Hacoa

If you love products from wood, you are like me, then you might like Hacoa. I have recently been introduced to Hacoa store from a friend. My favorite is the wooden keyboard (it makes my inner geek happy!)









Don't forget to check out their shop for more cool items!

Kobe trip

Last week, I got a chance to visit my extended family in Wakayama. We also visited Osaka and Kobe since they are very close to Wakayama. I was so nervous meeting Atchan's cousin for the first time. We went to a tradition Japanese restaurant. They served food I was not familiar with, but everything went great and everyone was so nice.

Next day, we went to Osaka for a quick lunch then headed to Kobe. You can see this giant octopus in the famous street of Dotonburi.



Then we went to the Herb gardens in Kobe.


We took ropeway up to the hill. It has stunning view and romantic at night!


Kobe city from above.


I strongly recommend coming to Herb gardens when you visit Kobe!

Wood utensils

I just got a chance to use my wood utensils that I bought back when I was in Thailand. I love the earthy feeling of wooden products :)



This elephant chopstick holder is too adorable to pass on. I couldn't help but buy it!

Spring is coming near!

Hi everyone!




Cherry blossom season is now over in Japan. It was so far the most beautiful blossoms I have ever seen. I got a chance to visit to Chidorigafuchi around Tokyo imperial palace over the last weekend. It was packed with locals and tourists!

Although it was a little cloudy, people had smiles on their faces!



Then we went to Harajuku to have crepes for afternoon snack!

Japan as it is.

Hi there. It's me! I'm back to blogging. It is cherry blossom season again. It started blooming just the beginning of this week. I managed to take photos of a very lovely cherry blossom in full bloom!

The past few weeks have been very tough not only for me, but for the whole country. I had a ticket back to Toronto on March 18. I kept staring at it ever since the earthquake started.

The earthquake happened just two weeks after I arrived in Japan. It was one sunny afternoon. I was watching We got married with Nickhun and Victoria online and all of sudden the whole house started to shake. It started off mild and within a few minutes, it was shaking badly. I felt the house was very jello-like. I got dizzy from the quake. It was so strong that I panicked. I have never experienced something like this in my life. I remember ducking under the table and just waited until it toned down, telling myself I'm fine and not to panic. When the earthquake toned down a little, I opened the front door to go outside and saw that my neighbors were already outside. No one said anything, we just exchanged glances. All I could see was the electric poles and the ground shaking really badly.

Then aftershocks began all day and night long. I didn't sleep at all that night. The aftershocks continued for weeks. I could feel it until recently, but it wasn't as strong, feels like a truck passing by.

I learned a few things from the earthquake experience.

- When the earthquake happens, first thing you do is to turn off the gas. This is to prevent fire.

- Do not escape during the earthquake, something might drop and hit you. Instead, wait until the earthquake tones down and try to escape, don't forget to cover your head.

- Open the windows and doors, the house will loosen its shape during a strong earthquake, then you will have a place to escape.

- Phones and cellphones will not work during/after the earthquake.

- Always have an emergency bag prepared. This includes emergency contact number, number of your id, passport, bottles of water and so on.

- Discuss with your family members where to meet after the earthquake. ie, school, hospital, park since phones will not work.

- As for foreigners like myself, my friend suggests I have a paper written in Japanese (like I don't speak much Japanese, please take me to a safe place and include your contact phone number) with me at all time of emergency. It sounds like a kindergarten kid, but couldn't hurt to carry them around.

- If you live near the coast, check the news immediately if there will be tsunami or not.

And the thing I learned from radiation incident is you have to know your news source and don't believe everything you read. Some news source made things look worse than it really is.

I remembered when news about nuclear radiation spread, almost all supermarkets ran out of food, most shelves were empty. Water bottles and rice, bread and meat were no where to be found. Gas stations ran out of gas. Some people waited 6 hours in line just to get gas. Everybody wore masks and of course, even masks were sold out as well.

Just last week, everything appeared to be in normal state again. There are plenty of food now. I wonder if those who stocked up their food would be able to finish eating what they had bought?

Now that I have postponed my ticket to Toronto. I decided to stay with Atchan in Japan so that we can start our new life together. I really hope Japan and I could be friends despite our rough beginning.

I believe Japan is a strong country and things will get better from now on. I admire Japanese people though in rough time, people work so hard and put on their best faces.

This cherry blossom tree is so far the most beautiful full bloom I have ever seen. It stood gracefully next to the bicycle park. Everyone who parked their bicycle couldn't help looking and taking photos of it! I believe it's a wonderful beginning!!




P.S. Thank you Jenny and Becca for worrying about me.

Cheers :)

Fai

Hello from Japan!

It's been almost two weeks since I came to Japan. I know I have been neglecting my blog. What have I been doing for the past two weeks? Let me update you what I have been up to :)

- My visa is finally done! I have been going to the immigration office in Tokyo and I received my spouse visa last week, yay! Thanks so much for this forum and this blog for the info about the visa.

- Apartment hunting. Atchan and I have been looking for our own place for the past two weeks and our search is over! We found a cute, quiet apartment located in Saitama. We think it would be easy to commute since it not very far from Tokyo (40 mins). I would compare it to Mississauga of Toronto :)




- Having lots and lots of Yakisoba and Okonomiyaki! I have gained 1.5 kg ever since I got here. Too many delicious food around here!



- Lastly, a view from my neighborhood.