Cool Anime Stamps As Souvenirs

Apart from collecting stamps all around Japan's tourist spots and train stations like the  JR 77 stations' stamp rally, we love getting commemorative postage stamps in Japan. They do make cool souvenirs for us! I guess we are somewhat immature in things that we love about Japan and the stuff we take back as souvenirs. :3

For those into animes, you can rejoice getting postage stamps that features Doraemon, Conan, Fullmetal Alchemist (I think we need to get these for Zaini next time), Hello Kitty, Naruto and so much more!

Of course, we don't only collect anime related postage stamps, there are several more traditional postage stamps in our collection too.

Wouldn't mind getting these for the collection too...

Most post offices do offer some of these special stamps, but for more choice, you need to head off to bigger post office. We usually went to the central post office in Marunouchi or the one in Shinjuku.

Would you send a letter/postcard to yourself when you are abroad for the stamps? We would!

Becoming A Billionaire/The Birth Of The Rich

I don't really watch all that much Korean drama, preferring the variety shows like Let's Go Dream Team and 1N2D but there is one drama I look forward to each week titled Becoming A Billionaire/The Birth Of The Rich (부자의 탄생).

The drama follows the story of a man, Choi Suk Bong, who believes that he is actually the son of a rich father and heir to a chaebol group (family business/conglomerate or something...). He meets Lee Shin Mi, who is actually a chaebol heir but acts nothing like one, with her scrimping and frugal ways. Although they get off to a rocky start, with her help, he struggles towards his goal of attaining wealth.

It is a fun story, with liberal doses of light hearted scenes and comedy. My only problem is that I only watch TV on weekends and the time slot of 8.00am-11.00am on Sunday makes me having to fight for the time slot with Raimie and Zaini. LOL 

Something for Raimie's Ultraman Collection

An Ultraman Zero jigsaw puzzle, from the movie Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy Legend The Movie to add to Raimie's ever growing Ultraman & jigsaw puzzle collections.

For Ultraman fans, a new series for Ultraman Zero starts airing on May 20, 2010 in Japan and will have a total of 26 episodes. Zaini will get busy soon downloading the episodes, I bet. 

Probably have to wait for ages for it to be shown on Malaysian TV. Astro is currently showing 2001-2002's Ultraman Cosmos and TV3 is showing 2005's Ultraman Max. Thank goodness for the internet and file sharing! It's too long to wait for a new Ultraman series to be shown on Malaysian TV.

Not Another Pair?

I bought a pair of new boots the other day. My fourth pair of shoes I bought this month. It took me a total of two minutes to decide that I want to buy the pair.

I love boots ever since college days though I graduated from wearing a Doc Mart boots to a more lady-like heeled boots when I started working. My ofiicemates and Zaini always joked that whenever I wear my boots, it'll rain that day! And yeah, it rain so heavily the first time I wear this boot!

I'm envious of the Japanese ladies who get to wear knee-high boots. They sure look so nice in their boots and you see them everywhere in Japan; from teenagers, office ladies to housewives taking their children out. Japanese ladies wear tall boots everywhere - don't the feet ever get tired/painful in those boots?

I practically salivated over those gorgeous leather boots every time we went to Japan. Unfortunately for me, owning one is not practical for me living in Malaysia. Not to mention they'll cause a serious dent to the wallet. Huhuhu

You know, buying shoes in Japan is something I need to get used to. I really am not familiar with staff waiting on their knees holding the shoes for me to try on. That and the fact that I fall under the "L" size category when I went shoe shopping in Japan! My size is 24cm BTW if anyone cares to know. :3

Us, Saving On Accommodation

Our ways to save a bit of cash on accommodation helped us to lower down our expenses.

The money saved on accommodation can be used for more important stuff like eating good food and shopping. Don't you agree? *^-^*

Memberships do pay its worth, and for us that meant having:

Frequent Flyer Membership even if we don't travel all that much

I enrolled the three of us to Japan Airline's JAL Family Club (JAL FC)  for a mere 3,150yen a year membership.

As JAL FC members, we can pool our mileage and redeem the mileage for vouchers that can be used for shopping, dining and hotel stays in Japan at their JAL Hotel.

A night's stay at Nikko Hotel Nagasaki-Huis Ten Bosch, Nikko Hotel  Ginza and Nikko Hotel Kawasaki were all paid using JAL vouchers. A return trip for three to Tokyo can give me enough mileage to redeem for a 20,000yen worth of vouchers.

Even if we don't have any vouchers, there are good deals on room rates to be found with the JAL Mileage Bank Membership (JMB) which is considerably cheaper than reserving without one.

Hotel Membership

When we were regulars to Renaissance Kuala Lumpur Hotel, and Zaini being a Marriott Rewards member; we raked up enough nights and points to redeem for a night or two at Marriott Hotel in Japan. That's usually translated to a savings of between 16,000 - 30,000 yen per night.

Toyoko-Inn is a good option for a cheap yet comfortable stay. Rooms are clean and they are pretty much standard at any locations in Japan. With rooms that cost less than 10,000yen per night for us, free breakfast, laundry option and the hotels' close vicinity to train stations - this chain is our favourite.

Zaini enrolled for a Toyoko-Inn Club Card International Membership and the few privileges the membership accords him are - 30% discount on quoted room rates for check-in on Sundays and public holidays, 6 months' advance reservation (instead of 3 months for general public), early check-in at 3.00pm instead of the normal 4.00pm and for every 10 nights' stay, we get a free single room night.

Membership only cost us a one time fee of 1,500yen and Zaini got his card immediately upon signing up with all the privileges accorded immediately too. You have to be physically at one of the Toyoko-Inn hotel to sign-up though.

Last year, we were in Japan during the Silver Week holiday and raked huge savings because quite a number of nights' stay were discounted. An 8,000yen room cost only 5,000yen for us after discount and that's a double room fit for the three of us. With free breakfast thrown in (and dinner at some branches) that can translate into a pretty good savings.

Other ways of savings for us:

Overnight trips on a sleeper train/bus

 Express Noto

When we were traipsing around Japan using their exceptional train service, fully utilising our JR Pass, we took the Express Noto Midnight Train to/fro Tokyo/Kanazawa and spent the night in the train. Another planned overnight train ride on the Sunrise Izumo didn't pan put because there were not enough seats available. :(

Express Noto Midnight trains has a ladies only compartment, and the compartment even has blankets available for commuters to use. Noto only have seats available and no private berths.

Sleeping on the train by just reserving a seat is of no extra cost to JR Pass holders unless you go for the berth/sleeping compartments. If you need to sleep lying down, the extra fares incurred to use the berth/couchettes on the night trains will be pretty much the same as spending a night in a hotel.

How about you? Any tips you can add to save on accommodation during your trips overseas?

Nothing Much Of An Update... Of Yen And Stingray For Lunch

Been pretty quiet lately and no further progress in our planning for our next vacation in September other than helping friends planning to visit Hokkaido in June by monitoring the Yen fluctuations against Ringgit Malaysia (RM). Yes, I monitor the Yen regularly and got rather worried when Yen went back up to RM3.60 - RM3.70 last week after coming down at a rather more affordable RM3.40 - RM3.50 weeks before.

I bought some stingray slices that were on sale in Jusco and instead of cooking the stingrays the normal way i.e. assam pedas (a sourish fish stew) or grilled ala Portuguese style, I decided to play around with the gochujang paste and kimchi stocked in my fridge.

Just thought I'd post some food photos of our lunch today.

My stingray "jigae". Look similar to assam pedas, right?

The rest of the meal - sake kamameshi (salmon & vege flavoured rice), stir fried stingray with kimchi and asaparagus and a bowl of miso soup for Raimie.

What's your lunch today? ^-^

Music I Listen To

All these while, I don't listen to music much but after getting obsessed with all things Korean and gotten into the Hallyu (Korean Wave), I found myself plugging earphones in my ears literally all the time!

Walking to/fro office, I like to listen to Eun Jiwon's songs from his album - Platonic . I always joked that Zaini look somewhat like him especially now because Zaini sports a shaved head just like Jiwon. ^-^

My favourite song from the album is Out Of Control. 

Another favourite singer of mine is Lee Seunggi.

These two men are also cast members in a travel variety show that I simply LOVE, LOVE, LOVE - 1N2D. 1N2D can be so addictive for me, I'm willing to forgo sleep watching it!

I need to listen to fast songs during my workout and since the gym that I go to changed ownership, they don't play any decent songs anymore to make me work out harder so I make sure I have plenty of songs handy for me to listen to during my cardio sessions.

Current favourites are Korean Idol Groups - SHINee & SS501.

Do you need to listen to music while doing your workout?

Of Guide Books And Travel Magazines

It's been a while since we last used/referred to an English Language travel guide book on Japan. Whatever guide books available on the shelves in bookstores simply don't provide us enough information about Japan anymore. Now, Zaini and I relied heavily on brochures/pamphlets we collected from previous trip and information gleaned online.

I do wish I can read Japanese (and Chinese) because the travel magazines and guide books available at the Japanese and Chinese section in Kinokuniya (and MPH) looks so interesting, much better than the English ones. 

 Atrocious photo quality because I took these photo stealthily using my handphone camera.

They are colourful with plenty of current photos, compared to English guide books which seems to just recycle photos of previous books into their updated version. I don't want to look at outdated photos - imagine looking at photos of Japanese men and women in 80's style in a supposedly latest, 2010 edition guide book.

Not understanding the language never stop Zaini and I from browsing through the magazines/books - the photos inside worth a thousand words! I love the fact that the information inside includes attraction fees, popular local souvenirs complete with the prices and recommended food too! I can spend hours at Kinokuniya but it's a pity that the bookstore is in KLCC and not in Midvalley. Zaini has all the luck working in that area and he sometimes spent his lunch hour browsing through the Japanese section looking at the guide books and magazines. Lucky him!

Have Rail Pass, Will Travel

There are a large variety of rail passes that exists in Japan, providing unlimited travel in a given region. For us, we've always look for the rail passes by Japan Railway (JR). The Japan Rail Pass, which is issued by the JR Group offers excellent value for money for any visitors/tourists wishing to use the country's extensive network of trains. The passes are offered by six companies that service the different regions in Japan.

If you are planning to travel extensively around Japan, having a JR Pass is a great way to save money. This pass offers unlimited travel on almost all JR trains nationwide, including shinkansens (bullet trains except Nozomi), limited express trains, local trains, some JR buses and the JR ferry to Miyajima.

We bought this pass twice; in 2007 we got a 1 week pass and in 2008 we got a two-weeks pass. That's why we have no problem travelling around the lovely country despite our rather tight budget. The luxury of making impromptu stops along the way and the ease of making shinkansens seats reservations without thinking about any extra cost was great for us. We've used this pass for shinkansens, overnight trains (on Express Noto) and got on the ferry to Miyajima. We've yet to experience using the pass on a bus.

There are two types of JR Pass: Green (for superior-class Green cars) and Ordinary. Each of these pass is available as a 7-day, 14-day, or 21-day pass.

Ordinary 7-day pass is 28,300yen for adult (14,150yen for child); 14-day pass is 45,100 adult (22,550 child) and 21-day pass is 57,700yen adult (28,850yen child). The pass cannot be purchased in Japan so you have to get them before you enter the country and the pass is for those with "temporary visitor" status.

When purchasing the pass, you will receive an exchange order which has to be exchanged into an actual rail pass after your arrival in Japan and within three months of the purchase. When exchanging your pass, you have to specify the date that you want to start using it. It can be any date within one month from the date the pass is received.

Last year, we used a JR East Pass for our travel around Kanto and Tohoku region. This pass can either be purchase outside Japan or when you arrive to Japan.  The price for the passes are 20,000yen for a 5 consecutive days pass, 32,000yen for a 10 consecutive days pass and 20,000yen for a 4 flexible days pass. There's a promotion for JR-East pass holder ongoing to promote Iwate. Check it out here.

There are similar passes offered by JR Hokkaido, JR West, JR Central, JR Kyushu and JR Shikoku. Head over to Japan-Guide for a summary of passes available to help you save money while vacationing. We have yet bought and used these rail passes but all of them offer good value for money if you are planning to do an extensive travel in a certain number of days in that particular region.

Like I said, have pass will travel. And travel we are planning to do!