An Empty Train on the Kakogawa Line

My train back home bound for Yakujin. Looks like this one is running just for me.

Rose Garden @ Suma Rikyu Park

I went to Suma rikyu Park 須磨離宮公園 the other day. I've been living quite near from here for almost 20 years, but I didn't even know there's such a huge and nice rose garden which is open to the public every year.

It was such a warm & sunny day, perfect weather for taking photos!

Escaping from reality - One day trip to Naoshima

Two weeks ago, I visited Naoshima island with four of my friends. We all got hired  in the same year but since we five got assigned to each different station in our area we've been having different irregular work shifts, so except when we have business training at the branch office or at headquarters on the same day, we usually have little chance to get together.

So this time it was some kind of miracle that we all got the same day off  without asking for the paid holidays. We were like, why not? Let's go somewhere together and escape from real life!

Naoshima is a small island of Kagawa district, and is located in the Seto inland sea. We first took shinkansen to Okayama, and after making a quick inspection of the huge station, we took the Marine Liner, which links Okayama and the Shikoku island. At Chayamachi station we switched to the Uno line, then after 20 mins train ride we arrived at Uno station.

JR Uno station

Here we had almost 1 hour til the next boat for Naoshima, so we had lunch at a Udon restaurant and it was very good! 

Hello Canon EOS Kiss X5!

Today I got something I've really wanted for a long time - Yes, my own DSLR ( Cannon EOS Kiss X5 ) camera! I have put up some photos taken by a DSLR camera on this blog, but actually it was not my own camera, I was using my mother's one. Of course I'll keep using my old digital camera that I have used so far cause I love it, but as I start browsing great & more professional photos on my friends' blogs I got more fascinated by them, and they made me want to get one. Well, I admit it cost me a lot, but since I ordered it online it was actually quite a good deal for the latest one from Cannon. I'm still just a beginner and it has too many functions, so I guess it will take a long time until I get used to it (and I'm already sick of reading the instruction :-p ). Now that I have my own good camera, I'm going outside more and I'll fully enjoy this beautiful season in Japan. And of course, I'll put up more pics on this blog from now on.

Happy fall y'all,
Yuka

Taco addiction

If you are my friend on Facebook, you probably know, but I am so in love with tacos. I've been so addicted to this wonderful foreign food since I first tried it at one of my American friends' house last winter.I introduced it to my family and they love it too. It's healthy and quite easy to cook. 

 My dream is to try out the "real" Mexican tacos.But the problem is, there aren't any "real" taco restaurants in my place. I've been using the seasoning from old el paso , but my American friends say the taste is different from what they have had in America. They also say that here in Japan they can't even find the seasonings they usually use in America. Does anyone know any good restaurants where I can try some real ones in Kansai area? If you know, please do tell me. I am serious. =p

New people, New place, and New life

Hello friends,

If you have been following my blog I am sorry for the super slow updates. During the past 4 months that I didn't update my blog,  I had so many events and changes that would be a very important step in my life. I graduated from my uni that I went to for 4 years at the end of March, and since April 1st I've been working with JR(West Japan Railway company). If you are living in or have traveled in Japan, especially in the west area of the mainland, you probably have used trains or shinkansen(bullet trains) which belong to my company.

The new Kyusyu Shinkansen which  connects mainland and the southern island

I'm currently working at Midori- no Madoguchi, the ticket reservation office in the station which is about 40 mins away from home by train. My daily work is mostly selling tickets and making seat reservations for shinkansen(since my station is one of the stations where some shinkansens also stop). Making some documents and posters to display in the concourse is also my work. Sometimes we go on a business trip to the branch office and to the headquarter in Osaka, which is quite fun.
 You may think selling tickets is just an easy & simple task (because I had thought so until I started working here), but it's NOT. It's more like a brain work than I expected. Especially when the customer is going to a place which is quite far away or to the places I don't even know whereabouts, I need to be very very careful not to make wrong tickets, referring to the map of all railways in Japan, because those routes and tickets are usually going to be very complicated ones. Also, we have loads of kinds of tickets and I need to know well about each of them. I spend most of the time at the window just sitting in front of the computer, but when I get back home I'm so exhausted I just fall dead into my bed.

Midori - no Madoguchi, the JR ticket office

 (This picture is not from my station )

 But working itself is quite okay for me so far.  My bosses and colleagues are all nice, they still often hold welcome parties for us 5 freshers even though it's been almost 3 months since we were assigned to my current station.
Of course I still sometimes make some mistakes, and there are some customers who love giving complaints to us and claiming unreasonable things, but I'm getting used to handling them (and I'm not a person who gets down by such small things =] ). Except those few customers, I think people in this city are quite nice and I really enjoy meeting lots of people who use our service at the start and the end the day. Though the city is not that big and there's no place for sightseeing, foreigners often come to my window like every day, and I have many chances to speak English.

The remodeled Osaka station, aka Osaka Station City

 Seeing people spreading out to everywhere around Japan (or to the world ) from our station every day is what I love the most at work. It makes me want to travel more all over Japan, as well as overseas. I'm planning to make some railway trips with my friends when we get used to work(maybe next month) using the discount, though I'm still just too busy to make it happen at the moment.
 I'm still on the way of training, and sometimes I feel it's tough to have many things I need to learn, but I'm proud of my work at the station which supports many people's daily lives.Well, I'll just do my best. Wish me luck! ;-)

iPhone 4

Okay so, I finally got an iPhone. It took me just 3 weeks to get it after I ordered it.

Its been only 2 days since I got it, but I totally love it already!

     

What I find most useful for me about this iPhone so far is the map application.I have a horrible sense of direction, but with this app I feel like I'm never gonna get lost anymore haha!

Anyway, since I have not got used to using it yet, I have so much to explore about this iPhone. If you have any recommends about its applications, pls lemme know! :)

Fireworks!!

In Japan, it's the season of summer festivals right now. Since last weekend, a lot of firework festivals have been held in many places in Japan, and this season will last until around the middle of August. 

Personally I like seeing fireworks very much. Not only the fireworks itself, I also like the atmosphere of the festival. A lot of people wearing Yukata(a casual summer Kimono), the tasty smell of foods coming from the street stalls, and so on.  

I've already been to see fireworks at two places, one was last Saturday in Okayama,where my uni is, and the other was held last Sunday in my hometown, Kakogawa. Both places were so crowded with thousands of people, but since one of my friends had kept a good space for us in advance, we could view the fireworks from a pretty good position.

   

It's hard to take photos of fireworks...I took more than 100 photos, but 90% of them were completely blurred

    

   
I like this one :)
   

    
I heard this year's fireworks display was scaled down compared to the last year's, but still, it impressed me a lot.
   

    
There were so many stalls along the riverside. I got a skewer of grilled chicken and fried noodles, and had them watching the fireworks - Yum!!
   

The night view of Okayama Castle - Gorgeous, isn't it?

I also took a video! 

I've got one more fireworks display I am going to see, which is on next Saturday. I'm really looking forward to it!!

I am not getting older, I am just leveling up!

Hello there, it's been a while! I was busy for a while after the annual big event last Monday, 12th of July 2010.

 Yes, it was my birthday 
and finally I turned 22!!!

YAY!!!

Twenty two. Wow. The number makes me wonder a little. Well, I doubt my appearance or my behavior reflects that number.Haha!
I was so suprised that when I logged on Facebook there were so many lovely birthday wishes on my wall from my friends around the world, which made me so happy and feel  loved!Also I got so many decorated emails to my mobile from my Japanese friends and it took me half day to reply to them all.Due to the time difference, it lasted until the night of 13th Japan time, the next day of my birthday.Apparently I am so popular among my friends. w00t! Thanks guys!!!


Recently I'm feeling it's weird that, as I get older, I kind of feel like people in the world of showbiz such as popstars, talents and sports players who I once felt were still much older than me are getting younger than me. I never felt this way like 5 years ago, when I was still in high school. I think it's probably especially because I was born in 1988, the last year of 昭和Showa period, and the current period 平成Heisei started from the next year.When I ask someone who I first meet which year he/she was born in and then they answer it's after 1988, it makes me feel shocked a little bit. Just because the name of era differs, the year difference sounds like a century! Heck! 


Anyway, on 12th my family and friends all celeblated my becoming 22, and I had a very good time in Kobe, my favorite town, with my family.Ok random pics time!
   

Shopping to Kobe! Though it was gloomy and so muggy like hell, we enjoyed a lot!

My Sachertorte

 My sister's 

 Mine #2. Oops I ate too much!Haha! 

A lovely present from my best friend in Australia! Cute!

The pen case has 12 zippers! Cool, isn't it?


I got many nice gifts from other friends as well!

No matter how old I am, getting lots of messages and gifts on my birthday always makes me so happy!!

Well, my big event is over.This means the long depressing rainy season is also over, and summer is soon to be here.I am so excited!!!!!!
Okay so, I'll end today's post with sharing my favorite beautiful music with some wonderful pictures of summer in Japan.This music was created by a famous Japanese composer, 久石 譲  Joe Hisaishi. 
This will make you feel nostalgic and want to visit Japan - for sure. Enjoy!

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

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!