GO SAMURAI BLUE J-A-P-A-N!!

Yesterday was an epic day. As other bloggers have been posting about, Japan beat Denmark 3-1 in yesterday's World cup soccer  match.Actually I didn't watch it because the game started at 3am(JST) and I never expected Japan would win the game(for some reason I've been kinda pessimistic about our team). I was surprised when I woke up and turned on TV - every channel was reporting about that game and highlighting the score scenes repeatedly. I think Japan did a great job. Now I'm feeling I really should have watched the awesome game.I'll definitely watch the next game against Paraguay!!! 

I think World cup is superior to Olympics in the respect that many of the citizens get united  just for one sport.The audience rating shows it well - According to the survey by 日本テレビ(Nippon Television Network Corporation), the audience rating in Japan reached 41.3% before 5am.This means 2 out of 5 people were watching Japan Vs. Denmark, even though the game was from 3am to 5am ish and most of them still had a work or school just a few hours later! Even the final match of free-style skating in Vancouver Olympic 2010, in which Mao Asada won a silver medal, the average audience rating was 36.3%.

Another very interesting fact is that the amount of water use suddenly increased greatly right after the first half of the game was over, according to the survey done by Osaka Municipal Waterworks Bureau.This means a lot of of people who had been stuck close to TV to watch the game went to the rest room  at once, as soon as the first half of the game was over.

Lastly, look at these crazy people at Shibuya,Tokyo,right after the game.Some of them were taken by the police because they were too excited. You'll see how excited people in Japan were yesterday(Watch @ 2:15)...


By the way, I got a ringtone of Vuvuzera , the trumpet-looking instrument buzzing all the time during a game!

I was going to set this as my alarm sound but quit, 
because it's sooooooooooo annoying!!!! lol

The Blue Day Book

According to the calender,yesterday was the summer solstice.As you know,it's the longest day of the year. But this year it didn't mean anything to us cause in Japan it's in the middle of the rainy season right now.And that's the season I hate the most during a year, because it makes me blue, depressed, and perspire(Too much humidity is what I hate the most during this season). It　has been gloomy and raining for almost all day lately,and also sometimes it rains cats and dogs(this is an interesting English phrase that I studied recently btw- why "cats and dogs"? =]).Heavy rain sometimes delays the transportation service,which makes me feel just don't wanna go to school and do anything.So, on rainy days with no class, I usually just lie about at home doing nothing.


Speaking of blue days,I received a package from U.S. today.It's an English book that I ordered @ Amazon.co.jp last week. The title is "The Blue Day Book".

This is a wonderful collection of amusing and adorable animal photos with some short texts that cheers you up when you've got the blues. One of my American friends once lent it to me and I liked it so much, so I wanted it as mine.I looked for it at some book stores and libraries, but I couldn't find it, so I ordered on Amazon.It was my first time online shopping, and I'm simply satisfied because it was quite cheap and took me only less than 1 week until I received it.Also it was flawless despite having come all the way from US.


This book is just like a simple little photo book with simple messages, so of course it's not Shakespeare nor a kind of so-called how-to book that solves your mental problems.But, with those unique and cute black-and white photos of animals that perfectly match with each humorous message,you'll not be able to read it without smiling and it will definitely make you feel better :It's guaranteed. I think this is what makes this book special.   
You can view some of the pages of this book HERE.


Well, I'm not a sensitive person, so I rarely get inspired by famous words by great people.But one of the phrases from this book did catch my heart.Now I'd like to share it with you here, also as a note to myself:

- Live every day as if it were your last, 

because one day, it will be.

You may think this is too simple and it's not that a special word, and I agree to it.
But this message makes me realize that how much I've been wasting my time that never comes back again.Nobody can tell when we will die or how long we can live.I might not be in this world at this moment tomorrow, nor even a few hours later.This might be a bit extreme,but it's quite possible.
So, I'll try my best to make my life a great one.I still don't know how, but for the time being until I start my new life next spring, I want to try as many things as possible that I can experience only while I am still a student.I hope to make every moment a special one so that one day, when my last day comes and I look back on my past life, I can feel that I could send a great life.This quote is gonna be one of my mottos from now on.


Anyway, if you have a chance, I highly recommend you to pick it up and take a look at this book - even if you don't like animals very much.This book also will be a nice present to someone special.Maybe I'll get one more and give it to my best friend who is leaving for the UK to study soon. This is such a book worth it, I think.

An un-birthday party @ my friend's!

Yesterday, 2 of my Japanese friends and I had a small party at my American friend's house.Since I had been really busy with job searching until recently, it was the first time in 5 months to join a home party.


And yesterday, I totally fell in love with these stuff;
(Click on the images below to view a larger version)


1) ® Frito Lay - Doritos for Dip! (Original)

It was my first try, and it was soooooooo good! We had it with salsa sauce and I loved the combination. Once I started eating, I couldn't stop it. I guess I could have eaten it more, but my self-control woke me up when I looked at the calorie chart on the bottom of the package...almost 1,000 kcals per one bag... O_o!!!!

But still,it's one of the best snacks ever.I know it's hard to find it here but I think I just need to go get some!!! :9

2) Tacos.

Laura, the American friend who invited us, had already prepared the fillings of tacos for us.We put some seasoned chickens,cheese,salsa sauce, tomatoes and shredded cabbage on the tortilla,and rolled these fillings with the tortilla then ate it.It was my second time to eat tacos.I hadn't had it for a long time because my father disliked it when he first tried it(How could he?! Maybe he has a bad sense of taste) and it has never been served since then.First time I ate it with the U-shaped hard shell,but this time it was wheat tortilla.Personally I much prefer tortilla to hard shell.It was also really delicious.I had two tacos and they made me full & happy.It's a pity that it's hard for us to find these foods here in Japan, cause there are only a few stores that sell foreign foods in my area.I'm so jealous of Americans & Mexicans! xD

Until Laura told us the chips and tacos were actually not the main dinner, I had totally forgotten that the title of the home party was originally "hot-cake yaki party". Like I said,I was already full,but when it came to dessert, I was pretty sure there was still a room for it in my stomach.lol. 

Why do we call it "hot-cake yaki" btw?

-'Cause we used a takoyaki pan to make hot cakes!!!

 Separating the each ball with a chopstick after filling up the holes of takoyaki pan with hotcake mix... 
(I'm kinda clumsy I poured it too much lol!)
You can put any toppings as you like - we added some pieces of bananas, 

chocolates, raisins and cranberry chips, etc.

 Baking hot cake-yaki! Rotating them is a bit hard, but fun!

I had never come up with the idea of making mini cakes with a takoyaki pan before.I think it's a great idea.It's just the right size for eating it in one mouthful,and also you can enjoy various flavors depending on what you add as toppings. I personally liked the combination of banana&chocolate&whip cream sooo much! 

Though I was pretty much full after chips&tacos, I ate more than 5 and I could hardly move for a while.Crazy!


We ate a lot, drank a lot,and talked a lot.We had a really good time!We definitely need to do it again! 

An unexpected piece of luck

Yesterday, my mom happened to find out an unexpected piece of luck while she was cleaning the living room.


Can you guess what it was?!?!

It's MONEY!!!!!

8 thousand - yen bills(≒87USD)!!!!!

- From where?

                           

HERE(∀)!!!!!!!!!!

From under the sofa!

Okay, lemme tell you the story. 5 ish months ago, we had a very strange happening in my house. One day, after I got home from the new year's bargain sale, I was counting the number of the bills remaining in my wallet in the living room on the 1st floor.After that, I put the bundle of 9 thousand-yen bills on the dining table,and then, I went upstairs to get a calculator. When I got back to the dining room just after 3 mins,strangely enough,8 out of 9 bills had disappeared.There was only 1 thousand yen bill on the table. I got panicked,and suspected my parents because they were there while I was upstairs.But they said they didn't even know that I put the money on the table. We kept searching around my house for the whole day, but we couldn't find it out. The disappeared 8000 yen never came out even after a couple of weeks.  

But yesterday, about 5 months later, my mother finally found it out.We all had totally forgotten about the disappeared 8000 yen.We rarely move the big sofa, but yesterday she needed to move it to put a new sheet on the sofa.Then finally she found something under the sofa - many faces of 野口英世Hideyo Noguchi(A famous Japanese scientist who is printed on the 1000 yen bill) looking at her!!!!!!!!!

I couldn't believe it at first.The 8 thousand yen bills had been sleeping for more than 5 months under the sofa.In the dark.
How lucky I am! Finally I got my disappeared money back!!!!!It's just like an unexpected pocket money. 

But the question still remains. Why was the money under the sofa? Who the hell put it there? Why couldn't anyone in my family find it out earlier?

Hmmmm....nobody knows.
It's still a mystery.

Anyway, now I'm busy thinking what I should spend this lucky money on.

Oh happy days!!<3<3

Long time no see!!

Woah! It has been far too long since I wrote last! How's everyone been? Hope you are doing well;)

I'm so sorry for not posting for such a long time... I had been really busy with job searching recently and because of it I had no time to blog. But now I'm feeling so glad that I can share my good news with you here - Guess what???

Yes, 

finally I got a job offer 

from a company!

YAY!!!!!!!!

It's a company that I had wanted to work for the most since I started my job searching, 

and also it is a company that supported my 4 years' school life!  

This is the shinkansen which I take every day to go to uni! 

(Note to all: I NEVER am a trainspotter!!! lol)

From next spring, I'll be working in Kansai area as a station staff of JR-West(West Japan Railway Company). Hopefully I'd like to work in Osaka or Kyoto, where lots of foreign tourists come to for sightseeing.After a couple of years, I'll be able to work at the headquarter in Osaka.My dream is to make new plans to let people around the world know more about many attractive places in west Japan. This is why I chose this company. I hope my dream comes true one day!

Before I started job hunting, I never imagined that finding a job was gonna be this hard,to be honest. I applied for many companies, yet I failed many times. Everytime I failed, I felt like my pride got injured and I felt so depressed.I thought I wanted to give it up many times.I even wondered why I had to feel this hard to pass every single step of selection of so many companies that weren't so attractive to me.Because of this I couldn't feel very happy even when I got a call back from a bank over a month ago.It was completely different from the job which I had imagined as my future job.
But I overcame these hardships and finally could get a great job from one of the biggest companies in west Japan.All is well that ends well.

On the other hand, looking back on my job searching, I also feel it was a good experience in my life.It became a great opportunity for me to know about myself more deeply.I think I have matured as a result of this experience.Of course I never wanna do it again, though.lol 

Finally, I'd like to thank everyone who supported me and cheered me up during my hard times.Thanks to them I could pass the first step to my dream. I'm feeling so happy now.I can't wait for next spring, the beginning of the new life!!!!!!!