20151118 my 17kg parcel arrived ^_^ Japan Post is so awesome, you book a slot online and they come and pick your parcel up from your home at no extra charge!!! You don’t have to carry your parcels to the post office !!! (How can I carry 17kg to the post office myself?!) Just remember to fill in the FUNABIN 船便 (sea shipment) waybill - ask for one from the post office, it’s not displayed on the desks… instead of the usual waybills. No sweat !!!!
20151111 i just ended a call with Boss. He sent me lovely pics of autumn at Minami Alps! It was a lovely phone call and I had fun catching up with him over many stuff. The farm, his job, me in Singapore, him in Yamanashi… And I’m glad my Japanese language is still able to hold a convo :P welcoming Phone calls anytime !!!!
Yesterday I received a very cute Halloween video message from my close friend Chie. Although I was shocked by her Halloween stunt, I was glad to see my friend’s face again and can’t help but smiled. Looking back, how we met was quite interesting, knowing each other first through language exchange and the love for music then to becoming good friends supporting each other in many ways.
Wherever we are, I hope to stay as good friends forever ^_^ 😭😭😭☺️☺️☺️ (I actually teared a bit writing this… T.T )
it’s going to be Halloween and I am going blind with all the orange (and black and purple) stuff they have in town.. (Actually it’s just an excuse to drink and dress up isn’t it? ^_^)
20151017 today we did sparring. Stamina was a challenge! This is the last kendo lesson, and I just couldn’t help but started to cry at the end of the lesson when I was asked to make a speech. The atmosphere at the lessons are always so positive and enriching, there is always something to learn. The teachers give useful pointers and point out your weaknesses and how to improve. Watanabe san was not here today, it’s very sad because he always give me very useful pointers and is very nice. Everyone is nice!! Thanks 大久保先生 石垣先生 河野先生 渡辺先生 黒田さん 草場さん 小島さん 神田くん
Kanda kun even came to give me his best wishes after class…
I will miss this kendo club and members so so much :/ せっかく仲良しくなったのに….
20151016 Yamamoto Sensei cracks me up!! She’s so funny! She’s that kind who hits people when she’s amused.. I mean it in a good way.. Not pretentious :)
today was my last class and I wrote this character with a font mixed of 隷書(れいしょ)&篆書(てんしょ). It was not easy, I wished I had more time to perfect it though :( wrote this with the new brush I received from Shiozaki san and Hiroko san. I also acted as translator for one of the foreigner students and I was not charged for this class. Happy! :)
I really love the atmosphere of this calligraphy classroom and I will miss it terribly. I know I can continue calligraphy back in SG but I know it’s never gonna be the same…. Sigh :(
Anyway this is Calligraphy Art in Roppongi. Google if you are interested!
lunch with Kimura san! last time before I leave Japan ;'( Kagurazaka is a nice neighbourhood with many traditional Japanese restaurants, and we had our lunch in one of them. The food's awesome! I had two bowls of rice :\
Apparently this Bishamon shrine at Kagurazaka is very popular among Arashi fans because Ninomiya filmed a drama here. But it’s so kuazhang, the wishes people make here is to get a good seat for Arashi’s concerts..!!! And wishes for the members and album sales. I cannot fathom.. (Although I was an Aiba fan once) but indeed this has brought crowd and tourists to Kagurazaka, which is a good thing for the shops isn’t it…
btw Kimura san is also an Arashi fan… *faints*
Of course my wish has nothing to do with Arashi.. :)
After that we took a walk and rested our legs at a cafe and chatted. I miss Kimura san so much ;(
20151012 体育の日. This is the day to commemorate Olympics. Went to Meguro Chuo Gym to try out Japanese Archery. Many complicated steps and not easy… Also watched a bit of kendo!
I signed up a Noh experience workshop via MIFA and was expecting Kimura san to be there too. It was again all the way at Meguro. The workshop was conducted entirely in English and we did singing practices, and experience moments such as playing the flute, the drums and donning the kabuki wear. There were also many foreign students attending this session..
I volunteered for the flute session..! It's not easy.
Photos taken by Kimura san
The costumes are apparently heavy and warm...
All in all I think it's a good experience. You gotta be very passionate about the art to perform it!
Milk stand at Akihabara station. First time I saw a shop specialising in selling milk! Slight relief of sore throat from the hot Meiji milk, it was delicious :) #milkstand #AkiJpn2015 #AroundTheWAin80Days (at Akihabara Station)
(If I'm not wrong it's on the platform Of line 5 and 6)
20151001 second food that made me sweat in Japan.. Maybe the restaurant was warm, but this curry is spicier than the usual Japanese curry. Yummy!! And the side cabbage pickles are oishii too.
20150915 halfway through dinner, Renma called and we decided to meet for dinner (again?!!) at Shinjuku. I was so full but I was happy to meet Renma again. He is really different in Tokyo than in Yamanashi. The feeling is different, more grown up. Anyway he brought me to this crazy interesting place called The Lock Up, basically it’s a prison-themed restaurant.
At the entrance there is a red button and you press that to go in.. The policewoman will come and arrest you and bring you to your cell! Halfway through your dining experience, red sirens will sound and there will be some events where the staff do scary stuff.. I think it’s interesting to celebrate my birthday there but too bad I will not be there anymore :( the drinks menu is interesting also, eyeballs, mummy and stuff …
we video called Boss Kazu and it was very nice to see him again :) poor boss, still working at night… So many emails to clear…
All in all a good meet up and I am very excited about our Kusatsu onsen road trip!!!
20150916 met up with Yeh and Hiroki for dinner. Had okonomiyaki at Shinjuku before heading to our main destination, Golden Gai!!!! wanted to come here but it’s difficult to come without a Japanese …
We went to a shop named Pony (after that we asked why Pony? And the owner mama san said because she didn’t have money to make a new signboard so she re-used the signboard left by the previous owner. When she wanted to change it people already was familiar with the name so she didn’t change it LOL.. And we thought there was a big reason behind it…)
It’s a pretty place and Hiroki’s dad is a regular so we drank on his tab :P his dad has a whisky bottle in the store so we drank from there haha. Spoke to some nice people and listened to many stories. Mama san showed us the old music player and it was lovely :)
Thanks Hiroki and also Yeh san for the night! Hiroki says he is coming to Singapore in March!
20150915 met Dan at Shibuya for late lunch, wanted to eat okonomiyaki but ended up eating Yarou ramen cos I was curious as I saw it on TV. Not bad !! A lot of beansprouts (bird will Love it LOL) and the soup base was thick tonkotsu. Went to Game Center and Dan spent 6000 on that pair of moomins! Every one was watching him… Moomin is very popular in Japan right now. and he helped me with my rascal pouch.. Happy~~~~
Then we went to Shiroichi for milk ice and whale meat restaurant with his friend -_- I don’t quite like it… Anyway the history is that post-war they had no food so they started to eat whales …
20150914 I love calligraphy classes :) I made my own seal… Craving was so painful……. We had to design and crave our names on the rubber blocks.. Turned out nice I think ! The kanji one took longer so I have yet to finish it, gonna complete on Friday :)
Today our task was to remove the silver sheets from the grounds of the peach trees.
Do you know why there are silver sheets? Because the sheets can reflect sunlight to the bottom of the fruits!!! Ingenious;)
Unfortunately the weather was not too good and it rained all the way. It wasn't too heavy so we continued the work. We still had fun anyway!
When the sky finally cleared it was such a clear blue sky and we were so grateful!!!! (it's typhoon alert in other parts of Japan, so Tokyo was very rainy, and rain in Tokyo means rain whole day).
Enjoying the sun!
We ate lunch and because we didn't have enough hot water for instant noodles after refilling the tea pot I playfully added green tea into Renma's noodles. Not like he noticed any difference! Haha!
We also tried dried persimmons (btw I haven't had dried persimmons like that before, sweet and nice!)
We hung our clothes to dry and by the time we finished lunch the clothes were almost dry! The weather was really really good!
Favourite shots :)
We went back to the peach grounds and continued our work. Kind of miss the rain because it's a little warm.. LOL
All the fruits in the world to eat :)
Took the lorry back to the volunteer house. Breezy ride with Renma and Joji shouting away. 最高の夏だ～！
The day ended with Onsen again. Not complaining! :P
Renma and Joji had to return to Tokyo this evening. I will miss them very very much ;'(
