October fun~! Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima, and Halloween!!!

Hey everybody~! How's it going? Sorry for delay... -.-'' I was very busy during school and also my photos were not uploading to my computer for some reason... But since school is over and now that all my photos are uploaded, so now I can post again! This post I'll talk about things I did in October.

The first thing I did was go to Kyoto on October 4th, where I met up with a good friend of mine from NYC since she was in Japan. We first went to Kinkakuji (The Golden Pavilion) and it was beautiful! I always saw it on pictures, but seeing it in person was totally different. The real one was a lot nicer and brighter. We walked around the temple for a few minutes, and after we went to drink tea and eat Japanese sweets at a famous place Gion, Kyoto. I don't remember the name, but it was delicious! I'm not a big fan of Japanese sweets, but after going there, I am now able to eat some! :D

After eating some Japanese sweets, we went around Gion for a bit of shopping before going into a noodle/rice bowl restaurant. We saw two real maiko-san there during the night and they were B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L (the taxi driver told us that at night, a lot come out)! At the restaurant, I had a negitoro don, which was delicious! Negitoro is just bits of fatty tuna with scallions. My friend had this meat don and her parents got noodles.

Then on October 6th, I went to Osaka with my friends! We went shopping at Shinsaibashi as well as eat at a pizza tabehoudai (all-you-can-eat-pizza), which was a lot of fun! I love it so much there and it is my favorite place in Japan. I love the atmosphere and it kind of reminds me of NYC a little bit! :3 My friends and I spent the whole day there until night.

On the 11th of October, I went to Hiroshima for the first time with my friend! My friend is originally from Hiroshima and since we had to go for a school trip, she let me stay over at her house for two nights. I was so happy~!

On the Friday after school, we went towards Umeda to catch a bus towards Hiroshima. It took about 5 hours to get there, so by the time we got there, it was already night time. Her father picked us up by car and brought me to their house. They were very welcoming and for the night, we just went to bed.

On Saturday, we woke up early and went towards the Atomic Bomb Memorial to meet up with my classmates. My friend and I got there a bit early, so I was able to look around. I saw the famous Atomic Bomb Dome. It was unbelievable seeing it in person. I always saw it through pictures, so I didn't know how I would feel. It felt a bit surreal to be honest... I didn't know how to act (being that I was born in America, but also half Japanese). After looking around, we went inside the museum and to the auditorium to listen to a guest speaker who survived during the time. It was even more emotional to hearing her experiences.

After visiting the Atomic Bomb Memorial, my friend took me around to shop around and then to eat at a restaurant that had Hiroshima-fuu Okonomiyaki. Okonomiyaki is a type of Japanese pancakes with flour, cabbage, and other stuff (it literally means, "Anything you like fried"). There are two places that specializes okonomiyaki, Osaka and Hiroshima. I had Hiroshima version before, but I always wanted to try the actual one in the city. I must say, it was delicious~! I like this type of okonomiyaki more than the ones in Osaka because it had crispy yakisoba in it and a lot of other ingredients inside. After eating one, I was REALLY full!

After eating, I went back to her house and stayed for another night before going back to Hirakata City the next morning. I really loved the trip and I wish I was in Hiroshima for a longer period of time. It seems like I didn't have enough time to see everything especially Miyajima. Next time I go I'll definitely go there!






The last big event I did during October was Halloween. On October 29th, my dorm had a Halloween party, where mostly everyone dressed up and played games. I dressed up as Pikachu! Anyway, everyone at the dorm sat at different tables and split into teams with the RAs. Against other teams, we did arm wrestling, charades, and some other games. There was also a costume contest and whoever won got prizes. At the end of the night, we watched movies. Me and some of my friends watched The Ring. It was the English version so it wasn't as scary. :/

The next day at Kansai Gaidai, there were a lot people dressed up in their costumes~! Unfortunately, my camera died when I was taking a lot of pictures at my dorm during Halloween, so I couldn't take any pictures at all. :( I was so upset! That morning, I went to school with my Pikachu costume and went to class with it. It was awkward at first because I felt like I was the only one dressed up, but later in the day more and more students started to dress up as well. During the night, there was a costume contest~! I didn't take part in it, but there were many students who did. There were some dance performances as well, which was all nice! All the dances were good~! I just wished I took pictures.... >.<

That's about it for October! Next post, I'll recap what I did in November! Again, sorry to keep you guys waiting! 

Universal Studios Japan and Kyoto (Sorry for the late post!!! >.<)

Hey~!

Sorry for the really, really late post! I recently did not have time and I feel so bad! My photos were not uploading properly onto my computer again as well and I think it's my computer's fault. :( I don't know if I can keep up with every week because of this....

Early this week I have been hanging out a lot with friends (especially in the Center for International Lounge, also known as just CIE lounge). We just talk a lot and I could never get my homework done!

Over this past weekend, I went to Universal Studios Japan (USJ) to celebrate a friend's birthday and it was so much fun! We went early morning until late nighttime. Since it's almost (kind of) Halloween, there were a lot of events going around. During the day, there was a Mardi Gras parade, where the USJ people on the floats threw bead necklaces at the audience. Some of my friends and I went, but we each only caught only 1 or 2 necklaces... Then at night, there were zombies everywhere and at some rides/attractions Sadako (from the ring) comes out. We didn't go on those attractions, but we went on Spiderman, Jurassic Park, Terminator, and to the Mummy Museum during the day. At night, we went on the Hollywood Dream. I loved it! It was my favorite ride of the day! It was just a regular rollercoster except you can choose what kind of music you want to hear during the whole ride. I chose SMAP and it was so much fun! Also, I was able to see the whole city of Osaka and it was beautiful since I rode on the ride at night! The ride/attraction I didn't like was the Mummy Museum. It was like a haunted house and I was so scared. :'(

The next day (on Sunday), I went to Kyoto with one of my good friends! We first went to Fushimi Inari Taisha, which is a shrine of the Inari god. The main is on top of the mountain and we had to go through MANY, MANY torii and staircases. We went halfway up the mountain before we got really tired and turned back. We also didn't have time. While we were going down, my friend and I ate strawberry shaved ice! It was so sweet, but I did get energized. :]

After Fushimi Inari, we went on the train and we went to a cable line nearby. The cable bridge took us to another shrine on the mountain. I forgot the name of the shrine, but I liked it a lot since the temple was old and it seemed it hasn't change anything. Apparently, at the shrine, there's a lot of events going on, like every week. Also on the grounds, I think there's an aquarium as well. There was also a memorial for Edison for some reason... :/




This week, I have been very busy with homework and tests, so I have been stressed! My speaking class is very hard and we practically have to memorize a speech every week and present it (along with a test/quiz the next day). My reading and writing class it also a bit hard because of all the kanji... :'(

Other than school work, I have also joined the photo club (I probably mentioned it before)! I showed two photos to the club and I was so nervous! Since everyone in the club are serious, they look really hard at my photos in silence. But they all liked it , which made me VERY happy. By showing my two photos, I think they can be display at a gallery/photography showcase on campus. I am so excited! :D Next week, I'll be showing two or three more photos to the club and see if they all approve. I'll post the photos that are submitted and are approved by the members!

Anyway, this weekend, I'll be seeing my best friend on Friday in Kyoto and then on Saturday I'll be going to Osaka for a class trip to a museum. I'll try my best to write a post this weekend, but it all depends if my photos will upload onto my computer... 

Until next week (or a few days... or even weeks depending on my computer's mood...), sayonara~!

Hanging out/eating near Kansai Gaidai and going to Kobe!

Hello~!

So early in the week, I went to some Indian restaurant with some friends nearby Kansai Gaidai. It was a bit expensive, but it was filling and delicious! I ordered a course for ¥950, which had a salad, barbecue skewered chicken and vegetarian (?) sausage, naan, mango and yogurt drink, and coconut chicken curry. It was awesome! I'm definitely going back sometime when I have money and when I'm really hungry (apparently, we were allowed to have another serving of naan, but we were all too full so none of us got any... Next time!).

I also went to an all-you-can-eat takoyaki restaurant with some good friends. It was also nearby the school and it was pretty cheap (about ¥780). Along with a lot of takoyaki, the restaurant gave us yakiudon and takosen (takoyaki sennbei) as a service. However, because of this, all of my friends and I were unable to eat a lot of takoyaki (which I guess had no point of all-you-can-eat). But it was delicious as well and when I'm starving, I will definitely go again!

Yesterday (Sunday), I went to Kobe to meet up with an old friend of mine who I haven't seen in 3 years! She brought along another friend, who was incredibly cool. When I got to Kobe. we all ate lunch. My friend recommended this Italian restaurant and it was unbelievably delicious! We ordered two pizzas along with pasta and after I was so full! It was seriously one of the best pizzas I had in Japan.

After lunch, she showed me around Kobe to the tourist attractions. She showed me some European buildings around the city and all of it was beautiful! I wish we saw more though because it was raining really hard at that time and the typhoon was nearing. We went near the sea port later in the day as well, but the rain was getting horrible so we had to go in a mall instead. But I bought two new shirts that was really cheap (together for only ¥1380)! I would definitely want to go back to Kobe when it is not raining. I heard that on a really nice day, I would be able to see Osaka from the port. Hopefully I can see it before the semester ends!

That's about it this week. I'll try to write more on next week's blog as well as on time when the internet is working! So until next time, sayonara~!

First Week of Classes and Chilling with friends! (UPDATED VERSION)

Hey guys~!

Sorry I have not posted in a LOOONNNGGG time. I have been busy with classes and everything! Anyway, for some reason, my pictures are not uploading to my computer, so I won't have any pictures this time. :( Next week though, I'll try to buy a new memory card! So this week, I'll try to make it a bit short! (UPDATED Monday, September 16th: Memory card finally uploaded the pictures into the computer! YAY! But I'm still getting a new one).

Anyway, I started my first week of classes on the 3rd with a Japanese language class. On Tuesday (which was the first day of classes for me), I had a Spoken Japanese class, which was a bit hard because I'm on level 6. :[ The reading had difficult words inside and I had to search it on the dictionary each time. Then I had Peace, Development, Democratization, and Human Rights class. It is very interesting, but some of the topics were a bit difficult to follow. However, the teacher is very passionate so I like him a lot. Then I had Cross-Cultural Psychology, which is again was very interesting. Not as hard as the other classes. On Wednesday, I had Reading & Writing Japanese for the first time during the week. There were so many kanji that I didn't know and I felt a bit dumb. -.-'' I guess more learning for me. Out of the week, I have three 9am classes, while on Mondays I start at 11am and Fridays 12pm! :] And I end early on Mondays and Wednesdays, which is good.


Sunday (September 8th, 2013), I went to Osaka with my roommate and her friend. We went to Osaka station to do some shopping. I bought some food, tights for my friend back in NYC, and a headband (which I wore twice this week already!). We also went to a cafe, where I had some really good sandwich (avocado and shrimp sandwich!). My friends both had mushroom cream pasta. Since my roommate's friend had to leave early, my roommate and I went around the supermarket and looked at some food. I only bought potatoes and nagaimo. I haven't made anything yet with those food.

I've recently been making food for myself and it's been going pretty well! So far, I have made broccoli no gomae, chicken/meat with vegetable satay, kabocha nikomi and yakisoba. I have been making lunch/bento as well. I am VERY proud of myself.

I have also went to a ramen shop near Kansai Gaidai University with a few friends. Although I did not get ramen, I had two plates of fried dumplings and it was delicious! And it was really cheap! ONLY ¥500. Wow~. Next time, I'll get the ramen. ;D

Other than that, I've been hanging out with friends after class at the lounge at school and at the dorm lounge. It is so much fun! Next week I'll be writing about my adventures during the weekend. Hopefully I can get a new memory card.

Until next time, sayonara~!

First Week in Kansai Gaidai University (Orientation)!

Hey guys~!

Sorry for the late post! I've finally made it to Kansai Gaidai University and the internet has been pretty bad (and when I mean bad, it's HORRIBLE. It's like I went back to the 90s, literally!). But besides that, it has been fun so far. :] I've only been here for a week, but I've been very busy. I've been meeting many people from around the world and I've went to many places! For the first two to three days, I had a lot of paperwork to do, so I went to the campus many times. Because of this, I learned all the important buildings on campus. I also went to the supermarket many times to buy some groceries. During the week, we weren't allowed to cook in the kitchen, so I bought a lot of bentos and cup ramens. Starting today, we can use the kitchen and borrow different cooking utensils. So I will cook a lot more. Also, during the beginning of the week, I bought a bike, which makes it easier to go to the main campus from my dorm. It literally takes about 10 minutes! 

On Friday, I went to Kyoto with a group of friends, which was so much fun! We went around shopping and I bought a manga called 聖おにいさん (seinto oniisan - Saint Young Men). I also bought a facial moisture cream as well from The Body Shop. During shopping, we stumble upon a Buddhist temple. We all washed our hands and prayed. Then, after shopping a bit, we went to a shrine. It was really big and BEAUTIFUL. After Kyoto, I went to Nagoya to stay over at my grandmother's house for a night and I came back on Saturday night. 

Today (September 1st) was a free day, so I went to a festival with a group of friends late at night. It was so much fun! There was a lot of food and game stands. Some of my friends played at some game stands and won some toys. One friend won a balloon hammer and another won a horse balloon. I didn't play any games, but I ate sausage and chijimi (Korean pancakes). Both was very delicious! I also met some local people around the area and they were really nice. One guy even payed for my chijimi! :D

Anyway, I have to go! I'll try to write next week if the internet is not bad. Until then, sayonara~!

Almost school! Part II of summer pictures!

Hey~!

This week was the last week before school starts. To be honest, I am SOOO excited for school (this is pretty rare for me since I'm not a big fan of school in general)! I'm leaving Monday afternoon, reaching Kyoto before 4pm. From Kyoto, I'm getting picked up and then going straight to the Kansai Gaidai University campus! I'm still deciding if I should go to Kyoto early so I can tour around the city for a bit before getting picked up. :P

Anyway, before going to Kansai Gaidai, I'll be posting a picture blog once again! This is part II! :D

This is the picture of Seiji-san at the restaurant Gomitori during early summer after teaching a few dance lessons in the Aichi Prefecture. We ate with a group of friends as well.

I took this photo at a udon restaurant when going towards Kirishima, Kyushu with a friend of mine. This says, "Since you only have one life, you gotta laugh when you're living." I thought this was a very nice quote! :3

This is at the Kirishima-Jingu in Kyushu. It is a shinto shrine and before praying, my mother, friend, and I all washed our hands. This is the etiquette for all shrines!

This is picture at Yufuin, Oita Prefecture in Kyushu. I saw this little doll near Donguri no Mori hanging from a tree.

This is the temple my mother and I visited in Oita Prefecture. It is called Rakan-ji and it stands on the side of the mountain like this! It's pretty cool and the view was excellent!
















Back in Nagoya, this is when I visited the Nagoya Castle. Inside there were many historical context about the castle. This is called the kinshachi ("Golden Dolphin"). There are two on top of the Nagoya Castle (which I actually saw) and they are platted or made with real gold. The one inside the castle is not real (but I'm not too sure...).

I took this photo when I went to the top of the Higashiyama Sky Tower with a friend of mine. It was right when the sun was setting and I was able to see the whole city of Nagoya! I highly recommend people to go to this tower when they have a chance to. It's great for couples and there's also a restaurant on the highest level. ;D













Can you guys tell what this is? You guessed it! It a towel of breasts! I saw this at Atami while my mother, grandmother, and I was shopping for souvenirs. It's kind funny, but weird.

I took this photo at Asakusa, Tokyo. This is inside Senso-ji. It was really big and very beautiful especially at night!

















Anyway, that is it for this week's post! Next week will be the first blog about being in school. I hope you guys are as excited as I am!

Until next week, sayonara~!

School in about a week! Photos from the summer!

Hey~!

This week, I have been hanging out in Nagoya mostly by myself. Since it's so hot, I've been inside the house most of the time except during the night, where I go to the gym. Anyway, this week's post, I decided to post pictures I either like or didn't get a chance to post from over the summer. Here's some of them!


I took this photo in Kijimadaira, Nagano Prefecture right near the Ski Resort. I don't know, but I like it. What do you guys think?











This was taken at Yufuin, Oita Prefecture. My mother and I visited many stores there and one of the them was Donguri no Mori. In front of the store, Ghibli items were lined up and I couldn't resist and I had to go inside! However, most of the items were expensive and I went out the store empty-handed. -.-''

This is also in Yufuin. I was waiting for my mother and since I had a cold, I decided to dip my feet in the onsen  right in front of one of the souvenir shop. Honestly, the water was SOOO hot that my foot was red when I pulled it out of the water. -.-''

I took this picture at Atami, Shizouka Prefecture when me and my family went to a rose/herb garden near the hotel. This was one of the Japanese gardens!  I love the way the ocean is in the background of the garden. It think it just beautiful!







When leaving Atami, my mother, my grandmother, and I stopped at a shotengai (Similar to an outside mall, but on the streets). We were shopping for souvenirs when we passed by this women and her monkey entertaining little children. It was very cute! :]

Can you guess what fruit this is on the right??? It is actually a watermelon! I had this over at my mother's friend's house when we visited her and her newborn baby. I never seen an orange watermelon before, so I thought it was quite cool. However, the taster was no different than the regular red ones.

This is the picture of the famous Tekeshita Dori in Harajuku! I was debating whether or not to post this last week because I don't think I took this very well. However, I like the expression the guy in the front made in the picture (he looks really mad, but I find it quite funny). Do you guys think it's funny or is it just me?














Anyway, that's it for now! Next week, I'm going to prepare to go to Kansai Gaidai University. I'll be packing mostly and sending my luggage to the campus. Then on Monday, August 26th, I'll be heading towards Hirakata City! So excited! So, I'll be writing one last post for the summer next week before the semester starts. It might be blog full of extra pictures (like this!).

Until next week, sayonara~!

Fun in Tokyo

Hey~!

So early this week, I went to Tokyo to meet with my family and to hang out with my friend. I went from Thursday night and left on Sunday night. Although it was short period of time, it was very tiring!!! >.<

Anyway, I went to Tokyo on Thursday night with my mom because she was leaving Japan the next morning. While my mom stayed until 4:30am to catch her flight, I stayed over until 10am. Around 11:30am, I met up with my cousin at an area called Ginza in front of the Kabuki Theatre. The theatre looked BEAUTIFUL on the outside! I wish I could of gone inside, but for some reason it was closed that day. :/ After meeting up, my cousin and I went to a sushi restaurant nearby, which a family member recommended to us. I did not catch the name of the restaurant, but it was delicious! My cousin and I had a kaidendon, which is a just various sashimi topped of rice.

After eating, we went shopping around Ginza. We first went to a clothing store called G.U., which is affiliated with Uniqlo. However, it is much cheaper! I bought a shirt for ¥990 (approximately ~$9.90). I wanted to buy a dress as well, but it didn't look good on me. -.-'' After, we went to Uniqlo and I bought a camisole, which supposedly very cooling during the summer. My cousin and I went shopping a little more, however, we didn't buy anything else.

That evening, I parted ways with my cousin and slept over at my younger cousin's house. The next day (Friday), I went to a hotel called Villa Motosu located in Yamanashi Prefecture. My family and I always go there when we all get together. Usually we go there for a few days, but this time we only stayed for two days and one night. On the first day, my younger cousin and I played tennis for about an hour. It was my first time so I was really bad at it, but by the end, I was able to serve (kind of)! Later that night, my family and I went in a bath, played table tennis, and then ate dinner (which was a course!).

The next day, we didn't do much besides eat breakfast and go in a bath. We had to leave to Tokyo early the next day since my cousin had work. While my cousin was off to work in Tokyo, I went to see the Sky Tree with my cousin's mother and my great aunt. The Sky Tree was HUGE! We went up to one of the observation deck, which was at around 350 meters. I was able to look out at the whole city and it was really beautiful! However, it was a bit foggy and I wasn't able to look out at the distance. If it was a clear day, I would of seen Mt. Fuji! >.<

After going to the Sky Tree, we went to Asakusa. We went inside the Senso-ji, which is a buddhist temple. I didn't pray, but I did look around the shops nearby. After looking around Tokyo, I went to have dinner with more family members at a restaurant near Asakusa. I had some really good kamameshi (rice in kettle pots). We had various kinds of kamameshi, but I liked chicken kamameshi the most.

On the last day, I went to Shibuya around noon saying goodbye to my family. For about 3 hours, I walked around Shibuya by myself, shopping at various stores. I mainly went to Shibuya 109, which is a gigantic shopping mall. It had several floors with various clothing stores. To me, the clothes were all flashy gyaru style, which is fine, but not really for me. Also, many of the clothes were very expensive. It was just nice looking at it.

After looking around Shibuya, I met up with one of my best friend from NYC. We went shopping in Harajuku at Tekeshita Dori. I've been there several times already so I know some stores in the area. We went to several clothing stores, but I only bought two things. I bought a brownish-orange shirt for ¥1050 (approximately ~$10.50) from a store called Sango. I also bought a cute cat eye mask for ~¥290 (approximately ~$2.90). I went back to Nagoya at night by bullet train. It was all so fun and I was so glad I got to spend time with family and friends.

Back in Nagoya, I spent time mostly by myself, relaxing at home. During the next week, I went to the movie theatre with a friend of mine on Thursday night. We watched the new Miyazaki movie called Kaze Tachinu. It was about a young man name Jiro Hirokoshi who chases his dream to make airplanes. The movie spans about 10 years and although the story line was slow, it nice lighthearted, summer movie, which I didn't expect. I expected the movie to be more depressing, but that wasn't the case at all. I recommend this movie for anyone who doesn't want to see anything heavy.

I also made some new dish! I made mentaiko cream pasta with sausage and onions. It tasted delicious and I got the recipe from the website http://justonecookbook.com/blog/. It has various Japanese recipes and they are all so simple! :] Anyway, until next week, sayonara~!