Festivals, Chilling, and Cooking in Nagoya

Hey guys~!

This week has been a bit slow, so this post will be a bit shorter than usual. Anyway, early this week, my mother and I went to a family friend's house in Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture to meet her newborn daughter. My mother and I went by car with another friend of ours. Anyway, the house we visited was VERY cute and it looked like an American house! Inside the house, we spent a few hours talking and playing with the baby. She was very adorable and she was smiling most of the time! No matter who held her, she never cried, which surprised me. I would love to visit our friend's daughter again!

After the visit, my mother and I went to a restaurant with the friend who drove us to Toyota. Although I been to the restaurant many times, I still don't remember the name of it. :[ However, when we all get together, we always go to the same place. We ordered okonomiyaki (Japanese pancakes), monjayaki (Pan-fried batter, kind of similar to okonomiyaki), and other pan fried foods (such as seafood). It was all very good and I was BLOATED.

On Sunday, I went to a a festival near the house with my mom, grandmother, and my grandmother's friend. It took place in an area called Kakuozan in Nagoya. It was awesome! It was similar to the street fairs in NYC, where there were many clothes and food vendors. There were a lot of people as well and some were wearing yukata. Seeing them, I wish I had brought mine with me from NYC. >.< Along the way, I saw some performances including bands and taiko drummers. In general, the festival was very lively and I loved the atmosphere. I hope I can go to another one!

I have been recently been making food for myself as well! In the picture, I made pumpkin wrapped in pork, sour plum rice balls (using brown rice), natto with sour plum, and slice nagaimo with pumpkin, shiso, and sour plum sauce on top. It was really good! I ate all but a rice ball. I am hoping by cooking often at home, I can cook while I am in Kansai Gaidai University. ^.^



Anyway, next week I'll be going to Tokyo and seeing my family and friends. I am SOOO excited!

Sayonara~!

Touring Around Nagoya and Going to Atami

 Hey guys~!

Sorry I've been writing later and later. A lot of things has been going on and I couldn't start on writing the blog! Early this week, my friend from NYC came to Nagoya and we went around various tourist attractions. He stayed for two days, one night at the house. On the first day, we went to Nagoya Castle, Oasis 21, the SKE48 theatre, Higashiyama Sky Tower, and the restaurant Gomitori with my mom. I've been to Oasis 21 and Gomitori before, but other than that, it was my first going to all the places. It was really fun looking around, but so tiring! -.-'' Here are some pictures of some places we went to.

This is the Nagoya Castle, which is one of the Japanese castles around the country! Here, we ate kishimen, which is flat, thin noodles famous in Nagoya. I ate cold kishimen and it was perfect for the hot weather.

This is the Higashiyama Sky Tower. We went up to the top by elevator and we were able to see the whole city! We went up exactly when the sun was starting to come down, so it was VERY pretty! ^.^ The picture of the view is right under. If you look closely, there are mountains all the way in the back.



 The next day, we went to Osu Kannon Temple, where we prayed, and the Osu shopping area. The shopping area is HUGE and we only walked around just a bit of it. We looked at some shops, but I didn't buy anything. We had lunch there too, and we ate at a hamburger shop (I had a gorgonzola cheese burger). After, we hanged out at Nagoya station for a bit until he had to leave to Osaka. It was very nice looking at all the Nagoya tourist sites because usually I don't have the chance to actually visit the places. Maybe I'll go again (like the Osu shopping area!).

This past Saturday, I went to Atami, Shizouka prefecture to meet with family members and spend time with them for two days, one night. I went with my mother and grandmother, and we met up with my aunts and great aunts. We went to a hotel that's right in front of the ocean and it was very nice! It has been 3 years since I actually went to the beach (except for Coney Island. That doesn't count). The hotel had a very retro 70s look. There was a dagashiya (cheap candy store), an izakaya with old movie posters on the wall, and souvenir shop (it had a lot of retro bathing suits!). It was so much fun just looking around the hotel.

At night, my family and I went to a performance dinner. The dinner was really good although I thought there was too much meat throughout the whole course (In one course, there was pork hot plate, sashimi, and steak. I thought the steak was unnecessary). The performance was very nice as well, where the performers sang various types of songs. However, the performance was too loud and I was unable to hear my family members talk.

After the performance dinner, we watched fireworks go up from the ocean. I loved it! It was much prettier to see from the ocean rather than the Hudson River in NYC during July 4th. The firework performance lasted for 30 minutes.

Later that night, we all went to the onsen before going to sleep. The next day, my family and I went to a rose garden that was set on a side of a mountain. Although it was VERY hot, looking at the flowers was nice. There wasn't much roses, but there were other flowers as well and the garden was very colorful. At the rose garden, we all ate this delicious rose ice cream! On top of the rose ice cream was rose syrup and on the bottom, there was corn flakes. I must say that this ice cream was probably the best ice cream I ever ate (the second best ice cream is the ice cream I ate at a farm in Kyushu). However, the ice cream would of been better if the flakes were on top instead of the bottom because by the time I went to the bottom, there was no ice cream left but corn flakes. >.<

Anyway, this week has been fun! Until next week, sayonara~! ^.^

Spending time in Nagoya

Hey everybody~!

This week has been slow and I haven't done anything grand or exciting. The weather here in Nagoya has been pretty bad lately and for a few days it was raining. Now it's just cloudy and REALLY humid. According to the news, the rainy season has passed 15 days earlier than expected. Anyway, the whole week I chilled with my mom. During the weekend, I help out with my grandmother. At home, my mother and I tried to clean up because it is SOOO messy and there's just so many stuff. Literally, it's taking us a long time and I'm starting to think I won't have time to find a job. D:

Besides cleaning, my mother and I joined a gym for a month. It cost about ¥8500 or $85 for each of us. I think it's a bit expensive, but my mom said it's not bad... so whatever. We've been going to the gym for 3 days now and my legs felt like bricks. On the first day, my mother and I took a class called Technical Ballet. It was mostly a muscle training class rather than ballet so I was able to do it even though I have no ballet experience. On the second day, we took Shape Aero and CXWORX. I did not like Shape Aero because it was kind of like dance and for some reason, the choreography had a lot of spins (I got bit dizzy >.<). CXWORX was a core muscle training class, which was kinda hard. :/ On Friday, my mother took an aquatics class while I just swam some laps around the pool. It wasn't bad since it was a hot day. We'll be going back to the gym on Monday!

I have been cooking a bit as well. Recently, I have made hanetsuki gyoza (fried dumplings with crisp edges?), nagaimo and tofu baked guratan (gooey yam with tofu and baked in an oven), and sweetened pumpkin. Here is the sweetened pumpkin and nagaimo and tofu baked guratan. How does it look?

What else has happened...? I have also gotten a cell phone in Japan, which was cheap. My mother is already part of a plan in Japan with Softbank, so we were able to get an extra line barely without any cost! It's not a smartphone, but rather a regular white flip phone. Unlike the cell phones in America, it seems a lot better since it has a music/movie player and a REALLY good quality camera. Although it's not a smartphone, I'm fine with it! It's not like I'm going to be here forever! :P

Next week I'll be going to Osaka to visit Kansai Gaidai University and to meet up with a family friend. I'll write about it and put a lot of pictures! ^.^

Until next time, sayonara~!

Experiencing Nagoya

Hey everyone!

So this week I spent most of my time in Nagoya, just chilling. Starting from early this week, I bought a charity t-shirt for "24 Hour Television ~Ai wa Chikyuu wo Sukuu~" ("24 Hour Television ~Love Saves Earth~), which is a special television program done once a year for 24 hours. The program raises and donates money to charities that aids in the sick, victims of war and natural disasters, and more. Each year, there's a special theme and this year it is "Nippon tte...? ~kono kuni no katachi~" (which means "What is Japan...? ~The shape of the country~). Here is the front and back of the shirt. The drawings are done by Ohno Satoshi (from the idol group Arashi) and an artist name Kusama Yayoi. Isn't is cute?! ^.^

On Wednesday, my mother and I went to a nearby city called Okazaki, Aichi Prefecture with a friend name Misato-san. There, my mother and Misato-san took a dance class with a teacher name Seiji-san, who we all know and are friends with. I didn't participate, but my mom did and she said it was pretty hard. He taught two classes, one beginner "Soul" dance class and another intermediate level fusion class (apparently which is house dance, and other street dance combined). The last class ended at 11:30pm. My mom, Misato-san, Seiji-san, me, and another friend went back to Nagoya and ate at a family restaurant called Cafe Gusto. It had different types of food such as pasta, pizza, and hamburgers. My mother and I shared a dish called doria (a rice casserole). It had various seafood and vegetables inside. After eating, my mother and I went back to the house at 3am.

The next day, Seiji-san taught another class and did a workshop at a different location. Although my mother did not take the class, we later met up with him after at 10pm in Nagoya. Along with Misato-san, Seiji-san, and four other people, we all went to an izakaya, which is basically a restaurant that serves food with sake/alcoholic drinks. The izakaya we went to was called Gomitori and it was in Sakae, a popular shopping area. I did not drink anything, but I ate some REALLY good food. I had some famous Nagoya specialty food including miso katsu (pork cultlet with miso sauce) and tebasaki (chicken wing). I also ate some really good sashimi and other Japanese food. My mother and her friends had a lot of drinks (including beer and sake), and we all talked until 3 am in the morning. After leaving the restaurant, Seiji-san wanted to have some more drinks, so we went to another restaurant type place. However, we made a wrong choice and picked a restaurant that does not particularly specialize in drinking (instead it was just a 24 hour restaurant -.-''). We were told that each person had to order a dish (not including drinks) even though we were full. Reluctantly, we all did (including beer for Seiji-san) and stayed 'till 4am. After, we all finally parted ways, and my mother and I got home at 5am. Although it was fun hanging out with everyone, I was SOOO tired! >.<

This week, I started to catch a cold as well. :'( I don't know how I got it, but recently it has been a little chilly in Japan because of the continuous rain for the past two days from a hurricane. Next week, I'll be going around Kyushu, which is an island all the way south of Japan. I'll be going around the island with my mom, mostly for her work as well as sightseeing. I'll be writing all about it when I come back.

Until next time, sayonara~!