Snow Fall in Saitama

Close your eyes....... Wait, actually keep them open. Otherwise you won't be able to read along! Pretend your eyes are closed. What do you think of first? I think of presents.

You know how as a kid, someone telling you to close your eyes and keep them closed is just the best (or worst) form of cruelty? It's nearly impossible to do simply because you know there is going to be something amazing in a few seconds and you fear your body might explooooddee with anticipation! Well, keep pretending your eyes are closed, and at the end of this sentence... open them:

Cool huh? You're in another world now, a snowy wonderland! My friend Shiho took this picture from her balcony in Japan! She lives in the Saitama region, about 1 hour bullet train ride inland from Tokyo City. We have been e-mailing eachother since her return home and often talk about our weather woes. For example, I tell her about the Cairns cyclone, Brisbane flooding, Perth fires, Victoria Flooding etc etc and she unfailingly types "chooo sammuuiiiii" Meaning it is SOOOOO COOOLLLDDDD!!!! I didn't quite realise HOW cold until she sent me this picture! She doesn't have her driver's licence yet so naturally she has to ride a bike or walk to school each day. In that. Poor Shiho :(

I felt inspired to write this because I think I am getting sick *dun dun DUNNNN* Josh has being doing placement at another Primary School and picked something up, which may have spread to me, nooo! I have felt very poopy these last few days and feel like I am on another level than usual. Kate at work asked me how I felt yesterday morning and I eventually managed to blurt out my half-hatched thoughts of how I actually feel. I told her "You know when you're sick... and you're like surprised?..... By life?" she just laughed and asked me to elaborate. It was so hard, I should have just said "Meh." I think I meant.. I felt as though I were in a dream state and possibly still half-asleep therefore surprised to feel that way and still be living your daily life. Maybe. I'm still a big congested in the ole' brain box up there! When I try to talk it comes out sounding like that scene from the movie "Tomorrow When the War Began" when they find Chris and he is baked and starts philosophising. Picture a guy who did character research for a stoner by watching an overacter play the role of a stoner. You know what I mean. You should watch it, it's painful!

Also, speaking of Japan and Subarashii... I watched AKIRA the other night - a classic Anime movie. I thought I knew what was going on for most of it, but then I got really confused really quickly. I watched it with my housemate Maki and we were just laughing and giving audience commentary by the end. It was visually amazing, and the first few songs blew my mind, but yes... no idea. I should look up an explanation for the reasons any of it was happening. Oh yeah, i forgot to explain my segway! "Subarashii" means Marvelous or Wonderful, and in the movie one character kept saying it and I got really excited! It was subarashii, much unlike my segways today. ACHOO!

purezentoooooooo

My Japanese friend Shiho has gone back to Japan for good :( Before she left though, she gave me a bunch of presents!! So nice!!! Below are 12 cans of Japanese alcohol i remember fondly....

She also gave me heaps of beer snacks which Josh and I will sample tonight!! Japanese night!! :D

 She gave me a lovely cup to replace the one i broke!!

Some cute chopsticks to add to my collection....

 A wind chime for under my pergola...

AND THE BEST!!! OKONOMIYAKI BANNER declaring that i make/sell okonomiyakiiiiiiiiii!!!!!!!!

WOOHOO! So i am working on an amazing package to send her to say thanks :) we'll see how the beer snacks go!!!!

Dish 20) Japanese Curry!!

Howdy Pardners! So I didn't cook much last week because I was super social and busy and ate at restaurants about 4 nights of the week... so i started slacking off a little. Remember how I said that on Thursday at work, I had an exciting food day?? Well it was because the work experience girl Shiho cooked some Japanese food for us for lunch!! Here she is: 

She made Kare (curry) Katsudon! The name means Curry, cutlet and rice. It is one of those easy modern home style Japanese dishes.

My first experience with Japanese curry was in 2003 on my Year 11 school camp. We arrived in Osaka and made our way to our host school in the searing heat on little to no sleep. We arrived during 'Culture festival' (Bunkasai), so the school resembled more of a circus than a school. Culture festival is basically an annual event where students at most schools display their talents. Because most Japanese schools encourage students to join multiple sports and culture clubs, this festival offers them an opportunity to show off their skills to peers, family members, and in my experience - Australian exchange students. Classrooms are re-decorated to resemble shops, gameshows, kitchens, dance halls etc. I remember a verrrrry messy game show involving water and flour.. the place was crazy! But fun! One of the classrooms was transformed into a Curry hut, and I had my first Japanese curry with steamed rice amidst the culture madness. Good times.

My second memorable Japanese curry memory is when I went to Japan in 2008 and kept eating it at cheap 24/7 places like Sukiya. Oh I remember a cool place called Yoshinoya too, mmmm. Cheap and filling. I hear that there is a Yoshinoya in Sydney now... for those who are interested!! Anyway, I recently found out what makes the Japanese curry flavour so distinct. The answer, my friends, is Curry blocks. This is what they look like in packet form:

I bought this after trying Shiho's curry and decided to try my hand at the dish I love ever so much (^_^) It was about $3 or $4 or something from any random Asian grocer, and it makes about 5 serves. You can get bigger packets, mild or spicy and there are multiple brands! Directions were in English with this brand, and it was super easy to follow and make! Here is mine:

Here's what I did...

1) Cook diced chicken in a glug of olive oil until almost cooked, then add chopped onion, potato and carrot and stir for a few minutes,

2) Cover with water and bring to the boil.

3) Turn the heat down and simmer until everything is soft. The packet recommends 10 minutes but i did almost 30 minutes!

4) Turn the heat off, and crumble in the curry block. Stir through until dissolved and return to simmer for 5 minutes until the sauce is thick and fragrant.

5) Serve over rice and bury your face in the bowl until all eaten.

Josh and Maki were around when I made this dish and they absolutely loved it! I think they both were impressed by how simple yet tasty it was.

So now you've met my new friend Shiho ^_^ we have been emailing eachother and practicing our languages! She is studying English here until February so hopefully she can learn some stuff from me - and hopefully not the WRONG stuff. She already asked me what "yo yo yo" means, as she saw it on subarashiiblog's last post. Uh-oh now i'm teaching her gangster slang haha! Anyway, next week we are going out for dinner to eat some Japanese food, hoorayyyy! I told her how I like to call Takoyaki "TakoYUMMY" because I love them so much... and she thinks it is the funniest thing she has ever heard!! She also gave me lots of compliments and my head grew so big that I almost couldn't get on the train after work. But she is right... I AM cute, and funny and smart and my Japanese IS perfect, and i do know EVERYTHING about Japanese food... her words, people. Her words. Hahaha! (^_^)'

did someone say "jumanji"?

I found this cool picture on this blog by a man living in Japan. It is a photo of an old shipyard from WWII - i would love to go and explore it!



He has written this interesting post about the Top 10 "Haikyo" in Japan (Haikyo meaning ruins). He shows that Japan is not as crammed and developed as you may think due to the presence of these ruins. Check it out!

japan diary entry #2

Thursday 27th November 2008

We're on our way to Tokyo now. Last night was funny, we got off at Nankai Namba station and got sucked into the fun bright arcades and got mega lost! Everyone was so wow'ed by the lights and stuff, and we were REALLY hungry. We had to ask for directions like 5 times and all were different answers. We ended up walking the wrong direction for about 15 minutes. Finally we got Taxis and found that the hotel hadn't put in our booking properly. I had an email confirming my details but they were waiting for a reply or something?! Anyway they called their sister hotel and we all got to share an apartment with 3 beds and 3 futons. Slept like a brick. One of the guys we asked for directions from was Japanese but had an American Accent and a GPS phone. He was funny. He was funny, trying to sell us different accommodation I think.

The guys are trying really hard to speak Japanese, it's so amazing! Corey and Evan have notebooks and are writing down all the new words. And the other guys are asking questions constantly, like "how do you say...?"

We're on the shinkansen at the moment. Stevo and I just went into the smoking room and had a Camel. There was a queue forming so we left.

* WOW that was the last diary entry hahaha... very short-lived. After this, I wrote a 10 page story about Josh and his friend Nick Cave. The story also includes French gypsies, Colin from the Decemberists, the Flaming Lips' "yoshimi", magical eggs, some At The Drive-In quotes (i suspect i was drunk), the Impossible Sit-up, Opposite Day, the end of the world and a whole lot of Internet acronyms ie. "BTW, I CBF TTM ATM IRL..."

* Also I found this memo that i wrote on a blank page:

MEMO: Who would have thought that glitter could be so repulsive to the senses?

I don't know... I don't know...

japan diary entry #1

I have been cleaning out stuff for the upcoming move and found my diary from when i went to Japan in November 2008. I only wrote in it a few times, but thought I'd document it here incase i lose the diary. shrug...

Wednesday 26th November 2008

It's Emergency Exit O'Clock on the plane. Not in a "ZOMG our lives are in danger, EVACUATE, EVACUATE" kind of way, more like we're sitting next to the Emergency Exit door. Blessings include ample leg space, a fold away tray and having "Alicia" sit facing me during take-off. Corey got to swap seats with the guy between us so he' next to me. Trav is kicking my seat from behind and Evan just fell asleep. I think they all didn't sleep last night so they are all wrecked! I just had a coffee to kickstart my heart but my eyes are so tired - like a little baby. Fuck I want a nap. So hungry too. Blah blah. I am surprised I didn't cry more when I said goodbye to Josh. I had tears in my eyes but didn't shed any. I have a feeling I'm going to feel pretty lonely. Maybe. We'll see. Ok, I want a nap now. Argh, Real Monsters!!

In the air again. On the way to Osaka. I think we've been flying for 1.5-2 hours. I got 30 mins sleep before, it was loooovely! There was no Maccas at the Gold Coast Airport - the guys were shattered. Should write like a sailor: crew are becoming mutinous due to the lack of hash browns, days carry on as though in slow motion, feeling malnourished from the crappy food. Anyway.

Well the guys already have one enemy - the lady at customs. She said that there would be more food options once we got near the boarding gate... but there was 1 overpriced food stall. I heard "I hate her" at least 5 times. Half-caste Japanese are cool. I only ever see them at the airport or on a plane. Well maybe i see them in Australia too but just don't realise the special blood that runs through their veins, until they're in a setting where I would expect Japanese people.

Evan spilled his Cous Cous all over the floor on the plane haha! it is the WORST thing he could have spilled. Imagine if it's in his shoes! Corey is beside me again, trav and evan are behind me and nash and stevens are across the other side of the cabin (?). I can still see them though! Nash just ordered a VB haha. OK, eyes tired again...

more japan stories

I thought i would share a few more stories from Japan. Let's hope they turn out accurate as this was over a year ago and i have the shittest memory ever.


Picciture 1:
ah yes, our first night in Japan...
So the story goes that we had a 6am flight out of Melbourne and a few of the guys thought it would be a good idea not to sleep the night before the flight so that they would be able to sleep the whole way there on the plane. In theory I suppose it is a valid idea, but it didn't really work like that as i had anticipated. I think they couldn't sleep sitting up, try as they might, and were getting frustrated and grumpy and still dead tired. It was kiiiind of funny but also really bad.

We flew into Osaka airport and got a train from the airport station (best thing ever) into the city where we were all super excited at everything we saw. Think "Oh my god, look at those lights!", "Omg, we're in Japan!", "Oh man, i want to come back here and look at this shop tomorrow!!". We wanted to walk to our hotel cos we didnt want to blow money on taxis and plus we wanted to take it all in. i had the lonely planet guide map open trying to navigate to our accommodation. One thing i have found about those maps is that they are sooooo not accurate. Only the main roads have street names, sometimes. All the little alleys, which in Japan are...well... EVERYWHERE, are not named. Plus the scale is all whack, you think you still have like 5 minutes of straight walking until you reach a street, and all of a sudden you realise you walked past it already. I remember walking along a main 4 lane road wondering where we were on the map. I think we got lost inside this undercover shopping arcade, it was like a black hole and we came out somewhere totally different than where we thought we were. The guys couldn't figure it out either.

we eventually stopped and asked a Japanese guy for directions who was the owner of this buffet restaurant. He was a funny character. He had an American English accent and was trying to use his GPS on his phone to help us find the address. He was telling us to come back the next day for lunch and explained that "soft drinks... all FREE" in this heavy american accent. so strange. Anyway he sent us back the way we had come. After a while we worked up the courage to ask this other Japanese guy to help us with directions, he was a hippie and we thought he looked nice and friendly. Cos a lot of Japanese people get scared off when you start talking to them or try to get their attention. Anyway we asked him to look at the map and asked if we were close to the hotel and he shook his head and laughed and indicated that we were way off. None of us could believe how lost we were and how no-one could help us cos our map was in English. So yeah then we got in 2 taxis and asked the drivers to take us to the address and they said they didn't really go to that part of the city, they only knew the other part of the city. Weird.

We eventually got to the hotel like hours after we got to the city and wouldn't you know it.... they didn't have our reservation and were fully booked. 6 people, little sleep, tensions running high, no place to sleep. I showed them the email that they had sent me which said "thankyou for your reservation" but apparently by saying "thankyou for your reservation" they actually needed me to reply confirming again that yes, ontop of the last email with all of our details and credit card details, i would AGAIN like to say that i would like to book. I wanted to blow myself up and take everyone down with me. So after much conversation we discovered that they had a sister hotel on the other side of the city and we managed to get a suite for all 6 of us. Then we had to get cabs again over there and the poor night guy had to stay back and wait for us before he closed up for the night audit. We crashed hard after laying out the futons on the ground - which is what is happening in the picture above. I was so embarrassed and angry at myself cos i was meant to be the Japan expert and first night i looked like the biggest dick head. It was a pretty shit night but also really funny at times and we were all joking about things we saw and Stevenz was imitating the American accent of the Japanese guy for the next week, it was hilarious.

Piccy-ture 2:

This isn't a story per se, but i like the picture. That flower I stole from the entrance of a Pachinko Parlour. I would link to a description of Pachinko, but i could just give it: it is a gambling machine similar to the pokies. you put all these little ball bearings balls in the top and they clatter down and somehow you win money. like that carnival game where you have to get the ball in the clown's mouth. Pachinko is massive in Japan. They have gigantic buildings dedicated to it. People sit in rows and it is a sensoral RAPE when you walk in the doors. You are accosted with a wall of deafening techno/j-pop music trying to rise above the noise of billions of ball bearing balls clattering all over the place. And as in Japan you are allowed to smoke indoors the building is so thick with smoke you feel like you are in a nightmare club. anyway for some reason they all go overboard with the fake flowers to decorate the entrances.

Pici-ture 3:

this was after a big night of drinking - maybe after our little episode at Club Pure in Shibuya i think (someone correct me if i'm wrong as we seemed to be hungover a lot). We had to check out the next morning and we were all pretty devoid of happiness or life. We caught a train to harajuku and locked our big bags away so that we might be free to roam around a little. On the map we saw there was a park near the station called Yoyogi Park so we stumbled over there hoping for a bit of peace and quiet. We all had a little nap on some benches - hobo stylllle. It was so relaxing. Eventually we were awoken by a strange smelling smoke that wafted our way but were too chicken to investigate it's origin. We watched the rockabilly dancers for a while before heading off into the gigantic park for a stroll. It was the end of autumn so the leaves were falling so delicately and serenely from the trees, i have never seen anything like it before. it was like a dreamscape! We eventually came upon a big dog pen where everyone put their dogs so they can play off the lead. We stood looking at those dogs for hours... i think they saved our lives a little bit. I'm pretty sure that at some point we were plotting the dognapping of a few of our favourites. I didn't like the ones in clothes. A lot of them were wearing clothes. It was intense.


Piccyture 4:

This was a poster at the train station, trying to reinforce the Japanese peoples love for peace and quiet on trains. The man who is disapproving of the behaviour looks so freaky. His eyes are dead. I think the poster should read "this party is a zombie free zone" and the poor zombie is left out *cry*. The most rowdy behaviour i saw on a train there was at night... this one Japanese guy was on his was home from a night of drinking, and he was falling asleep but was leaning on the girl next to him and he dropped his phone. He was trying so hard to stay awake, and trying to appear normal....but everyone was like *DANGER DANGER* and cleared out the carriage. It was bizzare! Here i have seen people "nodding off" on the trian but not because they are sleepy but because they are needle junkies. I have seen people take pills in unicen on the train, seen a few people smoking and a lot of people drinking, see a few fights, seen a near stabbing... yeah different worlds.

3 nights of note in Nippon

hell-oooo all you subarashii people :) i have recently been looking back on my time in Japan with fondness. Like, oh my god, like, when am I NOT!? so anyway I thought I would share a few stories with you guyzzz. You must realise my words are precious and like a gift wrapped in the finest silk known to man... so this is a reward for my "Followers" and a little something to entice my other blog stalkers to become followers... so i may see who you are. It's like this chant they used to have back in 'Nam: "Come out come out wherever you are..." yeah i dunno creepy... ANYWHO, what the fuck am i talking about...

STORY 1) MARCH 2008

So, Joshuella and I went to Japan Land for a wee holiday in March 2008. We realised after we booked that we would be there at the time of our 3 year anniversary. How convenient! So we flew Melbourne - Nagoya and stayed overnight then headed up into the Japanese Alps to stay in Nagano for a few days. (BEST PLACE EVERRRR!) Then it was on to good ole Tokyo for a bit of fun! The plan was to go out in Roppongi on the Eve of our Anniversary, then the next day travel from Tokyo - Kyoto on the bullet train and check in to out lovely romantic accommodation at : Yachio Ryokan.

So we were staying in the next "suburb" to Roppongi called Akasaka, and we set off to find some delicious dinner. Only 2 blocks away we found this cool restaurant called "Uoshin Restaurant" in Roppongi. It's part of a chain I think, but we were immediately drawn to it, as it was a really unique looking place - different to many of the places we had eaten already. It had a cool al fresco part to it which was undercover and people were laughing and drinking and loud punk music was playing. How could we resist, right? So we go in and the place is PACKED and there is fish hanging from the roof, and on ice and on grills and EVERYWHEREEEEEEE!! So they sit us at the bench so the chefs are right infront of us, then hand me this menu which is entirely in KANJI (like chinese characters) and i was like "uh... sorry babe, I'm not really sure what this says...". They noticed the horrified and slightly starving look in my eye and asked if i wanted an English menu. YES PLEASE! So everything was cheap and the drinks list was long and also cheap! We ordered what seemed like one of everything, and chowed down while watching the chefs at work. We noticed after a while that this punk music was playing that we had been hearing everywhere so far. We had heard it in a shoe shop in Nagano and I asked the guy what it was, so he wrote it down for me in Katakana alphabet: Makishimamu za horumon - yeah i had no idea what that meant, i just knew it was meant to be English. Turns out it's MAXIMUM THE HORMONE! and they are awesome. So we said to the chef we liked the music and she was like "yeah we love it too, we are in a tribute band..." i thought she was joking. No sir. The manager of that amazing establishment (pictured below with the headband) promptly came out from behind the grill and started playing videos of them rocking out in live venues. Incredible! The whole staff were in a tribute punk band.

The Manager recommended we drink this spirit called Shochu, and that we should have it on the rocks. I asked what it was, like if it was similar to Vodka or Sake or something, and he explained that it is similar to Sake and that apparently they used it in the War to disinfect wounds. Josh was hooked so we ordered 2 of those, and 2 more steins of Kirin Beer. That's about where things started to go downhill for me as we had already has a few steins each. The more i drank, the better my Japanese flowed, but they of course were trying to speak English so i didn't have to translate for Josh. We didn't have a camera on us, so Josh ran back to the hotel to get one so we could take some pictures.

While he was gone I got talking to the manager who was telling me his life story and said that it is his dream to go to Australia and go surfing. He then said he was a model, and got this magazine catalogue thing out which was all about chef supplies and uniforms, and he flicked through it showing me all the pictures of himself and his wife and baby daughter modelling clothes. Very cute!

Josh comes back with the camera and suddenly everyone wants to pose for us! It was sick. I really wish i stopped drinking but i had taught Josh how to say "2 more of the same please" in Japanese so he just kept ordering 2 more when we hadn't even finished our current drinks. We were having so much fun i guess i didn't realise how much i was drinking and didn't care that i was mixing beer with shochu and some lychee concoction that Josh kept ordering.

That is a picture of 2 of the chefs. They were sickkkk! The girl's name was Midori but Ican't remember the guys name as it was so long ago (oops). Holy shit i just realised she is holding a big 'thing' of OKONAMI sauce, my favourite. I don't think i had discovered okonamiyaki at that point. omg primate. Anyway, below is the Manager showing us how to play the traditional Japanese game Kendama. Basically Japanese Ball in a Cup.

He was fucking unbeleivable. Probably some sort of Kendama champion. So you let the ball dangle then you have to flick it up onto the cup it's on in the picture, then around onto the other side, then onto the cup on the base - near his wrist, then onto the spike! He did it deftly as a kendama ninja! I don't have access to youtube but if you look up kendama champion you will be shocked. Or maybe i was just drunk and easily impressed...? most likely...

Anyway Josh was going nuts with obsession for it, and got the hang of it straight away. Everyone was cheering him on, it was great! So at some point we realised that the whole place was empty except for us and that they wanted to close up for the night! Awkwarddddd! So i went to the toilet and when i came back Josh had paid (I found out later he had used my money though haha) and we left promising to send them pictures and stuff. I don't really remember much of the rest of the night except that we stopped at a CONBINII (Convenience store) and got some Japanese Pringles and fried chicken - i only know this because i found it the next morning in our room :s

Fun fact about me: when I am drunk i cant sleep because i feel too ill. i toss and turn holding my stomach and cant "sleep it off" like many lucky chumps out there. So i had a broken sleep and got up at 7am to vomit. When i came back to bed i saw josh cuddling a bottle of water and the USB cord for the camera... haha, oh Josh! Yes so i spent pretty much the rest of the morning vomitting and not letting Josh in the bathroom. Actually i think i let him in once but i nervously paced outside the door as I was going to vomit AGAIN. probably the most after-grog bodily expulsion i have ever experienced. It was disgusting. So Josh was trying to hurry me up as we had to check out. Working in Hotels i know you dont have to check out RIGHT on time. There is a bit of leeway, especially if you are going to vomit all over the reception desk if you arent ready to come out of the bathroom. But he gave me a plastic bag to hold JUST IN CASE and we set off for the day. It was possibly the worst day of my life. Did i mention it was our anniversary? Yep.

We checked out and stumbled through CRAZY CROWDS to the local station and got a local train to the big Station, then had to try and organise tickets for the Bullet Train, and find what platform it was on etc. For anyone who has been hungover - Japan is the worst place to spend your hangover day. People and noise everywhere, and as your brain also got vomitted out, it's pretty hard to remember how to speak Japanese. My patience was so low for everything and everyone that I wanted to either kill myself or kill Josh each time he spoke. Poor Josh. Eventually we got to Kyoto and got another train to our accommodation and walked there and checked in, and just lay on the floor. We went out at 4pm to get some breakfast. haha. Josh wanted spaghetti bolognaise (i am not even joking) so we went to look for some and eventually found it and devoured it and felt slightly better. happy anniversaryyyyy........! oh well, it was at least memorable to stand the test of time and remain in my limited memory bank!


STORY 2) NOVEMBER 2008

So I went back to Japan again later that year - crazy now that I think about it. I think there were some mega cheap flights so I jumped on it. Yeah i got a flight $189 from Melbourne to Osaka! why wouldn't you...? So anyway, this time i went with 5 boys who are friends of josh and mine: Evan, Stevens, Trav, Nash & Corey. So pretty much everyone just wanted to drink heaps and party in Tokyo which is fair enough. So we went out to Shibuya to look for a good place, and atfer a few tries, eventually came across CLUB PURE! Basically guys and girls pay a different flat rate and you get a wristband and a cup. You can fill that cup with anything you want from the bar all night. I think entrance was like $50...? or a bit less. BUT as you can imagine, everyone just goes crazy! All the guys were trying to talk to Japanese girls but because of the language barrier, I was called in to translate. I think they were more interested in me to be honest, and they were telling me i was SUPER CUTE! Everyone likes to hear that :D

So after a few too many apple drinks Evan started to lose his shirt - quite literally....

And pretty soon he passed out at the table....

BUT Japan being the interesting place that it is, you are actually allowed to sleep in clubs and the security guards don't hassle you at all. So he was fine. We were just sitting around chatting to some Swedish people, and his head was drooping in the direction of my lap. I kept pushing him away as i didn't want him to vomit on my lap. I got up to go to the toilet eventually and on my way back i passed my friends dragging Evan to the toilets with vomit still dribbling from his mouth. PERFECT TIMING! I got back to the table and everyone was freaking out about having vomit on their clothes, it was hilarious - as i wasn't involved of course! When Ev came back he was sober again and started to drink again and party the night away. Meanwhile, here is a great photo of Myself, Corey and this Swedish guy who likes blue chewing gum...

Oh it was pretty funy, the next day we were confused because we could smell vomit everywhere we went then eventually we found the stain on someone's pants. I think it was Nash's pants. Dried up vom, yuckkk!

Story 3 ) ALSO NOVEMBER 2008

So after Evan, Stevens and Nash went home it was just me, Corey and Trav knockin about in Japan. When we were in Hiroshima, we decided to get a ferry across to Miyajima Island and go for a hike up Misen (the big mountain on the island) one afternoon. So we got a tram for almost an hour, then a ferry to the island, then went to look for the cable car to the summit...

great views from the cable car, great views!

once on the summit, we were surrounded by monkeys. The signs said to put your belongings in lockers otherwise the monkeys will maul you for food. Hmmm, no thanks!

So yes, it was raining and I suddenly regretted my eagerness to climb or descend a mountain. Corey led us to this path swearing it was to the summit, but we were going downhill. So yeah after about 10 mins he agreed that we were probably going the wrong way so we went back uphill and started towards the summit. I started to lose it, like i am convinced i was having an asthma attack but i have never been tested for asthma so don't know if it was, or even what it was. I took off my jacket and jumper and was just in a t-shirt in the rain and wintery weather. I was wheezing and kept asking the guys to stop. my face was like beetroot red and i couldn't catch my breath at all. I was so embarrassed as only Josh had seen me lose it like this before, and they didnt seem to even have broken a sweat. The thought of taking one more step made me want to cry so i took the room key and went allllllll the way back alone in the rain and impending darkness. In the cable car the only other people were this lesbian couple who were making out and feeling each other up, while i was shaking and coughing in the corner. I got back to the room frozen to the bone and had a hot shower and snuggled up on the futon mattress with the blankets and turned on Japanese TV for some company. I started to get really worried cos the guys were now running down a mountain in the darkness and the time was ticking by... but eventually they came back drenched and we had a nice little futon picnic of snacks and drinks and of course Corey's weird Korean concoction of Yakult and Soju shots. That was another memorable day.

Now that i think about it, I have so many more stories I would love to write about! Like Yoyogi Park in Harajuku! I'll save it for another day my friends!

On the hunt for bento boxes (take 2: with a vengeance)

yoyoyo wassup wassup give up the rock!! So i remembered a little Korean gift store near the Target on Bourke Street and thought I might find bento boxes there. AND BOY DID I EVER! It is called "artbox" and is in the little arcade that Target is in. They had lots of ones - mainly Pooh bear and Hello Kitty but there were a few others.

This one was supa cool, it was a 1 level multi compartment lunchbox complete with a little carry bag. AND only $15! Bargain! (Available in pink or blue)

This one below is the same as i found the first time, BUT it is a bit cheaper. $22.35. I think it is really cute and i am totally considering buying one. But atm all my money is tied up in the purchase of my first home so i might wait a few weeks to splurge otherwise i will have post-purchase depression and try to drown my purchases or something.

oh and these ones were under lock and key. The set of 3 Japanese fancy tupperware things were...guess how much: $135. fuuuuuck that! and behind it is a fancy 3 tiered lunchbox with a carry handle and chopsticks. i couldn't see the price but i'm guessing it would be in the hundreds :P

So if you want to buy an asian lunchbox to make delicious lunches like THEEEESE head to Artbox! It is near Target on Bourke Street, just past the corner of Swanston Street. WWOOO

On the hunt for bento boxes (take 1)

Ok, so to brighten up my mood i went for a walk in the city, with the aim in mind to find a Bento Box. I couldn't wander aimlessly because I would not find anything, SO i had to think.... if i was looking for an asian lunch box... where would i go? Google search was no help - all i found were forums where Melbournians were discussing how hard it is to find cute Bento Boxes. So i thought Chinatown might be a good bet. I wandered down there in the cold/wind/rain as i remembered seeing an asian nicknack shop / newsagent a while ago.

It was 208 Little bourke street (on the corner of Little Bourke and Celestial Avenue). I couldn't really work out the name... it may have been Yan Fur or maybe Ha Ha, there were lots of words. Fun Fact: the building is historic as Google tells me.

Anyway the shop was big, and filled with lots of asian girls and heaps of KAWAII STUFFFFF, so you know you are on the right track. I found only one lunch box for $28.00:


It is pretty awesome. I also saw this other cool stuff.....

Mario Slippers ($29.50 a pair)

Doraemon fold-up chopsticks to take to school/work for eating a delicious bento lunch. ($8.50)

Mario Toys!!!

I love things that have my name in it. Near my house there is a Chinese restaurant called "Jade Stream" which is lol-worthy everytime i go past it.

This is a note tomyself that i have to go and eat at that Japanese Restaurant. mmmmmm

This restaurant was called Post Mao cafe. There is another nearby called Post-Deng cafe. I think i get it without having to be totally educated in history, eeeeeeeee. the picture below is kinda blurry but it said "Mao PLEASE!" which is what Asian gangsters could say. "grrrrrrl please"

Well that was a refreshing little walk! The next post will prob be about how BOOORING my graduation ceremony will be from uni. I finished at the end of last year but didnt realise i had to "apply to graduate" so i missed out on the first round of graduations.. oh well. i will be all by mysellllfffffff

fond japan food moments

as i am hungry and have been remeniscing about japan of late, I have decided to take a trip back and remember some of my favourite Japan food moments...

This was from when i went with Josh last year, we were feeding our soy sauce corn cobs to the pidgeons because we had too much cooorn. i cant beleive we got its eye closed!

This was one of my favourite things to eat - a SETTO (set) for lunch or dinner. It usually came with a bowl of Ramen, some Gyoza, sometimes rice, sometimes beer, sometimes edamame (soy beans). They are cheap and filling and i want one right now.

GYOOOOZAAAA!

OKONOMIYAKI - HIROSHIMA STYLEEEE

FRESHNESS BURGER!! I want the world to know that one of the nicest (and most expensive) burger joints is in Japan. We thought Mos Burger was da bomb, until we found Freshness Burger :P (if you see the menu, pretty sure we all got Classic WW burgers - the biggest muahahahaaaa!)

McDonalds had Mega Macs.. so when in rome, scoff your face

We drank this stuff like it was water. It wasn't overly alcoholic, but it sure was tasty!

I saw these melons at the supermarket... they were equivalent to $68 AUD! zzzooommg no way!

These pics are from when i went with Josh in April/May 2008...

This was our breakfast when we stayed in a guest house in Nagano - the coolest city everrrrrr!

These looked.... delicious..... especially the blue ones!

Josh and I accidentally went to a Korean table-top cooking restaurant thinking it was Japanes.e Anyway somehow we ended up with this strange internal organ hotpot.. blechhh!

In harajuku, these are probably one of th nicest kebabs i have EVER had. The guys there were maybe Labanese, and spoke their native language, english, AND JAPANESE fluently. They were amazing.

Josh and I found this restaurant near Roppongi / Akasaka. Omg i totally forgot the name of it. BUT it was cheap and delicious and the chefs and waiters were all young and awesome and we got TRAAASHED and left with them at closing time!

These were 2 of the chefs, they were in a tribute band for MAXIMUM THE HORMONE! weeeee-hooo!

Well, now i am absolutely starving. gosh darn it.