the trip. I passed out more than 20 little packages of macadamian nuts to my collegues. Some got me chocolates, and some gave me cookies and rice crackers etc... A lot of people go back to their hometown during the summer vacation so I get all sorts of omiyages from my coworkers.

It takes to time to decide what to get for different people. I got fancy chocolate for my grandparents who still think chocolate quite precious, and cookies for my partents who are more health conscious scared of getting overweight. And I got my brother and friends some junky chocolate candy bars who don't seem to care much about what to eat. And I got myself a giant family size Quaker Oats cereal bars at Costco which should keep me happy for at least a MONTH. YEAH!  

Typhoon Onna

I just came back from my trip to Saipan. The weather was terrible because of the typoon Nabi. The same typoon which ruined my trip has followed me all the way to Japan and now it is hitting Okinawa at the moment. In Japan, we do not call a typoon with a name like in America. Instead we count them by numbers so Typhoon Nabi would be "Taihuu 14 Gou".

When I visited Guam a couple of years ago, there was this huge typhoon which caused a great damage to the island. The power was out that I had to climb up and down all the way to my hotel room which was on the 9th floor! I was glad that I wasn't staying on the top floor which will mean climbing up 20 floors or more. The flight back home was cancelled for two days that I was stuck in Guam.

In Japan, we call a person whenever he or she shows up it suddently starts to rain a Ame Otoko or a Ame Onna. I guess I am a Typhoon Onna. When I went to my office today and told everyone the story, they told me that my everyday behaviour was probably not good enough. Is Typhoon a Santa Claus or something that I have to be nice through out the year?  

Sun Bathing Futon

Hey, look my futon is bathing in the sun at my veranda! My futon and pillows missed the sun so much during the rainy season and the typhoon storm.

When you look up at the verandas of houses in Japan on a sunny day, you will see many Futon hung there to be dried. A view you never find in Western countries. I never dried my matress of my bed when I lived in Australia. Although the housemaker of my dormitory came knocking every Tuesday on our dorm doors to change our linen. People put up a sign if you do not want the lady to change it. Usually the sign will read "No Linen, Thanks" but some students have naughty signs of their own. "Mine is smelling like cheese" was one of them.

In Japan, because of the humidity we need to dry our futons in the sun to sleep comfortable. I love it when my futon gets fluffier and feel like cuddling my pillow the night when I dry it.  

Japanese partition

In Japanese style houses, the windows have paper shoji screen instead of curtains. Shoji is made of thin white Japanese paper that it does not completely cut the sunlight from coming into the room.

Some restaurants have shoji partitions. In the photo, it is used to hide the kitchen entrance from customers' table but it doesn't shut the light out like a wall. It is also used to devide each table so that people sitting at the next table will not be directly facing each other. At the same time, it gives the customers the sense of not being totally separated from the other customers. I think this is a very Japanese sense of deviding giving each customer privacy but not totally deviding, a sense of Wa, a harmony, I guess.  

Lovely Yukata

In summer, I sometimes wear Yukata to fireworks. Yukata is a simple and casual cotton kimono for summer. Usually, people wear Geta, a traditional Japanese sandal which looks like a beach sandal but the sole is made of wood and the thong Hanao is made of cloth.

But I have unusual wide feet that they won't fit the width of the Geta and the thong is too squeezy for my foot so I just wear a normal sandal. I know this looks weird and it is against tradition but I can't help it. After big fireworks, there will be a huge crowd heading to the station nearby. When I once went to the Tama River Fireworks, it took me 3 to 4 hours until I finally could reach the platform of the station. Believe me the Geta would have killed me!  

Coffee Jelly

In Japan, almost every supermarket or convenient store have coffee flavor jelly in a plastic cup ready to go. This is one thing I never find in stores overseas. My English tutor from America once told me that there weren't even iced coffee in America but because of Starbucks they now have it there.

In Australia, when I ordered iced coffee, there came this cold coffee without any ice in it but with whipped cream on top. I never have found these cartons of iced coffee in supermarkets either. I wonder why? In summer here in Japan, I really like to have iced coffee with some cream and syrup at a cafe or at home.  

My English Nickname

My English nick name sounds just like choco for chocolate. My friends at school in America couldn't remember my real name Chizuru so my parents came up with a name Chaco. This isn't actually an English name or a Japanese name. As you might already know many Japanese girls' name have "ko" at the end of their names. For example, Yuko, Tomoko, Misako, Hiroko etc...

As a kid, I always wanted a name ending with ko like the other Japanese girls. My partents took the sound ko into my nickname and Ch from my origianal name and invented this name Chaco. I don't know why but they didn't spell co with a k but I bet they wanted to make it look like choco. SWEET isn't it?

When I grew up and had a chance to study at Australian college, I decided not to use any nickname at all. I wanted everyone to remember my real name. Some pronounced it funny but I really liked it to be addressed by my real name. Does anyone else have an interesting nickname?  

Relationship

Okonomiyaki is a very popular dish in Japan. We cook it at home but there are many Okonomiyaki restaurants where the customers get to cook their own Okonomiyaki on teppan-yaki style tables. The restaurant will provide you with a bowl of mixed flour and egg and plates of ingredients of your choice such is pork, cabbage, cheese etc. You get to mix the ingredients and pan-fry the pancake-like Okonomiyaki.

At such restaurants, you will see many young Japanese couples having fun cooking. Girls who are good at cooking can show off their skills to her boyfriend. But I know quite a few gilrs who refuse to cook at all and make the boyfriend prepare everything for her.

I think Okonomiyaki restaurant is an important place for couples to know the power relationship who is in the drivers seat. I would definitely go for the latter. I love to cook but I hate it when guys to take it for granted. Some guys are just too gender biased! Which type are you?  

Slurping Up

I had dinner at Kineya, one of the famous Udon noddle chains in Japan. In summer when you don't feel like eating much from the heat, I recommend that you try Bukkake Hiyashi Udon. Bukkake is a rough way to say pour the Tsuyu(the Udon soup). The warm noodle comes in a hot soup but the cold noodle often comes separately with the Tsuyu. You get to pour it on top of the noddle just before eating it.

You may want to put some Japanese leak or grinded ginger into the Tsuyu. Then sprinkle sesame on top of the noodle. Now you're ready to SLURP! I still cannot slurp up noodles like the real Japanese people, if I slurp too strongly I splash the Tsuyu all over my T-shirt. It's really amazing to see some guys who can do it real fast and clean.  

Sun Umbrella?

My American friend told me about his culture shock he experienced when he first arrived in Japan. One of the surprises was to see many young Japanese ladies opening up their umbrellas on a sunny day. I never thought of this as anything unusual, having lived here for such a long time. I even use a Higasa (anti-ultral violet ray umbrella) myself on a hot day because I don't want to get sun-tanned.

When I come to think of it, I hardly ever see anyone using their sun umbrellas in Western countries. I've seen some real upper-class people wearing their dress and using an umbrealla on a picnic or at a horse race in movies, but not in daily life. Interesting. In Australia, being closer to the Ozone hole, the people are more aware of the danger of sunshine leading to skin cancer. They teach school kids to "Flip, Flap and Slack" when playing outside. Which means to Flip a shirt(long sleeve the better),to Flap a hat, and to Slack some sun screen."
I wonder how the Higasa become so widespread here in Japan and not elsewhere? I should do some reserch on this!