Fun in November! Gaidai sai and Chilling with Friends Again~!

Hey guys~!

So the first thing I did in November was the Gaidai-sai (Gaidai Festival)! In every school, there's a festival every year, where the clubs have exhibitions as well as have food stands. It has a different name in every school (usually *school name*+sai, which is *school name*+festival). Gaidai-sai lasted for about two days, November 1st and 2nd. Since I joined the photo club with two of my friends, we were part of the photo exhibition. I had three photos as part of the exhibition! I took some of my friends to the exhibition and they told me the pictures were really good, which made me very happy! Although when strangers told me that they love my photos, I was ecstatic since I feel that they will give more of an honest opinion.

Besides showing my friends my photos, I walked around and ate some food! I had shio yakisoba (fried noodles with salt based sauce), takosen (octopus balls with rice crackers), and tempura ice (fried ice cream). It was all delicious~! All of them were made by students, which was nice as well.

Later in November, I hung out with my friends again in Osaka. But this time we went to Umeda
because we wanted to go to this particular cafe. It was located right under the bridge of the train and it looked so cool. We hung out in the cafe and talked for a long time before walking around and exploring Umeda. It was nice just having a relaxing hang out with my good friends! :]

The day after, I went to Arashiyama, Kyoto with some other friends to see and take some pictures of the autumn leaves. It was SO crowded this day perhaps because it was a weekend. I was with 4 of my friends and it took us about an hour to cross the bridge.

After crossing the bridge, we went to a temple as well as go through the Sagano Bamboo Forest. It was beautiful! The autumn leaves were really nice as well and it was a nice way to relax with friends~!

On that following Monday, I went to Kyoto again with a friend of mine who also went to Arashiyama with me. But this time, we went to Kiyomizu-dera and Shoren-in temple to see their light ups during the night. I went to Shore-in temple before, but since I didn't bring my camera that time, I went again. It is one of my favorite temples. I loved how people are able to walk through the whole temple and it has a very relaxing atmosphere. The blue light up of the garden and the light up bamboo was my favorite part of the temple.

After going to Shoren-in temple, we went to Kiyomizu-dera, which was also very nice. The autumn leaves are very red and I love it! However, it was very crowded and it was hard to take pictures... I wanted to take a picture with a good view, but it took a LONG time to get past the people. We were there until the very end, right before it closed.

That's about it for November! Next post I will talk about what I did in December, which would be the last month I would be in Kansai Gaidai University. :'(

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! 

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~!

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 taste 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~!

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~!