Ultraman In Our Mailbox!

A surprise package for Raimie came on Tuesday and he was so excited receiving it.

Zaini ordered two new toys for Raimie from Hobby Search a couple of weeks ago and Raimie's new toys was flown all the way from Japan to his hand. ^-^

As you can see from the photo, his two new toys are none other than new Ultra Hero figures; Ultraman Zero to be exact. Zaini got them for 1,240yen inclusive of postage. They are quite cheap considering the same Ultra Hero figure is sold at RM36.90 each at Jusco or Toys R Us!

Sushi-Zen For Dinner

Let's see... How long was it since we  go out for a Japanese meal? I think the last one for us together, was in Japan in September 2009!

We went to Sushi-Zen on Friday night thinking of trying their omu-raisu but I guess it was a weekday promotion because for Friday and weekends, Sushi-Zen has another promotion, which is the Sushi-Zen Bento Set:

A closer look at what the set offers:

Salad, udon, chawan mushi, sushi, tempura.... I particularly like the texture of tofu coupled with salmon and topped with chuka iidako. That was very nice.

Zaini and I shared this unaju. I like the sushi bento set, but this unaju was a complete letdown for me. The eel was OK but the rice.... I wish they'd use at least short or medium grain rice, if not true Japanese rice for this dish instead of the long grain variety. It is no fun eating Japanese food with crumbly rice, you know. Serving it with long grain rice makes the taste equivalent to one eating rice with sweet soy sauce at home!

Raimie, having been deprived of eating Japanese food for so long, ate so much that night!

Overall, food and service were so-so. We last ate at Sushi-Zen pre-renovation, which was way back in late 2008 or early 2009. This outlet used to have only counter-top table circling the kitchen area for diners to sit, but had since added tables for diners' convenience. I actually prefer seating at those counter but judging from what I saw that night, Malaysian diners prefer to be seated at the table. Almost all were willing to queue and wait instead of being seated at the counter.

Sushi-Zen, although is managed by the same company that managed Sushi Zanmai and Pastai Zanmai chains, used to have different, less frill selection of Japanese food than Sushi Zanmai. At this visit, I can't help noticing that the menu are turning very similar. What's the point of having two different outlet if you are to offer similar food option, I wonder. 

Our Shopping List

Three Nintendo DS at home and I think the boys will be getting a new one when they get to Japan this year. Raimie somehow managed to do something to his green DSi Lite (and can't get it to play any downloaded games anymore) so he'll need a new one and Zaini talked about getting a Nintendo DSi XL a few months back.

That handwritten paper in the photo? Oh. That's Raimie's list for Ultraman and Kamen Riders toys he wants to buy in Japan! He even put which shop to buy which.

At the moment, he has 19 items to buy at Yodobashi Camera and 6 items to buy at M-78 shop in Kawasaki.

My shopping list? It involved buying souvenirs for people. At the moment - I have about 30 or so people to buy stuff for, and that's not counting stuff I'm gonna buy and bring over to Japan for people there, which Zaini said is madness on my part. I tend to agree with him.

A New Mission On The Upcoming Trip?

Drainspotting anyone? 

I read a blog post by Jamaipanese titled Drainspotting: Japan’s Artistic Manhole Covers and thought that finding and photographing these cool and artistic manhole covers would be a cool project while vacationing in Japan. I first took notice of these artistic manhole covers in Himeji. I saw them while walking towards Himeji Castle from the train station.

Zaini has his stamp rally project and he'll happily hop on trains and stop at every s.i.n.g.l.e train station in Japan for a stamp and I should have my own project too. Other than trying to photograph everything and anything for posts in this blog, that is.

I'm always fascinated by the manhole covers I saw there, but I didn't take any photo of them because I felt cheesy & weird doing it. Chancing upon the post by Jamaipanese make me raring to go on a drainspotting mission.

Even this photo on the left, I asked Raimie to act cute for the camera although I actually wanted to take photo of the cute paws (or something) on the cover. Raimie said it looked like paws on Blues Clues. LOL. Photo taken in Ikebukuro way back in 2007. 

Jamaipanese, coming? :) 

A Trip To A Movie Scene?

I've always pooh-poohed and made fun of tour groups itinerary that feature places shown in popular dramas and movies. Especially those "Winter Sonata" tour group to Korea. And these "Winter Sonata" tours are still around and popular now, 8 years after the drama was shown!

But come to think of it, the three of us made several trips to places in Japan based on what we saw on TV too. We don't follow any tour group, true.

Nevertheless, we've arranged our itinerary to visit places we saw/featured in movies and animes.

Our first trip to Japan was made due to the drama Over Time. It wasn't neither because of "Oshin" nor was it because of Ultraman, but we fell in love with Japan due a story about friendship and love.

The drama somehow put Tokyo Tower in a romantic light and of course, Zaini and I wanting to be romantic decided to visit the tower. So, off to Tokyo Tower we went in 2002, to mend my broken heart. But truthfully, the tower isn't all that it hyped to be. It's better to view the tower from afar than be in/on it, IMHO

We went to Kobe because the city was featured in a 2006 Ultraman Movie titled "Ultraman Mebius and Ultra Brothers".

We also happily made our way to Kasukabe because that's the home of Crayon Shin-Chan and also the home of the late Yoshito Usui.

Maybe for the next visit, we should head to Yokohama. After all, it was the city featured in last year's Ultraman movie - Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy Legend The Movie.

We've been to all over Japan, but have yet to explore Yokohama although it's so near to Tokyo! We do have to make a stop to Kawasaki again anyway because Raimie has a date with his Ultra Heroes!

Decluttering The Clutter

After six visits to Japan, we kinda accumulated way too much junk that now needs to be sorted and thrown away, I guess....

Both Zaini and I have this habit - we keep everything, and I mean everything as memorabilia. Notwithstanding the standard souvenir items, we have travel magazines, train schedules, theme parks tickets, train tickets, postcards, paper bags, plastic bags even receipts and price tags! We are seriously turning into pack rats! o.O

In anticipation of another trip to Japan and accumulating more junk, it's time to de-clutter all these junk to make way for new ones!

Anyway, seeing that we have way too many postcards we acquired in Japan, I think it'll be fun if I do a postcard exchange of some sort with readers here. Maybe I'll send some postcards to you guys when I get to Japan. What do you say? Anyone interested in getting a postcard from Japan?

If all goes well, it's just two more months before our 7th trip to the Land of the Rising Sun!

I wonder when I get to go for my first trip to the Land of the Morning Calm? I'm not giving up brainwashing my two boys yet!

Festivals Around The Corner

Summer months always garner various celebrations in Japan; with parades, fireworks and crowds taking over the streets throughout the country. It became popular in the Edo period (1603-1868) as events to relieve summer fatigue. Another way to relieve summer fatigue is by eating unagi (eel), I was told.

One more widely known and celebrated even in Malaysia during the summer months is the Bon Odori festival. Essential elements of festivals today are Bon dancing, food stalls, and fireworks. People gather in their local communities and enjoy Bon dancing to rhythmic music.

Bon Odori is a Japanese Buddhist custom which is held annually to honour the deceased spirits of one's ancestors. It is meant to be a joyful celebration, bringing families together and celebrating rather than mourning the lives of the dearly departed. Though in Malaysia, the celebration is more geared toward celebrating the Japanese culture rather than Buddhism.

There is a Bon Odori festival around the corner and anyone who is interested can check the festival which will be held on July 17, 2010 at Panasonic Sports Complex, Persiaran Perkilangan Seksyen 21, 40300 Shah Alam, Selangor. Admisssion is free. No cosplaying at the festival, please!

There is a yukata fair in Mid Valley's Jusco until July 4th. It's been ongoing since June 22nd but I only went to check it out on Friday. Nothing that catch my fancy although the yukata prices were affordable because I didn't like the material much.

I think it would be fun wearing a yukata while joining the local crowd at the festival.

Talking about festivals, planning our September itinerary, we had initially wanted to visit Kakunodate's festival which will be held from September 7 - 9th, after spending a night at Tsurunoyu Onsen. I got really intrigued by the festival and really look forward to watch the the 'Yama Buttuke'. Floats violently collide with each other in a kind of competition. Not too sure whether it'll be safe or not to be near those float but I sure want to be there!

Alas, we had to postpone our trip by a week so we'll have to miss the festival! Pity, eh?

There is also one festival Raimie would love to attend but has to miss out (yet again)... and that's the Ultraman Festival (Ulfes).  Ulfes 2010 will be held from July 23rd to August 29th this year and is returning back to Ikebukuro.