A Thoughtful Package Design

I bought a packet of somen (そうめん 素麺) from supermarket. It tastes like birthday noodle (寿面 or meesuah in Hokkien) in Malaysia. Curious, I checked the info from Wikipedia, it is actually the same thing. However, the Japanese somen tastes better because it doesn't turn soggy fast. The Malaysian meesuah will turn soggy if left inside the soup after a short period. 

My Japanese colleagues told me that their mothers generation love to put fruits on somen. I told them I cannot imagine how it will taste like. For me, noodle must be eaten with something salty. 

Anyway, this article is about the package of the somen. Everytime I cook spaghetti, I had trouble to gauge the amount I had to grab, so I ended up with either too much or too little spaghetti left for my last serving. So, I am very delighted to see the package of this somen. It has a line gauge on the packaging for 4 individual servings. A very thoughtful design indeed. I could grab the more accurate amount of noodle with this design and not ended up with weird amount of noodle left!

noodle's packaging with a line gauge

Korean Instant Noodle (Spicy!)

Before my trip to Korea, my colleague already told me about a Korean instant noodle that is very spicy. Although she will have runny nose everytime she had that, she will still stock up on that noodle everytime she went to Korea. Mmmm, after I heard about that, I decided to buy that too.

So, when we went to a local supermarket in Korea, I bought the very spicy instant noodle (一番辛いのラメン) that my colleague likes so much. 

I cooked a packet for dinner a few days ago. Well, it is not as spicy as I thought. The spiciness is around the level of Maggi curry mee. (according to my memory only though, my Maggi mee was out of stock for a long time already) 

spicy Korean instant noodle

Inside the packet, there were 2 packets. One with dried mushroom, dried chili and other dried stuffs. Another is a huge packet of curry powder. A bit shock when saw that amount of curry powder, hahaha! It is quite tasty, I should buy more!

spicy Korean instant noodle

Nature Republic (Snaytox Ex Mask Sheet)

30th January 2013

I bought a lot of masks during my trip to Korea. The mask is very cheap in Korea, some only cost 3000 won per 10 sheets. However, I do believe that we get what we pay for. So, I bought the mask from a more established brand. 

Earlier, I got a free mask from a shop owner where I bought souvenir, she asked us to try and if it is ok, we could go back to her shop and buy that. However, I was having my period that time, so I did not try it. I only tried that after I came back to Japan, well, it is ok, cannot expect too much for a 300 won mask.

Well, I did buy mask from Nature Republic (at least, heard that brand before). I forgot the price already. I bought two types of mask, one is snake venom based and one is snail mucus based. Today, since I got home early, I decided to apply the snake venom based mask. OMG! I felt a prickling sensation right after I put that on my face, I removed that immediately and washed my face. Later, I asked my friend about that, she said some hydrating ingredients will make the skin painful, she said she will look into the ingredients for me. She also said that most probably my skin is too dry when I told her that my face is not red after applying that mask.

front cover

Strawberry いちご 苺

Although I like strawberry, I never really like the strawberry jam, strawberry cookies, strawberry cakes, etc.

However, in Malaysia, it is very difficult to get strawberry. Even when it was sold in supermarket, most of it would be sour. So, now whenever I see strawberry in Japan, although very expensive, I will buy once in a while to feed my craving! (~_~;)

strawberry いちご 苺

Book Off in Japan

27th January 2013

In Japan, normally I will buy books from Tsutaya or bookstores located in department stores. Sometimes, I will buy online from Amazon.jp.

Today, after almost 2 years in Japan, finally I went to Book Off, a second-hand book shop. It  is a chain business selling second hand books (comic, novel, reference book, hobby), toys, figurines, CD, DVD, etc. 

Since all are second hand books, all are cheap. I bought 3 books that only cost 105 yen each. Some cost more, but not more than 1000 yen. All the books don't look old though, kinda clean and new. According to wikipedia, they cut off the book edge to make it looks newer.

Second hand books I got from Book Off (105 yen each)

Then, I thought of selling my books to Book Off. So, after I got home, I went through my books, however, I feel so hard to part with the books, although I know that I won't read a same book twice. At the end, I managed to choose two books only! (~_~;)

going to sell these 2 books to Book Off

Mind Our Japanese

In The Star, every week, there will be a column named "mind our English". I remembered that readers used to send photos of signs, banners, etc with wrong spelling or grammar error. It provides a good laugh and reminds myself not to make the same mistake.

When I went to Busan, Korea for a short trip. I saw signs with wrong Japanese words, so I took the photos. There are a lot of Japanese tourist there and most of the shopkeepers can speak Japanese. However, I think most understand conversational Japanese only, not the written words.

Below are the photos of wrong katagana 片仮名 (the one in green cloud) used in signboards near Busan Hotel.

karaoke カラオケ (the カ is wrong with one more dot)

morning set モーニングセット (the ソ is supposedly ン)

\When I started to learn Japanese, my teacher kept reminding us not to mix ン (n) and ソ (so) because both look quite the same. Well, this is a very good example!

Hokkaido 'One Piece' Puzzle

Bought a set of mini puzzle in Hokkaido. I will go back to Malaysia soon and no chance to visit the lavender season in Hokkaido. So, although I visited on winter, I bought a summer themed puzzle instead. 

mini puzzle of "one piece"

I helped my friend to buy a mini puzzle. The frame is Hokkaido themed too! However, the themed frame is a little bit more expensive than the normal one with just plain colour. Since I started my collection with plain frame, I continued to do so. 

mini puzzle (Hokkaido themed for both frame & puzzle)

Winter Holiday in Hokkaido (1)

28th Dec 2012

In Japan, winter holiday is the peak season for travel. So, most are expensive. Before I go back to Malaysia, I really wanted to go to Hokkaido. So, when my friends planned to go there, I quickly said yes! First I wanted to take night flight on 28th Dec to Tokyo from Kitakyushu, then take the next morning earliest flight to Hakodate 函館 (our first stop in Hokkaido). However, after adding everything up, the flight alone costs more than 40k yen. After some calculations, I decided to take leave on 28th Dec and fly to Sapporo on 28th, I saved around 10k yen. 

Once I reached ShinChitose Airport 新千歳空港, I took train to Minami Chitose 南千歳, then express train to Hakodate. One thing I did not expect was it's so hot inside the train and the buildings, I actually sweated! The temperature differences between outdoor and indoor was too big! So, advice here, wear layer ed of clothes.

Anyway, I had my first ekiben 駅弁 (lunch box sold in train). Not as delicious as I thought, I think for storage purpose, they made the whole thing dry. I had to keep drinking tea to finish that lunch box.

minced crab lunch box sold on the express train from Sapporo to Hakodate
駅弁 (札幌↔函館)

Then, reached Hakodate on around 6pm. I checked into a business hotel called Hotel Plaza 函館プラザホテル. Before I checked in, the front desk actually called to ask whether I want Japanese or Western style breakfast. Then, when I got into the room, I felt so warm and touched. They wrote a hand written note asking me to take care of the health due to the heavy snow and all. I knew that the note was one of the copies that the hotel sent to everybody, the only differences is the name and place of origin. However, it is a hand written note! We don't really get that kind of notes anymore, the most are printed notes! I gave the hotel a 5.0 (full points) on the Rakuten review for service!

warmed by a hand written note!

For dinner, I bought onigiri from a convenience shop near the hotel. Ah, it's snowy all around and slippery. It's easier to walk on snow than icy road. 

29th Dec 2012

Woke up after receiving a SMS from my friend telling me that they reached Hakodate Airport. So, had my breakfast and checked out to meet them.

Good morning, Hakodate!

Day 1 & 2: Hakodate

Day 3: Chocolate Factory of Shiroi Koibito (Sapporo)

Day 4: New Year in Sapporo

Day 5: Otaru One Day Trip

Day 6: Snowboarding in Niseko

Day 7: Half day in Sapporo City

Day 7 & 8: Obihiro

Day 9 & 10: Tomamu Hoshino Resort

Ginger Honey Tea

Come winter time, ginger tea is a rage to warm the body. However, I am the lazy type, it is to troublesome to buy fresh ginger and grind it. So, I got the next best thing, jars of ginger honey tea. Very easy, just scoop up a tablespoon or two and dilute it with warm water. I always filled my thermos flask with warm ginger honey tea. It is nice to my throat!

ginger honey tea 生姜茶

Kyoto and Nara 3 Days Trip - Day 3

21st November 2011

Had a really bad night sleep, so we were kind of like zombie. But the 2 culprits (drunk and making noise the night before) were actually fresher than us. So unfair!

Anyway, we continued our journey. Went to Kyoto Station to store our luggages first. Then, we took train to Nijojo Mae Station 二条城前駅. Then, walked a small stretch of road to Nijo Castle 二条城. My friend said that there were autumn festival on that day and we were excited. However, surprise came later.

The castle is like normal Japanese castle. While the biggest surprise was that the autumn festival was actually a market that sold Kyoto's souvenir. Anyway, I love a walkway lined with trees. It was in autumn colour, so beautiful! Plus, the crowd here was lesser than Tofukuji and Kinkakuji, so we could enjoyed the view leisurely without the need to pushing around.

Nijo Castle 二条城