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Posts Tagged ‘japan’

Kyoto – Arashiyama 嵐山

17 Jun

嵐山 arashiyama - Kyoto

Arashiyama 嵐山 offers a breath of fresh air when the many similar temple-visits in Kyoto City gets a little humdrum. Located in the western part of the city, Arashiyama is often said to be a less explored area since most tourist guidebooks do not offer much explanation. True enough when I reached there last winter, there were a gazillion Japanese tourists mulling around and very little gaijin.

My first stop was the much talked about Bamboo Forest. Located just about 5 mins on foot from the JR Saga-Arashiyama station, the bamboo forest offers a sanctuary of greenery and peace. Yes green even in the dead of winter.

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Posted in culture, japan, travelogue

 

Only in Japan – Tokyo Tower during Christmas

07 Jun

東京タワー Tokyo Tower 東京鐵塔

Tokyo Tower lights up differently during Christmas.
Only in Japan can they make that cutesy pink heart look right on a tall and magnificent structure. ☆ミ(o*・ω・) ニヤニヤ

 
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Posted in japan

 

Shirakawa Go 白川郷

01 Jun

白川郷 | Shirakawa Go

I have something to announce! I am officially a NEET now. And that’s probably why there will be updates again and I should probably change the name of this blog to something more appropriate. Something like The Long Overdue Posts perhaps..or Everything Outdated haha.

Anyway the post’s not about my complaints and rantings. More importantly, Shirakawa Go needs a better mention.

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Posted in culture, japan, tokyo life, travelogue

 

Happy New Year 2011

03 Jan

Happy New Year – to who ever may be reading this! Probably just Mervyn & myself… because the last I checked there’s only 3 visitors! Not much but positively speaking, there is much potential for improvement! (I’m probably in self denial right now!

Anyhoos, a brand new year has started again and if you’ve heard of  Hatsu yume (初夢）,  the first dream of the new year you’ll most probably know that it’s a tradition carried forth since the Edo period and that whatever you dream about on the night of January the first, will be an indication of

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Posted in japan

 

Japan Travel – Miyajima at Hiroshima

25 Apr

Travel.dice8

It dawned upon me that I’m not staying in Tokyo anymore and hence shouldn’t be using that Life in Tokyo title every time I blog about Japan. LOL. So  I’ve been intending to change that for moons and here I sat till the cows came home and yet all I could master was an unoriginal “Japan Travel”  How boring!

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Posted in culture, japan, travelogue

 

Studying in Japan

08 Jul

This must be a sin! I’ve haven’t updated this space for a whole month~ I do apologise but I guess that’s not what you wanna read about. LOL. Truth is I’m back to school!

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Posted in japan

 

Kyoto – Kinkakuji (金閣寺) Rendezvous

17 May

I went to Kyoto on the 3rd day of my trip. This is the 2nd time I’ve been there actually and I think I prefer it more than Tokyo. Kyoto is ooooold – and she sweeps a sense of nostalgic ancient history through its streets. That’s what I love about it. It’s exactly a well blended mix of classic &  modern culture,just less haste & waste. Established in 794, Kyoto retains its unique position as the country’s historical and cultural heart and believe it or not, its the birthplace of the spirit and technology of traditional Japan.

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Posted in culture, japan, travelogue

 

Odaiba Rendezvous

14 May

Towards the end of my trip the sky darkened and drizzled as if it knows I’ll soon stop contributing that vigorously to Japan’s economy. LOL I went to Odaiba on the very last day of my trip hoping to attend the Super Comic City convention taking place that day but as it turned out I was pulled away by the mysterious dark aura in the sky. The weather matched my mood and the air was exhilaratingly fresh, but the face of chibi statue of liberty. . . – was horribly black.

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Posted in japan, travelogue

 

Tokyo Tower Rendezvous

10 May

Tadaima! –

Sorry for the long wait but I’m back~ from my rendezvous in Japan! Well, not entirely back~ I think only this empty shell of a body came back. I’m quite certain I left my heart and consciousness there, together with a few strands of hair and perhaps a quarter of a million expired cells! LOL .

Okay, actually this soulless body has been back for about 5 days but because work missed me so much, I bounced back to it immediately – but only to find a mountain of crap waiting for me to clear. Yeah what a drag.

Anyway, I’m in the middle of processing all the peeks! Am starting off with the famous Tokyo Tower for this string of Rendezvous updates.

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Posted in japan, travelogue

 

Pork Burgers from Japan

13 Nov

japan-pork-burger-01.jpg

Do they have these from where you come from?

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Posted in culture, food, japan

 

Japanese Bizarre Brassiere

09 Nov

japanese-bizarre-brassiere-yuko-ishida-00.jpg

Now that’s what I call drinking out of your own cups. . . . . . oops I mean bowls.

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Posted in art, culture, food, japan, video

 

Balding Japanese

07 Nov

Image of a balding Japanese using comb-over technique to ‘grow’ hair.

What happened to his hair?!

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Posted in art, japan, video

 

Japanese Scarecrows

31 Oct

Japanese scarecrows that only show the legs.

If you’re visiting Japan and happen to come across these, please do not attempt to rescue them by pulling them out. They are actually scarecrows. Made in Japan, and only in Japan. :3

Via Danny Choo, Himazin

 
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Posted in art, culture, japan

 

Japanese Emoticons

24 Oct

Ψ(｀∇´)Ψ　ヽ(´―｀)ノ　(*´д｀*) 　(´・ｪ・｀) 　ヽ(;´Д｀)ﾉ

What are those extremely cute smileys?!
Japanese emoticons are called Kaomoji 【顔文字【かおもじ】】 (face characters) or Emoji 【絵文字【えもじ】】 (picture characters). My first encounter with them was probably when I started playing Final Fantasy XI in 2002. At that time, the NA version hasn’t been released yet and the servers consisted of mainly Japanese players. While they were conversing, they used these very cute and expressive emoticons that I’ve never seen before. Then, I saw a fellow non-Japanese using it as well and I asked him what are these called. Kaomoji he replied, and told me I’d be able to find instructions on how to get them on a FFXI forum that we non-Japanese frequented. I went on the forum and browsed through the threads, sure enough, I came across one that taught users how to install Japanese emoticons for use in the game! This is what I am sharing in this post, how to use Japanese emoticons on your own english based PC.

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Posted in art, culture, japan

 

Are you a Hikikomori?

13 Oct

5 easy steps to tell if you’re Satō Tatsuhiro (above) number 2!

For those who have caught the popular anime Welcome to the N.H.K. (N・H・Kにようこそ, NHK ni Yōkoso), or read the novel & manga series by Tatsuhiko Takimoto (滝本竜彦), you’ll most probably be able to relate (either like thisclose OR t h i s a p a r t . . .) to the male protagonist Satō Tatsuhiro .

So . . . ever wondered if you’re a true blue Hikikomori or just what the hell it means? There’s always the below mini quiz* to find out for sure!

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Posted in anime, culture, japan

 

Anime Look-Alike

11 Oct

Anime Look-Alike : Aburame Shino in battle stance with his arms stretched out in battle with Kankuro in the anime series Naruto.

Who do you think resembles Aburame Shino from Naruto in this image?

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Posted in anime, cosplay, culture, japan

 

Japan Origami

09 Oct

Japan Origami : 1000 yen note folded into Hideyo Noguchi with a turban.

This is “Turban Noguchi” created by Mr. Nakajima, a 29-year-old Nagoya resident. With his origami technique, he outfitted Hideyo Noguchi on the 1,000 Japanese yen note with a turban.

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Posted in art, japan

 

Akiba Oden Curry | アキバハラ　おでんカレー

07 Oct

Another interesting moe food product from Japan.

I was walking around Daikanyama when I saw this Akihabara Oden Curry selling in a vending machine, inside a lifestyle furnishing shop!! There was a small note (captured below) on the shelf giving a brief description of what it is. Thank god the note’s in English.

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Posted in food, japan

 

October & Oppai Purin – a (not so) Boob Cancer blog

04 Oct

Oppai Purin's box.

October’s no longer about Halloween in all its eerie squishy Black & Orange. Quite contrary, it’s been recoloured PINK!

Many sites, TV channels, magazines & even retail fronts have gone PINK (nekoguchi included) during the month of October to bring attention to Breast Cancer Awareness Month ultimately raising some money for research.

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Posted in 18+, food, japan

 

Grape Juice

27 Sep

Close up of Hokkaido grape juice in glass bottles.

Grape Juice from Japan! These nicely packaged grape juice comes in GLASS bottles direct from one of the Hokkaido farms!!(Heck you can’t find any ugly packaging in Japan anyway) And you don’t find many glass bottles now a days cos everyone’s turning plastic!

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Posted in food, japan