プリクラ キス - get happy

Love, love, love...
Love, love, love...
My sister is getting married!!

Asian Poses

There's a new website called Asian Poses that is pretty funny. It's by a guy who documents all the picture poses that are popular over here. I think this whole phenomenon started with Japanese sticker pictures (purikura) and the peace sign. It moved into this endlessly creative phenomenon that happens whenever anyone takes out a camera. Whenever a camera goes anywhere near young Japanese people, they whip out poses like these. It's something that happens all over Asia. Lately, most girls do this thing where the puff their cheeks out all big and look sad. (?) Most guys do the "guy face" which involves closing your left eye and sticking your tongue out.

It's the plague

The BBC did an article specifically about Japan in regards to swine flu. There are 90 cases here so far, and though none have been critical yet, everyone is in a crazy panic. All universities and high schools are closed. Everyone is walking around in surgical masks. Public transportation has become deserted ghost trains. My work has been cancelled for the next week and possibly for the week after that, as well. Masks are sold out everywhere. I get emails every day from friends telling me to be careful. Everyone is really worried about my family back home. I wasn't worried about this swine flu until work got called off and I found myself the only person in the city without a bag of surgical masks. Should I be more worried about this swine flu than I am?

Bento, Mahjong, Street Fighter, Gossip Girl, Diving = A Million New Hobbies

Lately, my mood has been pretty studious and obsessive, but in a good way. I have so many new hobbies these days. That's why I'm hardly ever on the internet anymore. One of my new hobbies, as you can see, is making delicious and beautiful Bento. Bento just means "Boxed Lunch" in Japanese, and I try to make the healthiest and most aesthetically pleasing Bentos for myself and for my friends. This one is the cutest one I've made so far. It's Western food. It's got a homemade potato casserole, spicy salad and bread. I packed it with pretzels and happy face cookies made from soy. I made it for my friend who is studying French.
Another new hobby is playing Mahjong. I love Mahjong and I could play it all day long, but I'm not good at it yet. I can't wait until I get good enough to actually play in a serious way with bets and everything. I can't wait to go back to Hong Kong and play with my friend's Auntie.Another new hobby is playing Nintendo Street Fighter. I am always either Chun Li, Ryu or Ken. My friends are stronger than I am but that's because I haven't played it for about ten years. This Nabe party yesterday (in the picture below) turned into a giant Street Fighter party. I love Street Fighter so much because of the nostalgia and because it's just as fun to watch other people play it as it is to actually play it yourself. Also, now I can recognize the locations because I have actually been to Thailand and Shanghai. I LOVE Street Fighter!! I also made takoyaki for the first time yesterday. I made it without octopus. I put kimchi, cheese, onions and hard noodles into it. 100% delicious. I think that Nabe is definitely my favorite Japanese food. I love the social aspect and I love all of the things in the pot. Shirataki, tofu, mushrooms, onions... nabe is delicious and one of the main reasons (culturally and socially) why it's very important to make friends with Japanese people while you're in Japan. If you live in Japan without ever getting invited to a Nabe party, I feel so sorry for you. I am also really into Gossip Girl. I know it's late, but the show is so addictive. I love every character. I am also into diving. I went to Wakayama yesterday.

Summer BBQ Bday Party

Right now, it feels like Summer. Japanese Spring = Canada's Summer. (Japan's Summer = sauna. It's a whole different story) We drove 1.5 hours away and had a BBQ party for my friend's birthday party.All the grilled vegetables were delicious. I ate so much pumpkin and so many mushrooms. My friends are tremendously thoughtful people. Whenever I am invited to anything involving cooking, my friends make sure there's always so much vegetarian food that I can eat. I never feel left out except sometimes when I go to restaurants. It's difficult to be a vegetarian in Japan, but I have really thoughtful friends.Everyone had fruit flan and drank birthday champagne and we also played a lot of dumb games. It was really fun. All my friends are so cute.

YAEBA - Cute, Crooked Teeth in Japan

This week, on basically every Japanese blog out there, there is a response to a woman asking about Yaeba. The reactions give it mixed reviews and I thought I'd give you mine. I don’t really like to write negative things about Japan on this site, so I’ll put my opinion in SAT style for you. Japanese teeth are to Asia as British teeth are to Europe.Braces are very uncommon here and people rarely go to the dentist. Crooked teeth are seen as cute here, and the Western version of crooked teeth has nothing on the Japanese version of crooked teeth. You know the shark exhibits they have in aquariums? You know how sharks have two or three rows of teeth behind their regular teeth? Yes, you do. In Japan, wildly crooked teeth, especially when the front teeth overlap or when there's an extra tooth or two growing out of the upper gums, are called Yaeba. Yaeba is seen as a cute and desirable thing. That’s fine. I think a bit of imperfection sometimes makes a face cuter (I love freckles and I often really love glasses.) but... I don't necessarily think Yaeba is unattractive, but I think that braces are a really great invention and I’m glad that they are beginning to catch on here in Japan. I don't hate crooked teeth, but I am attracted to straight teeth more than to crooked teeth. Clean, straight, white, cavity-free teeth are my favorite kind of teeth. Plenty of people think that crooked teeth are adorable over here, though.Yaeba / crooked teeth is one thing. It it is not a dealbreaker for me. The thing that is is that flossing is not popular in this country. Almost all of my friends in Japan are Japanese but I have still never met Japanese people who floss their teeth. This used to shock and disgust me (and sometimes still does) but I guess every culture has their disgusting habits. Western people walk around the house with shoes on, even in their bedrooms. That is almost just as filthy, and Japanese people are disgusted by it. When I become close friends with people and they stay at my house, they watch me floss my teeth with amazement. “Doesn’t it hurt?!’ I teach them to floss and now I know three Japanese people who floss every other day because I taught them how. ALSO. Why isn’t Kristen Dunst more popular over here? She did Marie Antoinette (a movie almost 100% about cake and fashion = a movie guaranteed to make money in Japan) and Spiderman (A superhero movie = a movie guaranteed to make money in Japan) and has the monopoly on Yaeba in Hollywood. Why is she not a household name like Cameron Diaz or Billy Blanks? She really needs to get on this and start hawking products in this part of the world. Kirsten Dunst could be so much popular than she is right now over here.

Happy Mother's Day

I love my mother so much!

Enjoy your Crunky time.

Goat yelling like a man.

"I think I find this so funny because the goat kind of sounds like Pauly Shore. And then I imagine Pauly Shore trapped in a goat body unable to do anything but yell."

Thank you Saelan.
Not about Japan at all / funniest thing I have ever seen

Best places in Osaka

Osaka Jo Koen - A lot of people don't like this castle and park, but I love it. This castle has an elevator in it, which many people think is inauthentic, but I think it's gorgeous and gleaming white. It looks beautiful in every season and the park around it is full of show-offs (unicycle riders, dancers, people walking 9 dogs at once, monkey shows, puppet shows, etc) which makes it a fun place to go. The castle is beautiful if you've never seen a Japanese castle before, but everyone tells me that when I see Himejijo I won't love this castle anymore. I know that won't be the case. The moat around the park offers a nice view. In the cherry blossom season, the Hanami parties here are the best.

Tsuruhashi - This is the Korea Town area of Osaka and it's set up like a dark maze under the station. It's famous for food and cheap drinks. Mainly Korean food of course, and Okonomiyaki and grilled meat (Yakiniku - smells so good but I can't eat it). During the day, you can buy a Chijimi (Korean savory pancake) from this little stall run by two very obese, very happy ladies wearing lots of makeup. The stall has no name, but you'll know it when you see the two rad ladies. I recommend!!

Where are your favorite places in Osaka?
Favorite shops?
Favorite cafes?
Favorite restaurants?

The first train is full of winners

I love BETH. "Tokyo never sleeps but the trains stop around midnight. The last trains are full of annoying drunks but the first trains at 5am are just partied all the way back to chill. When the sun comes up at the end of an epic night and you're so worn out and busted shuffling home you can't think about anything but passing out, it's like, man I really gave it my all. The first trains are full of winners. Or at least tryers!"

This girl's blog is hilarious and I love that she lives in and goes to all the places I used to live in and go to in Tokyo. Here is a picture of my Tokyo baby and I on the first morning train to Kichijouji last year.

Best Golden Week Ever.

I spent this Golden Week doing the same thing as I spent last year's Golden Week doing. I went camping at the same place in Yamanashi, Japan it was great. There were even more people this year, and even more girls. After camping, all of us went to an Onsen (hot springs resort) together. The picture above is of some girls right after the hot springs. Last year, Toshiko announced that she was pregnant. This year, she and her husband brought the baby along. The baby is named GO. He was cute and never cried. Satoru bought little, plastic girlfriends for some of the guys. They were a big hit.
We made vegetarian pizza and soup this year. There was also obviously tons and tons of meat but this year there was a lot that I could eat as well. The pizza was totally delicious with sun-dried tomatoes and caramelized onions.
The soup took about 4 hours to make. It was absolutely perfect. This time was better than last year. The weather was great and it didn't rain at all. We just ate and drank and played a lot of games. Lately, I've really been into playing games. I am learning Mahjong and keeping up with the backgammon I learned in Africa. I'm actually pretty decent at backgammon. When I go back to Canada, I want to teach my sister if she doesn't already play it. The game is really popular in Turkey. I spent the last day in Tokyo where it was raining. We went to see a Rakugo performance. Rakugo is traditional Japanese comedy. I enjoyed it a lot but I felt like it was meant for grandmothers and grandfathers. I was happy that at least I understood a lot of it, though.