At Home

I’m waiting for my friend at the moment…..

I’ve been watching tv, and just want to post about it.

Adam Lambert (American idol 2009) came to Japan!  It seems that he is quite popular among Japanese girls too.  When I was watching American Idol in Perth, I didn’t really think anything about him, but suddenly he became attractive :p

Sawajiri Erika is back? … well I don’t know about her much, but according to Japanese Entertainment News, she had few scandals in the past.  I only remember her as an actress..

She is back to business after 2.5 years of break, and is getting a big attention for her tv CM of Takano Yuri Beauty Clinic .  I honestly think she has changed and is beautiful.

… I gotta go now!

More Shopping…

Today was my “hitori” (alone) shopping day.  I left home around 10 AM, and came home at 4 PM.  I bought so many stuff.

I drove Kei-truck, and went to Daiso first.  I feel funny to drive Kei-truck, because the image of this car is like “a car used by grandpa & grandma for rice fields”.  I’m not embarrassed, but when i see people looking at me driving Kei-truck while they drive cool Japanese cars, I feel little funny… 😛

At Daiso, I was too excited to think about what I really wanted to buy.  I wanted to buy everything I saw.  As I was alone, no one could stop me…!  Yet I tried to buy just a few things, because I knew I’ll go to other 100 yen shops later.  I bought 30 items there, including some junks and house stuff.

Then, I headed to Viva City which is a shopping centre in Hikone (near my house).  I bought another shawl (casual looking one) at 880 yen, one clothes at 500 yen, and one hair accessory at 105 yen.  I had a break at Mister Donut.  I ordered one Honey Churros and one cup of cafe au lait (unlimited free refill!)

I actually wanted to try their new menu, but didn’t really feel like eating creamy stuff at that time.

Then I headed to my formal student’s house.  I used to be an English teacher for kids few years ago, and Kiryu, one of my students, lives near Viva City.  I actually knew no one would be there, as I called up his house this morning and had a little chat with his mother.  She and I are quite close too 🙂  She told me that she wouldn’t be home today.  They’re moving to Hokkaido at the end of this month, and busy for packing..  I went to the house anyway, and left a little souvenir at the door.  Now I have a thing to do when I go to Hokkaido in the future – visiting their house 🙂

On the way back I did a little shopping at another shop.  I bought some food and cosmetics.

I’m little tired… it was super cold today and even I couldn’t stand it.  (I normally love cold weather)  I hope I’m not catching cold!  My friend and I are going to a spa tomorrow.  🙂

Shopping Day in Gifu

Today my friend and I went to Molera Gifu, which is a shopping mall in Gifu prefecture.  Gifu is located in the centre of Japan main island, next to Shiga prefecture.

Although Gifu is such close to Shiga, I seldom go there.  I think I’ve been to Gifu or Nagoya area just a few times in my life.  I normally go to Kyoto, Osaka side for shopping, eating … well, anything.

My friend picked me up in the morning and we arrived at Malera Gifu around 11 am.  It was very cloudy and cold today.  The sky was all white, and I couldn’t see the Sun.

This mall is apparently a gathering of outlet shops.  (like Harbour Town in Perth)  There’s a cosmetic outlet shop which sells products at 50% off  the original prices.  Perfume shop, men’s clothes, lingerie shops, etc … and many ladies clothes shops 🙂

Hunt for the bargain began!  Around 1 PM we had a pit stop at a yoshoku restaurant and I ate omu-rice with dark demi-glace sauce.  I was curious about the naming of “dark”, but it looked and tasted as same as normal demi-glace sauce. :p  It was delicious and I enjoyed it.  I love omu-rice (>v<)

We finished our shopping around 3PM.  I bought… two pairs of shoes, two shawls, one long sleeve shirt, two jeans, one mascara, one face wash and one leggings.  Total was around 10000 yen (about AS$120.00)  I think it was a good shopping!

We’re little exhausted, so bought double scoops of ice-cream at Baskin Robbins then headed home.

I heard it may snow sometime this week.  … Serious??  It’s March, it should be getting warmer!  I really can’t wait the onsen trip this Thursday…

No Shopping Yet..

A photo from a room on the ground floor in my house.   All of those ornaments and furnitures (wood ornament, dolls byobu < a Japanese term for decorative screens that serve as folding room dividers> and shoji <sliding doors made of paper>) haven’t been changed.  My grandma is praying at the Buddhist alter.  (please ignore the IKEA’s heart toy near the cusion :p )

The wood makes me feel home 🙂

After breakfast at Biwako Cafe, I went home to do some cooking and shooting photos.  Then I had to leave home quickly as my appointment for a hair salon was at 12.  I was actually planning to go shopping afterward, but it took 4 hours to do my hair.  My bro picked me up at the hair salon then we headed home.

After finishing up cooking, I was about to go shopping to buy some cosmetics.    Then, someone called my name at the door.  It was my friend!  She and I are going out for shopping and eating tomorrow, and she came over to my house to discuss what time we go.

First, we were talking at the door, but ended up moving to kotatsu and eating sushi rolls that my dad bought from a sushi bar near my house.  It is toro tuna – Re: (read the toro section)  While my friend was watching her favorite tv show with my grandma and dad, I took a bath.  🙂

We’re going to Gifu prefecture to go to this new mall.  I’m going to bed now as I’m waking up early to make breakfast for my dad and bro!

Biwako Lake

In early morning, I sneaked out the house and headed to Biwako Lake – the biggest lake in Japan.  It is just 5 minutes away from my house.  🙂

View my old posts  :(Shiga and photos)

It was still bit dark (it maybe because of the cloudy weather) and the air was pretty cold.   There was no one around… except for these fishermen.

Biwako-Lake is a very famous fishing spot 🙂

After a morning walk, I went back home and headed to a cafe for breakfast with my dad and brother (as our usual routine for weekend mornings). I had a “morning set with brioche” which is a set of toasted brioche, one boiled egg, small salad and free-refill drink 🙂

Today is my shopping day + hair salon day!  You may think that I go to a hair salon too often, but there is a reason!  My hair is really messy now and it needs to get straight-permed.  It’s much cheaper doing it in Japan compared with Perth.  I’m in Japan now, so might as well…

First Day in Japan

It was actually a good flight.  I flew wth Malaysia Airline and had to transit at Kuala Lumpur (as there is no direct flight from Perth to Osaka).  There were’nt many passangers on the plane from Perth to Kuala Lumpur, so I could chose my seat anywhere 🙂   It was comfortable, i watched 2 movies in a row 🙂  On the other hand, the flight from Kuala Lumpur to Osaka was full, so I had to sleep in the chosen seat with strangers next to me.  Wellm overall it was a good flight.

I started to feel like I was already in Japan while on the plane from Kuala Lumpur, as there were so many Japanese people around me, and some of them were wearing maks and their own “airplane slippers”.  I think wearing face masks in public is Japanese thing :p

My family picked me up from Kansai airport, and once I stepped out from the building I could feel cold air hitting my body,  WOW it’s really cold!  But, when we had a quick freeway pitstop in Shiga, I could feel the air was even colder.  I couldn’t stand without a jacket,  Shiiiiit… I thought it was little warmer (>0<)  I only brought T-shirt.  I will have to go shopping for some cloth tomorrow!

It was a really good day… except that I had to be in front of computer for hours trying to connect internet.  I don’t know much about computer, expecially Windows 🙁  Anyway it is connected now somehow and I am writing this in my room.

Here is a photo of Kakino-ha Sushi (nigiri sushi wrapped in passimon leaves) that we picked up on the freeway pitstop.  Kakino-ha Sushi is a speciality food of Nara prefecture.

This is mackerel.

Tonight I will take a nice hot bath, and sleep in an electric blanket 🙂

Bagels from … Ham Company?

The Nippon Ham group established structures for large- scale meat production, processing, and export, and it operates subsidiaries around the world.  (English site)  Most of processed meat products you get to see at supermarkets in Japan are Nippon Ham’s.

.. I wasn’t searching for this meat company, I was actually googling “bagel shop in Japan”.  Then I found this “delicious soft bagels and pizzas online shop – Nippon Ham”   … Nippon Ham = bagels??  

I clicked the Nippon Ham site, then I found that this company now doesn’t sell only ham and bacon, but also salad, pizza, bread, curry, dressing, and even bento boxes! :p

You can see bagels are now getting to be one of common food people eat at home everyday in Japan.  These bagels from Nippon Ham are well-packaged for commercial sales, and of course Nippon Ham is not the only company which sells bagels in supermarkets.  Plus, bakeries, hotels, restaurants and cafes also serve bagels as standard menu.

I will try to eat many bagels in Japan for the next few weeks 🙂

Hinamatsuri