Ume hanami, you've stolen my heart.

The most beautiful season in Japan is approaching fast, and that, to me at least, is cherry blossom season. However, something that is most definitely overlooked are the plum blossoms, which come into season a little earlier.

This weekend, I went on a day trip to Dazaifu for some plum blossom viewing (ume hanami), with Kohei, his sister Hana, and her boyfriend, Ryo. Despite being a little early for the full bloom, it was absolutely stunning walking around the grounds of the Tenmangu Shrine. 

The colours were so much more varied than that of the cherry blossom, and being the pink-lover I am, I fell in love instantly. No words do it justice.

 

It’s been a long time since I’ve been somewhere so crowded with tourists, but it was nice being able to escape from the hustle and bustle, hide amongst some plum trees, and eat my new favourite snack: umegae mochi.
Whoever thought azuki (red bean) filled mochi that’s warm and crispy was a great idea, I applaud you.

The week earlier, Kohei and I took a drive up to Mojiko Retro Club, an area of Kitakyushu which connects Kyushu onto the main island.
The Kitakyushu Gotochi Hello Kitty seems to be proving rather elusive in my travels too, so it gives me even more of an excuse to keep going back.

Even better, I got a picture with the resident mascot, Jiimo, even if he does look suspiciously phallic.
I can claim to have ‘seen’ Yamaguchi now, but that will have to wait for another time, preferably when the weather isn’t so baltic.

Welcome to the SHINee World.

To anybody who knows me well, you'll know I was sucked into the deep pit of the K-pop world a while back and I'm still yet to return. The main reason for that were SHINee, a beautifully talented fivesome whose music now holds so many memories to me.
I knew there was no escape when I found myself buying a magazine in Hong Kong, despite not being able to read a blind bit of Chinese, purely because it was the first magazine I'd ever seen with them on the cover. I'm 99% sure that magazine is still in my bedroom at home now.

I've had so many near misses seeing them live, that when they announced their Japanese tour this year, I'd set myself up for disappointment. A ticket lottery is the common ticket procedure over here, and I was unsuccessful the first time. Thankfully I got my second chance back in January, when a last minute second lottery opened. I applied; for two different dates and with three accounts, figuring I'd be unlucky again. Low and behold, persistence paid off, and this weekend I found myself in a slight state of bewilderment walking into the arena.

It was a good job I wasn't closer to the stage, because I know my calm demeanor would have rapidly changed into something that would have gotten me escorted from the premises. Needless to say, my rowdy Scouse side made an appearance during the encore, when I was hands down the loudest person chanting.

I spent way too much money on merch, I couldn't really take any pictures or videos for fear of being kicked out, but I did get to see bae. Key slayed as always, and was unnecessarily fabulous for the duration. He also had pink hair again, which I was delighted about.
Along with that, there was a little section of the show that was London themed, so I'm pretending they knew there was a Brit in attendance and did it purely for me.

While I'm still holding out to see them in Korea, as their Japanese image is too kawaii for my liking sometimes, it was something I never thought I'd get to experience and I'm so glad I did. Bonus being I could actually understand a fair bit of their conversations too.
If you're curious as to what it was like, here's one of their past concert tour performances: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVyyDHoNADI . 

Thank you SHINee, for helping me discover a love for sexually androgynous Korean men, that still worries my father to this day. I'm happy to report the yellow fever is still going strong.

Setsubun fun!

Setsubun is one of the more fun traditional Japanese holidays, celebrated the day before the first day of spring according to the old lunar calendar. This year, it fell on February 3^rd, and I was invited to celebrate the day with Katy Yoshida and her little gems, Sayuri and Ayame.

We started with mamamaki, or bean throwing, which is what this festival is most famous for. You shout “oni wa soto, fuku wa uchi” whilst throwing beans at the oni (demon). This signifies driving away the bad spirits, and welcoming good luck into your home.

I’ll admit I got a little too into this, as did the kids, because there were beans EVERYWHERE. I found a bean in my shoe later that evening, even when my shoes hadn’t been in the room.
After the craziness of the bean throwing, we all had to pick up and eat the number of beans corresponding to our age. I’m not sure if Ayane was being super cute like usual, or secretly trying to hint I look closer to 75 than 21.

Next, we ate ehoumaki, a special type of sushi roll that you eat facing the “lucky direction” for that year. It’s believed that if you close your eyes and concentrate until you finish eating, your dream will come true. Little Sayuri was taking things very seriously. I, on the other hand, was more concerned about spilling pork onto my shirt.

I had a wonderful evening afterwards, being graced with some dance performances from the kids, having tickle fights and being treated to a cuppa and some Turkish delight from good old Marks & Spencer. Sayuri did mention it was her first time eating dinner with a teacher, something that must be quite strange; I'm just super grateful to have a little taste of home mixed with Japan, and a wonderful family to enjoy it with.

Guess who just re-contracted!

Here’s a definitive, but not all-inclusive, list of things I’ve learnt during these past 6 months living in Japan. Don’t judge me for the pettiness.

Things I genuinely don’t understand:

• The obsession with PPAP – It makes my life a living hell because I hear it almost daily, and god forbid I have to teach a lesson about fruits. I will admit though, I have found myself dancing along to it, and found the “Pan Pineapple Apple Pan” (pan is bread) at a nearby bakery to be quite ingenious.

• Don Quijote - a wonderful emporium where you can buy eggs, Tiffany jewellery and sex toys under one roof. I may not understand it, but it’s fabulous.

•  Why, Japanese people, do you complain it’s so cold and set the staff room heater to 25 degrees? Maybe, if you actually closed some of the windows in school, it wouldn’t be so baltic.

• Pee fright – Everyone pees, please stop with the obnoxiously loud river sounds produced by the toilets, or frantically flushing the loo when you hear someone enter.

Things that make me irrationally angry:

• Tatami mats – I practically have a pet in my house that I neither wanted nor asked for, but requires a ridiculous amount of sweeping and drinking red wine in anywhere but my kitchen levels up the risk factor by 100%.

• Shampoo and moisturiser – The cause of the most recent rant in my life. I am not dry, I do not need to be extra moisturised a.k.a made greasy. Happy to report I got shampoo and moisturiser for Christmas though yay.

•  Nobody holds doors open for anyone - I’m mainly looking at you, young females. How about making both of our lives a little easier and open the door, rather than squeezing through the smallest gap so you don’t feel obliged to hold it for me.

• Laces. I didn’t realise how many of my shoes are not practical for Japanese life, especially winter ones.

General life:

•  I’ve been craving a crumpet for about two months now.

•  In summer, I live in what is comparable to Satan’s sweaty paradise.

• In winter, when it’s -4, your apartment will also feel -4 because there’s no insulation.

• Finding underwear to fit your junk is impossible.

• The inevitable ‘what’s the best konbini’ discussion. I’m a Family Mart girl all the way (unless I want a yoghurt drink or chicken teriyaki onigiri. That’s the only time 7/11 makes a break for 1^st place).

• The lack of bins – However, the “garbage disposal Granny”, who inspects my varying bags of recycling daily, has finally left me alone because I’m more abiding than most of my neighbourhood. It’s sad that I even think that’s an accomplishment.

• I still don’t know why my ‘bathroom’ sink is by my front door.

  

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not all bad. I wouldn’t have signed a contract to spend another 18 months here if I wasn’t having a ball here in Kumamoto!

In fact, this is more something for me to look back on in the future, when many of these things having seemingly become the norm, so I can laugh at my foreignness in the early days.

Here’s hoping that I manage to continue my winning streak of "not dropping a bathroom slipper into a squat toilet" until July 2018.

Merry Christmas and 明けおめ！

Over winter break I went up to Kanagawa to spend time with my best friend’s family. As strange as it sounds, we did a “family swap”, with Haruka spending Christmas with my family, since she’s still studying in England. Mimi, their pug, sealed the deal for me.

I was as sick as anything for the first few days of the trip, so I was super grateful for being in an actual home rather than my apartment. Don’t get me wrong, I love my apartment, but it doesn’t quite have the homely feel you want when you’re feeling under the weather. I’ll admit, eating Christmas dinner was the first time I’ve felt really homesick my entire time in Japan. As you can see, I’ve got my priorities straight… missing roast dinners with my Dad’s gravy takes precedence over anything.

I choose not to speak Japanese around Haruka’s family, mainly because I never have done and don’t need to. Much to Haruka’s mums delight, she declared Christmas day was “Japanese day” because friends of the family were coming round for Christmas dinner. I thought she was joking until I was greeted by a cheerful “おはようございます” after just waking up, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought, more just weird talking to them in anything but English.

New Years was a fabulous experience: getting to eat toshikoshi soba at midnight, drinking sake to ring in New Year’s Day, and eating traditional ozōni and osechi-ryōri despite it being a texture nightmare (I’m looking at you, kamaboko). New Year was made even better by going on a morning stroll while Skyping my parents and getting a glimpse of Mt. Fuji in the distance; it really cemented the fact that I’m in Japan and I’ve actually started this whole ‘adulting’ thing.

During my time there I met up with a few friends, Cathy and Jae in Tokyo, Daichi in Yokohama; along with doing some exploring of my own. Here’s a little breakdown of some gems I found during my time there, and I’d definitely recommend going to if you’re ever up in the Tokyo area!

Dominique Ansel Bakery, Omotesando – I’ll admit I found this place scrolling through Instagram, but it’s so-called blossoming hot chocolate had me sold. It’s hidden in the back streets, and a cool place to go to get some strangely innovative desserts. I didn’t get my hands on one of their frozen s’mores (which they put on a stick and toast, might I add), or a cookie shot glass filled with milk, but I did try my first ever cronut... strawberry jam, chocolate elderflower ganache and mint sugar magic.

FYI: they change the cronut flavours monthly. If that’s not an invitation to return, I don’t know what is.

Starbucks Neighbourhood and Café, Tama Plaza Terrace – I’d heard a lot about these elusive Starbucks where you could by alcohol, and was pleased to find that although there’s 13 dotted around Japan, one of them was on my way home from Yokohama. 

I’m seriously bitter that my Starbucks wasn’t like this; selling beer, wine and allowing you to customise your coffee with whatever bean they had. I treated myself to a local Hokkaido beer which was recommended to me, and their food looked fabulous too. If you’re a fan of a chill atmosphere, whatever coffee you want and a little bit of booze, go, it’s very different from other Starbucks you’ll have been to.

 Kawaii Monster Café, Harajuku – A pink, sparkly, cute paradise. For me, at least. I’ve been wanting to go for a while and its outrageousness didn’t disappoint at all! It’s one of those places that leaves you wondering why it’s a thing, but I wasn’t complaining in the slightest.
The food was surprisingly nice, and I managed to time my visit to coincide with a show performed by the ‘Monster Girls’. 

It’s also given me some rather far-fetched ideas for my apartment. Hold that thought, in a few months I may have crafted some papier mâché macaroons for my bedroom.

T-site, Daikanyama – I never would have found this on my own if Haruka’s brother hadn’t recommended it to me. I took a trip to this Tsuruya book store one afternoon where you can browse to your hearts content and read anything you want. 

It’s got a whole at one with nature vibe, and is really more than just a regular bookstore. I was quite content with a coffee, reading a book about Kyoto, in what is considered to be one of the 20 most beautiful bookstores in the world.

Red Rock, Takadanobaba - Beef. Lots of it. A runny egg. Need I say more?