Election in Japan

While the election in Malaysia have been dragging on for almost a year now (I think even the fortune tellers were running out of months to predict), Japanese will have their election on 16th December 2012. My colleague told me that she will vote on that day and she seemed very enthusiastic. 

16th December 2012 - Election day in Japan

I only felt the election heat today when I saw the current Japan Prime Minister's photo in advertisement next to summary of a Chinese online romance novel. It was above the hair removal advertisement too. I actually laughed out loud! The campaigning is on almost every website I go from various political parties. Gone were the days when the politicians had to go door to door to meet the voters. Now, they are campaigning online.

election campaign next to summary of romance novel

Kyoto and Nara 3 Days Trip - Day 2

20th November 2011

Second day of the trip. We took Keihan train 京阪本線 from Gionshijo 祇園四条駅 to FushimiInari Station 伏見稲荷駅. FushimiInari is a temple with many torii 鳥居. It is very interesting. There is a row of torii leading to the hilltop, so me and my friends hiked through it. By the time I reached the hilltop, I could barely breathe.

Fushimi Inari Station 伏見稲荷駅

Okinawa 4 Days Trip - Day 4 (Tug of War 那覇大綱挽)

7th October 2012

This is the collection of photos about 'Naha Tug of War 2012'. So interesting!

First part is the parade before tug of war.

Mayor of Naha City making an appearance before the parade

Fuel mileage with the Idle Stop Function

Idle Stop	Odometer Start(km)	Odometer End(km)	Fuel(ℓ)	Fuel Mileage(km/ℓ)
off	4466	4839	15.27	24.43
on	4839	5194	14.75	24.07

After an accident that left my rental Daihatsu Move dented, the rental car company replaced it with a Suzuki Alto. That was the first time I saw a car with idle stop function. However, in my thought, it is not so suitable for brief stop. It is only a 15 minutes ride to my work place, and there are lots of traffic lights, the stop usually won't last more than one minute. On off engine will use more fuel in a short span of stopping time. To test it out, I decided to count the fuel mileage.

I filled my gas tank full after I jot down the reading on the odometer. Did it twice, once with 'idle stop function' off and another on. However, I was surprised that it doesn't change much. Maybe the sample size was too small. Anyway, that's it. This experiment ends now. To get an accurate result, I refrained myself to switch on the heater, it is damn cold now. (I started this during September, the weather was nice, not too hot, not too cold, so I didn't switch on air conditioner!)

Top: Suzuki Alto dash board on the top (the engine signal is cold)
Below: the Idle Stop Function Switch

Persimmon tree

Persimmon was considered an expensive fruit in Malaysia. So, my mother would only buy it during Chinese New Year and it was an item on the prayer list for the prayer on the Chinese New Year eve. Since I did not get much chances to eat this fruit, I will buy whenever I saw this in Japan. In Japan, I have seen 3 types of persimmon. One is the normal orange hard type, one is in green colour (the texture almost same with the orange type, but taste different) and one in reddish orange (very soft in texture, found in Kawaguchiko). I am ok with the hard type only, the soft type is kinda "soft"! Have to eat with a spoon!

Although I like persimmon for a long time, I did not know how it looks like. A house near my apartment has a tree, when it started to bear fruits, I thought it was mikan (蜜柑, a kind of citrus fruit, orange in colour too). So, I was surprised that it turned out to be persimmon! It looked so inviting and I were very very tempted to pluck it. However, finally I bought some from supermarket to satisfy my craving. Hahahah!

A persimmon tree near my apartment

a green skin persimmon and the persimmon cut into pieces (bought from a stall in Takachiho)

Squid Ink Spaghetti

Went to Aeon to shop for winter clothes with a friend. Then, had lunch there. Initially, we planned to eat sushi, however we came across a cafe that sells squid ink spaghetti (イカ墨スパゲッティ). Before this, my colleague told me that it is a very delicious dish when we saw it on a TV program during lunch time. So, we changed our mind and decided to eat this 'squid ink spaghetti' instead.

squid ink spaghetti

Since there were two of us, we ordered one 'squid ink spaghetti' and one 'fish and clam tomato sauce spaghetti'. Compared to the normal tomato sauce based spaghetti, the squid ink type was more flavourful and delicious. Both of us like it very much! However, this is not the kind of food to take if one is going on a first date, it will blacken the teeth and lips!

Northern Lights by Philip Pullman

Northern Lights

10th November 2012

Ok, I have to admit that I bought this book mainly because it was adapted into a movie starring Nicole Kidman. It is not difficult to read, however, I took 4 years to finish it. First, I brought along this book to hair salon when I was having my hair cut. So, I would read a few pages every time and the progress was slow!! Then, when I came to Japan, I brought it over. However, with all the books I have, it was pretty much left untouched.

Then, on my trip to Kobe last year, I finally read a large portion of it. When I stayed in a hostel in Kobe, a backpacker from UK saw this book and he started to talk to me about the author's religious view. Well, I told him that I won't be discussing about religions and politics. It was too sensitive. I almost had a fight with my good friend over some religious matters a few years back.

Packing of the Fragile Glass Bottle

I bought two bottles of spice paste from a spice shop. Since that were glass bottles, the shop assistant wrapped it up with brown paper. It is called good customer service! When it is rainy day, some shops will wrap up the paper bag too. One of my friends said that, the customer service in Japan is, "贴到心里面去了!" which means the customer service is so good that it touch the heart. I really shared her sentiment. 

packing with brown paper

extra service with packing

A Funny Guide to Get a Date by Rocketnews24

http://en.rocketnews24.com/2012/08/22/a-japanese-womans-guide-for-getting-a-date-the-omurice-trick-works-every-time/

I read this first on Japantoday, I found it to be funny, but the comments from the visitors were more hilarious. There were 4 tips, 

1. Play tech dumb
2. Bubble over enthusiasm
3. Bump up the cute level
4. The Omurice Trick

Well, tips number one to number 3 are still acceptable. The number four is totally unacceptable for me. Getting emotional and hysterical over an egg meal? Feeling sad for the little chickens that have not been born? That girl might as well become a vegetarian. I wondered where the author found the tips. I don't know about males, but as a female, I will not like that kind of girls. One comment from a reader in Japantoday was, "I will run a mile if I meet a girl like that!". 

As for play tech-dumb, in my opinion, most of my female colleagues in Japan are more advanced than male colleagues, they are the first to embrace the smartphones, join Facebook, use and buy apps, update the software, teaching the male colleagues how to use the smartphones, etc. 

While for the "bump up the cute level", from my non-Japanese male friends opinion, some are too theatrical and with too high pitched voice. Once, I heard a man (non-Japanese) told his friend that, "everything is Kawai sou! Kawai Sou!" Hahahah! However, I had no courage to ask my Japanese male colleagues about this though! On the other hand, I think that most probably Japanese males like cute girls and cute girls have market in the dating department. So, girls act cute for the men only!

(kawaii sou 可愛そう = very cute!)

Okinawa 4 Days Trip - Day 4 (Kokusai Street 国際通り)

7th October 2012

Had a really nice sleep and woke up fresh. Me and my friend had breakfast in a fast food joint next to the tourist information center at Kokusai Street (literally translate, Kokusai is International). Wondered why it was named like that.

However, still we were too early. So, we decided to tour the area first. Almost all the shops in that area  have early opening time, around 8 am, one could see the shop owners arranging stuffs and prepare for businesses. We went to the Makishi Public Market 牧志公設市場. One can buy the raw materials at the market and then go to the second floor to get it cooked. A bit like the market in Aomori where I had sashimi with rice 刺身丼.

Makishi Public Market 牧志公設市場

Okinawa 4 Days Trip - Day 3

6th October 2012

Went to Okinawa World Cave in the morning. It was just around 10 km from Naha City. So, we left the guest house on 7.30 am after checking the GPS that it would take around 50 minutes from guest house to the place the night before. However, the opening time was 9 am. We reached on 8.30 am, too early! Initially, wanted to have breakfast in the Okinawa World Cave, however, since we got the opening time wrong, had to find somewhere else to eat. Too bad that nearby that area, no cafe and no restaurant. We circled around that area, finally gave up and bought bread and coffee at a convenience store. We went back to Okinawa World and it was over 9 am. The parking area was almost full already! So fast.

Okinawa World

Online Banking Scam

Checking emails on my seldom used email account. To my surprise, after Maybank2u and Cimb Clicks online scams, now even RHB is being used!

online banking scam

OMG! After all the education by the CIMB and Maybank to their customers, now the fraudsters shift target to other banks' users. They really evolved fast to cheat people.

25th November 2012
Addition: checking my mail, haiz! another scam mail, this time AmBank is used.

Okinawa 4 Days Trip - Day 2 (Part 2)

5th October 2012

After all the walking around the aquarium, we were hungry. So, we decided to go to Fruits Land to eat the fruits boat that looked so delicious from the Fruits Land brochure. It was just next to the Okinawa Pineapple Park. Due to time constraints, we just went to Fruits Land.

Okinawa Fruits Land 沖縄フルーツランド

Okinawa 4 Days Trip - Day 2 (Part 1)

5th October 2012

A tour to Okinawa is not complete without a trip to Churaumi Aquarium 美ら海水族館 located in Ocean Expo Park. So, we spent half a day there. Since distance with car was around 2 hours from Naha City and we planned to go to Cape Manza too, we left the guest house real early at around 6.15 am. When I went to the living room to wait for my friend, the guy from the guest house thought that we were going to check out for waking up so early.

We passed by Cape Manza first. The view was beautiful too without the sunset. 

Cape Manza 万座毛

Okinawa 4 Days Trip - Day 1

4th October 2012

Woke up before 5 am to take a 5.36 am to Fukuoka Airport. I couldn't sleep well the night before, felt so tired. To prevent overslept, I asked my friend to call me on the morning because if I missed the train, I would miss the flight too. (・_・;)(I had overslept before, luckily my mode of transportation was shinkansen, I still could take the next bullet train.)

Although the time was still early, a lot of commuters were waiting for the train. Me and my friend took reserved seats on the express train from Nakatsu to Hakata. We reached Hakata on 7.16 am. I thought we still have plenty of time before we board the flight. However, after the subway from Hakata to Fukuoka Airport, we still have to walk quite a distance to the check-in counter and then boarding gate. We were just in time. 

Reached Naha Airport and went to tourist information center to take brochures first. We bought a set of discount tickets for the Churaumi Aquarium and 10 other tourist spots. It was cheaper than to buy separate ticket. After that, we went to the rental car waiting area to find the person in charge. The rental car company name is Paradise. I think the rental rate was quite cheap, for 4 days and 4 nights, it cost only 11000 yen. My friend told me that the Madza Rental, Toyota Rental and other famous rental car companies have a more expensive rental rate. 

Russian Car - Lada 2107

With all the new designs coming out from all the car manufacturers, a 2010 car model would look old compared to the 2012 model. So, I was very surprised when I saw the picture of Russian Lada 2107. The look was so 80s. However, don't be shock, it is still being manufactured and enjoyed good sales in Russia!

Lada 2107 (picture source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lada_Riva)

Well, the main reason people bought it because it was cheap. Since this car still uses the old technology without much electronic components, it was relatively easy to maintain. I think that maybe this car gives a nostalgic feeling too, the 80s!

Pocket Money of Salary men サラリーマンの小遣い

Read in JapanToday about pocket money of salary men, due to the economic conditions, the pocket money level falls to same level as 30 years ago. Pocket money in Japanese is kozukai 小遣い, normally for married couple, the husband will hand over all of his salary to the wife, and the wife will give the husband pocket money after she do all the calculations on all the household expenses, kids, schools, loans, etc. So, the salary men's kozukai is a useful economic barometer, Shinsei Bank have been doing the survey from 1979. So, I googled for more titbits on this interesting topic, another article from JapanToday too, the most interesting part was the comments. So funny!

A comment from Shoganakunai: Unfortunately like many stories on Japan, this fails to take into account the shadow economy. Although most salarymen may receive a pitiful kozukai- it is not their only source of income. A large % of salarymen hold multiple bank accounts and arrange with their HR department to split a small percentage off into the secondary account which acts as their entertainment cash account. Ask your Nihonjin male colleagues if they are aware of this and you'll see. The wives in these cases never get to see the original gross salary. I remember when my Japanese boss discovered only on pay-day that the company was henceforth sending his monthly payslip directly home by mail instead of delivered to his desk. His horror was only matched by how fast he went home to intercept the payslip... But lest you think Japanese salarymen are all bad and deceptive, it is a common practice for wives to spin off a small % themselves into their own private account. Originally to protect themselves in case of a divorce, its more often used to fuel those handbag expenses.... again ask your female SAHM friends and see if they'll confess after a couple of drinks. Neither get reported in the general media though...

Chrysanthemum Tea

Before I came to Japan, my mom packed a lot of food stuffs for me. One of the stuffs was dried chrysanthemum. I learnt from my roommate during university time that it was ok to just dip the dried chrysanthemum in hot boiled water until the smell coming out. For me, the easier the better. 

I had a tea pot with accompanying metal mesh filter. The filter was very convenient. 

1. Take out the desired amount of dried chrysanthemum and put into the filter
2. Clean it with running water to remove any dirts.
3. Put the filter on the tea pot opening
4. Pour boiled water and let it be until the smell of chrysanthemum comes out.
5. Pour the chrysanthemum tea into a glass or cup and add sugar or honey to taste

A nice glass of chrysanthemum tea, minus the hours of boiling!

※ I reuse the chrysanthemum for around 3 to 4 times, after that, the taste will subside. 

Chrysanthemum tea

One Day Trip in Takachiho 高千穂

21st September 2012

Went to Takachiho 高千穂 with colleagues on that day due to company holiday. We departed from Nakatsu early in the morning at 6.30am. To save on toll money, we decided to go on mountain route instead of highway. It was beautiful along the way.

We passed by Mt. Aso and we were near Daikanbo, so we stopped there. Daikanbo was greener than the last time I came. It was early in the morning, only a few bikers were there. After that, we continued our journey.

Daikanbo 大観峰

Thai Green Curry (Pre Packaged Food)

Before I come to Japan, I would have never consider pre packaged food. However, there's no mom cooking here and the only Indian restaurant in Nakatsu is quite far from my apartment. I tried to buy curry powder once from supermarket, however, almost all the curries contained beef fat! I don't eat beef. So, I was so happy when I found a pre packaged Thai Green Curry which contained no beef fat, I grabbed it directly.

pre packaged Thai Green Curry

top: the content of the pre packaged green curry
bottom: with all the added ingredients

Since the quantity was for one meal only and I planned to eat for lunch and dinner, I decided to add vegetables and prawns to the curry and boiled everything. However, it diluted the curry a bit. Anyway, the overall taste was good and fulfilling!

What Google "autocomplete" Recommends in Japan from A to Z - Part 2

On my previous piece, I checked the Google "autocomplete" recommends in Japan from 'A' to 'Z'. 

However, I found that when I typed 'A' in Japanese character, the result was different. So, I changed the keyboard to Japanese IME and rechecked. Almost all the results were same, except for 'A-あ', 'I-い' and 'U-う'. So, below was what the Google "autocomplete" recommends in Japan from 'あ' to 'ｚ'.

What Google "autocomplete" Recommends in Japan from A to Z - Part 1

After the "What Google 'autocomplete' Recommends in Malaysia from A to Z", I searched for the Japan info on the topic. It seems that, on March 2012, Google was ordered by a Japanese court to delete certain terms from autocomplete. This was due to a court case which involved an unidentified man who was concerned that typing in his name linked him with crimes he was not involved with. However, according to the news article, Google said it was reviewing the order, they haven't carried out the court's request. 

Well, anyway, the result of 'autocomplete' for Japan surprised me, I was very unfamiliar with most of the stuffs.

I joined Pinterest today

9th September 2012

While browsing through 'the star online' this morning, I came across an article about Pinterest, it seems interesting. It is a virtual pinboard that helps people build collections online. So, I signed up. 

A member of Pinterest!

Then, I read on further to understand how it works. I installed the "Pin it" button on my bookmarks, it was very easy, just drag the "Pin it" button from "Goodies" to the bookmarks bar. 

1. For starters, I create a board named "Japan wonders"
2. Open my blog entries on Japan travel
3. click the "Pin it" button
4. a page looks like below will come out, after click on the image that I desired, it returns to the original page.
5. Then, I opened my board on Pinterest. The image is in my board already

"pin it" in pinterest

After that, I tried on other websites and 'pin' on the images I liked, kind of interesting. If I need to revisit the website, I could just find it in my Pinterest board. So far, I created two boards, "Food" and "Japan wonders". Mmmm, I am thinking how long I will maintain this account, maybe long, maybe short, who knows? Hahaha!

pins on my board

Ajimu Wine Festival in USA 安心院フェア「葡萄酒祭り２０１２」

8th September 2012

My friend told me about a Wine Festival in USA 宇佐, I don't drink alcohol, so I was not so interested to go. However, after he told me about a visit to grape farm, I decided to go because I have never seen a grape vine before.

We drove to Ajimu 安心院 (in Usa 宇佐, Oita Prefecture), the venue for the festival. Since no parking spaces were allocated near the venue (Ajimu Family Village), shuttle bus services were provided from  designated parking areas. Once we reached, we quickly went to a booth to apply seats for the bus to a grape farm for grape plucking activity. We wanted the 11.30am slot, however, it was full. So, we asked for the 12.30pm slot.

Ajimu Wine Festival 安心院フェアワインまつり２０１２

Grapefruit (グレープフルーツ) with Yogurt

I like oranges. So, when I saw a big pack of 6 oranges sold with only 400 yen in a local supermarket (fruits are very expensive in Japan), I just grabbed it. However, I did not realise that it was grapefruit. I mistook it for oranges. The grapefruit was so sour that I had problems to finish it. However, I did not want to waste food too. So, finally I decided to add the grapefruit to yogurt. 

1. remove all the rind (skin of the grapefruit) and pith (thread-like white material), just the flesh remained. 
2. add the flesh into the yogurt
3. stir well and serve

grapefruit with yogurt

The taste was actually not bad, the yogurt was kinda sweet and it blended well with the sourish grapefruit. A good and delicious dessert!

What Google "autocomplete" Recommends in Malaysia from A to Z

Read something interesting in BBC news "Google autocomplete: The Internet Where You Are", it seems that for every geographical differences, the autocomplete will be different, so I decided to make a list for Malaysia too for comparison. Hahahah!

alphabet	champion	first runner-up	second runner-up
A	airasia	anm	astro
B	berita harian	blogger	beautifulnara
C	cimb	celcom	currency converter
D	Digi	Digi games	dailymotion
E	Euro 2012	eBay	Era FM
F	Facebook	Firefly	Facebook login
G	google	google translate	Gmail
H	hotmail	Harian Metro	Harakah
I	Ikea	Instagram	Iphone5
J	Jobstreet	JPA	JPJ
K	Kosmo	KWSP	KeepVid
L	lelong	Livescore	lowyat
M	mudah	maybank2u	Malaysiakini
N	narutoget	nokia	nissan
O	oh bulan	Olympic 2012	oum
P	PTPTN	public bank	pps
Q	quotes	qq	qvod player
R	resepi	RHB	roti kaya
S	saps	spa	samsung
T	translate	Twitter	Tonton
U	utusan	uitm	upu
V	video	Volkswagen	vgmc
W	www.facebook.com	www.youtube.com	wikipedia
X	xe	xda	xiaxue
Y	youtube	yahoo	y8
Z	zalora	zoom a	zedge

※ This data was collected on 7th September 2012

One Day Trip in Mojiko 門司港

12th May 2012

I left Miyajima early in the morning to catch the train to Iwakuni with my friend, Ee. I have been to Iwakuni before, but since I had time, I decided to go one more time to see this Kintai bridge again. We just snapped photos of the bridge and left. I took train to Mojiko, while Ee went to Hiroshima.

Kintai bridge 錦帯橋

Kokura Wasshoi Summer Festival 2012 (第２５回わっしょい百万夏祭り) - Part 2

5th August 2012

Initially, I planned to go to Kokura on 4th August only because the activities that day seems more interesting. However, it was way better than I expected, so I decided to go for the second day celebrations too. On that day, I went to Kokura at the afternoon, since it was still early, I went to Riverwalk Kitakyushu りバーウォーク北九州, a multi purpose complex with beautiful curvy shaped building. It is a shopping area too. One can view Kokura Castle 小倉城 from the upper level at Riverwalk. 

View of Kokura Castle 小倉城 from Riverwalk

After all the shopping, me and my colleague went to the Komoji Dori 小文字通り for Sunday Parade サンデーパレード. It was around the same with 4th August Welcome Parade. Nevertheless, it was fun too.

Sunday Parade サンデーパレード

Kokura Wasshoi Summer Festival 2012 (第２５回わっしょい百万夏祭り) - Part 1

4th August 2012

My colleague told me about this Summer Festival in Kokura, after reading about it, I decided to go with him. We took normal JR train from Nakatsu to Kokura, it took around 1 hour. Once reached the Kokura Station 小倉駅, there were performances related to this festival. The dances were very energetic, fun and with some Japanese traditional moves. I like the one with children, very cute! After that, we left the train station and went to the designated area. There were more performances. It was very happening with all the people and stalls selling all sorts of things. 

The afternoon performances (わっしょいＹＯＳＡＫＯＩ北九州２０１２)

The afternoon performances in Komoji Dori (わっしょいＹＯＳＡＫＯＩ北九州２０１２)

♥ Google+ Photo Editing Tool

Frankly speaking, the reason I uploaded my photos to Google+ was this blog. I needed a space to store all the pictures because the space in my Picasa was full. However, now there is another reason for me to use the Google+ , I just found out that there is a photo editing tool in Google+. I felt that it was quite a decent photo editing tool. I am not the kind of person with high expectation on the photo editing software. As long as it does the job, I am fine with it. Plus, I do not possess high skill in using all the software. "Easy" and "free" are very important for me.

Photo uploaded to Google+ Album → Click on the "Edit Photo"

There are 4 portions, namely "Basic Edits", "Effects", "Decorate" and "Test".

For "Basic edits", it consists of "AutoFix", "Crop", "Rotate", "Exposure", "Colours", "Sharpen" and "Resize". Well, it is definitely more than Facebook, the only photo editing tool on Facebook is "rotate". I did not use all these functions though.

The Photo Editing Page

The one I love is the "Effects", there are a lot to choose from, I like the "Daguerreotype", "Polaroid* Plus", "Black and White", "Lomo-ish" and "1960s". For the "1960s", one can choose to make the corners of the photo round. So convenient compared to Facebook, have to edit before upload. 

The photo was edited under the "Effects" → I use the "Daguerreotype" and  click "save"

While for the "Decorate", one can insert "Doodle", "Fake beards", "Crowns & Tiaras", "Masks", etc. It was fun to play with and very user friendly. While for "Text", to add text of course, there are more than 40 text fonts to choose from, pretty good selection. 

Ah, all my friends are in Facebook, so for the moment, only the photos for the blog will be edited in Google+, while the other photos will be edited traditionally for Facebook.

Well, I knew that all of these can be done with the iPhone apps or Android apps, but I am still a computer kind of gal. I want big screen, keyboard and a mouse. Hahahah!

Heatstroke - Summer 2012

Read news about JR bullet train delayed caused by driver suffering from heatstroke and more than 20000 people taken to hospital for heatstroke. It was so unbelievable to me. I mean, Malaysia is a tropical country, but I had never heard of anyone hospitalised due to heatstroke. But, it was big in Japan! (^_^;)

There were advertisements in TV on how to stay cool, malls and supermarkets stock a lot of 'cool biz' products, even my company website has a notice on "how to avoid heatstroke". 

For me, the ways to avoid heatstroke are

1. wear loose clothing
2. stay indoors when it is not working day
3. if I have to go out, I will go out after 6pm
4. drink water (plenty of it!)

2 weeks ago, I went to a summer festival in Kokura 小倉わっしょう百万夏祭り. There were a lot of people and I saw some government officials handout something to the public. So, I went over there (busybody!!) to see what was that.

officials raising banners to remind people to prevent heatstroke

Vending Machines in Japan 日本の自動販売機

One of the very common sights in Japan is the vending machines. You can find it everywhere and anywhere, even in the middle of a jungle or mountain. Within walking distance from my apartment, there are 3 vending machines. All drinks. My apartment area is residential area (low density type), so initially I thought that it was too much, however, it is not too much! I actually saw people coming out from their house and bought a bottled drink or can, finished it, threw the bottle/can into recycle bin and went back to their house! I was so surprised! The drinks from the vending machine are not cheap, it starts from 100 yen to 160 yen (depends on the brand or type). The same bottle in a supermarket will cost from 65 yen to 120 yen only. I will only buy from vending machine when I was travelling or outstation.

vending machine 自動販売機

席绢的《盛莲传说》系列

忘了几时开始读席绢的小说了，可是我一直都很喜欢她的作品。后来，网络小说的横行，我又爱上了穿越时空的小说。那时我每天都到图书馆上网（相当年，wifi还不是那么普及，学校宿舍没得上网），就为了追看那些好长好长的网络小说，有一部小说我还追了差不多两年呢！后来，我还成功让我其中一位室友成为小说迷。可是，另外一位室友认为这些网络小说家还不够火候，还是那些已经集结出书的小说家的书比较好看。她认为已经集结出书的小说家的故事大纲比较成熟，当然编辑也功不可没就是了。后来，我对网络小说的热诚也慢慢的退烧了。刚开始看的时候是蛮新鲜的，可是看久了，就会觉得千篇一律。所以又看回一本本的小说了，另外我也没有耐性一篇一篇的追了。

席绢的《盛莲传说》系列真的好好看，是穿越时空的小说。从《墨莲》，《第二》到《男帝》都让人爱不释手。这是一个讲述为了二千多年前为了避免从母系社会进化到父系社会而带来的战争，盛莲国的神巫族（后来的花家）逆天而行，以自己的性命，施了一个神秘的禁咒-千年咒愿，让世界和平。为了维持千年咒愿，男人身上开始有了莲花图腾。图腾一共有五种颜色，用来区别出男人的力量的品质和利用他们的力量，维持着那个咒愿的运转。其中，受到最差的对待的是身上长了墨莲的人，他们没有生育能力，被剥削，被当成社会边缘人。

Type "symbol" Using Japanese IME

After the "♥", I think it is better to make a table for easy reference.

For the PDF version of the list of Japanese IME characters, please click here!

First, the table is for the brackets, colon, etc. It was amazing with all the variances one could make with the punctuation marks. After changing to the Japanese IME, just type the "keyword' and the rest of the symbols will come out!

Many Uses of Japanese IME Symbol

Keyword	Symbol
（	［（「{〈[〔《＜【『｛(｢≪
）	］〉｝》』】＞≫〕}｣）」)]
［	[｢〔(｛{〈《「『【＜≪［（
］	」》〉｝］〕）｣}])≫＞】』
｛	「［《『[{〈｢（〔｛(≪＜【
｝	〕≫＞】」〉］）｣}])》｝』
「	『「《〈｛［〔（｢{[【＜(≪
」	〉≫＞】』》｝］〕）｣])」}
－＞	→
＜－	←
＜	「《〈｛(『【〔（＜≪｢［[{
＞	】）］》〕」』＞≫〉｣])｝}

"One Piece" Puzzle

I bought mini puzzles from a hobby shop. The main reason I bought it was the end products looked so nice on the wall in that shop! The puzzles theme are "One Piece", a famous Japanese Anime. It is about a pirate, Luffy who inspired to find a treasure called 'Once Piece' and become the next pirate king. Along the way, he organises and leads a 9 member crew named Stray Hat Pirates. Bounties were offered to capture all of them. The puzzles are in the form of bounty poster. Very interesting!

mini puzzles, frames & tapes

Completed Puzzle!

When I went to Miyajima, I found this Hiroshima only "One Piece" puzzle, so I bought it, adding one more to my collections. This was kinda easy compared to the bounty poster, the bounty poster is more difficult due to the colours and the similar 4 sides.

bought this in Miyajima, limited only in Hiroshima prefecture (広島限定)

The Hiroshima only "ONE PIECE" puzzle - with the torii 鳥居 and deers

Next, maybe I will challenge the larger size puzzle!

Amazing Fireworks at Miyajima 11th August 2012 宮島水中花火大会

Initially, I planned to go to Korea for summer holiday. However, my colleague who was crazy with everything Korea told me that it was not convenient for me to travel alone there. She said that it is safe to travel alone, but if I wanted to eat the Korean cuisine, some restaurant will need at least 2 persons and the transport fee will be too expensive alone. So, I abandoned the idea after I could not find anyone who want to go with me.

very amazing fireworks display!

100 Yen Shop 百円ショップ

One of the most well known shops in Japan is 100 yen shop. It can be found in almost any town. Most of it are owned by Daiso or Seria. Daiso is easier to find, but Seria has a range of products that are more beautiful or delicate. Initially, I got a lot of my stuffs in 100 yen shop. However, after that, I found out that it is actually not that expensive to buy from the supermarkets, sometimes, it is cheaper with higher quality.

For example, handkerchief sold in 100 yen shop is around the same with the handkerchief sold in Rocky which cost only 40 yen. It is the same with socks, there are more varieties at supermarkets, sometimes cheaper or on par with the 100 yen shop. However, it is convenient to buy in the 100 yen shop. Plus, they have a lot of stuffs that are so cute that one cannot resist the temptation to own it. Although at the end, it will end up in the junk.

Saving Electricity in Summer

Summer is here in Japan. I feel that it is hotter than Malaysia and my apartment is a heat collector. I can feel the heat wave. So, stand fan alone is not enough to cool me down, I had difficulty in breathing. I had to use air conditioner, albeit with some guilty conscience. Not only it wastes electricity, it pollutes the environment with the green house gases. I blamed it on the apartment design though.

So, for the air conditioner, I set the temperature at 28 degree Celsius. According to some websites, for every 1 degree Celsius down, the electricity consumption will increase by 3 to 5 %. Of course, I use the combination of air conditioner and fan to cool down the room.

After the Japan 311 earthquakes, whole Japan faces decrease supply of electricity after the nuclear reactors were closed for maintenance and inspection. So, the government and the power utility companies encouraged people to save electricity. One of the solutions is to have ‘green curtain’ to cool down the indoor temperature.

green curtain outside a building (it was bushier a month ago)

10 Things To Do In Japan

After living in Japan for more than one year, I am thinking about the ‘must do’ stuff while being here.

1.    Eat Sushi (回転寿司)

If you have the money to splash, you can choose the very high end sushi shop with minimum expenditure around 30000 yen per person (RM1200 / USD 380). If on budget, one can choose the conveyor belt sushi shop (of course, there are expensive type too). I prefer the 105 yen per plate type shop, one can eat until very full without worrying about the bill. Once, I went to a not so cheap conveyor belt sushi shop (the price range from 105 yen to 1005 yen per plate), I kept counting how much I have eaten, so it minus out the joy of eating. 

2.    Speak Japanese

When in Rome, do as the Romans do. So, in Japan, one can try to speak Japanese. Even a simple Arigatougozaimasu ありがとうございます (thank you very much) will make people happy.

Strong Wind in Japan (3rd April 2012)

strong wind!

http://archive.japantoday.com/category/national/view/kanto-workers-urged-to-go-home-early-ahead-of-typhoon-strength-winds/comments/asc/id/2229476

I still remembered in the old Cantonese TVB drama, everybody would rush home after typhoon alert. I was still a kid then, the only thought that came to my mind was "how nice, can go home, don't need to work!". So, when my company HR personnel briefed me about the rules and regulations for Japan factory, I was surprised to hear that unless there are no train services, normally it will be work as normal even if there are typhoon, earthquake, etc. Well, it was true though. After one and a half year here in Japan, I never got that kind of holiday.

Starbucks Coupon and Blogger Don't Provide Unlimited Storage for Images

Starbucks Coupon (13th July 2012)

coupon for Starbucks coffee

I was transferred from Kumamoto to Oita office on May 2012. So, my colleague got me a farewell card with a free Starbucks coupon. However, Nakatsu has no Starbucks. And I did not go out of Nakatsu, so it expired before I had a chance to use it. 

Kyoto and Nara 3 Days Trip - Day 1

19th November 2011

Normally, November was the time to see red leaves. The red leaves 紅葉 viewing was very famous in Kyoto. So, we planned a trip to go to Kyoto. It was a farewell trip for our friend, Chu too. She would go back to Malaysia at the end of November. However, due to the prolonged hot weather, the reddening of the red leaves was delayed. It was not fully red yet. Plus, the weather was so depressing, it rains!

Anyway, I booked the flight tickets 2 months before that. I took Skymark flight from Kumamoto 熊本 to Kobe 神戸 on 18th November with another friend, Danny. After that, we took monorail from Kobe Airport to Sannomiya Station 三ノ宮駅, then JR train from Sannomiya Station to Kyoto Station. We reached just in time for dinner, we ate at a Hong Kong Cuisine Restaurant in the Kyoto Station.

After that, we checked in into Hana Hostel. It was clean with enough bathrooms and toilets. As with any other hostel style accommodations, I only got a bed and had to share room with a lot others. There was one person who snored whole night, so I did not sleep well that night.

To type "♥" with Japanese IME

I knew that typing "Alt + 3" gives us a ♥. However, I could not do it with my laptop's keyboard. So, I find another way, I understood some Japanese, so I add the Japanese IME (input method editor), when I wanted to type the "♥", I changed to Japanese.

1. "♥" is ハート (heart) in Japanese. Just type "ha-to" on the keyboard and pressed the spacebar. 
Then, something like image below will pop up. Just choose any heart you like!

heart ハート ♥ ❥ ❦

Golden Week 2012 - Meiji Mura Half Day Trip 明治村半日遊

5th May 2012

Reached Inuyama Station and found out there were no empty lockers. So, had to lug our bags until Meiji Village 明治村. Luckily, there were lockers there. The admission ticket was very expensive, 1600 yen for adult. Plus, if one wants to take the bus inside the village, another 500 yen is needed. So, me and my friend said to ourselves, no matter what, we would finish toured all the attractions before Meiji Mura close. Luckily, on that day, it closed on 6pm instead of the usual 5pm.

on the train to Inuyama, Meiji Mura gate and the retro bus

As the name suggests, Meiji Village houses buildings from the Meiji area. After industrialisation of the modern Japan, a lot of the historical buildings were destroyed, so a Dr. Yoshiro Taniguchi with his childhood friend, Mr. Moto O Tshuchikawa established this Meiji Mura. They chose buildings that were going to be destroyed and reconstructed the buildings in Meiji Mura. This buildings include prison, school buildings, churches, various government buildings, former ambassador residences, railways, factories, hotel, etc. 

Golden Week 2012- Hamamatsu Matsuri 浜松祭り Part 2

5th May 2012 こどもの日

After a feast of kites flying under the hot sun, we went to the museum. It was just next to the venue for kite-fighting competition.

Hamamatsu Matsuri Museum 浜松祭り会館

Once entered the building, we could see lots of kites in different shapes and colours. A volunteer uncle kindly walked us all over the building and explained all the details related to Hamamatsu Matsuri. 

kites from different machi

Pumpkin Pork Soup 南瓜猪肉汤

I must be out of my mind when I bought a big pumpkin. It sits inside my fridge for more than one week, I felt if I still left it alone, it will rot. I like pumpkin, however I did not know how to cook it. So, I video called my mom to ask for advice. My mom suggested that I cooked Pumpkin Pork Soup, she said that the soup will be very sweet with the addition with pumpkin.

So, on a fine Sunday morning, I started to prepare for the soup.

Ingredients:

pumpkin, pork, carrot, tomato, onion, etc.

1. Slice, cut, clean everything. I only had a small knife and to cut this pumpkin into half, it became blunt. I really had to use a lot of energy to cut this pumpkin into cubes. (Tired!)
2. Add enough water to the pot and start to boil. 
3. After the water is boiled, add carrot cubes and onion.
4. Then, add the pork. (use small fire)
5. Wait until the smell of pork came out. (around 20 minutes)
6. Add the pumpkin cubes and tomatoes.
7. After the bubbles can be seen, add salt to taste. 
8. For safety, I boiled the soup for 15 minutes more to make sure everything is cooked. Hahahaha, I didn't want to have stomach ache later.

Golden Week 2012- Hamamatsu Matsuri 浜松祭り Part 1

5th May 2012 こどもの日

After so many days of trip, finally reached the last day of the trip, kind of happy actually because I missed the comfort of the bed in my own apartment. As usual, woke up really early to catch train to Hamamatsu 浜松. We went there for the famous Hamamatsu Matsuri 浜松祭り, a Kite-fighting Festival. There was a parade too at night, however, it clashed with our plan, so had to miss it.

The kite fighting was held in Nakatajima Sand Dune 中田島砂丘. There are public bus plying to the area from Hamamatsu Station 浜松駅. However, during the festival, direct shuttle bus services were available from Hamamatsu Station and it was quite frequent. There were volunteers who were very enthusiastic outside the station. They guided us to the bus station and offered booklets about the festival.

After buying the bus tickets, we boarded the bus. There were a few young kids wearing their team clothes. Along the way, I could see people thronging to the same direction, the sand dune! Reached there and saw a big crowd of people, the sound of trumpet could be heard everywhere. Very happening!

Nakatajima Sand Dune 中田島砂丘

Golden Week 2012 - Brief Tour in Shimizu Area 清水

4th May 2012

After sending our friend to Shimizu Station. We went to Hotel Sun Port ホールさんポート to check in. The hotel was very near to ShinShimizu Station 新清水駅, but not Shimizu Station, I mistook Shinshimizu station as Shimizu station. Luckily, it was only around 10 minutes walk from the hotel to Shimizu station. 

Then, we drove to Miho no Matsubara 三保松原, an attractions nearby. It is a seashore with white sands and long line of green pine trees. If the sky was clear, one could see the Mt. Fuji from here too. 

Miho no Matsubara 三保松原