Photos from Japan

These may be silly photos, but I just post them on Umeboss so that I can delete from my computer’s desktop :p 

You can watch NHK news on SBS every weekdays (early morning and night time), and I watch it sometimes.  Watching your country’s tv show make you feel home  I always thought this Otenki onesan, weather woman, on NHK news REALLY look likes my friend!  She is cute…

Some people who understands Japanese kana (a syllabic Japanese scripts) may be able to read what’s on th e weather board…  The sunny signs with orange color is creating two katakana  ”エロ” = erotic….  What a coincidence..   

This photo was taken by my mum, on a subway.  This man fell asleep, and unluckily his wig fell down… :p  I wonder what he did when he woke up.  This photo has been my mum’s caller ID on my phone (^口^)

Cupcakes

It’s little late, but… my husband and nephew made cupcakes for me for my birthday.

They followed my recipe Moist and Fluffy Cupcake Recipe.

They found it’s difficult to pipe out the butter icing on the top of the cupcakes.  (by the way I was the one who prepared the icing in a piping bag for them so that they could just play around with it)

Well, they look good enough, and very delicious  Thank you guys!

High Tea at Duxton Hotel

The other day my friend and I went to Duxton Hotel for high tea.  We were actually thinking between Hilton and Hyatt, then we decided neither in the end and went to Duxton.

As the high tea hours at Duxton Hotel is for 3 hours, from 2pm to 5pm, my friend and I gathered at the lobby just before 2pm so that we could enjoy the whole 3 hours there.  I was driving and trying to find a parking spot in the city, then I noticed some of the parking spots are now not free until 6pm on Saturdays.  It used to be free after 12:30 on Saturdays before.  Anyway I could find a free spot just few meters away from Duxton, and ran to the lobby!

I guess we’re the first customer for high tea.  We sat down, and ordered chai tea and mixed fruits tea.

Although I was pretty hungry, I couldn’t finish the food.  It’s not only because we’re so busy talking, but also I found the food was very.. common.   I was little disappointed.  I felt like the tower of sweets and savories, except for the sandwiches, was just taken out from a box from suppliers.  And scone was little bit hard and dry.

I paid $28.00 for the food.  I don’t want to compare again, but you could enjoy dessert buffet at hotels in Japan with 1500 yen (about AUD$15~20.00) and it’s “all you can eat”.  $28.00 for a scone, tart, sandwich and a pot of tea was little too expensive, I thought.

<Duxton High Tea Menu>

Happy Birthday ♪

My husband took me out for a walk last night (just because it was my birthday).  He asked me where I wanted to go to, but I had no particular place in my head.  I didn’t mind anywhere, really.

We ended up walking around Subiaco area.  As it was Monday night, the road and shops were very quiet.  We were just walking, chatting and sometimes screaming ( I talk loud when I’m excited :p )

Just to take a break, we sat down at San Churro which is located just in front of Wagamama restaurant.  (read my old post about San Churro in Fremantle)

Although the whole town was quiet, this shop was so busy!  Many people kept coming…  couples, groups of girl friends, and some families.  We ordered a kid’s churro with white chocolate dipping, a strawberry bizcocho, and a glass of chocolate mint milk-shake.  … yes we have sweet tooth.

The strawberry bizcocho was nice, it was served on a round glass and it contains chocolate sponge, chocolate, some white syrup (?), strawberries and some nuts (←I don’t remember as I was busy eating it)  Chocolate mint milk-shake was… ok, but my mouth was already sweet with the strawberry bizcocho, so I couldn’t drink it.  In the end “D” finished the milk-shake for me.

After that we walked around Bell Tower area at Barrack street in the city.  This area reminds me of my dad – he visited Perth few years ago and he nearly went missing around this area.  :p  Funny memory…

To think about it, it’s almost the end of February and the sign of Autumn has already started to appear.  I think the climate in Perth and Japan is almost same around this time.  I still should bring some jacket in case it gets cold in the night…  This time I’ll be around Kobe and Osaka to meet my friends

Grave of the Fireflies

You can watch this film on SBS tonight, 12:20  (midnight) !!! (Perth time)

Grave of the Fireflies (火垂るの墓, Hotaru no Haka) is a 1988 animated film written and directed by Isao Takahata. This is the first film produced by Shinchosha, who hired Studio Ghibli to do the animation production work. (wiki)

I believe this is one of the most powerful anti-war movies ever made.  The story is about a brother and a sister, Seita and Setsuko.  Their mother is caught in the air raid during World War ll, and dies from her burns. Having nowhere else to go, Setsuko and Seita move in with a distant aunt, but the aunt didn’t welcome them.  In the end they leave the house and move into an abandoned bomb shelter.  They’re so alone, and Seita (brother) tries to protect young Setsuko, but they have no food and no parents.  As time goes by, Setsuko suffer from hunger, and she passes away 7days after the war ends.

The story is very sad, and educational to people who don’t know about “war”.  I’ve seen this film many times at elementary school and home, and it told me that a war gives nothing but sadness to people who live normal lives.  This film makes me cry every time I watch.  One of my favorite film of Ghibli.

You can watch this film on SBS tonight, 12:20  (midnight) !!!