No pork life in Japan - Nisshin Cup Noodle

My husband is a Muslim. After I met him, I started to live without pork. at the very beginning, I was very nervous this new life style but actually I get used to it.

One of the trickiest thing of no pork life is “pork extract”. Even if a product called chicken ramen, it contains pork extract! For me, it’s not pure chicken ramen!!!!! Hahaha

Cup noodle is not the healthiest food so I am ok not eating them. However, sometimes I’m tempted to eat it….

The other day, I decided to go through pork free cup noodle in a shop. I was very excited to find out Tom yam noodle by Nisshin is pork free!!!! 

I love Thai food. If I choose one from Nisshin cup noodle, I would choose either Seafood or Tom Yam so this is really perfect for me!

I know for majority of Japanese people, it is really does not matter which meat or pork extract. However, I hope Japanese food companies starts to get aware of this culture / religious needs.....

Japanese Confectionary : Kurumicco

 Another introducing popular Japanese confectionary blog!

Tadaaaaaa

I know this confectionary does not have a unique appearance.   It is small and it looks ordinary.

However, once you put in in your month, I am sure you will be surprised!

The basic taste is caramel and nuts but whole thing makes the taste just right!!!

In Yokohama harbour side, there is a shopping mall called "Hammerhead".

I couldn't find why it is named like that.....

Anyway there is a Kurumicco factory. Basically you can see how this amazing Kurumicco is made.

I would say the basic idea is simple. Dough, caramel and nuts. Again i am fascinated by the complete mixture!!!

Now every time I meet my friends, I bring Kurumicco and promote this hehe

This company is from Kamakura so Yokohama prefecture. In Tokyo, you can buy Kurumicco only in Tokyo station and Roppongi.

In Yokohama, there are some unique local shops so hope to find more ;)

Japanese confectionary : What Japanese people are queuing for...Cannelé

Japanese people LOVE confectionary. They can wait for hours to buy it.

Currently what is hot is Cannelé

My mom is a big fan of cannele so she bought it a lot when I was young.

This is my surprise that cannele became so big here in Japan.

One day my mom asked me to buy some. In Ginza, I had a look at several cannele shops but all the shop sold everything by afternoon.

On the day unfortunately I couldn't buy it but later that day, my mom asked me to order it online.

It seems as if there are some shops which take online orders.

They say they take order starting at 9:30 in the morning. To make my mom happy, I was ready to place an order by 9:30. 

I put a few boxes of cannele and was trying to enter an address and then I realised that they already sold out......The time was 9:34!!!!

I was really shocked! Canneles are sold out only in 4 minutes!!!!

I tried again in another day and managed to order just for pleasing my mom hahaha

Taddaaaaaaa!!!! so this is the cannele which are sold out in a few minutes.

It may be difficult to see but the each size is super small! 

This is somehow a trend in Japan. Everything gets smaller and more expensive haha

Well the taste was not bad but unfortunately it was not something like I would love to do the crazy onling shopping again.....

Another shop where you can buy cannele in Japan is PAUL. I think it's a French bakery. 

Their cannele is quite big! You don't have to queue for long to get it.

My summary of the current cannele situation here in Japan is ;

People are crazy about cannele but the taste is not super great unfortunately.

My understanding is the surface of cannele is rather crispy but majority of what are sold in Japan don't have that texture......  I guess in generally speaking Japanese people love soft things so maybe cannele became softer as well??

Anyway i will post here when I find the perfect CANNELE!!! hehe

What is popular in Japan with Corona

 It’s been almost a year since the COVID-19 impacted our life. What kind of activity or hobby have become popular with corona in your country?

In Japan, camping & BBQ has become quite big! Even before corona, activities in nature had started to becoming more popular. Majority of Japanese people live in a city which means very crowded. I think people have started to be tired of spending their time facing concrete buildings.

Now because of corona, people try to visit a city area where people used to gather. But we need something to do in our free time! Just staying home is just too much SO people come up with an idea of nature. Some people even buy their own mountain!!!!

Like no other, I also did BBQ♥

It just tastes much better if the beef is grilled by BBQ!!!

I always thought BBQ comes with s’more. Without it, you can’t finish it, no!!?!?!

When I was a child, I was a big fan of baked marshmallow and this time I was pretty much excited about it. The melting marshmallow was good but it was a bit too sweet for me..... I felt I am defiantly aging haha

Corona has made us think again about our life. Now I prefer spending more time in nature rather than spending a lot of money in expensive brands. 

What has become popular in your country under this situation?

Chingay 2020 - Colours in Harmony

Happy Chinese New Year 2021!

Actually in Japan, we don’t celebrate Chinese New Year, just ‘normal’ new year which is the beginning of the year. It’s interesting since it seems as if Japan is a minor country in Asia where people don’t celebrate Chinese New Year.

Until I stayed in Singapore where many people celebrate Chinese New Year, I personally didn’t know about it..... (shame on me.....)

In 2019, I had an opportunity to stay in Singapore for a half year and experienced very diverse Singapore culture.

One of events happened in Chinese near year period was Chingay parade. 

Chingay parade is a street parade and basically it celebrate Chinese Goddess and Chinese new year.

Basically what I understood back then was “something will be on! Let’s check it out!” Hahaha

Actually I got to know this parade right after I arrived in Singapore in September 2018. Since there is a relatively big Japanese community in Singapore called the Japanese association, I was looking for an opportunity to get to know more people starting with Japanese people. There is a well established Japanese community and they were asking for volunteers for the Chingay parade. I really didn’t know what it was but wanted to join them. However, they had a very strict rules who can be volunteered.

1. You should be a proper member of the community ( meaning you pay a good amount of membership fee for the community)

2. You must attend all the practices

I find those very Japanese especially No.2. You need to dedicate yourself to the community and I bet that says “you need to attend all the practices and also never be late!” Haha

Anyways I was not qualified and I gave up to be a performer.

The pic above is a performance of the Japanese community. 

The performances are based on countries and also companies. Every organization had a different character and I didn’t get bored of looking at them. 

It is kinda same feeling when I watch football games but somehow I got excited to see Japanese performance.....

According to their official website, in 2021, this parade will be done digitally. This might be worth checking out!!!! https://www.chingay.gov.sg/ 

I hope in the near future as the picture we can gather at the same place to celebrate and enjoy this kind of events tho.....

It's been a WHILE!

 

So it is actually 4 years !! since I uploaded the last blog.....

My Life has changed a LOT so as the world. Now there is COVID-19 and I feel traveling the world is luxury of the ancient times. 

I remember I have this blog but now I am surprised that I started to in 2014...... I was still at university...... 

I feel a bit embarrassed to read my old posts but actually it is interesting to know what I was thinking back then so I will just keep them.

So short summary of what I did while I was away;

I wanted to work more globally so got a job which gave me an opportunity to work abroad for a certain period.

Now I am back in Japan. Because of the nature of my current position, for career wise, it is good for me to stay in Japan and deepen my knowledge. Actually after I came back to Japan about a 1.5 years ago, I think I have learnt a lot!!! 

This blog's info was "A Japanese girl's life in Japan" but now I think I am no longer a girl so changed to woman..... 

The global opportunity gave me experiences in 3 different cities & 2 countries (Germany & Singapore) AND a lot of trips! so I will try to write about all those adventures!!!

*I think my English is getting worse and worse but hopefully you understand what I want to say not exactly but roughly.......

Aoyama Farmer's market / Sunday Walk in Shibuya

It's getting cold these days in Japan.
Moreover, the weather is not great.
I thought Japan is a nice country because of the better weather than UK, but without it, I don't have no other good reason to stay here....haha

Anyways, it was a beautiful day yesterday so I went for a walk in Shibuya.

I looked up and I have found there is a farmers market every weekend at the united nations university headquarters.

This 100% natural juice was just amazing!!!!

They sell vegetables, flowers, plants and food.
People were very nice and I felt it's good to buy something from people who actually made them.

After this, I head to Meiji shrine in Harajuku since there is beautiful green.

I asked my boyfriend to take a good pic of me again and again and he was bit tired of me lol

It was such a beautiful day :)

I wanted to take a proper photo with the cute cardigan but it was too hot and I didn't wear that for long... hehehe

Rio Olympic 2016

So far I was not really interested in Olympic......

However, maybe because of Japan men's gymnastics, now I'm super into Olympic haha

Every single player's effort is just speechless.
I'm a type of person who cannot carry though one thing.... That's really pity 
Anyway I really admire sport players effort and I'm moved......

日本の選手だけでなく全ての選手にエールを！

Trip to Phuket Day3; Scuba Diving @ Racha Yai island

My Phuket holiday's mail event was "Scuba Diving"!!!!!

Like the day 1, I booked an optional tour by VERTLA.

It was my first to experience scuba diving.
I was a bit afraid whether I can survive since I'm not good at mouth breathing.
Unlike Snorkeling, there is air coming out from the regulator so it was easier to breath using only mouth.

We did two dives and after I finished the first one, I was super exhausted so I took a nap on s boat.

After the nap, I was recovered and enjoyed the second dive.
It was such a great experience and now I want to get a license!!!hehehehe

I was really satisfied  with my scuba diving experience and tired.
We went straight to a restaurant.

As you can see, I was super excited by food haha

and coconut!

After having shower and another nap, we went to Patong Beach where Phuket's most popular area.

Thai land is often called as 'land of smiles' and I always think Thai people are really nice.

Well they are nice but I was super surprised that sooooo many people were advertising pinpong show on the street......

Also there were may unique bars where many girls were dancing on tables.

It was interesting but I could not believe myself that I was in Thai land......

Maybe it's the same as Japanese super weird culture.

Trip to Phuket Day2; Old Town/Central Festival

As always it took me more time than expected to write a post.........
I'll do my best to remember my trip back in May.....hahaha

So here we go
The second day of Phuket!

Unfortunately I don't have a photo to show you how gorgeous breakfast I had during my stay at katatani.
I really liked my stay there......

here was a shuttle bus from the hotel to old town or central festival.
Since my boyfriend loves shopping, we decided to go to central festival.

I'm not quite sure what we did do in the morning...
I guess maybe chilling at a pool side.
Oh gosh I really miss laying there relaxed.....

Before we went on the shuttle, we had a light lunch at a restaurant just in front of the hotel.
I really like Som tam, green papaya salad and I had one.

It was really spicy but yummy so it was like troublesome haha


So shuttle bus took us to central festival

Well frankly it was really normal shopping mall for me. I mean similar to Japanese one.
I wanted to experience more Thai thing, we had sushi and left.... lol

I love sushi rolls abroad. It look really nice and yum!

We took tuktuk to Old town but it was extremely hot hot hot

we didn't have any information about Old town beforehand, so we randomly walked around.
The town itself was lovely. There was some sort of old-fashioness.

Since it was extremely hot, we couldn't stay there for a long.
It was difficult to get a taxi and I decided to jump in a guest house and ask them to call a taxi.
They kindly phoned and asked a taxi but it cost us 1000 baht!!!
We gave up this idea and kept our journey to find a taxi or tukutuku.

Fortunately we found one and the driver told us it cost 600 baht.
I insisted to make it 500 and he agreed.
Well Thai people are too nice to negotiate....

Since his car was bit old, it seemed difficult to go over a hill.
( there was a big hill between our resort and the city centre.)

We arrived safely and decided to give him 600 baht.
Hope we made him happy hahaha

For dinner, we went to a restaurant at the hotel.
We had a beautiful scenery of sea but to be honest, the food was not quite good hahaha

After we finished dinner, I spotted there was frog race was coming.
I didn't know what it was but decided to join.

Basically (I'm not quite sure whether I can explain it well or not) a staff releases four frogs from a net and we guess which one jumps out of the rope first.

The funnies part was that staff collect frogs by his hands every time hahaha

We couldn't guess it right but it was quite exciting to have a look :)


So now I really have to post day3 soon.....!!! hopefully.......

Trip to Phuket Day1; Phi Phi Island/VERTLA

Day 1
Even though there is no big time difference, it's wiser to plan a big activities on the first day to keep up the trip.

Many people suggested me to go to Phiphi island.
Since I don't wanna be lost, I decided to book an optional tour.
I don't remember clearly but tours on VERTLA looked nice and reasonable.

ピピ島観光ツアー　快適な大型船で！＜昼食付き＞ / エコノミー（英語ツアー） / Aプラン

I was a bit worried if a driver didn't pick us up, but he appeared.
Well not everything is on time like Japan haha

We rode one of those boats and headed to Phiphi island.
It took like more than one hour.....
I didn't expect an hour boat trip so i was bit bored hehe
On the boat, we got free muffin, tea, coffee and coke.

I really didn't understand what was going on but it seemed we did a cruising before landing on Phiphi island.

This beautiful island is used for shooting "The Beach"??? I guess

It was beautiful!

If you wanna go into, you should rent a small boat from Phiphi island. 

Before exploring Phiphi island, we had time for snorkelling.

Finally we arrive at Phiphi island!

We were escorted to a lunch restaurant (food was really nice :)!)

and had some free time.

As you can imagine, it was really hot and sea water was really warm too.

It was like hot springs haha

I think it's worth to go to Phiphi island for your first trip to Phuket.

I personally thought the beach in front of our hotel was good enough....

Oh well but snorkelling was really fun so my only concern was the distance.

It was bit far away....

Anyways it was really nice experience.

Our dinner for this day was at the hotel while watching the sunset.

*My phuket trip
Arriving day
https://ayahs-favorite.blogspot.jp/2016/05/trip-to-phuket-arriving-dayhow-did-i.html

A Little Walk in Harajuku/Shaka Sandals/Japanese Hot Sandal Trend

Since it was a beautiful day, my boyfriend and I decided to take a walk.

Well I wanted to go to a park or somewhere with green but we somehow wanted to go in a famous street in Harajuku, Takeshita street.

Like it reminds me of junior high school, the street is for teenagers.

There are many shops selling young idol photos.

You can see many people

just people people people

Obviously there are many changes from what I knew from about 10 years ago

I was surprised that there is a MONKI store

This brand reminds me of London shopping....

This type of display is super japanese

After you go through the street, you are in Omotosando area.
My impression of the area is a bit poshy
There is a ice shade store i wanna go but there's always a massive queue.....

being natural......

After a lot of window shopping, we decided to buy sport sandals we've been looking for these days.
Well my boyfriend wanted to buy one last summer but I couldn't understand it.....

Anyways i went for SHAKA's sandals.

Since my boyfriend bought Teva's ones, I was thinking to buy same ones

Well Teva's sandals are really light and seems really  easy for walking in. 

However, when I thought about whether they match my summer clothes, the answer seemed No. SHAKA's ones would match better with my clothes, that was my answer.

I cannot wear sandals for work so I'll update about this again :)

By the way, shinjuku new south exit was renewed.

I know this sounds funny but I bet that exit used to be called as New south exit anyways.

Now there are this monument!

It's like Amsterdam. Maybe they imitate?? haha