Scoopon, DealMe, OurDeal, AllTheDeal, etc etc. There are so many websites that sell daily deal coupons online now. The first one to do this was American company Groupon (www.groupon.com), and was founded in November 2008.
Groupon is operated worldwide, except Australia – some people should know the battle between Groupon and Scoopon. Scoopon bought the domain “groupon.com.au” and forced Groupon to buy it at an insane price. Groupon accepted it, but then Scoopon changed their maid – they’d only sell the domain and trademark if Groupon buys the entire Scoopon business. The deal is off. Groupon sued Scoopon, and Groupon is now doing the business in Australia under Stardeals (www.stardeals.com.au).
Anyway, I’m sure many people have already purchased at least one deal from one of these websites before. Some of the deals are great! They offer big discount (sometimes over 80% off) on food, entertainment, accommodation, beauty and more. I’ve purchased once before, and now I’m waiting for a good deal on massages. There’re so many similar deals and I don’t know which one to pick.
I was browsing Groupon Japan today. They have deals on each prefecture across Japan (Tokyo has the most), from Hokkaido to Okinawa. Tokyo has the deals on almost each cities. Nice…
Just received a package from my friend in Hokkaido – UNIQLO clothes and a book for Hiro.
What a wonderful gift! Things must be still not as same as they used to be over there, but she did find the time to go shopping for my little boy… Thanks!
She said that she heard on the news saying UNIQLO is getting popular in Australia, and that’s why she went to UNIQLO to buy some baby clothes. Then I thought “Ok, there is no UNIQLO in Perth, but there must be few in Eastern states. Actually, according to UNIQLO website, there is no UNIQLO shop in Australia. (@_@)
The Japanese retailer UNIQLO is expanding worldwide now. Personally I love UNIQLO too. That’s one of the shop I go to every time I go back to Japan. I love the simple design, and most of all, the price. Reasonable pricing, basic and simple design, and wide variety.
When UNIQLO first opened in Japan, the image of the brand was just “cheap” around me and friends. So, sometimes we felt little embarrassed when someone said “hey, isn’t it UNIQLO you’re wearing?” But now, UNIQLO is one of the biggest brand in Japan and very popular in other countries too.
I think, what changed the image of UNIQLO in us was when they did collaboration with famous artists and anime characters. When I first saw the tv ads of UNIQLO T-shirts designed by famous artists, my image for UNIQLO brand was 180° changed and it suddenly seemed to be very stylish. Since then, they do many collaborations with famous brands and anime characters such as Disney, Dragon Ball, etc.
They sell many products, from panties to jackets, but my favourites are jeans and pants. They hem the pants when you buy them for free, and give you a little card showing the name of the person (staff) who did it, so you can bring them back to the shop anytime if the size wasn’t right or there’s any problem. Located in almost each city in Japan is the another reason why I go there too.
Hiro will be 1 month old tomorrow! … Still 1 month? I feel like it’s been months. He is now very chubby and much heavier than few weeks ago. The face is getting really round!
One of my friend in Japan is having a baby boy soon, and I was chatting with her on the phone the other night. She said that she’s decided to give birth in a tatami room in the hospital. I didn’t know there is an option of tatami delivery room in Japan. It sounds really … Japanese, isn’t it?
The tatami room in the hospital is really like a room in ryokan (Japanese style hotel). There’ll be a set of white futon on tatami, and that’s where my friend is pushing her baby out! Tatami is cushiony, and you can move around freely, so I guess it’s pretty comfortable for mothers.
My another friend told me that her sister gave birth in a tatami room too. She said it was just like giving birth at your own home. Besides, there’s no lock on the door in tatami room, so her aunt and father just opened (slid) the door and walked in while sister was pushing the baby – saying “hey, how are you doing?” :p No privacy!
There’s a shocking news about two vegan parents in France : their 11-month-old daughter died for being fed only breast milk. They are now facing up to 30 years in prison.
An autopsy showed that the baby was suffering from a vitamin A and B12 deficiency, which experts say increases a child’s sensitivity to infections. The baby was underweight and deathly pale according to French media.
I don’t know why the parents didn’t notice the baby wasn’t gaining sufficient weight over the last 11 months, and didn’t consult with doctor or anyone for an advice. And, why they fed only breast milk for 11 months? They didn’t introduce any solid foods to supplement nutritions to the baby?
Anyway, it’s a devastating news,, but I was surprised to hear the “30 years in prison” part. And, the fact that the ambulance workers called the polices instead of
consoling the parents, when they arrived and found the baby dead, because the parents were vegans.
I actually have a French friend who is vegan, but I didn’t know that it is not easy being vegetarian in France. That’s why the parents are facing the 30 years in prison? Ummm… now I understand what my vegan friend was talking about – her father was really upset when she decided to be a vegan. Besides, her father is a butcher! (maybe that’s the reason why she became a vegan?)
Anyway, giving enough nutritions is the most important thing when rising a baby, and I think I should try to have more balanced diet.
It was such a beautiful morning! I mean, I was awake from 3am trying to put Hiro to sleep, and after the sunrise I stepped outside to hang laundry then I noticed the air was pretty cold and the sky was blue. I love this moment! I’m excited to know that autumn is just around the corner 🙂 (Or maybe it will be hot again during the day?)
Yesterday evening my friend called me and we chatted for about 1 hour on the phone. She was asking me how the things were, and talking about her workplace etc. Then we started talking about Japan as she is flying back there next month for holiday for 3 weeks. She said that she may spend lots of money in Japan, as usual… Going out with friends, going shopping, eating out, travelling to sister’s house by shinkansen… I know what it is, because I’m like her. We don’t spend much money in Perth (no shopping, not much eat-out), so when we go back to Japan we spend a lot.
I told her I’m thinking to have my hair cut sometime soon, and still can’t decide if I should get hair permed only, or get coloured too. Then, she told me about “hair-clouring shampoo”.
There seems to be few brands of “colouring shampoo” sold in Japan that colour your hair as you wash… Is there anything Japan doesn’t have? There is a colouring shampoo for pets as well (*_*)
Browsing internet in the bed before getting up is what D does each morning. Since I don’t go to work anymore, we wake up around the same time and get up around the same time. When he was watching the video of Apple releasing new iPad next to me, I just had to watched and listened too.
These computer things… new one keeps coming and coming! If I was alone, I would be so far away from such news and wouldn’t even know what iPad was.
On the video, they’re saying how fast, thin, and light the iPad2 is, but what I liked (kind of) was the magnetic cover called “smart cover“. There’re 10 designs, 5 with polyurethane (the one used for space uniform) and 5 with leather. The cover also wakes up the iPad as you open it, and put to sleep as you close it. It’s an optional accessary and you will need to buy it.
It does stand up the iPad too.
When I saw the cover, it reminded me of bath tub cover in Japan.
🙂
iPad2 will be released on March 11 in US, and in some of other countries including Australia and Japan on March 25.
The other day, D suddenly told me that he wanted to buy some stones for his bonsai – he had searched and found some shops selling rocks for aquariums and interior decoration. To me, stones aren’t something to buy, they are something to find near the creek/river side, mountains, parks, house yard… anywhere. So, I suggested to go somewhere to find the stones/rocks he wanted.
But, I realized that I’ve never actually seen stones and rocks near the water around Perth. Not around the beaches, not around the parks and not in the house yards. Ummm… I know what kind of stones he is looking for, and I know we can get these from the river and lake bank near my house in Japan. Ummm where can we find some rocks in Perth?
We googled parks with pond/creek around our house, and headed there with a plastic bag.
According to the satellite photo there’s a pond in centre of the park, but it was very dry – actually no water at all! We could still see some rocks around the pond(used-to-be) so we picked up few and headed home. It was another hot day and couldn’t walk around much.
While D was busy treating the rocks in the yard, I started to make some snacks. I really love the acacia bowl that I bought from Freedom outlet shop. (it was $3.00!) I thought it would be a good bowl to fill edamame or some nuts, but bagel would probably go well on it too.
I like eating the fresh one just like that – without any spread. A glass of milk or cafe au lait with it would be nice!
Oh, I spent a relaxing birthday yesterday, by the way. Nothing special, but nothing to complain about! Mother-in-law made mee goreng for me in the morning. “Noodle = long life” they eat noodle on the birthday to wish for long life. Is this a Chinese thing? The idea sounds similar to toshikoshi-soba (Japanese people eat soba noodle at 0:00AM on the New Year’s day to wish for long life).
D and I had something to buy at IKEA, and had a pit-stop at the cafe eating a princess cake 🙂
Yesterday wasn’t a great day for people in New Zealand. I wish all those affected a quick recovery back to normal life…
Chicken Wings are great food to accompany rice, noodle and beer. In Japan, Nagoya city in Aichi prefecture is famous for its chicken wings (tebasaki). If you are planning to travel to Japan and going to Nagoya, you must try tebasaki there!
Tebasaki in Nagoya is deep-fried then brushed with some special sauce – this sauce is the key. The sweet, tasty sauce goes with beer and other alcohol so well.
I’m sure you also eat chicken wings by roasting, deep-frying or grilling at home (if you like them), but do you find it difficult to eat wings without making a mess? I am actually a very messy eater, especially when eating wings. It leaves my fingers, face and table messy, and also I can’t get all the meat between the bones. How can you eat wings without making a mess? I’ve got an answer from a website of famous tebasaki restaurant in Nagoya.
Furaibou is one of the popular tebasaki restaurant, and it has shops across Japan and LA in US. On the website they show 4 ways to eat tebasaki without any hassle.
Method 1:
Hold both ends with fingers, and break the joint. You will see bones coming out, and then tear the meat with one hand while holding the bones with another hand. Now bones and meat are separated. Enjoy the meat.
Method 2:
Remove the joint from both ends, and tear the meat along with two bones. Enjoy the two strips. Suck the bones if you like.
Method 3:
Remove the joint from the edge. Grip the bone with finger, and twist to pull out. Repeat with another bone. Enjoy the meat.
Method 4:
Remove the joint from the edge. Bite the wing and strip off the meat from the bones.
Bijin Tokei, meaning “beautiful woman clock”, is a website that showcases different young ladies telling you the time every minute, and has been a big success since it started. Now they have few different versions of bijin-tokei such as circuit-tokei (where all the girls are race queens) and Ver. Night, and also local versions of bijin-tokei in Kobe, South Korea Ver. 1Ver. 2, Taiwan, Kyoto, Hokkaido, Thai, etc etc…
I wrote about this bijin-tokei here, here and here before in Umeboss. Why I’m writing about it again here is because I found a Shiga version of bijin-tokei in app store!
Bijin-tokei Ver. Shiga was released in August last year. As you know (?), I’m from Shiga and wonder that there may be one or two of my friends in the 360 girls picturing the clock on the app! The photo shoot was carried out in the malls, universities and train stations from May in Shiga. If I knew about it and was in Japan I might be in the queue for the candidates! hehe..
I’m somehow proud of it, because not all the cities/prefectures in Japan are used for bijin-tokei. So far there’re only 9 cities across Japan : Shibuya, Osaka, Kyoto, Hokkaido, Fukuoka, Kobe, Nagoya, Sendai, and Shiga. I’m proud of it as a Shiga person (kind of), but also curious… why Shiga?? There are many other nice and famous cities across Japan. Some Japanese people don’t even know where Shiga locates in the map. I’m also curious about the bijin-tokei ver. Sendai. … Why Sendai??
On the way from my sister-in-low’s house, I found this little antique shop called Chapels on Whatley. From the music from the shop and the chairs/tables displayed outside, I thought it was just another Chinese furniture/antique shop. But, once I stepped inside there are more than Chinese ornaments and drawings.
First, lots of scented candles caught my eyes. There are many antique kitchen wares and furnitures that reminded me of my grandma. The shop was quite big – there is another building at the back displaying Chinese ornaments and birdcages.
The owner of this shop is very friendly, and offered us some Chinese tea. Then I realised there’re so many kinds of tea leaves sold at the door.
From familier ones such as oolong tea and rose tea, to Pu-Erh tea and lemon grass, there are more than 30 kinds of leaves sold and being available for tasting. D tried lemon grass tea and another smoky tea (some kind of root: I don’t remember the name). Lemon grass was very refreshing, he said.
Brewing flower tea is one of the most beautiful thing to watch. Very pretty.
The owner told us that there is going to be a cafe inside the shop around February where customers can enjoy different kinds of teas and coffees. I am so looking forward to it.
It was very productive weekend for me. I stayed home most of the time because of the heat and tiredness. I spent time in front of tv a lot, but also enjoyed making some things. One of them are recycled paper. Yes, D and I made lots of paper at home using a paper making kit we bought online before Christmas.
First, we teared up paper and soaked in water overnight.
The process is very simple, but it just took some time – we stayed in the laundry room for about 1 hour transforming the soaked paper into pulps using a blender, shaping the pulps into A4 size, and hanging the paper to dry.
Scoop the pulps using a frame,
Pressing the pulps into tea towels,
And drying the paper.
Here are the completed recycled paper! Looks perfect…
We did this process 3 times over the weekends, and made about 60 pieces of paper. I’m using the paper for Bagelier and my another website (not completed yet) in future!
Another thing I did over the weekend was…. sewing!! I actually can’t believe I was type of person who likes doing this stuff, but I did enjoy it. Buying a sewing machine was D’s idea; we bought Brother sewing machine at just over $70.00 from Spotlight on the Boxing Day. It had been more than 10 years since last time I used a sewing machine. I never did sewing outside school; I didn’t really have interest in sewing. But now I completed my first work “owl” and am working on my second one “Baby on Board” stuffing toy to put in my car.
Making this owl took quite a long time (as I totally had forgotten how sewing a stuffed toy works), but my “Baby on Board” is nearly finished; I will upload the photo once I’m done!
A new app just hit the iTunes App Store – called “Word Lens”. I saw the video of this app and it’s pretty cool! At this moment they only have one language pack though, for translations between English and Spanish. The app is free to download, but each language pack will set you back $5.99 a pop.
Word Lens creator, Otavior Good, speaks on his company website that once he was in overseas there was a sign he couldn’t read and he thought, ‘Why doesn’t my cellphone do this?'”. I think it’s one thing that many people would hope when they are traveling another country.
The great thing is, you don’t need internet connection to use this app. Once you download it on your iphone, it will translate the sign board within a second. The bad thing is that the font of the sign board has to be something like Centurion or Helvetica. So, if the words are written by hand or in other unique fonts it can’t be translated. … Well, it still works!
I can’t wait they launch of other languages! What language you want this app to translate the most?? Actually the creator’s friend wants there to be one for Japanese. But, unlike Spanish, we don’t use ABC alphabet – we’ve got four other alphabets that we use.
“There’s Kanji Hiragana, Katakana and Romaji — Romanji uses roman letters, but that’s not very common for the signs in the street.”
Right… but it could be fun though if it could translate Japanese too. Maybe in future.. 🙂
Deciding what to give on the Christmas and birthdays are sometimes hard job for me. For some people it’s easy – for example, for a friend who likes taking bath I will give her a set of bath salt or something she can use in her bath time. For some people, on the other hand, it’s difficult to imagine what will please them.
My in-laws suggest to do secret santa each year on Christmas. It’s actually a good idea as I don’t need to worry about buying something for everyone (my husband has 7 sisters, brothers and nephew). But, it’s bit hard if I pick brother-in-laws because I have no idea what he is interested in and would like. One sister is also a difficult one because she seems to have everything. If something becomes a trend on the year, she has it.
But, the person who I find it’s most difficult to get exactly what he wants is D, my husband. He knows so many things than I do – if there is an earthquake in Japan, he knows before I hear from my family. It’s because he is always online and check news and other geeky stuff everyday. So, he knows where to buy some stuff at cheapest price, and which product and brand is nice and works well. He likes computer stuff and I always think I should buy him something he can use, but I’m not really familiar with these things and have no idea where and what to buy it. And, as he can get lots of information on the internet, he always find an unique gift for someone else. This year he is the secret santa for his brother-in-law, and he bought this:
Bacon band aid… very unique, and I think it’s a perfect gift for the bacon-lover.
It’s kind of a funny story, to think about it. I start planning around September what to buy for D for his birthday and Christmas each year (his birthday is on December), but I always end up rushing on deciding one or two weeks before his birthday. Few years ago, I planned so hard that I got confused, and in the end I gave him a cushion. I don’t really know why I bought a cushion for him, but that’s what I did. This year was also terrible. I had a list of “things I may buy for his birthday and Christmas”, but as closer it gets to his birthday all the things on the list started to seem boring. In the end, I bought him a cleaner kit for glasses. Why!?
There are still 2 weeks till Christmas, and I still have a chance to regain his love.. (* Ŏ∀Ŏ) This time I decided to write down a memo whenever he talks about things he wants or is interested in : anything, e.g. last night he was browsing a site about space invader game and pacman. Yeah, right, he likes retro stuff. And, I remembered he likes bonsai and vespa. This list will be kept for next year in case I forget what he likes (I really have a short memory).
The new INSIGHT,another HONDA’s hybrid car, has been on sale overseas for over a year now and will be hitting Australian dealerships from December 2010. INSIGHT is not available to purchase in Perth WA yet, but demonstration is available at HONDA dealers. My sister-in-law is interested in buying this car, and she told me she was going to test-drive this car soon.
The top reason why this car has been very popular overseas is its price – a list price of just under AU$30K for the base model (depends on the area in Australia). In Perth, $32737 for the base VTi model and AU$36536 for the higher-spec VTi-L. (metallic paint: about $500 plus) It’s the cheapest hybrid vehicle in Australia.
Besides the low price tag and the Toyota Prius-like outlook, INSIGHT has an interesting feature. Driving this car is like a game! Called “Eco Assist”, a part system and part game, there is a digital speedometer changes colours as you drive. Green means you’re being good, and blue means you could be doing better. Drive greenly for long enough and you’ll also start earning leaves on your dashboard. 🙂 You can do the simulation of INSIGHT driving experience here. The lovely pink bird will tell you how you are doing as you proceed.
Furthermore, when you’re done, Eco Assist will let you know how you’re going with your overall, long-term, fuel-efficient driving, giving you an Eco score by growing a flower on the screen!
HONDA tried to make this car lighter and cheaper. The engine is 4 cylinder and Integrated Motor Assist (IMA) for both models. Yes, the interior may look cheap, but the specs are pretty good. Even base model has Bluetooth connectivity, climate control, Auxillary jack, and alloy wheels.
My friend recently had eyelash extension and she kept saying that she now loves looking at her face (eyes) in the mirror. She had the extension by a Japanese lady – friend gave me the information about the lady but I’m not sure if I ever get eyelash extension. It sounds very interesting, but I’m not sure if it’s 100% safe, and it is also pricy and not permanent.
But, after hearing from the friend I looked at my eyelash and realized that my eyelash has been falling off quite a lot! I believe I had more eyelash when I was younger (>0<). I never cared (I should…) about these things, and now I think I should do something about it.
I bought L’Oreal Lash Boosting Serum to help my eyelash grow! L’Oreal brand seems to be quite popular among Japanese girls too. Let’s see how it goes…
I’ve been wearing the serum on my eyelash for 2 weeks now, twice a day. I haven’t worn mascara for the last two weeks, and I think that my eyelash has became stronger – less failing.
By the way, one of my friend in Japan is also pregnant (around 3 months) and they are having the wedding party on January next year. She is already married to her husband, but they didn’t do any party or ceremony. (which is quite common thing in Japan these days) They chose the following dress:
… yes, not white. Wine color! These days people in Japan don’t really care the color of the wedding dress much… I’ve seen many brides wearing pink, blur or red dress in their wedding, not white. I really like the dress and I think she will look great in this dress 🙂
These days my appetite has been strange. I feel hungry, but don’t know what I feel like eating. And, I get heartburn very often now. If I eat a lot in the morning, I can’t eat anything until late night. So, I just eat light food or snack little by little during the day.
But, yesterday I really really wanted to eat chicken rice! I couldn’t do anything but thinking about it. It was around 3 PM, and D and I headed to Ten Ten.
I ordered Hainanese chicken rice, and D ordered roasted chicken rice. We must have had looked like two starved little kids…. I ate it up all and so did he (^^). It was very satisfying afternoon!
Domino Pizza Japan is hiring a lucky person for an hourly wage of AUD$31K.
No, this is not a joke. It is REAL. Domino is celebrating its 25th birthday in Japan by offering ￥2500,000 (just under AUD$31,000.00) for 1 hour work at a Domino Pizza shop in Japan. Yes, the job is just for 1 hour (super short work), and the wage is $31K.
They haven’t revealed all the details in the public yet, but the person has to be over 18 years old who lives in Japan and can work in December 2010. No experience/education is needed.
The applicants have to apply by writing first: with the details of their profile, interests and the reason why they want to work at Domino Pizza. The successful applicants will receive further details about this job and then proceed to the interview with 4 judges.
The 4 judges are actually Japanese celebrities (2 of them are comedians) whom I often see on tv. So, the lucky person who is chosen will go on tv, magazine and newspaper (I assume).
The normal wage at Domino Pizza Japan is ￥950 ~ ￥1150, and this is just for 1 hour work! I’m sure many people is applying for the position right now.
The name of the department where you send an application to is “Please, Please Let Me Do The Casual Job”.
I’m subscribed to many airline newsletters and sometimes receive very cheap flight deals. It’s very exciting when you find a very cheap airfare and start to plan your holiday!
My friend recently booked a return flight from Perth to Haneda, Tokyo. Haneda Airport has been the main domestic airport for Tokyo, however, it completed a new runway and international terminal building in October 2010 and started handling an increased number of international flights. (an interesting blog about Haneda’s New International Terminal → jaunted.com)
A flight from Eastern states to Japan is much cheaper than from Perth to Japan. And, as my house is in Western side of Japan (near Kyoto), the closest airport is Kansai (KIX) or Centrair (NGO) but there is no direct flight from Perth to neither KIX nor NGO. So, I need to transit somewhere on the way.
Perth → Another City in Australia → Osaka
Perth → Another Country → Osaka
Perth → Tokyo → Osaka
The cheapest option is great, but I also don’t want to transit many times, especially with a bub. I don’t know if it’s better to fly to Tokyo first then take a Shinkansen (a bullet train) to my house. (transit in Japan) Actually, Shinkansen stops at the train station near my house (just 10 minutes by car) so my family doesn’t need to drive for 2 hours to KIX (even though they enjoy the drive) to pick us up. I feel safer transiting in my own country too. However, I don’t want to imagine the crowd in Tokyo and the travel from airport to Tokyo JR station to catch a Shinkansen…
Hmmm, I will need to search more to find out which way is the easiest and the cheap option for us to travel.
Daiso, the multi-billion dollar Japanese Phenomenon, has arrived in Australia. Last year the chain was declared the 10th fastest growing retailer in the world.
<I wrote about Daiso at here (Japan), here (Jakarta), and here (Japan)>
From potholders to pencils, lollies to locks, there are so many variety of items sold at Daiso. I’m sure many of you have been to Daiso if you live or have been to one of the countries which has Daiso shop. There are 24 countries which have already embraced Daiso, and Australia is number 25! The first city to host this latest overseas raider is Melbourne.
Daiso is known as the 100 yen store in Japan, but in Melbourne every item is priced the same – just $2.80.
“Eyeliners, mascaras – they’ve won an award in Japan, the mascara, so that’s how good the quality is,” Store Director, Ms Hii said. (from Today Tonight)
The chain is set to snap up retail space all over the country and is determined to become a household name. I really hope they open up a shop in Perth sometime soon (really soon!!).
The Australia’s first Daiso store in Melbourne open this Thursday, at 9AM.
This is one of my favorite Japanese old story. In Heian era, there were many reports of ghost appearances, especially in Kyoto. (Kyoto used to be the capital city of Japan that time)
Some people saw ghosts and monsters walking on the street at night, and there are many drawing of these scenes still remain in Japan. So, in Heian era, people were scared to walk outside at night, especially on this day called “yakou-bi 夜行日”. This day is considered to be the day ghosts comes out from their world. When people had to travel at night, they talked to On-myoji 陰陽師 (person with gift) to get advice and a protection (a piece of paper filled with spell written by On-myoji 陰陽師). There are few Japanese films about On-myoji 陰陽師, if you are interested in. They are very interesting.
Why I’m writing this is because, there is a street called “Ghost Street” in Kyoto.
In 2005, a small shopping square in Kyoto started this project to get more customers to this area, and named ichijo-dori street as “Ghost Street”. This area of Kyoto still remains its historical image of ancient Japan, and the Japanese ghost stories and this area are a great match, I think. In fact, this area really used to be capital area in Heian era.
This street is now a famous tourist attraction. There’re not only those scary (and interesting) events all year around, but also many shops selling Japanese ghosts-related products.
Food, clothes, accessories, and fashion goods…
This Yokai Croquette (ghost croquette) looks like ugly monster or ghost, but is made from Maccha green tea for the inside and bamboo charcoal powder for the coating – very healthy. Yokai ramen also looks interesting too. Purple noodle and black soup!!
If you have the guts, or like this type of things, or even, just have a plan to travel to Kyoto sometime soon, why not step into this ” “Japanese ghost” town in Kyoto?
” In some parts of Indonesia, a corpse is usually being carried up to the grave, but in Toraja, the corpse is woken up letting it to walk to its grave (is rarely performed anymore)
The corpse is woken up using black magic. This is done because in Toraja the graves/cemetries is placed above limestones mountains.
The corpse walks by itself, and its guided by an expert in black magic behind it. But there is one prohibition, the corpse shouldn’t be appointed, once pointed, the corpse falls down and isn’t able to walk again. ”
Genki Sudo was a Japanese mixed martial artist and a kickboxer in Tokyo, Japan. After his retirement in December 2006 he proceeded his career to the music industry. Below are some of his works – the song, the music, and the calligraphy are created by him. There’s some weird movement and dancing, but I think they are really cool!
It was two days ago that happened. Suddenly I couldn’t send emails to my mum from my email account. I could receive her emails saying “are you ok!?!?!?” “I have lost contact with you” “I’m going to Docomo now to get my mobile checked” etc, but the emails I sent all returned to me as “undelivered”!
I never had this problem before. Yahoo Japan is weird. There was no problem between my email account and other people including dad, bro and grandma, but just my mum couldn’t receive my emails. (my grandma uses Docomo too, I think)
I sent an email from my gmail, and it was ok. It must have had some kind or error between my Yahoo email account and her Docomo account? We never know..
By the way I was alone last night. My husband left home for a business meeting after picking me up from the work. I knew he was going to come home late (he did come home late, around 1am), so I was going to enjoy my time alone.
I normally like spending time alone. It’s the time I can totally relax and don’t need to worry about others. I was going to relax, probably take shower then do some facial massage and wear facial mask, and look for a new hair style on the internet. But, I thought I could do some food preparation for the dinner tomorrow, and started cooking.
First I made tuna sushi roll for his snack. He’s been eating hosomaki (thin sushi rolls) with just cucumber or shredded carrot lately. It’s a really unique thing because he used to hate vegetables before. Last night, I made tuna rolls instead of cucumber or carrot so that he won’t get bored with the sushi rolls I make. 🙂
I wasn’t actually hungry last night, but when I was mixing the tuna with Japanese mayonnaise and a dash of soy sauce, the smell made me wants to eat tuna. I decided to eat tuna salad. I added mayonnaise to my salad – I didn’t eat mayonnaise often before, but now I’m concerned about my vitamin-D level and trying to eat fatty food a little.
Then, I made some Japanese style steamed cake in the oven. And, cooked oden.
By the time the daikon, boiled eggs, tofu and potatoes started to look soft and all tasty, I realised it was already 9pm. I was so tired…
I decided to stop cooking and take shower. I sat down on the sofa in front of tv and then fell asleep…
It was my time alone. I don’t think I could relax, but I could do some stuff that I can’t do while he is here (he doesn’t like me standing in the kitchen for too long at night) so I guess it was ok.
Now I’ve seen many worms in the garden and garage in my house. It sure is getting warmer!
Yet night time is still cold here and I can’t stand without blanket when watching tv.
Oh! by the way, I finally received a new mobile (^0^). I was using a mobile with cracked screen for over 1 month….
What happened?? … well, I dropped it. :p Yes, I am a dropper. This mobile was actually gift from my husband… I feel so guilty. I was hiding it from him for few days, but he found out one night.
The reason why he bought this phone for me was because it’s supposed to have the strongest and shock-proof body. He knew I was a dropper. He showed me a YouTube video of a person who was explaining how strong the phone is. She was demonstrating it by dropping the phone from 5m high, throwing it to the wall, and even trying to break with a hammer. The phone didn’t break and there was noscratches.
Since he bought me this phone I actually have dropped it few times, but it didn’t break. And, just few weeks ago I dropped it again then the screen panel cracked suddenly. I guess it hit the weakest point… I still feel sorry for my husband, I will keep this phone to remind myself for being such careless.
My new phone is, yes, iPhone 4. I didn’t chose it because it’s popular. I do like Apple products and I really think it’s very useful. Plus, I already know how to use it as I’ve been using my husband’s iPhone over a year.
It took about 2 weeks to get sent to me after placing an oder online. Now I’m waiting for the free iPhone case to arrive. (Apple iPhone case program) I could only place the order for the case after receiving the phone.
There are 7 cases and bumper to chose from.
Now I just wait for my car to arrive. (YES, I’M STILL WAITING.)
Bra has been a fashionable item across the world – there are many cute looking bras in different shapes and different colours. But, what can you do with your old bras when you are not wearing them?
Did you know that bras are actually the most highly sought after item for women in developing countries? They are technically difficult to make in the developing world, therefore bras are valuable to women in those area.
There have been campaign for bra recycling in the past by Wacol or Oxfarm, but in the months of September and October, Berlei is setting up bra recycling bins in Myer stores Australia wide to give you the opportunity to help deserving women have access to a basic necessity.
If you have any unused bras at home, simply donate them at the Berlei Recycle bins in Myer. You will be helping to reduce landfill and create jobs in developing nations. And, for every 10 bras recycled, $1 will be donated to BCNA (Breast Cancer Network Australia).
There’re many web companies providing the service where you can create your own websites, and when I was browsing yola I came across this handmade soap bar website Ceedee Soaps.
The story is, the owner of this natural, non chemical handmade soap business is a 11-year-old girl, Clair. This industrious girl was interested in online-selling business and built this website with the help of her father. Together, they have became a team of hand making natural soaps at home.
Clair didn’t want to use any chemical and artificial things in the soaps from the beginning, and their soaps are made by all natural ingredients. The soaps are avaliable in a variety of scents, and I love the natural looking website and packaging. Each soap is very reasonably priced ($4.00 each free shipping in US).
I wish this young business much continued success, and can’t wait to see what Clair’s next adventure would be 🙂
