Japanese - Go Off From Work Early And Make Babies!

Japanese companies (in this case, Canon) are urging their workaholic employees to turn off their laptops, go home early and make babies.

Even though it takes more than getting home early to make babies (heh!), this is a good start, don't you agree?

Bye Bye Our Beloved Sony T7, Hello Sony Ericsson K770i

We had this camera since 2006. It served us faithfully all these years and despite the availability of better cameras out there in the market, we didn't really plan on buying a new camera (well, except perhaps a new DSLR) to replace it because Zaini had said to buy one when we get to Japan (God knows when! Hahaha). After all, it is super compact and we can easily slip it in our pocket. Even the Sony Skinny T camera is not as thin as this T7!

Unfortunately, now I had to search for a new camera. Our camera got spoilt during the Chinese New Year holiday. I was trying to prevent Raimie's t-shirt from being swept away by the currents (we were playing at a waterfall) and forgot about the T7 nestled in my back pocket.

Bye T7. Thank you for all those memorable photos we took with you especially the thousands and thousands of Ultraman photos.

On a happier note, I decided to upgrade my phone and chuck my old Nokia 1600 (yes, really old phone) and got myself a Sony Ericsson K770i. Nothing fancy, but anything that can take photos and have 3G is a step up for me! And paying just RM600+ for it, I'll have extra $$$ to splurge on other important stuff like shoes!

Getting Your Travel Information

Photo originally uploaded by librarianabi

I must admit, without the internet, I would've been stuck travelling in a tour group. The ease of finding information online had been a big plus point especially for travelling in Japan because there are plenty on information; be it from official websites or blogs for us travellers to pore over.

Truthfully, I find it easier to find information on Japan even for its remotest area compared to finding info on Malaysia! Heck, even the KLIA's website is not much help for travellers.

We do have a couple travel guide books for reference too, the first travel guide book we bought for our travel in Japan was Insight Pocket Guide Tokyo which had an excellent map of Tokyo and transport map. For our first trip to Japan (Tokyo, to be exact) in 2002, we stayed true to that guide book and make effort to visit every single attraction mentioned in there (yeah, very tourist of us. LOL) We also found a wealth of information from Tokyoessentials.com and TCVB, especially the part on free attractions.

Of course, with every other subsequent trips to Japan, we found ourselves relying less on guide books but more on the internet especially Forums. You won't find information about Ultramanland in a guide book, that I can say! But we do need to pore over the map to check out which destination are covered by JR trains if we bought JR passes. I also got information from some nice people on a few travel forums and they provided us with some great information.

What about you? Do you read guide books or get your information online or just come on an impulse and see where you would end up? Or a little bit of all of these? Are you rigid with your travel plan? I learn to be more flexible with our schedule with every single trip to Japan because we always feel that we'll return to Japan again soon, so we were able to take things easy on our trips and not try to cram everything in a single trip.

BTW, I need to start afresh - need to look for information on Korea and I really don't know where to start. The beauty of going to Japan year in, year out was that it had become so familiar it was just a matter of deciding and finding what new stuff to do (like friends said, its like "balik kampung" or going back to hometown for us LOL if only this is true). With a new place and country, starting from scratch is a bit daunting for me especially since both Zaini and Raimie do not share the same enthusiasm about Korea as me! (I am the only one in the family who watches Korean shows)

Japanese Bento At Food Garden, Gardens Mall

Another foray at eating food court's Japanese food.

I was dying to try mabo nasu, after reading Melanie's comment earlier. I got pretty excited when I saw it being offered in the Japanese Bento stall at Food Garden.

Zaini's choice: teriyaki chicken bento set. It was the day's promotion at RM9.90. I didn't bother to try his. (Chicken - what's so special. You don't see me eat chicken when dining out except if I go to KFC. Hehehe)

My mabo nasu bento set at RM12.90 (before the 10% discount)

Close up on the nasu (eggplant/brinjal)

Verdict: the food served here are much better than Food Junction at Mid Valley Mall. I much prefer the potato salad here too. The mabo nasu had a nice balance of sweet and spicy but maybe a tad too watery (or is it supposed to be watery?) Still, it was a nice meal. Overall a good meal but they do need to improve on food presentation and the staff manning the cash machine should at least understand some basic Malay or English! :D

Most recent item we tried : fried tofu & vege set.

Robot Caregiver?

A prototype robot that could help provide care for the elderly has been demonstrated in Japan.

Do you relish the thought of someday being taken care of by a robot?

Ramen For Dinner

Did we tell you we love ramen? Of course we did.

Another night out for dinner and what to eat? Ramen at where else - Ichiban Ramen, Jusco Cheras Selatan (yet again).

Zaini's spicy chicken ramen

My Nagasaki ramen. I was actually quite apprehensive about this ramen, looking at the corns inside the bowl but I have to admit, the sweetness of the corn really complements the ramen's broth.

My big shrimp in the ramen. Not one but two of them! Super.

My latest favourite food - Mabo Tofu. Unlike the mabo tofu I had earlier, this one was less sweet and the smell of the sauce (or chilli) was more pungent. The sweet and sourish taste of this dish is really to our liking.

Raimie's dinner: chawan mushi and Japanese fried rice. Fried rice seems to be the food of choice for children dining here. We saw other parents almost always ordering this for their kids too.

10% discount for J-Card members during the weekdays but unfortunately no discount during the weekends. Total bill for the night: RM56.80. Worth every single sen of it.

A Dip In Ice Water At New Year's Ablution Ceremony

Despite temperatures of 48 degrees Fahrenheit (8 degrees Celsius) participants splashed themselves with the icy water in a ceremony to cleanse the mind and body ready for the new year.

The Shinto religion places great importance on cleansing the mind and body with clean water and bathing in cold water, or standing under waterfalls is a traditional Shinto purification rite(several movies and anime about a hero meditating under the cold waterfalls come to mind. Heh Heh).

The ceremony allows them to purify themselves, to start adult life with a clean slate and to face the challenges of a grown up's life head on.

Well, hope these guys have a good year!

Omiyage / Souvenirs From Japan?

For those who had visited Japan, what type of souvenirs do you get for yourself, your friends and family?

The first couple of times, we tried to get special souvenirs for people we care about like traditional dolls, purses, fans, etc but it turned out some of them didn't really appreciate the stuff that we bought. We do try not to buy anything that are religiously linked souvenirs (those at temples, etc) either.

Actually, people got more excited at Disneyland merchandise than the traditional Japanese craft items.

The mochi, biscuits, confectioneries, and whatnot that were sold at every town, station, temples and souvenir shop - most people we gave those said that they were too sweet.

(Hmmm... maybe we just have fussy relatives and friends but in hindsight, maybe they didn't want us to spend so much money on those souvenirs)

Nowadays, we've pretty much decided that the best souvenirs to buy are key-chains and mobile phone straps and the occasional charms for non-muslim friends. And they don't cost that much too & fit easily in our luggage! (Well, actually they were not that cheap because even a 350yen key chain is actually RM13 at current rate).

For myself? I'd like to get some nice green tea and teapots (I do so love teapots, the cheap ones not the Noritake types or the likes of it! Can't afford them) to bring back home.

Raimie of course loves Ultraman.

Zaini loves gadgets and games that he can get cheaper there than in Malaysia.

Arts and crafts? We are philistines, I'm afraid. Don't know much about art so we stayed away from acquiring them. I do love ukiyo-e art and lacquerware but buying them will put a dent to my pocket.

What do you think are perfect (and affordable) Japanese souvenirs?

Japan's Tent City

Watch the video to know the plight of the people who got hit hard in Japan during recession.

Hundreds of homeless people spent the New Year living in a Tokyo park to demand jobs as rising unemployment bites. Contract and temporary workers are bearing the brunt of the Japanese recession as companies slash output. Tens of thousands are predicted to lose their jobs in the first part of 2009. Hundreds of jobless Japanese marched around parliament on Monday demanding work and housing as lawmakers began discussing steps to combat a worsening recession. The government is forecasting that the world's second largest economy will have zero growth in the year ending March 2010.

Lunch At Sushi Zanmai

After returning from Raimie's school orientation session, we headed off to the Gardens Mall. The choice to come to Gardens was because it was raining on Saturday and we didn't want to do our furniture shopping and get wet every time we got off the car to check out the furniture shops in Jalan Klang Lama.

But then, we got stuck in a jam at Mid Valley car park for half an hour because the car park up to Level 3 was full and despite it being half past noon, the season pass area (at level 4 and above) was not yet opened to public even though it was suppose to at 12pm!

Imagine being yelled at by the late staff who supposed to do his job because we customers (who made a din by honking) got irate for not being able to move our car even an inch! (Yeah, that's service, Malaysian style) Hmph!

Ok, back to food.

This was our second time to Sushi Zanmai. We first went to Sushi Zanmai in Gardens when it was just opened, and we were not that impressed with the outlet at all at that time. Slow service, lukewarm tea, limited choice on the revolving belt, etc, etc.

I was actually intrigued enough to return for another visit because I always see long queues at their outlets (be it at Gardens, One Utama or Sunway Pyramid). Lucky for us, we didn't have to queue for long for our table this time.

I was really impressed with Sushi Zanmai. Efficient service and excellent food. The price are quite affordable with the price starting from RM1.60 for the beige plate to RM6.00 for the red plate (not that expensive, right?). Plenty of choices on the a-la carte menu too.

Some of the food we ate. My favourite was that ball of salmon topped with generous amount of mayonnaise. (Don't know the name - anyone can enlighten me?). Heaven at RM4.80 a plate. :-) There were so many interesting stuff to try, I didn't even bother eat the unagi Zaini took (the one in the background).

Raimie enjoying his choice, Ebit (prawn) maki topped with bonito flakes. Yummy!

Any place that served decent gari (pickled ginger) have my vote of confidence. I love them!

Posing for photo. Can't put on a decent smile because my mouth was full of food. You don't want to see what I was eating, do you?

Got to save RM10 because of this voucher, which can be used for bills above RM50. We got this voucher from Panora; a free Japanese magazine available at Jusco and Isetan. There are discount vouchers for other Super Sushi outlets too in there.

If you guys want to save a bit of cash before deciding where to go for your Japanese food fix, you may want to check out the magazine and cut out the coupons inside.

A return visit is definitely on the cards. :-)

More Ultraman Stuff - School Bag and Stationeries

We bought his uniforms and shoes already but did not buy any new stationeries or school bag yet. He won quite a few bags, colour pencils, crayon and stuff during kindergarten because his teacher was always putting his name in for contests and school performances so I think we'll probably get by not buying any new stuff for the time being.

Of course, that doesn't stop us from looking at stuff once we got to the mall especially if it comes in form of Ultraman!

Ultraman school bag at RM89.90. At least they're cheaper than the Ben-10 bag that we had wanted to buy for Raimie. Those Ben-10 school bag was RM109.90! But of course, all the cool kids would've a Ben-10 bags. Huhuhu

Raimie looking at Ultraman stationeries

Had to say goodbye to Raimie's long floppy hair of his (that I adore so much, but most people said it makes him look girly ) is definitely not tolerated in school. Bye cute hair, Hello crew cut hair.