PianoForte

January Update

2012-01-24T00:58:00.002+09:00

So January has started, a brand new yearly archive for this blog (albeit it's delayed for half month). Like usual folk's wishes, a brand new year, hopefully it'll be another good year and some developments in life as well. And again, I wish for nothing more but wisdom.

On the first day of the year, I joined my friend Komatsu to visit a shrine in Tokyo, so-called the first visit to shrine, Hatsumode (初詣).

The shrine we went, was Yasukuni Shrine (靖國神社) located near the center of Tokyo, close to the imperial palace.

We reached about 1pm where the crowd has gathered up, naturally.

So, both of us join in the crowd line up, moving towards the main shrine. Well although the queue was quite long, the line move forward pretty fast.

Needless to say, the shrine earn quite handsomely as I saw someone donated Mr Fukuzawa heh, the biggest value banknote in Japan.

Our late lunch was grilled chicken fillet. I get myself a grilled scallop as an extra. These goes very well with a serving of amazake (甘酒), warm Japanese sweet wine.

Actually during this time's new year holiday I didn't really went to many places, nor met with lots of friends, mainly is because I was busy completing assignments. A break from all the works is always welcoming. Since I didn't spent too much on outings, I decided to treat myself to eat something better, none other than sushi. :P

Winter is the season of crabs. Yummy~

Some of my friends back in Malaysia would know that I would brought back limited edition Starbucks Japan's tumblers on demand, and oh boy currently I've more than 10 of them with me now!

Normally I'd take a pic like this, post it up on Facebook and tag them asking if they're interested or not.

The most popular request would be this, black Valentines with red hearts. It may look rather plain for a Valentine's tumbler, but the trick is once you fill in hot drinks, the heart will "glow" on the tumbler, some sort of thermo-ink effect. Due to it's popularity, I only managed to get 2 of them. I've checked almost 10 other Starbucks outlets, and found none.

Last week a shocker happened. My ASUS laptop couldn't boot up. Probably the most fearsome problem among computer users. Normally in such circumstance, the culprit likely to be harddisk failure. But upon inspection, the harddisk is actually moving on, just that nothing shows up on the screen. The technician in the university suggested BIOS failure, which may result in totally memory wipe out.

Sent for repair at BicCamera Ikebukuro. Said to take up to a month's time to fix it, so hopefully I can get it back before I'm heading back to Malaysia in mid Feb.

Luckily, I got most of the important files backup on Dropbox, very useful when you have multiple devices accessing the files. Best of all, it's available for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android and even BlackBerry!

The first snow of the year happened on 20th January. It was just a brief snow but managed to cover the field near the university in white. At the moment I'm typing this post, another round of snow just happened moments ago.

For this year's Chinese New Year, well, almost no celebration at all, except for the brief dinner we had with fellow Malaysian Students Association in Japan members. We had our general meeting and CNY dinner event at the same time this year.

So, yeah, that's all for this year's CNY lol.... How pity compared to the lush feast they had back home eh? But anyway, I don't feel sad at all. I take it as a reserved reward that I will be claiming it in later days, inclusive of incentives.

There goes, January update on this blog.
Final exam's season is hitting up the gear, come into early Feb and I should be able to end the semester for good. I sense that interesting things might be happening in early February. :)

'til then people.

Rewind, the Year 2011

2011-12-31T19:17:00.000+09:00

Hello, it's end of the year again. As surreal as it seems to be, but yeah, 2012 is just close-by at the doorstep. I take this as an opportunity to reflect back on what the year has been.

I'd say, year 2011 resembles the letter "W".

In other words, ups and downs but thankfully it started and ended on higher grounds.
A little wiser I had become perhaps, most importantly slowly getting better hold to manage myself physically and mentally. It was, all good. :)

At the start of the new year I've took up the position of web system crew of Malaysian Students Association in Japan, working together with a group of fellow Malaysian students. I'd say, I'm thankful to be able to work with them, no such thing as neglecting responsibilities, as after all most of us are well-thought of responsibility in Japan.

As a part of the web system crew, I've learn a lot, especially formal communication via e-mail, in both English & Japanese. Also, part of the package is managing social media sites for real, though I wasn't able to monitor it frequently but at least it wasn't left unattended at all. While it's a voluntary work, some of my transport expenses were compensated. Some new connections and networks were made, like the essential contact with the embassy.

Although most of the members in MSAJ are scholarship students, I don't find myself the odd one out as I'm a privately-funded student. I take it as an investment to dedicate some of my time and money into the activities, and the rewards, as I'd mentioned above, are pretty lucrative.

While I plan to remain as the web system member for the next term, I'll leave most of the works to the new batch of members (hopefully someone reliable) and remain perhaps as a mentor figure? Some of the works are still going on and we couldn't just let the new members to take over without a transection period.

On Feb, I went back to Malaysia for Spring holiday. It was a long long holiday and meaningful as well. Managed to celebrate the second half of Chinese New Year, but the biggest event of the year was eldest sister's wedding in March. One of my "mission" was to help sis' wedding arrangement. Being an event organizer herself, she knows the best how to make the event a successful one.

However, before the wedding date, disaster struck Japan as we all know, on 11 March. Naturally it cast doubt whether I should return to Japan to continue study almost a month later from the date, but Saitama prefecture where I'm based in wasn't that badly affected, and since there's no sign of delay from the university (eventually it came but it's a bit too late to change the flight schedule then), I've decided to return to Japan on early April just in time for the new semester starts.

Back to sister's wedding, it was a success though the gloomy sky almost ruined the outdoor wedding dinner. I'd say, sometimes I'd stick with logical reasoning rather then leave it up to so-called divine's intervention when it comes to certain matters.

After 2 months of spring break, finally I'm back in Japan for my university's 2nd year. I always think the Japanese is brilliant to start a new study/work year on early April in lieu of the sakura blossom season.

Back to the university, am glad to receive the news that I've been waived off tuition fees for the rest of the year. Hard work from the 1st year paid off nicely. :)

While I just back to Japan for awhile, aftershocks still happened from time to time. The first time I experienced it, I hesitated whether I should pick up important stuffs (first came into mind was iPhone hah) and *evacuvate* lol.... But after a few more times it gradually settled down and even if a small one struck, I'd just ignore it. It does take a few shocks before completely get used to it.

By that time, I've been busily occupied with lots of activities either related to university or some off-class events. From that point onwards this blog has not been actively updated even more than before, as I apologetically claim business as an excuse.

But that doesn't stop me from taking some nice photos at the same time. :)

The first semester in 2nd year passed rather swiftly, and here we go summer holiday again. The university made adjustment such that they tried to finish all the lessons and exams 2 weeks earlier therefore starting the summer break earlier than usual. The reason is trying to reduce the consumption of electric due to massive use of air-cond as Saitama is one of the hottest region in entire Japan.

Summer, one of the most active season in Japan where countless matsuri or festivals are carried out in almost every corner of Japan. This year I've managed to visit quite a few of them and it's very pretty.

Not long after the wonderful events, I'm again, back in Malaysia for summer break. Somehow I felt relieved when I've confirmed when I'll be going back again, to get more composed and concentrate for tasks ahead, then enjoy my break back home.

It was a good trip back, meeting back with some friends whom I haven't met for years, something I look forward everytime I went back.

Enter October, where autumn starts slightly earlier this year. It marks the start of a busy season up until the end of the year even now. Anticipating autumn for the pretty flowers called Cosmos.

Autumn~
This year kinda unfortunate that wasn't able to take many pics of the red leaves as I was pretty occupied with things going on.

In November attended one of the most interesting event, at least to me, that maiko/geiko from Kyoto performing live in Tokyo. It was absolutely an eye-opener for me, and since then I was hooked up with the arts.

Finally landed a job in the university as a student's staff. Job started in late Nov so it's only a month or so but I'm loving the job!

Anyway, Malaysian Night 2011 was held earlier than last year, and glad that the event was a successful one!

As for now.... some "loots" of the year. 2011 has been another fruitful year accumulating gadgets.

Nintendo 3DS. I got a reasonable excuse that a lecturer required us to play a game in order to understand game's music better.

MacBook Pro. A change of taste and although it has since become my main computer, still yet to get used to it, or compromise it with my usual style when using a Windows computer.

The previous bicycle had served me well for the past 2 years and since repairing it will cost more than than when I bought it, it's time to switch to a new bike and here is it.

Westone UM2 RC. I needed a smaller size monitoring earphone as the M50 headphone is too big to be carried out portably, and I happen to found this good deal at a headphone festival for this in-ear monitor earphone.

Finally, probably one of the most satisfying deal, Audio Technica W1000X wooden headphone. I'm a big fan of wooden stuffs and by luck an acquaintance is letting go at a very attractive price. The best headphone I ever have, after M50.

So yeah.... 2011 was a pretty interesting year for me. Glad that at the end of the year I felt that I'm getting maybe slightly wiser than a year ago? Experiences were accumulated and looking forward for a more productive 2012.

In 2012 will be my 3rd year university, so it's about time to start thinking of career opportunities. Currently I have a few leads in my head, will see if it works out at the correct time.

Oh and I'd love to travel around parts of Japan if possible. Though I've been here for almost 3 years, I haven't really explore much of the country due to financial factor. But I guess the money spend will be worthwhile so I'm gonna plan to goto somewhere out of Kanto region. First stop, naturally will be the west side, say perhaps Kyoto?

Anyway, with this blog post concluding the blog posts for year 2011, I wish you all a happy new year and may year 2012 be a better year for everyone! (just hope that the Mayan prediction of apocalypse doesn't happen lol!)

ではみなさん、良いお年を。
＜東京版＞
明けましておめでとうございます。
来年のもよろしくお願いします。
＜京都版＞
明けましておめでとうさんどす。
来年もよろしゅうおたの申します。

Instagram Photos 2011

2011-12-30T13:55:00.001+09:00

I'm a late player for Instagram, in fact I used to shun it saying that the filters look cheap, but once I started to play with it I take back my words. They say, you'll never know the real deal until you try it huh?

Here I'll be posting some of the more popular photos Liked by people on Instagram.
(My Instagram page)

Lamborghini Gallardo SL, at Meguro, Tokyo.

This is either Cosmos or daisy #flower

Sunset at Japan 5pm.

A part of Tokyo Imperial Palace

Blue sky cloud 青空 (joint 3rd popular)

Christmas train in front of Shinbashi station, Tokyo. Xmas

Mercedes Benz SLS AMG at the workshop. (joint 3rd popular)

Sunset Mount Fuji as seen from the university. 夕方の富士山。(2nd popular)

炙り大とろサーモン刺身。 Fat salmon belly sashimi. #sushi #japan #寿司 #刺身 #鮭

(most popular)

The 3 colors near the univ. #秋 #autumn #fall #紅葉

#autumn #fall #redleaves #紅葉 #秋 #日本 #japan

Blog post on the #geisha event is now up! Ow.ly/7lebR #maiko

Autumn flower. 秋の花 (joint 3rd popular)

Japanese #wedding procession. #ceremony #tokyo #japan (joint 3rd popular)
御結婚おめでとうございます！末永幸せを！

Short Tales of Headphones

2011-12-20T01:01:00.000+09:00

Being here in Japan close to Tokyo, one of my favourite pastime is trying out headphones and earphones at department stores around, namely BicCamera or Yodobashi Camera. The simplest reason is because there are a lot of choices and you can test all you want with your own music player almost as long as you want lol.

I for one, would prefer headphone over speaker mainly because of the spacial constraint and financial cost that speakers would consume, compared to the more discreet headphone. For instance, it's possible to get a decent monitoring headphone below 10,000 yen mark while a pair decent monitoring speakers would cost more than 10,000 yen. Plus, considering the space that speaker would take up, it's not really the wisest purchase as Japan's limited space (especially Greater Tokyo/Kanto area).

My personal choice would be Audio Technica, a well-established Japanese brand which eats up quite a large chunk in the headphone market pie. But to keep things in perspective, I'm eager to try out headphones from other brands. Some other I like including Shure, Sennheiser and certain Sony models. And no, I despise Dr Dre Beats at all cost.

Recently Audio Technica had announced a series of new headphones and earphones. including some exotic 50th anniversary editions. While they're mostly out of my reach due to the above-average pricetag, and being collector's item the price will naturally, shoots up.

The 50th anniversary's flagship headphone, W3000Anv, made of sakura wood from Hokkaido.

But there are other new models that are available within most consumer's purchase ability. A worthwhile mention here would be the TAD500, an open-air headphone related to Audio Technica's popular AD series, the Air Dynamic line.

TAD500

My initial impression trying it out was pretty good, considering that I'm trying it out at quite a noisy environment, which normally open-air couldn't bring out it's potential as it's weak to the surrounding noise. Most importantly, TAD500 cost just below 6k yen, way cheaper than most of the AD series counterparts.
To put it simply, TAD is cheaper AD headphone, albeit the material may not be as solid as AD's, the sound quality is there.

Another I'd like to mention would be the king of Audio Technica's CKM series (in-ear earphone line), CKM1000. Launched at the same time as the 50th anniversary goods, although I only tried it briefly, but it's obvious that the sound it produces justified the pricetag.

I'm not sure whether it's already available elsewhere in the world or not, but even if it's not it's pretty likely to be available by next year should Audio Technica goods are available at your area.

As for myself, my most recent acquirement is this wooden headphone, W1000X.

Got it at a very attractive price, and to my surprise, it sounds quite well directly from iPod without going through any amplification. Normally higher-end headphones like these made of wood would require some extra push to bring out it's full potential. For the time being, I'd just play around and enjoy the gears I'm having right now.

Well that's all for this short update regarding audio.

Oh, It's December Already

2011-12-02T23:13:00.001+09:00

Well well well, it's December already huh.... As we're getting older, we couldn't help but think that time passes pretty fast heh. Very soon I'll have to go through the process again where I'll correct the date from 2011 to 2012. Happens almost everytime ever since primary school times lol.

In this post ain't going to do any reflective post about 2011, but instead will focus on things happening lately. After all, it's just the start of the month and interesting things might be happening 'til the very end.

I don't think that I would've imagined there are days that I wouldn't be updating the blog regularly. But yeah, as we grew up and more responsibilities entrusted to us, a little personal time for self is scarce.

As per usual style, pictures with a little description.

I may have mentioned that I was being called for a scholarship's interview in October. Although the passing rate was 50%, unfortunately I was at the other half of the equation. But anyway, I've applied for the university's student staff post, an alternative source of income and gain some extra knowledge.

During the span of few weeks I've been learning basic Japanese business manners, from the degree of bowing to the application of Japanese honorific terms (敬語).

Although the correct answer is 2, in the reality I've heard people replying their boss in 1 or 3, which either way is not incorrect at all.

How to deal with telephone call.

Back in the classroom, career planning class. Would say this is one of the best subject so far in this semester, crucial and useful for the few more years to come.

Rainy day in the university.

Warm udon taste good during cold weather.

First time ordering pizza in Japan after few years staying here lol. Mainly is because not many of them selling personal pizza and the only one selling it happens to locate within walking distance from my room lol.

Trying out headphones at my favourite shop, BicCamera Shinjuku west gate.

Illuminations at Shinjuku station's east gate.

Gamelan ensemble performed by one of my lecturer and some students. The best way to enjoy gamelan is listening to it live to feel the vibration of the delicate instruments.

Spent one day re-exploring Kawagoe again. Target of the day is autumn's symbolic red leaves. But unfortunately this year the red leaves arrive later than usual, according to the locals.
Heavily edited btw

The three colours near the university.

Christmas comes early in Ginza!

Had my first ever official dinner with the embassy as one of the minister came to visit Japan.

I was the odd one out ordering Japanese rice wine (sake) while others ordered Cola or orange juice lol. But what's more surprising was that the ambassador himself suggested to me that the rice wine taste better served in warm.

The dinner was held at Tenkuni Ginza, a restaurant specialise in tempura dishes.

Then again, I'm the odd one out lol....

Although the portion is a little, at the end of the 8 courses meal everyone was very full.

The minister himself, Khaled Nordin from the ministry of higher education.

This Monday evening went to Tsukiji to enjoy piano recital from one of the university's piano lecturer. Too bad I don't really know any of the songs played except for the encore "Fur Elise" lol.

It's odd to go to Tsukiji for other purpose instead of it's glorious sushi, so before heading back to Saitama dined at one of the sushi shops.

On Tuesday, officially started work as a student staff in the university. Yeah!

That's it for now folks, I kinda enjoyed writing this post. Sensed that I'm slowly regaining the instinct to write heh. Will be looking forward to this weekend as Tokyo Motorshow 2011 is in town! :)

Futsal, once a year.

2011-11-13T23:50:00.000+09:00

Football used to be one of the common topics that I would talk about on this blog years ago, and some of my most popular blog posts are actually football-based topics, such as the football boots.

But in recent years I've been stopped playing the game drastically ever since coming over to Japan. Mainly because there aren't any much play-for-free fields and most importantly, lack of mates to play together. Even if there is, have to travel quite some distance just for a game, which cost quite a bit over here. That's why I've approached to single player cycling, or once in awhile table tennis with friend visiting.

If you're not familiar with it, futsal is the game of football played in a much smaller field on artificial turf instead of grass, and usually each teams consist of 5 members instead of full 11.

Due to the differences compared to the normal 100 yards grass field, the game play of futsal differs a lot as well. For instance, in futsal short passes and agile game is common whereas on the big field it's dominated with inconsistent paces and wider space to roam. I for one, find futsal least attractive coming from the big field, but then nowadays a grass field to roam freely has become a "luxury" commodity in the city, so adapt to futsal would be a wiser choice to keep on playing the game.

Current futsal shoe, Nike CTR360 Maestri, replacing the aged Adidas Predator Absolute.

So, the only time that I'd touch a football nowadays would be during MSAJ's annual sports festival, and futsal is one of the main agenda. The last time I played futsal was at the same event last year, therefore the title, "Futsal, once a year".

This time, we were more well-prepared. We have enough players all in good spirits, have our team name changed from "Joker" to "One Lucky Shoot FC" lol. Before the game start we practised together for a bit, and then came the awkward situation when they assumed that I'm the goal keeper.

Well, I would prefer to play at most positions but GK, although I used to play on that position. Eventually we've decided to rotate between players to take on the GK spot.

So for the first game, we went against team Yamanashi. Being the first match of the tournament, things started off slowly but unfortunately we were on the lossing side. The scoreline was 1-2. Couldn't really remember the first goal much, but the opponent's 2nd goal was sort of due to GK's mistake. By that time I was still on the bench waited to be sub-on. When I finally went onto the field, the game was pretty much set.

Our team regrouped before the next match, discussing strategy. Finally I gave in and took up the GK's position. That, I thought, was one of the best decisions of the day heh.

The 2nd match against team Gunma, our attacking side finally worked out the chemistry well and managed to blast 3 pass the opposition's goal. As for the other side, I had a few blocks initially but thanks to fellow teammates keep on pressing on, in the later half our side was quite silent. The game ended 3-0 for us, which was great.

Gaining the confidence from the win, we took on the final team from the group stage, Petropan which I knew most of their players. But in the game, friends or not, as long as you're the opponent you'd be crossed.

I started as the GK again, feeling confident again with the old position. But it was the opponent's team who got the first goal. Another scramble shot out of nowhere. While direct shots are easier to handle, my weak point is the ball bouncing in out of sudden and left me stoned. Reflex is getting numb, not as sharp as the earlier days.

But anyway, the Petropan's game was an interesting one. Before the end of first half we managed to make it 1-1. On the second half I switched on to be the striker while handling the GK post to fellow teammate. While I prefer to play in midfield, but sometimes I'd like to concentrate just on the attacks.

Amusingly, the wind blew along our side, and by luck, the opposition gave away 2 own goals. Scrambling ball deflected off their players and unfortunately the ball just went into the wrong direction for them. End of the game, 3-1. Though I must admit, I didn't fared well playing on the field compared to guarding between the posts.

Compared to last year's result, we didn't won any games back then but this time to win twice and lose once was considered pretty good result for us. Therefore we were drawn into the top tier knock-out stage, against the notorious Niigita team.

They were the better team compared to the previous teams from the group stage. I resumed my position as the last line of defense, watching the teams engaging in front of me. But I could sensed that our team's attacking couldn't penetrate deep into the opponent's defense. Well, we discussed that we should be playing more defensively as the opponent team is known for their attacking moves. Alas, the first goal went to them from another of my weak spot, scrambling goal.

We tried to pressed on and when the 2nd half is closing up, the opponent managed to break through and scored via a counter-attack. The score ended 0-2. Game over.

But the lads weren't upset, we had good games and were happy with it. I for one, relieved that I finally I made peace with the position I like and dislike. No matter what position on the field, it's equally important as if one of them fail, the chances of being devoured by the opponent is quite big huh.

Well the above account is written based from my own perspective, but remembering that football is not an individual game, kudos to my fellow teammates that together we worked out great games.

But futsal itself isn't the only story of the day. One of the teams registered earlier had pulled out during the last minute, leaving a gap in the groups. At first we thought of forfeiting it, but here comes a bunch of Japanese men joined in and filled in the blank. The futsal tournament is open for Malaysians only and that makes a little awkward.

Later I had the chance to speak with them, only to found out that they were actually off-duty policeman being asked by their boss to come over and spread some advices during emergency. It was quite fun to chat with them casually, because one would hardly speak to the police in such way eh? They seemed to be interested with Malaysia, one of their member went to Borneo for honeymoon. We chatted about cultures, languages and most importantly, food heh.

The reason why we managed to clicked on is because they were the police of Saitama prefecture where I'm staying right now. They knew about my university, and advised me to be extremely careful when cycling as Kawagoe near where I'm staying is one of the most dangerous city in Saitama, where traffic accidents happened very often.

Another interesting episode is something to do with the food we had last night. This morning I was being asked by another friend whether I ran to the toilet. Apparently there're cases of food poisoning caused by the bento we catered from an Indian restaurant. Luckily for me it wasn't that bad but surely it is not amusing waking up early in Sunday morning because of stomach upset lol.

Still not sure whether will still be playing for next year's tournament or not, though. :)

P/S: I doubt anyone but myself would read through all these long lines hahah...

Geisha from Kyoto

2011-11-07T19:52:00.000+09:00

During the past weekend I had the pleasure to catch a glimpse of geisha hailed all the way from Kyoto at downtown Tokyo, which is a treat considering that the geisha culture is pretty rare in Tokyo.

It was held at a Kyoto-style jewelry boutique called Niwaka at Aoyama (青山), within walking distance from the shopping streets of Omotesando (表参道) and Harajuku (原宿). Organizer of the event was a Facebook page promoting none other than Kyoto, the ancient capital of Japan.

What makes this event exciting is that the event is open for public free of charge, comes with complimentary sparkling beverage and a door gift upon leaving! It's hard to believe that there's such event exist when I first heard about it lol.

Waiting for the geisha's graceful appearance.

The 3 geishas of the day.

To make it clear, the term "geisha" (芸者) is a rather generic term referring to the traditional Japanese entertainers. Over here, they are 3 different ranks of geisha.

This in the yellow kimono, is an apprentice geisha officially called as a "maiko" (舞妓). In other words, she's a rank lower than a geisha. About this maiko, she is called Yaemi (弥ゑ美), it's her 2nd year as a maiko.

The other 2 are the senior figures to Yaemi, maiko Fukuho (ふく帆) in purple kimono and geiko Miehina (美恵雛) in pale colour kimono.

Fukuho is said to be in her 4th year as maiko, and the most senior figure, Miehina is officially a geisha. Note that the hairstyle for the juniors are more stylish while the senior's hairstyle is much matured.

According to the info provided at the event, normally a girl will become maiko at the age of 15, 16. As she reaches 20 or 21, she'll be promoted to be a geisha, aka geiko (芸妓). From here I guess one can roughly guess how old they are, still pretty young isn't it?

Contra to popular misconception, geisha IS NOT prostitute. No thanks to the movie "Memoirs of Geisha" and the fact that the word "妓" actually means prostitute in Chinese. They are proper traditional entertainers as mentioned, mainly dance and sing to the customer, play games with them and serve them drinks.

Well then, arguments shall end here. Free flow pics to follow below.

Inside the boutique where the event is held. I've heard that the plant decos were brought over from Kyoto huh.

With Yaemi.

It was kinda tricky to edit this picture to hit a balance where the lighting looks good enough for both. Eventually I opt for making her face looks clearer.

Everyone's of course, eager to take photo with the geishas.

The seniors.

Side profiles.

Close-ups.

Before the dance begins. The senior Miehina plays the shamisen (三味線), leaving the dancing part to the juniors.

Love the reflection on the glass panel.

The dressing is also an important part of maiko/geisha. Unfortunately I'm not knowledgeable in that to provide explanation here.

Great shots from the same event I found on Flickr.

The attention of details is absolutely perfect. Gracefully and elegantly, their performance is much easier to understand and appreciate compared to the kabuki theatre.

To meet with a geisha in person was one of the things that I'd like to did in Japan, and happily this has been realized! Perhaps next stop, I should be heading to Kyoto then?

I owe this favor to the organizer who came up with such great event. If there's anything similar again in the future I'll be looking forward to join it!

BONUS
Somehow the 3 of them are very popular on the net, especially Miehina. A search on Flickr came out with lots of surprising pictures, including those when they didn't put on the heavy makeups.

---------------------------------------------------------

Alright, end of this blog post.
It's been awhile since I last wrote such a satisfying post phew!

Reflection of October

2011-11-04T00:10:00.001+09:00

October has been one of the busiest months in the entire year as it marks the start of autumn semester and lots of activities going on, thanks to the rather cool weather.

Luckily for me it was an interesting month. Would like to share a few pics here since I don't think it's possible for me to came up with the usual lots-of-pictures-filled post at the moment.

So, here we go.

Kawagoe Matsuri (16 Oct)
One of the famous regional festival (川越まつり) happened to be located within cycling distance. Last year couldn't make it as I was busy settling moving out from hostel.
(album link)

Shobi University Festival 2011 (22 Oct)
My university's annual festival (尚美祭), this year I'm free to roam around as last year I helped out handling one of the booth. We were selling Thai food last year lol.
(album link)

Okinawa ramen. Surprisingly I like the taste very much, perhaps is because of it's southern origin huh?

Autumn Headphone Festival & Meiji Shrine (29 Oct)
I missed the spring's, and luckily it was held twice a year so I managed to salvage what I missed earlier this year. I'm a headphone/earphone freak, though there are still lots of things to be learn about audio.
(album link)

Audio Technica's 50th anniversary earphone, CKW1000. Wooden earphone with titanium casing. Splendid sound and of course, comes with a hefty price tag.

Couldn't resist it to get this monitor earphone for a bargain price! It's a Westone UM2 RC btw. Priced at JPY 19,800.

Had a stroll at Meiji Shrine (明治神宮), one of the rare gems in Tokyo.

Cosmos Flowers
Again at the same place where I took lots of wonderful flower pictures last year.
(album link)

Alright I hope this would keep faithful blog readers pleased. Will try to dig out more time to blog if I can. :)

Steve Jobs biography

2011-10-28T10:08:00.002+09:00

Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson on iBooks.

When the book was announced few months back, I'm eager to read it as part of the legacy that defines Apple today.

Initially, the book is said to be launched on next March, but as Steve's health status isn't doing that well, the launch is being brought forward to Nov.

By twist of fate, the man passed away a day after iPhone 4S was announced, the publishing date is once again brought forward to 24 Oct, less than 3 weeks after his demise. It cost USD 17 on iBooks and I didn't hesitated to pre-ordered it.

To make it clear, I do not revere Steve Jobs like an idol or icon, but his charisma and presentation skills were top notch, no doubt about it. Instead, I am more interested on Apple's products.

Although the book is meant to record his life chronologically, it doesn't mean that only positive words are chosen to describe him. Rather, he's being portrayed to be sort of the villain, a highly-demanding character that only a handful of people can stand his attitude.

While appearing in public announcements, I didn't thought that he's such a volatile perfectionist character as he appears to be steady and well-mannered, at least on the stage.

The societies (at least those I've experienced so far) encourage of speak no evil, be polite to others, be tolerate and compromising. Steve Jobs however, is the totally opposite to these terms.

Reading the book it's obvious that he loved the Japanese culture (unagi was his favourite!), however it will be very challenging if he were to be bounded with the code of ethics rooted deep inside the Japanese corporations, as he's such a character that had no respect over the authority. One Japanese company he respected was Sony, although he later lamented that Sony didn't managed to work out on iPod's concept eventhough they had the resources and power to execute it.

While it's unwise to mimic what he'd done to others, it's inspiring to read of how the colleagues handled such tough boss. We often heard some people complaining about their working place, but I bet it's not that bad compared to what the monster in Steve that's being described in the book. He wasn't the ideal boss for most people, but for those who'd like challenges and eager to proof their worthy, he might be the most inspiring figure ever. Absolutely full respect for those who managed to ensure all the wraiths and upon surviving it, that makes them even stronger than ever and motivated to keep on working as a top A player in the team.

Another interesting point would be the over-used term "reality distortion field", a trait that compliment to his charisma in talking people into believe in making the impossible possible, which has been proven to be very effective numerous times creating Apple products.

Some said that best works are being done when under enormous pressure, and with Steve's perfectionist scrutiny, often Apple came out with quality products (though some products practical-wise may be questionable, in my case the Apple TV).

The book also gave an in depth of the early days of modern computers that we are using today. Bill Gates and Microsoft, a hate and love affair between both computer companies since the earlier days. Steve and Bill respected each others in a way, though there're still certain rivalries lying between both men.

Inevitably, I'd say he's partly responsible for his own demise. Such as delaying the surgery to clear off the tumor at the first place, and crazy dietary and fasting practice that doesn't sound practical for a patient who needed proper nutrition to battle against cancer.

Now that Steve's gone for good, people are curious how would future Apple products turn out to be. Hopefully not something like in the early 90's after he was booted out from the company. This time, there's no more Steve to the rescue, should Apple fall into an abyss again. The key is "create the product that the consumer wouldn't know until you put it into their hands.", which is true if you look bad how the technology scene looked like before the introduction if iPhone and iPad.
(The fact that iPad ACTUALLY came before iPhone, at least fundamentally speaking when things were still under planning stage.)

To the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.

It's been awhile since I last had a satisfying read. Thanks and may you do well up upon the other realm. #ThanksSteve

October short update

2011-10-24T00:03:00.001+09:00

Why hello there folks, another busy month here but it's not unexpected. New semester commences on end of Sept so naturally, October will be a busy month, with calendar almost fully-marked.

Noticed that this 2nd year's autumn semester's lessons, a few of them seem to be slightly harder to understand than before. Just the beginning and perhaps if I add in a little more effort, should be able to catch up soon.

These few weeks had been extremely busy, especially when I received the news that I've made it through the first round of scholarship application, and was asked to prepared for the 2nd round interview.

Well, was glad being called for the interview. Met 2 more fellow Malaysians there and hopefully all of us can get the scholarship offer. I think I did pretty OK inside, although feeling nervous before stepping inside, but once I start talking, it all went well.
Results will be announced tomorrow morning on their website.

A few pics here before I end this short post....

School festival.

Autumn's tea.

Sony headphone, the legendary CD900ST.

Kawagoe Matsuri.

Rest In Peace, Steve Jobs

2011-10-07T23:59:00.000+09:00

On 6th Oct's morning I woke up discovering the horrible news of Steve Jobs' demise just a day after iPhone 4S is launched.

I learn the news from the very device that he created, it is a habit of mine to check out stuffs on iPhone the first thing I woke up (after disabling the alarm clocks).
"Is it a sign that Apple is declining?" I thought

Almost half a year ago the Americans rejoiced over the death of Osama bin Laden, and today they mourn over the death of Steve Jobs.
Even so, the news doesn't come in surprise as it's expected, after he stepped down as the CEO of Apple slightly more than a month ago, citing health concerns.

While I wouldn't consider myself as a big Apple fan, nevertheless he's such a figure that has made a huge impact in the IT world. Without his brilliance, kinda doubtful how advance the electronic devices had evolved in the past decades, especially the first decade of the 2 millennium (iMac, iPod, iPhone etc).
Without him, where are the Androids, and Windows?

Sporting the infamous iPod earbud t-shirt my sis got for me from Beijing to mark the departure of the creator.

This iPod Touch 3rd generation is my first ever Apple product, also thanks to my sis again who'd get it for me. While it's a 2009 model, I only get to use it during the summer of 2010. It serves as a practise tool to get used to the iOS device before I get on hold of the iPhone of that time.

The iPhone 4 is probably one of my most versatile and useful gadget to date. Got it around end of September 2010 after returning from summer break in Malaysia. It sure had changed the way I use the mobile phone. Ironically, I seldom use the Phone function of it though. :P

Talk about iPhone 4, I guess one cannot miss out the keynote launching the iPhone 4.
The best Steve Jobs keynote in my book. [link]

iPhone and iPod.

I acquired this MacBook Pro when I went back to Malaysia this summer. In the audio editing world it's a norm to use a Mac so it'll be better for me to get used to it earlier so that I can learn more stuffs from now onwards.
Side note: you can get discounted price via Apple Store for Education, save a few hundred Ringgits here.

Thoughts of using Apple stuffs for over a year, although there're some purposely-made limitations to disallow the devices to shine at it's full potential, learning to use it is quite easy, especially the iPod and iPhone. The same may not apply on MacBook Pro though, initially I find it not quite direct like the keyboard shortcuts and settings, but slowly getting used to it now. Sometimes when switch back to Windows I'd hit Alt T instead of Ctrl T (shortcut for open new tab), as on the Mac the Cmd key replaces the spot Alt key usually sits on Windows keyboard.

A few tweets made about Steve Jobs:

On the humor side, at least Steve Jobs can now start selling Apple products at a whole new market: iHeaven. #RIPSteveJobs

Steve Jobs' biography release date once again pushed ahead huh, to be released on 24 Oct.
Read a report says that the pre-order had rocketed up to 55,000%! Ridiculous!!

Rumour speaks that the newly announced iPhone 4S mean iPhone 4(for) Steve.

Surprisingly this quote from Batman Begins fits in well to describe Steve Jobs.
"If you make yourself more than just a man, if you devote yourself to an ideal and if they can’t stop you, you become something else entirely – a legend"

Farewell to the maverick of the technology world, and thank you for inspiring people to work out what they believe in.

‎"Stay hungry, stay foolish."
Steve Jobs (1955 - 2011)

Early Autumn of October

2011-10-05T00:15:00.000+09:00

It's been 2 weeks since coming back to Japan without realizing it lol. Well am currently busy for the new semester. Glad that able to cope with everything seamlessly. After all it's just like repeating what I've been through half a year ago.

Usually during autumn semester I'm slightly more free compared to spring semester coz I'll take up max credits on spring and leave lesser credits to take for autumn. This time I had 4 days with class starting from 1040am which means I can wake up slightly later than usual. :P

Talk about credits, we're only allowed to take up to 44 credits per year, and max 24 credits per semester. Another piece of good news would be i've managed to maintain CGPA which is great. :)

In this sem it seems that I'll be taking more subjects related to information than my major which is sound engineering. Not particularly bad as I took a lot during spring and a drastic change like this is essential to keep things interesting to continue study.

Well then, off with pictures again~ :)

Sushi made me felt better as it's something I actually look forward in Japan. Don't need to further introduce this big fat juicy Salmon.

Slightly-grilled scallop!! Yummy!

Kawagoe Matsuri coming soon!

Newly opened ramen shop just around the corner. Korakuen had a few branches around neighbourhood city and finally it's landed here.

As usual, testing out their tsukemen as my personal benchmark. Not bad it was.

Another day's dinner, trying out their ramen and fried rice. Always love to put more chili oil to the fried rice lol.

It's quite shocking but typical Japanese meal comes with little vege or none at all. So they made this juice 30% from vege and the rest from fruits to compensate the lack of greens.

BOH Tea Gold Blend is a great gift to be given to friends or lecturers. Presentable, quality-assured and it doesn't cost a bomb most importantly! (available around RM 5~6 for 25 packs in Malaysia's hypermarkets)

This bike which had been serving me for the past 2.5 years was officially declared unfit to continue it's service. Rear tyre was punctured and when I sent it to the bicycle shop for checkup, noticed some ungoing problems and fixing it up will cost more than 5k yen. So might as well retire it as after all I'm not it's first owner.
(backstory of this bike)

So.... got this new one. May not look anything special but it's much sportier than the previous "family" bike. Kinda addicted to it's 7 speed gears, speeding all way down oh yeah!

Flaming sunset.

Autumn's flower season is just around the corner! :D
(last year's album)

Visiting Kitain of Kawagoe again.

That's all for now, kinda looking forward for events that will be unfold within this few weeks. October sure is a busy month huh!! ;)

Summer 2011 Part VII: Set sail, Malaysia

2011-09-25T12:00:00.000+09:00

As the end of September looms, a month's break back in Malaysia is coming to an end as well. Great times passed very fast eh.

Over the past few weeks I've had great times. Sisters coming back for short stay and then devouring lots of nice foods around, bucking up the weight count too. Life's been great....

2nd time having Snowflakes dessert. Slowly start to love it as ice dessert is the best way to cool off during a hot day.

Worth to mention this nasi bojari I had at Mid Valley's Madam Kwan's. Although abit pricey at RM 22, it's simply delicious!! Perfectly fried drumstick, sambal prawn, and replacing the beef rendang with chicken curry. Damn good it was!

During the Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋节) went to Thean Hou Temple for some sort of celebration. Usually I'll come here like once every half year, the other being the last day of Chinese New Year (元宵节).

The majestic temple.

A band consist of 4 youngsters entertaining the crowd with some Chinese classics. I must say I'm impressed with their performance. Their website.

Lantern is the symbol for Mid-Autumn Festival.

One of the few times where kids can play with fire without being scolded by adults heh.

Angry Birds lantern spotted!

Another morning, headed to Klang for another round of bah kut teh. This round we had it at Yeoh's Bah Kut Teh at Klang.

Surveying future property. Can you recognise where is this?

The family's favourite curry fish head stall, at a hawker center just beside Tesco Puchong.

Make your own durian ice cream by putting it into the freezer. However the seed is still inside.

Watched Nasi Lemak 2.0!! Not that bad and it's pretty amusing. Malaysians should go watch in the cinema now if you haven't do so!!

Love to drive on the North-South highway with such great blue sky and low traffic.

The final pic of Malaysia, is taken from the AirAsia flight bound to Tokyo. Was seated at the left window seat and spotted my neighbourhood up from the plane! Until today I still find it amazing heh.

Journey back to Tokyo was a pleasant one. No damage on luggage and barely able to catch the train back to my place. Luckily there wasn't any delay or anything. It was raining when I reached my local area, no choice but to drag the luggages under the rain and walk back to my room. Other than that, so far so good.

Been back for a few days now and slowly settle down again and embrace the new semester. The other day went to the university to attend short briefing of what's coming up in this new semester. The result for previous sem was good, able to maintain the CGPA well.
Things are looking bright here to start of, which is always a good thing to have a head start.

Anyway, still haven't confirm when I'll be flying back next year hmm......

Summer 2011 Part VI: Future and Friends

2011-09-13T19:19:00.001+09:00

Meeting with friends is one of the top agenda during this summer break. Years may have passed and while many went off to study overseas or working elsewhere, there're still some friends left in the town.

While going through some old SMS from the faithful Nokia 5310, I realised that what makes me felt affirmative and confident last time is the fact that I was surrounded by lots of friends that I can count on.

Seems like I'm quite reliant to friends but I say, friends are great when you're trying to spoke things out, release some stress from works or studies.

Although we've managed to meet up again, but the situation is a little different as I'm just back here temporarily. Wanted to join them for some road trips or hangout but somehow, something's stopping me from enjoying it to the fullest. Perhaps the mental constraint I put onto myself, like the thought of leaving all the goodness here and head back to Japan again very soon somehow occupies my mind especially when the flight's date is getting closer (20 Sept).
I've known to haunt myself via mind games and oh boy, it wasn't funny at all. It felt dreadful.

But as I'm progressing in life, it's necessary that I try to figure out how to get these ill feelings out of the mind not to interrupt me. For example, I might be reminding myself that eventually Japan will just be a temporary platform for me to discover new things and I'll be back here for good. I should cherish the last few years as currently I'm half-way to go, 2.5 years to be specific.

And as I mentioned, besides a few trustworthy friends close by, I don't really lack anything back in Japan. I enjoy my university, and love to explore new places in downtown Tokyo.

But worry not. I'm very sure that by the time I'm back in Japan, things will look bright over there, with things to look forward. Perhaps this is the time I shall spend to explore more places in Japan, thinking of visiting Tochigi and enjoy a good dip into the hot spring yeah.

Alright end of random thoughts here.... continue with my usual pictorial blog post~ :)

Now that the family only have one car, getting out to the downtown of KL can be a bit tricky but I don't mind as I love to travel with the LRT.

Mid Valley and The Gardens looks huge.

Steel crane + green barriers = development?

KL has been hazy lately. :(

Approaching Jelatek station.

Instead of traveling from here, thist time I've to travel to here heh.

The "ex-home ground"! Wangsa Maju station.

The new mall, Festival City is being built just beside Jalan Genting Klang.

Coffee + Chocholate at Bangi Kopitiam. It's price is cheaper compared to the competitors.

This time I head back there to attend the so-called primary school's gathering. It's been a norm that I organize it on annual basis until I went off to study. This time however, due to timing problem, the turnout was one of the lowest. Some of the gathering's regulars are abroad in UK so that makes the attendance lower than ever.
But anyhow, at least I've managed to meet with a few whom I've never met since finishing my primary school. Oh boy that was 10 years ago!

Then, on the other day I had the pleasure to visit International Medical University (IMU) where many of my friends are studying. I always wanted to have a look at this university as it's one of the closest university from my place.

There, I've met with a few friends from college's times. Unexpectedly bump into Ching Ying who's sitting very near the entrance, haven't met her since finishing college studies in end of 2008. Heard from her that some friend already graduated from IMU and waiting to continue further studies elsewhere soon. Oh well.

Then later I had Meichin gracefully brought me around to do some campus sight-seeing. Seems like IMU is a good place to study but of course, what they're studying here is serious and no room for error is allowed, thus the optimum study environment for the students.

The reason why I'm able to sneak into IMU is because this charity bazaar event.

Met another college friend at the bazaar, Meichin's bestie Ivy.

With both of them around endless laughter is ensured.

A random walk at Sunway Pyramid the other day. Hari Raya's deco is still up.

Ice hockey tournament going on at Sunway Pyramid's ice ring. It was very exciting!

Visited Jaben headphone shop near Sunway. Lots of choices and free headphone/earphone audition. Might consider getting earphones/headphones here next time if the price is cheaper over here.

OK so I guess that's all for the updates now. One week from now at this time I should be in the plane on the way back to Tokyo huhuh......

Summer 2011 Part V: Home Sweet Home Malaysia

2011-09-09T23:51:00.000+09:00

Haven't been updating lately due to many things going on around here. Anyway, it's always great to be back here in Malaysia, slowly picking up what I've left behind over the years. Meeting with friends again is a real morale booster to keep myself motivated to continue with my journey in Japan.

As for this post, it'll mainly focus on what I've been doing/eating/going for the past few weeks.

Let's start off with the Hibiscus flowers at home. The end of August marks the nation's Independence Day, thus the flag. In case you don't know, the Hibiscus is the national flower of Malaysia.

Not very healthy but one of the best drinks in Malaysia, introducing teh tarik!
It's basically Ceylon tea mixed with thick sweetening condensed milk.

Visiting the Pasar Ramadhan near my place. Absolutely love it when some of the best Malaysian cuisines are available closeby and yet affordable.

Was at The Mines. Uniquely designed shopping mall that a stream passes through the center of the mall.

One particular day I went back to Wangsa Maju again to do some "sight-seeing". Somehow I felt like whenever I came back here I must visit this place at least once. After all, this is where I grew up and where many of my friends are concentrated in.

Stopping-by at the newly-opened Sri Rampai LRT station. It's just about 15 mins walk from my old house but unfortunately I won't be using this station that often.

Just beside the LRT station is Wangsa Walk, also opened once I'm not longer staying there arghh.... But my friends who're still staying around aren't that keen on the mall.

The familiar neighbourhood~ :)

The playgrounds.

So.... this is how the old house had transformed. Though no longer our possession, but still kinda nostalgic visiting the good ol' place from time to time.

Had one of my favourite lunch with friends before going to the next destination.

Another round of food lol.

Mixed rice below LRT Wangsa Maju station, also my favourite choice for dinner~

:)

On the day of Hari Raya (30 Aug), went to Hilmi's house for open house. It's been a few years since I last visited his place, a good chance to meet up with lots of friends.

It's a traditional for the Malays to visit the graveside to pay respect to the deceased family members before going on celebrating the festive season.

The host! Hilmi da boss!

Glorious home-cook feast!

After finishing the feast, left with a few friends and went to meet another friend at KLCC.

Hari Raya deco at the atrium of KLCC.

Chilling at KLCC level 3's Starbucks. :D

The friends!

Pei Yin, studying Chinese-teaching at Shanghai.

Kai Hong, mixing chemical solutions is his job.

Chin Wei, money talks with accounting.

Chia May, the pretty architecture student apprentice.

Meeting with another friend at Pavilion another day.
Tokyo Street is now opened at the top floor of Pavilion.... which is not new anymore. Was launched sometime in July if not mistaken.

Seafood platter at Pavilion's Manhattan Fish Market. Always wanted to try it and finally yeah!! It's nice to have your seafood cooked instead of being served raw such as sushi. :)

Another hype in the town, Snowflakes! Basically it's some sort of ice dessert from Taiwan.

Started one Saturday morning as early as 7am to goto Klang to have Bak Kut Teh for breakfast!

Last but not least, paying visit to Tun Mahathir's Raya open house. If not mistaken this is my 3rd time here. 2004 and 2008.

Makan~~ (eat)

Tun Mahathir's house, blocked by canopies used for the open house.

Random note: Tun Mahathir's an avid car fan. A few cars spotted there are Porsche Cayenne Turbo S with the carplate MM 1; a few Proton Perdana Executives, and the one and only Nissan Cima/President I've spotted in Malayisia.

Alright then I guess that's all for the first round of photoblog back in Malaysia. Will look into more time if I can update more here.
'til then.

P/S: Less than 2 weeks staying in Malaysia... :((((

Summer 2011 Part IV: Summer Festival Matsuri 祭り

2011-08-25T00:45:00.000+09:00

One of the most distinctive culture of Japan is the celebration of annual festivals better known as matsuri まつり, held from local community level up to the national level. While festivals can be celebrated through out the year, most are held during summer time (July - Sept). Another well-known Japanese festival, Bon Odori (盆踊り) is also held during summer specifically close to Obon season (mid August).

Last year I didn't join much festivals as I wasn't aware of the dates, or probably engaged with other commitments, so this year is my first time experience local community's festive events. It's good that the area I'm staying at host a number of matsuri around.

The first I went was this neighbourhood-level Bon Odori.

The drum set at the center, surrounded by dancers in traditional yukata.

As you can see, the Bon Odori was held during evening as the darkness looms. But only when the day is dark enough, the lanterns glow.

Another local festival is held right after I've finished my semester, this time it's slightly larger scale as the town council is participating as well.

One of the main agenda of matsuri is the procession of the portable shrine called Mikoshi (お神輿). This is the kid's version, enshrined in it is Doraemon heh.

While this kid's version is rather light, the real Mikoshi is quite heavy, from my previous experience joining the Mikoshi procession. Dozens of adults are needed just to move the Mikoshi around.

There are lots of traditional dancing procession happening too. The local community is eager to practise and perform for the festival.

End of July and early August was the most active having many different festivals happening around. This particular one was held nearby, a miniature version of Sendai's Tanabata Matsuri which also held simultaneously at the same time.

The signature of Tanabata matsuri would be these lantern-like hanging decorations.

Whole street was nicely decorated.

The main street leading to food stalls. The food stalls are synonym to matsuri, as matsuri is incomplete without food stalls!

My favourite snack, grill squid!!

One of the most common food stalls, selling Takoyaki (grill octopus balls).

This particular stall sells probably one of the biggest and best Takoyaki I've ever had so far!

An unexpected guest from the Force joining the festival lol.

Stormtrooper march on.

Glowing toys trying to attract kids.

Another event to mark the Japan's summer festivals would be fireworks display (花火大会).
There are 2 fireworks display, another located at Kawagoe (川越) but I chose to attend Saikasai (彩夏祭) with friends.

Well then, let the fireworks begin!!

Paint the sky with stars.

Floating flower in the dark.

Fiery daisy.

Double flora.

Galactic stars clashes igniting the night

Rain of fire.

The two Japanese "dolls" that joined me that night.

Summer 2011 is indeed very interesting attending different festivals in Japan!
Looking forward for more next year!! ;)

Summer 2011 Part I Audio Technica HQ & Yokohama
Summer 2011 Part II: Tokyo National Museum 東京国立博物館
Summer 2011 Part III: From Shinagawa to Roppongi by foot

Summer 2011 Part III: From Shinagawa to Roppongi by foot

2011-08-19T11:36:00.001+09:00

Shinagawa (品川) is a port-side district located at the south of Tokyo. Unlike other districts of Tokyo, Shinagawa mainly houses cooperate buildings and industrial factories rather than fancy shopping malls. Besides, Shinagawa is very close to the Tokyo International Airport Haneda, just 30 mins away by train. This definitely save lots of time as the other major airport, Narita airport is located further away from Tokyo.

Usually I only pass-by Shinagawa to transfer train to Haneda airport, but I've decided to explore this site of Tokyo as it's the total opposite side on the Yamanote line loop. Many of my friends came here specifically to settle visa or re-entry permit at the Tokyo Immigration Office which also located at Shinagawa.

This time of exploration tagging along with me is Jia Yi. We met around afternoon at the Shinagawa station and first task is to fill up our stomach with some food before we start the journey.
Spotted this Italian restaurant with lunch menu set, decided to give it a try.
Appetizer, buttered bread served with mushrooms, salmon and tomato. Just nice for two.

Main dish, beef's cheek rice. Although not really a beef lover, but I find it very delicious, especially the beef's meat is very soft. Try to pinch your own cheek and you'll understand why I say so lol.

The real journey on foot starts shortly after that, at first randomly walk around the station checking out some cooperate buildings nearby.

Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Upon closer inspection we noticed that this building is rather new, as they started to utilize it during earlier this year. Anyway, this can be said as the homeland of Sony PlayStations and PSP games I supposed?

Not far away is the HQ of Sony itself. It's solely cooperate office building so don't have any fancy stuffs inside to display. My impression is that the interior is designed to look like inside an airport terminal, especially the benches look totally like those found in the departure gate.
(sorry on pics as it's prohibited to take photos inside)

Nearby Sony HQ is NTT Docomo's cooperate building. NTT Docomo must be damn rich as they own another skyscraper at Yoyogi. But this is not their HQ though.

Shinagawa is actually not that far from Tokyo Tower, at least that's how it appears to be as we can see the tower standing not that far away from us. However, it took us close to an hour to reach the town of Mita (三田), a rather less-bustle city just like many east-side districts in Tokyo.

Tokyo Tower is just standing in front of us.

Instead of heading towards Tokyo Tower, we paid visit to Keio University's Mita campus, which smartly integrated into the Mita township. Almost exactly a year ago I discovered this place with fellow Malaysian friends too.

Chilling inside the campus with some drinks. Best thing to do after walking under blazing sun heh.

Continue our walk....

Noticed that the top of Tokyo Tower is slightly bent? They said it's caused by the 3.11 earthquake. But seems like the slight bent doesn't affect the antenna of the tower.

Upon consulting the map, found that Roppongi (六本木) isn't that far away, walkable distance within 30 mins. Then, start walking again.

On the way we've spotted countless Mercedes Benz S classes passes through while walking along the way. It was feast for the eyes as both of us are avid car fans. Besides S classes we've seen quite some varieties of Japanese and Western top cars lurking around, which we conclude that Roppongi area is really meant for those rich guys.

The landmark of Roppongi, the Mori Tower of Roppongi Hills.

Well we just simply enjoy the views of Roppongi Hills as after all, it's not really a place we can afford to spend lol. Anyway I've managed to get a new pair of shoes there.

Adidas AdiZero Bounce!

Dinner was at Tokyo Midtown which is not far away from Roppongi Hills. Midtown is another tall building structure similar to Roppongi Hills.

Trying out beer from the northern state of Hokkaido.

Fabulous sushi from Hokkaido. Sea urchin (uni), Salmon roe (ikura) and Crab essence (kani miso).

Another satisfying exploration by foot in Tokyo yeah..... But there're still places that I haven't been to before in Tokyo. Will continue my journey of discovery again in downtown Tokyo during another time, hopefully when the weather isn't that hot. ^^

P/S: Am writing this post back home in Malaysia~~ :)

Summer 2011 Part II: Tokyo National Museum 東京国立博物館

2011-08-15T11:31:00.002+09:00

The Tokyo National Museum (東京国立博物館) is located at Ueno, an eastern district of Tokyo famous for Ueno park, national zoo as well as some museums and galleries too. Not to mention, one of the top art university, the Tokyo University of the Arts (東京藝術大学) is located here as well. So you can say that Ueno is a city boosting lots of cultural points in the terms of Civilization game series.

This is actually my first time visiting the national museum. Thanks for my university's effort, students now can enter the museum free of charge for normal exhibitions, and enjoys discount for special exhibitions.
Current special exhibition is Kukai's World: The Arts of Esoteric Buddhism (空海と密教美術展).

No further pictures taken as it's prohibited to take any pictures inside the exhibition. Wouldn't say that I enjoyed it even though I'm a Buddhist (verbally, though), I can't really appreciate those artifacts like statues, manuscripts or some other artworks. I can only appreciate them as a piece of historical artwork and not the religious meaning. Anyway, since Buddhism in Japan is different than the Buddhism I'm familiar of.
The special exhibition entrance fee cost 1,000 yen with university discount, while the normal entrance would set back 1,500 yen. However I think that the money could have been spent on something better.
Some other exhibitions.

I'm particularly interested in this Kofun era's Haniwa humanoid figures.

Presenting, the cute Haniwa (埴輪) figures.

If you may have noticed, the "cuteness" factor of Japanese culture is rooted back in a millennium ago. No wonder even until today Japaneses are still obsessed with cute stuffs lol.
Saying this, sometimes I find them ridiculous to describe (almost) everything "kawaii!" (cute!) literally anything that they set on their eyes, from pet dog/cat to a model figure to person etc etc and so on. Most of the time they're exaggerating.
P/S: Haniwa is the inspiration of the character "Cactuar" from Final Fantasy series.
Some other interesting findings from the museum....
This clay figure appears in one of my favourite Doraemon movie.

The spirit of Samurai.

Some masks that you may've seen from various Japanese comics/animations.

Money grows on tree! 揺銭樹!

Super-comfortable sofa provided in the museum.

Mini library for visitors to refer on certain historical stuffs. It's a nice place to study too.

The museum's buildings are quite historical as well.
The main building which hosts Japanese artifacts.

Besides the main building is the Western influenced building which houses Asian artifacts.

The ultra modern Horyuji's Treasures Gallery (法隆寺宝物館).

There are some other buildings around but didn't took the pics, perhaps will fill in the blank again when I visit the museum again next time.
I like historical stuffs so I'm still OK when it comes to visiting museums. Of course, it'll be great if the exhibitions are something I'm interested in. I think I'll be coming again if there's interesting exhibitions going on in the future. :)

Summer 2011 Part I: Audio Technica HQ & Yokohama

2011-08-08T02:39:00.001+09:00

Oh boy it'll be quite some posts here but I'll try my best to finish up each entries.... And of course as usual, loaded with lots of pics! :P

Right after I passed up my final assignment on 20 July, summer holiday officially started and I've got almost 2 months of time to kill 'til autumn semester in Sept. Don't feel like wasting the summer holiday by sitting in the room, decided to went out to explore a bit, somewhere I haven't been to before preferably.

First stop would be Audio Technica's headquarters at Naruse, Machida.

Some readers might not be familiar with the brand "Audio Technica", it's actually one of the leading brands in Japan manufacturing audio goods such as headphone, mic, amplifiers etc. The HQ is located to the west, at the outskirt of Tokyo (東京都町田市成瀬).

The Audio Technica factory which specifically manufacture Audio Technica's Made in Japan items including wooden headphones. Top quality is assured.

My purpose of visit is to check out the Sound Gallery which houses some antique music players dated as early as Edison's phonograph (earliest form of audio recorder/player).

Inside the Sound Gallery

These are some of the earliest specimens in the room. Dated at the end of 19th century. That time the "media" is in phonograph cylinder form instead of the record disc form.

Lots of different sizes of speakers.

iPod and it's ancestors lol. Time shift 100 years.

Classic turntable.

His Master's Voice. HMV is one of the earliest recording company and it's still in business even until today as the HMV group.

Toccata and Fugue sounds great listening via record!

The tour at the Audio Technica Sound Gallery ended rather early. Since there're still some time, checked area around and noticed that Yokohama is just 30 mins away by train. Always wanted to visit Yokohama but always came up with lame excuse such as journey's so far and train fare ain't cheap, but since it's so close, might just go there and explore new zone!

Best decision ever.

Although Yokohama is another large city not that far from Tokyo, the city atmosphere is totally different, thanks to it's prime location located just beside the Tokyo Bay. It's a very modern city and yet less stressful compared to Tokyo. It was my first visit and I can understand why it's one of the highly-rated city in Japan.

Lurking around Nissan Global Gallery checking out none other than GTR!

While I randomly walk along the streets of Yokohama in awe, I passed by another automobile showroom, this time none other than the prestigious Rolls Royce Motor Cars showroom.

Enter the GHOST and PHANTOM.

Another white GHOST guarding the showroom.

Glad that the staff in the showroom allowed me to take pictures inside, as it's obvious that only a handful of minorities can afford to put order on these majestic cars. But for me, even if I had the cash to splash, I'd opt for Bentley. :P

The Yokohama Landmark Tower. One of the tallest buildings in Japan.

Sunset over Yokohama skyline's silhouette.

A vessel Nihonmaru now act as a floating museum.

As I continue to wonder around Yokohama, stomach starts growling as I've been using up energy walking and walking. Then suddenly remembered Yokohama is also famous for housing Japan's Chinatown. It's not that far from where I was that time so decided to drag the feet over there. Yet another great decision!

Sniffing down the streets of the Chinatown immediately recognise the familiarity of the scent, Chinese cuisine~~
So I said, it's a damn good decision to come to the Chinatown when one's hungry as it's just a food haven!!

I ended up in this restaurant called Saika, run by Taiwanese.

Set dinner of the night, one of the best chili shrimp (エビチリ) I ever had!!

Well then the final pic concludes the usual pictorial blog post then. There're things happening around lately and I really hope that I can squeeze out more time to compile it here.
'til then, stay tune~ ;)

Countdown, about a week to go~ :)

Summer 2011 Part II: Tokyo National Museum 東京国立博物館
Summer 2011 Part III: From Shinagawa to Roppongi by foot
Summer 2011 Part IV: Summer Festival Matsuri 祭り

End of Spring Semester, Year 2

2011-07-26T02:03:00.000+09:00

Before the 2nd year's spring semester commenced, Japan was rocked with a big bang at the North-Eastern region. Needless to say, entire Japan were greatly affected. Back then I was worried if the university will delay the semester's commence, but eventually it started as usual at the beginning of April. A little reluctant back then, but I had a wonderful time back in Malaysia for spring break so it's time to get back to Japan to continue the journey.

Back to Japan, it was great to know that my 1st year's academic result was pretty good and get exempted for the whole year's tuition fees (though I still have to pay 1/3 of the sum). Boosted by this motivation, 2nd year started brightly.

This sem I took almost maximum of subjects again. Unlike the 1st year, we've options to choose more technical subjects, which for my case more subjects to do with sounds.

Naturally, 2nd year is busier than 1st year, but I kinda enjoyed it. Am glad that I'm happy with the lecturers, as each of them having rich experiences in respective fields. Stage sound supervisor, acoustic and electronic guitarist, recording engineer, and audio mastering professional. I've just learn the basics from them and likely will be learning more stuffs from them in near future.

This sem also roughly open up a clearer route on what I'm going to do as a profession. At the moment I'm more interested in audio recording and editing. Then, perhaps I can play around with sound creation and so on. As usual, I'm kinda into collaboration work related to movie or game. I'm thinking of getting a MBP when I'm back to KL in Aug. Although I can get it here in Tokyo as well, but the price difference of RM 500 is quite significant eh.

Then again, currently I'm still open up all the options out there.

End of a semester,break from university, which means it's time to recharge. Bout 3 weeks to go, back to KL~ :)

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On another note, the significant lesser updates nowadays do make me wonders, how I had the stamina to keep on recording things happening in life back then? Now, I barely can think of anything interesting to write about classes that I attended, or jokes that friends made.

Definitely something's changing ever since coming here. But for now can't say it's change for good or for bad, but surely who I am today is very different than who I was back then.

Whether personality changed, I don't know. But anyhow, will be looking forward what the future will looks like. :)

BERSIH Rally 2.0 thoughts

2011-07-13T19:08:00.000+09:00

Well, Malaysia made the international headlines again lately, which the reason is obvious due to the large scale rally happened on last Saturday, 9th July.
This time, I observe things happened from distance away. Reading reports on the Internet, browsing through pictures and videos captured during the event.

To understand a little better what took place on that day, please watch this comprehensive video, the truth instead of believing what you read from the official mainstream medias.

Truth that Cannot Be Covered - Bersih 2.0 09/07/2011 [Link]

As ugly as it seems, and yet the government is trying to play down the rally's influence and deny allegations regarding police's abuse of power during the rally. It's ashamed to see police's brutal treatment on weapon-less people. Attack and arrest on weapon-less "opponent" cannot be considered as heroic act eh.

When protest at such scale happens, casualty is almost unavoidable. But of course, the police force could have done better in order to get things under control. Although I'm not sure about this, but it's said that the police attacked the protesters first due to the protester's verbal provocation. Languages can turn ugly in such situation but come on, can't the police force handle just a few lines of words hmm? Physically tough, but mentally not?

But then, police themselves aren't to be solely blamed over the havoc happened during the rally. They are after all, was commanded to act by the upper level command line.
Shall we turn our focus point to the main culprit, the current government?

Regardless of whether the government declared it to be illegal and trying to prevent it from happening, trying to cover up the truth when obviously the incidents happened are supported by image and video evidences, is a real disgust.

The government suggested that:

- No physical contact between police and the protesters
If you've watched the video above this statement can be dully nullify with police's brutal treatment to the protesters. Besides, how can you arrest someone without having physical contact with them?

- Didn't launch tear gas or water cannon hospital
One of the biggest point of argument is police's tactics dealing with protesters seeking refuge in a hospital after being blasted by the water cannon and tear gas. Although the police's "truck of terror" did not drove into the hospital compound, it's still capable of launching long-range attack from the outside. The evidence in the video is shown at 7:27 onward. Hospital is meant for those who're sick and weak, and although no casualty is reported within the hospital compound, I don't think attacking hospital is part of police's working agenda huh.

- The rally is a failure
Although they may not be able to make it to the targeted Stadium Merdeka (no thanks to the police blockage), but the real purpose of the rally is to unite fellow Malaysians who care for the nation and with this context, the rally has SUCCESSFULLY unite those Malaysians who joined the rally on that day. Based on their first-hand experiences, those proud Malaysians shared their stories with friends or on the Internet and quickly the influence spread among many Malaysians (especially netizens).
Of course, the government, as usual is trying to play down this and even threaten to punish those medias who reported otherwise.

One thing the government said correctly was the rally doesn't reflect the opinions of all Malaysians, but they do reflect the opinions of many Malaysians.

And it's a big contrast to see what's reported on the government-controlled mainstream media versus those of independent source or foreign press. One trying to play down the situation with altered statements while another side uncovers the lies and show what's really happening to the entire world. Call it treason, embarrassing one's own nation, but for the sake of a better nation we hoped for, it's more gallantry than pushing on with nonsense.

But it's sad that folks who rely news on mainstream media actually believe in what the government said, making the protesters looked like the baddies while the government is the hero. But the fact is totally the reverse, where the people is the hero and the government is the loser.

" Adults taught us not to tell lies, and yet they are the one lying huh?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Although BERSIH is supposed to be a neutral organization aligned to neither political parties, but because of the "participation" of the opposition party, the government decided to label BERSIH as the opposition's agenda, thus trying to oppress it. I do reckon that even if the opposition would eventually won in the coming general election, of course it wouldn't be a smooth journey from that point onward.

Ideally, would love to see the people select those who would serve the people with their heart regardless of party background, race or religion. Well, that's ideally..... And it would be nice too if a 3rd power emerge from this tussle between BN and PR, a little more choices and competitions would be good for the market, eh?

Actually, there are a lot of good reasons why the people are annoyed with the government. Mostly are regarding the usage of public funds, one most recent example would be RM 1.7 million spent on Tourism Malaysia's Facebook page, which I doubt it will cost that much. Another point would be the never-ending allegations and insult thrown at other races or religions in order to gain political mileage. It seems that those politicians spend more time trying to figure out what fabrications to be made on which unfortunate opposition member than focusing on their portfolio.

Ever since Tun Mahathir stepped down as PM, seems like the 2 successors had problem to settle with the Malaysians, no thanks to their incompetence. abdullah the sleeper and then the current najib the...... dunno what title he should be named yet. Although najib first seems to be slightly more promising than abdullah, what happened within these past few years did not much good to him, with a bunch of raging people displease with the government.
In the nation there are extreme views, one side fiercely defending the decades-long administration and another side seeking for a refresh change in the political landscape.

For the upcoming general election, I'm not surprised if the opposition party manage to secure a few more seats, and the fact that they might be taking over the government is not impossible. Even so, I think that Klang Valley will eventually be under the opposition party's control. They've done it in Selangor, and it's time for Kuala Lumpur then.

Malaysia is having transaction period before a big change happens. Eventually people will be the victor. But what will the losers from BN will react then? We shall know the answer in few years to come.....

Few pictures to share at the end of this blog post.

Shaking hand with the police when the rally is over. As I said, the real enemy is not the police, but the government.

Auntie Anne, made famous for the contrasting image of her being "attacked" by the tear gas and water cannon. Salute her spirit of marching with the crowd!

A senior citizen who're disappointed with the government.

------------ End of rant ------------

The Tale of Bees

2011-07-04T23:26:00.000+09:00

At some points in our life, there must be something interesting or memorable happened that even after years had passed, whenever the topic is being brought up, the memory is still there afresh, as if it just happened few days ago....

Yesterday I met my primary classmate who came to Tokyo for vacation as I haven't met him for years. And then, I read about this news of students being stung by hornets during a sports event. Suddenly the memory of an unusual "accident" replays in my mind..... and I think it's better I jot it down here before the memory fades as age passes on.

Let's rewind the time back to 12 years ago, 29 June 1999. I was in standard 4 primary school. It was like another usual Tuesday routine. I usually went to school very early, reaching around 645am in the morning. That morning, noticed there's some insects buggin' when walking across the grassfield to the school compound.. Because it's still dark (before sunrise) so didn't really bother it at all.

We had our physical education class on 815am, and as typical primary school students, we marched onto the field. By that time, it was already brighten up and we started to noticed the insects flying around were actually BEES. First we noticed a few classmates were irritated by the bees, and then suddenly havoc broke lose.

In just a matter of few minutes the bees went berserk and start stinging us. It's natural instinct to wave the bees off us, but this further agitated the bees which means, more insect rampages.

To describe the the situation better, there were hundreds of bees flying around the field stinging us innocent kids who're defenseless in this sort of "attack". A single bee sting is painful enough for some, and try to multiply the pain with tenths or hundreds. I kid you not, there're those who were stung more than hundred times. I still remember having the bees buzzing around and the distinctive smell of the bees, definitely not something that I'll look forward to "taste" it again hah.

So the poor students went running haphazardly on the field for our lives. While most headed back to the school compound, some ran into another classroom nearby; some ran towards the teacher's office; and some towards the school library. The staffs and other students were of course shocked to see kids running into the school crying and looked awful with all the stings and bees still dangling around our body.

As for me, although I was stung here and there, one particular bee actually squeezed itself into my right ear, to my horror. The bee's buzzing sound is annoying and freaking enough, and imagine having the buzzing happening right inside your ear canal.... oh gosh.....

While I ran to the library's side, I still remember the teacher actually took some of the library books and burn it to prevent the bees further coming into the school compound. Everyone were panic, and even called an ambulance.

But for those who're seriously taken down by the bee stings, they were sent to the hospital by one of the teacher's car. I was one of them, no thanks to the buggin' bee buzzing inside my ear. I did noticed that those who were on the same car appeared to be very weak. I reckon the toxic from the bee stings kick into action pretty fast, aided by that fact that the heart pumps faster (due to nervous and panic) thus sending the toxic into the blood faster than usual.

Reaching the hospital, I still remembered I appeared rather calm by that time, perhaps due to the fact that I'm quite familiar with the hospital surrounding as I went there quite often. We were treated at the emergency unit and finally I had the buggin' bee taken out from my ear, thankfully. The doctor inserted some sort of liquid into my ear and it solidifies, then the doc pull the bugger out from the ear canal for good.

The bees that stung us were 2~3cm in length, and really blessfull that the species is considered mild instead of dangerous as the toxic isn't that strong. We've heard of fatality reported from bee or hornet stings, and to survive as a 10 years old child with hundreds of stings was really something back then.

One of the reason why I remembered the date clearly is because due to the event above, I've skipped a day's homework. Rested for a day and when the next day back to the school, I noticed skipped a date on the exercise book. Back then there were a lot of homeworks even for primary school kids and to be declared "no need to do homework" is like one of the best reward ever lol.

Well, this is a memorable event shared among us primary classmates. Whenever we had gatherings in later years this topic hardly can be avoided hahah. We like to tease among us how many stings one had, or where they escaped after running off the field.

Talk about the field and the bees, it's said that the bee's nest was disturbed thus causing the bees to switched to vigilant mode and we were the unfortunate ones to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Soon after that the nest was destroyed by local council.
Few years after that, the field no longer can be seen as the (then) new school building was being build on top of it.

Well, there goes the Tale of Bees. At least, something interesting happened, though the stings hurt!

Useful iOS Apps Recommendation

2011-06-18T17:49:00.001+09:00

Those who're into current tech scene should be very familiar with the term iOS, referring to Apple's iPhone, iPod and iPad products. Although I started using iOS devices less than a year ago, but it doesn't need a long time to really appreciate how well the products are being made.

To start things off, I don't consider myself as an Apple die-hard fan, just that praising for things that managed to worked as good as advertised, and some added functionalities beyond my initial expectations.

Here, let me list out a few outstanding apps that I find it very useful and certainly helped me significantly of late. I believe everyone have their own favourite apps, so let me share mine.

(1) HootSuite [iTunes link] (FREE)

HootSuite is a social media client which able to manage multiple Twitter/Facebook accounts at the same time. I've been using their web browser client for some time so I find it rather native using their iOS app.

Most of the time I use it to browse through my Twitter lists, as I prefer to read in categorized columns instead of everything in a column (refer to Twitter.com's timeline).
Another alternative for HootSuite would be TweetDeck, arguably one of the most popular social media client out there.

(2) Dropbox [iTunes link] (FREE)

For those who had multiple devices (including computer) and frequently move along with files, Dropbox is an essential app that you shouldn't miss.

You're given a basic 2GB free storage on the cloud (Internet), and you can save/share almost any files you have on it. It can be accessed from their website, desktop folder (with plugin installed) or from mobile devices (even supports Android and BlackBerry too). The best thing is that it synchronizes among all the devices, should there's any changes made.

Nowadays I reluctant to use thumbdrive and as long as there's Internet connection, I'll just upload the file to Dropbox. No need to worry about infested with virus heh.

(3) Calendar (FREE)

You don't need to download it as it's already available in ever iOS devices as a native app.
What make this useful is when it's synced to your Google Calendar.

Nowadays I marked down every single events on Google Calendar and it's nice that the same thing shows up on my iOS' Calendar when I'm away from computer. Similarly, I can add any events on iOS' Calendar and it'll be synced to my Google Calendar too.
And not to mention, the multiple notification choices are pretty useful to remind me of any important events going on.

(4) iStudiez Pro [iTunes link] (USD 2.99)

In university, the lessons change every semester with different lecturers teaching different subjects, at different time slot and different classrooms. So, I use this iStudiez Pro app to help me manage the ever-changing university time-table.

Nifty features I like like it's able to notify you when and where's the next lesson, and able to sort out any assignments/exams' schedule neatly.

Although at USD 3 it's a little steep compared to other app, but keep an eye on it when it's available for USD 1 during special promotion period.

The above 4 listed apps are mostly for productivity. Now the next 4 will be related to iPhotography (photography via iOS devices).

(5) Camera+ [iTunes link] (USD 0.99 limited time offer)

The most popular (paid) photography app on iTunes App Store, just take it a few spins and you would be glad that this app happens to patch up a lot of flaws of iPhone's native Camera app.

It's not that the original Camera app isn't good, iPhone's camera had took over the role as my everyday/casual camera from Canon IXY, but the boring static pic could be better with a few touch-ups using this Camera+ app.
A few samples of photos edited with Camera+.

If you've noticed, I like to use HDR effects. And if you may have noticed, a lot of pictures on this blog are edited from the same app as well.
It's now having promotion at just USD 1 so better grab 'em up soon! It's definitely worth it!

(6) 100 Cameras in 1 [iTunes link] (USD 0.99)

This app is made by the HDR photographer Trey Ratcliff whom I frequently visit his blog. This may be another photo editing app, but the variety of filters available make it very interesting especially when you combine multiple effects on a single photo. There's no end to try out all the effects, a very good exercise for creativity.
Samples...

At the time being it's priced at USD 1 (originally USD 3), another good deal here. If you're bored of Instagram or Lomo, why not give "100 Cam in 1" a try?

(7) Adobe Photoshop Express [iTunes link] (FREE)

Known for their excellent computer-based graphic editing software, this Adobe Photoshop Express is a toned down Photoshop with a few very basic but essential functions (such as crop, rotate, contrast etc.) for photo-editing. True to it's nature, I mostly use this app for final touch up after playing with effects and filters from the above mentioned iPhotography apps.

(8) SimpleResize [iTunes link] (FREE)

It works great to lower down the pic resolution as a typical photo taken with iPhone 4 would be above 2MB and uploading it (without compression) takes a long time even on 3G network.

Once resized the pic, you'll notice significant faster upload speed and without compromising much of the picture quality at the same time. Besides the file size is significantly reduced too, talk about 2 MB VS 400 kB. Helpful for those who're being charged based on the network usage.

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So I hope that you might discover a few useful app that could be useful to you.
Having an iPhone doesn't bring the right to brag about it. If being utilized well, it can be a very powerful tool.

At the moment I'm looking forward for the new iOS 5 update coming this autumn. A lot of core apps will be facelifted, further improving it's usability and definitely boosting productivity.
I'm happy that iPod Touch 3rd generation is included in this new OS update as well.

If you have any favourite apps to share, feel free to leave a comment here~ :)

P/S: Might be considering making similar recommendation again solely on iOS games in near future.

The Perfect Saturday

2011-06-06T16:01:00.189+09:00

Near the end of May the weather wasn't that good as typhoon was looming near southern Japan, bringing a lot of sky tears with it. It'll be very stupid to continue usual cycling routine under harsh rain and wind, unless I'm asking for trouble.

The most recent Saturday was definitely one of the better ones that is memorable enough to earn a post in this blog, which I'm writing now.

The day started slightly later around 12pm as I had slept for almost 12 hours, quite unusual for me but the exhaustion was accumulated from the weekdays. I'm glad that I still can enjoy lazy weekends to rest the mind a little.

Decided not going down to Tokyo but to spend a few hours sipping chilled Frappuccino at local Starbucks. Since I still have a few free drink coupons so why not? Besides while enjoying the beverage I can revise some notes for the next mid-term test on Tuesday. I've seen friends did revision quite often at Starbucks and personally haven't tried it before until that day.

First serving was the current seasonal menu, Soy Strawberry Cream Frappuccino. While preparing the beverage the staff noticed the tumbler and asked me "Kuala Lumpur, is it in Singapore?"

Well not to be bothered by the question, but as a Malaysian I think we ought to explain to them that Malaysia is located in between Thailand and Singapore, and no we do not live on tree tops lol.

Second serving, Dark Mocha Chip Frappuccino Blended Coffee.
Heard some of my friends love this and tasted not too shabby. It's very thick though.

Although atmosphere-wise it's quite good for studying/reading, perhaps it's weekend so it's noisier than usual with parents bringing kids into the cafe. Glad that brought the noise-cancelling earphone over so reduce the unwanted noises.

When I'm done at Starbucks it's only 430pm, still very early to head back to my room. Decided to cycle randomly at nearby neighbourhoods before decided to head to the main highway.
One good thing I like about Saitama is that at certain areas there're dedicated pedestrian road cum cycling track along the highway for those who joggers and cyclists. And because it's in Japan, one need not to worry bout air pollution eventhough beside the pedestrian track is a highway with many cars and lorries pass by.

Spotted these Modern, Classic and Vintage Mercedes Benz before hitting the main road.

Great weather at a neighbourhood just beside the highway.

Little did I realised but I've managed to cycled all the way to Kawagoe. Then my memory struck as I remembered there's a Lexus showroom nearby, so decided to check it out.

Stepping into the showroom, I actually wasn't expecting anything much, riding a battered bicycle, wearing very casual knee-length shortpants and T-shirt. No matter from what angle I do not look like a potential customer at all lol.
First I asked whether is it OK to take photos inside, and the staff prompted the general manager for permission.

Then, Mr Suzuki shows up, greeted me and explained that it's not encouraged to take photograph inside the showroom for discreet purpose and not to disturb other customers. However he agreed to let me to take a few shots on a single model.

Presenting, Lexus CT 200h.

I've been keeping an eye on this model since it's concept car (then LF-Ch) and up until today's production car. You can see the significant difference between the concept and production car.

Out of respect for Mr Suzuki's permission, I only took the pic of CT 200h. Other models shown in the showroom including HS, IS, GS (soon-to-be-replaced), RX and LS, almost every models available in Japan (except for IS-F and LFA).

We then proceeded to talk about Lexus cars. It's always nice to learn some facts from the car maker's representative eh. Mr Suzuki is passionate about the future of hybrid cars. He then cleverly and clearly explained on why Lexus only officially launched itself in Japan 6 years ago, and why certain models like GX and LX still being sold as a Toyota model (Prado and Land Cruiser) instead of a Lexus equivalent (eventhough there're customers requested for it).

I was then briefly shown the car service facility where some of the cars are undergoing maintenance. Notable discovery would be a white CT 200h F Sports and surprisingly a Toyota Land Cruiser. I was being told that car owners can send their cars (even non-Lexus/Toyota) for basic car servicing at the Lexus facility and they do handle imported cars too (notably left-hand drive European cars).

And besides, I've heard that the new Lexus GS (currently previewed as LF-Gh concept) might be launched by end of this year, and Mr Suzuki asked me to come over again when the launch is near heh. Nifty info!

There you go, first-class Japanese service!!
I've spent like an hour inside the showroom and left as a very happy lad. Though I may not be getting a Lexus anytime soon, but it's quite certain that one day I'm gonna own one heh. To get to know a few pieces of info is certainly encouraging enough to ask for more..... a more convincing reason for me to apply international driving license, to test-drive a Lexus even before getting it lol.

The part of Kawagoe is densely concentrated with a few car showrooms, with BMW's just less than 200m away from Lexus'. Nothing much to shout at the BMW showroom as they only have up until 5 series shown, not as exciting as the one I visited at Aoyama, Tokyo.

Another gem of the day happened when passing-by the Mercedes Benz showroom. While in the main showroom only a puny B class is shown, there's a new beast parked just outside the showroom.

Mercedes Benz CLS 350 with AMG sports kit.

First encounter with the 2nd generation CLS, absolutely love it's AMG kit! Another fine example of a car that looks much better in real life than in image.

I like to tell others that I'm keen on owning a Mercedes Benz in the future, but before that I'd love to have a Lexus first!

Sunset over Kawagoe reminds me that I better get back quickly before darkness falls.

Ending the day's trip with a glass of Kirin beer. Perfect!

It's rare to have such a perfect day, a timely boost for myself to keep on with the momentum, as there are still things to look forward to; things that makes me strive to work harder to achieve it. :)

May It Be

2011-06-05T23:59:00.000+09:00

Phew.... finally I've some time to write a few words here in this blog again.To put it simply, May was a hell busy month!

May's calendar was fully loaded!

I didn't expected that after Golden Week things came rolling together clustering the entire schedule hah. It's not a bad thing actually to be busy, as long as I've the right mentality to see through things. Not just busy for university's lessons, but sometimes for MSAJ's affairs too.

As I mentioned, "right mentality".... I guess the greatest "discovery" in the mid of the month. After that, the rest of the days felt like zombie-like. It seems that from that point onwards the mood just went downhill. Thankfully, it was not the worst that I've experienced before, still able to cope with it eventually. But those few weeks felt unusually exhausted. I guess it's not just physical exhaustion, but mental exhaustion as well.

When one's not at the best mood, even blue sky can look bleak.

Anyway, pictures time again.... I think pictures will tell better stories than just plain text.

One popular spot in the university, 100 yen vending machine. Usually I get my dose of caffeine here.

Trying to cut and paste a tape using old school open-reel tape editing machine which dated from 1980.

Borrowed a few high-quality CDs from the lecturer. Super High Material CD, Blu-spec CD, Extreme Hard Glass CD.

Sunset

A friend came over for visit during one weekend. Dinner was his favorite unagi set.

Perhaps, the low mood can be blamed on the gloomy weather as well. I've read that seasonal change can actually affect one's mood too.

Always love to see great blue sky over the green tea plantation after the rain.
The mood is somewhat lifted as well after a few days not seeing the sun. :)

June.... I bet it'll be another busy month to go but at least I'm feeling a lot better to face it! :)
'til then, have a great summer ahead people!!

Busy but will be back!

2011-06-01T00:44:00.001+09:00

IMG_3491, originally uploaded by CLF.

Hello hello!!
I'm still here, just that recently am getting pretty busy with university's stuffs again, as currently is the mid-term exam period.

Just a reminder to myself, wanna blog about summary of May and perhaps introduce a few handy iOS apps which I find it very useful.

Am also thinking of making an alternative blog for creative purpose.

Well that's what I had in my mind for now, though may not be able to execute all in short time, but hopefully I can achieve one or two of the mentioned plans.

'til then, here's a recent creative touch ups on a sakura pic I took in early April.

Sushi Story - Choushimaru

2011-05-26T23:58:00.002+09:00

A little different approach here in the blog, regular readers or those who know me personally would know that I love food a lot. Ever since I came to Japan my appetite and appreciation for sushi is growing stronger the more I have it lol.

The shop of interest this time is a sushi chain shop reachable by food from my place, called "Choushimaru" (すし銚子丸) [link]. I believe the name is taken from the city of Choshi at Chiba prefecture. This isn't the first time I feature the shop on this blog, as you can read here from the previous post.

The most recent trip to the shop was on Wednesday evening, after I've decided to sacrifice the lovely weather staying in the library to sort out some notes. Besides I didn't had proper lunch so heck, why not hit a better meal at the end of the day? One of the motivation is to try out the new monthly menu they just launched on that day.

Service in the shop is as usual, top notch from what you can expect from a Japanese restaurant. Am lucky that the one who's behind the sushi bar is the head chef, Mr Maeda. Kinda spoilt to be served by the top man heh.

蛍イカ (Hotaru Ika) Firefly squid
A seasonal dish as an appetizer while waiting for the main course.
Am a fan of squid and they managed to make it very nice. Only noticed this nifty squid this year though. It's said that this squid is bioluminescence as it glows in the dark in nice neon blue colour.

Let me introduce, the set of the day!

A long list of seafood here:
いくら (Ikura) Salmon roe
たい (Tai) Snapper
まぐろ赤身 (Maguro Akami) Tuna's lean meat
サーモンSalmon
赤えび (Aka Ebi) Red shrimp
あじ (Aji) Jack mackerel
はまち (Hamachi) Yellowtail
かつお (Katsuo) Skipjack tuna

To gather some of the best stuffs in the shop into a feast like this, heavenly!! Price wise luckily it still maintain under 1000 yen mark, which is quite awesome.

Surely you might thought that'll be the end eh? No!! When hunger struck, there's no stopping until the stomach is satisfied with the quantity and quality of the food.

うに (Uni) Sea urchin
Normally I wouldn't order this but since they're having promotion so decided to have it a try.
It was a winning gamble as the sea urchin is fresh and taste very good. Japanese love this.
Take note that unfresh uni can be a horrible experience though.

特選穴子 (Tokusen Anago) Special seawater eel.
This is how Anago is normally prepared, grilled and topped with the distinctive sweet sauce, just like it's freshwater sibling, Unagi.

穴子白焼き (Anago Shirayaki) White grill seawater eel.
First time seeing this on the menu, decided to order it.
Instead of topping with the usual sweet sauce, grilling the eel this way does help to maintain the fish's original taste.

ホタテ (Hotate) Scallop.
My all-time-favourite scallop sushi!
I requested one to be left alone as usual and another one pan-seared with salt. Highly recommend to try scallop as the it doesn't have the taste that might drive first-timers away.

えんがわ西京炙り (Engawa Saikyo Aburi)
Halibut/Flounder's muscle or something, considered one of the delicacies of sushi. This is prepared slightly pan-seared with cheese(?). Absolutely love it!

ねぎとろ納豆 (Negitoro Natto) Diced tuna and fermented soybean.
I love both ingredients but this time is my first time eating both at the same time lol. Due to natto's distinctive characteristics best to have it as the final plate before signing off.

Overall, a very satisfying meal, but due to my wallet's limit I have to stop before the stomach is fully filled. Well, a good start in this new sushi entry I believe. Rest can be assured, that this will not be the last sushi-related post!! :D

Dream Is Collapsing

2011-05-16T14:55:00.007+09:00

The dream is collapsing.

History repeats itself again. First near the end of H21, and the second very recently.
Both are somehow mutually related in some ways, uncanny.

The moment I learn about the ordeal, everything seems to slow down, cool down.
Rather than rage or anger, disappointment struck as the scenario is unfolding right in front of my sight. A very bad piece of data fed into the brain OS, making the system jam.

Blown away~

Not pointing fingers towards anyone, nor put anyone responsible for it other than myself. Maybe it’s just that things get complicated within myself so when line of texts with such magnitude strikes, the blow is indeed severe, at least mentally speaking. But, internal meltdown can sometimes be more dangerous than external outburst.

At times in life, even if you worked hard and put in effort in something, things may not worked out as what you expected. Hard lesson of life huh.

Was looking forward for the coming long holiday, but.... the next time will definitely be an awkward one. As much as I tried to stay cool and calm, you’ll never know if things will get out of control, awful.

ある人の笑顔を、ある人の涙に。
ある人の幸せを、ある人の痛みに。

「サクラが大好き！」とあなたが言ったのに。

最初自分に「あきらめない！」と誓ったのに。
これは外学のギセイか？キョリが問題点になったのか？他の人もできているから、オレもやってみたかったのだが、うまく行かず残念！こういうことが起こったら、辛くても相手のことを考え込み、幸せになるように願っている。最後までにも良い人だと思われてほしいのだな。だけど、今見る分しかなくて、痛みは自分で貯まっている。

没人能说没人可说好难承受
荣耀的背后刻着一道孤独

A small measure of peace....

Golden Week 2011 Part II

2011-05-07T02:30:00.133+09:00

My Golden Week story doesn't just end from previous post, because the best was yet to come by that time!! ;)

Cycle to Saitama City

Ever since I've moved to Saitama prefecture, I've been to Saitama City (the prefecture's capital which shares the same name, 埼玉県さいたま市) a few times but so far all by train. Checking Google Maps, it isn't that close from my place but still reachable by bicycle. So I've decided that one day, I'm gonna cycle there! Glad that I've managed to achieved it during this Golden Week!! :D

First stop, full bloom dandelions waiting the wind to blow the seeds off.

Before reaching the city centre, stop by a shrine/temple to check out this ancient place.

慈眼寺

Zen Garden.

The biking journey was pleasant one, and noted that Saitama City seems to be a cyclist-friendly city with dedicated cycling tracks by the riverside of Arakawa. I felt "under-dressed" compared to those cyclists on their "battle bikes" and "full boy armor" of skin-tight cycling suit and helmet.

Finally reached near the city centre!

The menacing NTT Docomo Tower.

UFO landed on this tower!

Pretty amazing structure for this hotel.

It's hard to believe that this is actually the regional postal service office! Looks more like hotel to me!

The few towers of Saitama City that can be seen even from my place.

The train station of Saitama Shin-toshin (さいたま新都心駅). Unusual station structure not found anywhere else.

Eventually I've managed to clocked over 40km distance from the entire day! It's a new record for a day's ride as usually I only managed to made around 20km++.

--------------------------

Friend's visit

The day after the cycling adventure I had my good mate Cong Jie came down from Tochigi to kill some time in Kanto region. He stayed over my place for 3D2N and it's enjoying to have a company here heh.

Finally got the chance to visit this amusement + recreation center very near my place, with sports facilities and arcade machines. We played pingpong and football, which is great since it's been awhile I "blasted" a ball hah.

Dinner of the night is slightly luxurious, having yakiniku (grill meat) which goes well with a jug of beer! :P

--------------------------

Tsukiji and Ginza

Right after the sports day, the main agenda of the entire Golden Week would be the trip to downtown Tokyo, enjoying some fine sushi at Tsukiji (築地) and leisure walk around the shopping district of Ginza (銀座).

This time I had Cong Jie and Jian Shan tagging along for the sushi gourmet trip. Previous experience dining here was great and by that time I already decided that I'm gonna come here again soon!

This time dining at Sushi Sen (すし鮮). We chose it as it's not as crowded as other shops and the sushi set looks reasonable.

Colourful illustrative menu. This however, might be a bit of problem for those who can't read Japanese.

Jian Shan got his set served first, Tuna set (まぐろづくし).

Cong Jie's nigiri set with a large eel (穴子).

My nigiri set, at it's finest lol.

Extra order, a piece of scallop (ホタテ) and salmon (鮭), my favourite sushi toppings.

Cong Jie's fatty tuna (大トロ) and seared salmon (炙りサーモン).

Passed-by this shop where I had my dose of sushi last time. The set is still pretty tempting as they include soup as well.

People crowding the Ginza's famous landmark, the Wako shopping mall. Inside there stuffs are selling from 5 digits yen onwards.

Matsuya Ginza, I haven't step into it before but surely, a simple item would cost a lot in there.

Fancy a white poodle?

Folks lining outside Ginza's Apple Store just to buy iPad 2. Unlikely to pick one up, unless the sky drops one for me lol.

"Songs for Japan" charity album. Although it's pretty worth to get 2 CDs for just 2000 yen, but the tracks included are horrendous! Luckily I resisted to buy it and tried listening to the samples on iTunes.

While passing-by a Starbucks Coffee the staff's handing out free sample of this Soy Strawberry and Cream Frappuccino. It tasted great and we didn't hesitate to get one lol. Smart marketing huh Starbucks.

Revisiting the Imperial Palace again. Somehow I just love the surrounding, surreal comparison between the sky scrapers of Tokyo and the ancient castle so close to each other.

Tokugawa must have been a very smart visionary as he was the one who claimed this large piece of land and build castle on top of it. Right now it's in the heart of Tokyo and I dare say, the land will cost way higher than Ginza's prime zone!

Purple sunset near heart of Tokyo.

--------------------------

Golden Week holiday ends today (Friday) as I resumed my usual lesson. But, that doesn't stop me from planning to enjoy the weekends heh.

Anyway, it's been a month since I came back to Japan from Malaysia. A month seem to passed quite fast eh, and yet I sensed that university is getting busier too. Well, 2nd year is definitely not as easy as the 1st year, so have to keep myself highly-motivated to work hard and work smart!

To give myself a head start, I've already confirm it will be a cooler summer for me this year, back in Malaysia!! :D

See you again soon, Malaysia! 16 Aug - 20 Sept!! ;)

Golden Week 2011

2011-05-01T21:23:00.089+09:00

Greetings on the 1st of May, Happy Labor Day for fellow workers and may you all out there enjoy this great weekend!! ;)

"Golden Week" refers to the series of public holidays in Japan near the end of April and early May. Obviously it's purposely set as such so that most people will have almost a week's worth of holiday, a great time to relax a little after starting the new annual term for school/career in April.

Thursday morning's class, Digital Music. Playing around with Garage Band.

Holiday starts on Friday but Thursday's lessons are exhausting and yet interesting. To sort of commemorate the starting of holidays, asked a few fellow Malaysians in the university for a sushi meal.

The chef actually fillet the silver cod fish in front of us when I ordered it lol. Talk about freshness.

A piece or art, or animal cruelty, you name it.
A type of snapper (鯛). Tasted quite nice though. It's already dead btw.

So Friday, I had this spontaneous idea of hoping on the local train line and travel all the way to the last station, which is about an hour and half away from my station.

The train of Tobu Tojo line (東武東上線).

Inside the train.

The train track.

First time encounter barrier-less PASMO/Suica gate at the train station!

Welcome to the quiet town of Yorii (寄居町), a quiet township laying deep inside north-west Saitama prefecture.

Arakawa river (荒川), which will eventually flows to the Tokyo Bay. I'm inclined to this river because when I first settled down in Japan, the area I stayed was Arakawa district in Tokyo (東京都荒川区).

Arakawa with the roaring cloud.

Playing with effects with the cloud is quite fun!

Another peek of this quiet and peaceful town.

Meal of the day was summer-edition chilled noodle (冷やし中華) at one of my favourite ramen spot, 花月ラーメン.

During the weekend I went to Chiba to meet with some Malaysian friends there. A senior and fellow MSAJ member invited me to his place for a house-warming party. Given that I've a few friends in Chiba, so why not sneak there for a short stay?

The highly-addictive Jenga game, which the juniors mix their own cocktails with various liquids waiting for those who made the structure collapse.

Communal hot pot for dinner! Thanks to the seniors for making such delicious dishes!

I stayed there quite awhile chatting and playing with the guests there and pretty much fun as after all almost everyone are students here.
Eventually I left around 1am walking back to Calvin's place to stay for a night at his place.

Walking in the middle of the night while overhearing his conversation on the phone, can't help but noticing the similarity of the tone while speaking on the phone to the close ones, heh.

While on the way back to Saitama, stop by Ikebukuro to do a little book shopping and managed to get a glimpse of iPad 2, just released here few days ago.

Frankly speaking, no drastic change from the previous model, and although it's said that performances have been improved, can't really feel anything significant out of it yet. Besides the model doesn't have Garage Band demo so I'm a bit turned down.

Anyway a piece of advice for Malaysians in Japan, iPad 2 is actually cheaper in Malaysia than in Japan, after converting JPY to MYR. So if you're considering getting an iPad, do check the currency rate first! ;)

That's all for my current Golden Week goes. There're still some upcoming plans ahead, like a friend will be staying over my place and we're planning to have a day for sports and another day exploring Tsukiji and Ginza. And if there's still enough time, I might wanna proceed with my plan cycle to Saitama City and perhaps visiting Tokyo National Museum at Ueno.

;)

P/S: Good luck for those who're fighting the final exams!

3rd year, Japan

2011-04-21T16:10:00.000+09:00

Need not I to mention that time passes fast, as April 2011 marks my 3rd Sakura season here in Japan. In other words, its' my 3rd year here.

Sakura

For most people here April marks the new year cycle in the education and career fields. I commented that the Japanese is smart to choose such a beautiful timing to start a new semester albeit sacrificing time to enjoy the blossoming Sakura.

Sakura from pedestrian bridge near my room. ~ a little hope, a little confidence booster~

I never get bored traveling around to hunt for these pretty flowers that the season lasted about 2 weeks. The practise of having picnic under the blooming Sakura is called 花見 "Hanami" in Japan. But due to the recent disaster, people coming out for Hanami is significantly lesser compared to past years.

Hanami at Shingashi river.

As I mentioned in previous post, while the atmosphere may seems to be toned down, life goes on as usual here in Kanto (the region I'm residing currently which includes Tokyo).

At Kitain, Kawagoe.

As for me, the self-discovery and self-affirming journey will continue.... as along the course I'll be facing different kinds of people, experience different sorts of events, and from there I can learn a thing or two, not just for the knowledge but wisdom as well. Keeping myself on the right track at this moment will be my priority at the moment.

So far everything seems to be working on well, and trying to remind myself that a bit of challenges thrown in once in awhile is essential to make the whole journey an interesting one, as if we're playing a long role-playing game with enemies appearing out of nowhere suddenly. I take these challenges with grace.

It's also a good training on how to deal with things happening far away not within my grasp. At times it can be frustrating, and perhaps the answer may not come immediately, but I'm having faith in what I'm doing and do my best til the end, more or less something is achievable.

The fallen sakura warrior.

One trait I did learn from the Japanese is not giving up easily and do your best 'til the end. ("諦めずに最後まで頑張れ！") Yeah, the same theme that reoccurs again and again in many Japanese stories/games/movies but well, it seems that nowadays young lads would tend to give up easily huh?

While I can't really be sure, but somehow the statement may be true from what I observed from fellow university students. There're some who just turn up to the university without thinking
where they're heading to.

Words that I'm using to motivate myself from time to time.

"希望のない人生は闇しか見えない
目標のない人生は前に向かわない
だから人々は希望と目標のある人生を送るべきであろう"

Without hope one sees only darkness.
Without goal one wouldn't move forward.
That's why we must live life with hope and goal.

Shingashi riverside.

It's just a matter of time before my time will come, a time of self-realization and self-virtualization.

2 more years to go to finish off my university's life. By then there will be lots of decision-makings and I shall commit myself to it as the time comes. For now, I will continue to assume my role to absorb as much as I can and explore new reigns.

There are still things that I wanna achieve in life. A long journey ahead and I'm looking forward to it! :)

The Sakura family, at Yanasegawa.

Spring in Japan

2011-04-10T01:12:00.000+09:00

Hello folks, I've been back in Japan for a few days so far....

My journey back with AirAsia was quite decent, no complains and have to thank them for handling flight changes free of charge.

Kung Pou Chicken rice set. Actually it tasted quite nice but of course quantity is an issue.

The only problem of this trip is the luggage lock was damaged and I only realised it after I get out of the airport.

I left the airport around 1115pm.
Taking train back to my place in Saitama was a bit challenging due to luggages.
Anyhow, I reached my doorstep at 130am local time with my room barely changed from it's last stage when I left 2 months ago.

I can assure you that Tokyo is still as busy as usual as if nothing happened. Although not long ago planned electricity blackout was carried out, due to the Japanese conserving electricity TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Company) no more further blackouts are planned for the time being.

So far life in Japan is basically running as usual, albeit a little darker during the night and from time to time there're still aftershocks. During Thursday night while I was talking on Skype suddenly felt something's shaking outside and soon my room's shaking as well. First time experience such strong quake..... kinda scary it is heh.

Before the new semester starts I was greeted with a good news which is I'm eligible to enjoy full tuition fees discount for the whole year. At least all the hard works I put off last year were proven fruitful! A real motivation booster for me to keep on working harder in this university's 2nd year.

Looking at the subjects available is like passing a level in game with new levels unlocked to continue the pursuit. This time I have more subjects specific to my field which I'm highly anticipating it.

Well then, at the moment besides university's chores I'm also busy "hunting" for sakura as currently is the blooming season. Will try to make a full post of sakura after the season's over in few weeks' time. 'til then, a few flowers for your viewing pleasure.

Thank You

2011-04-04T19:24:00.001+09:00

I could never imagined what would have happened the day I stepped on this beloved land again 2 months ago.

I still can somehow remember the day vividly, stepping out from the airport greeted by parents, and get myself ferried back to home sweet home. Showered and had a delightful breakfast sis made for me and off to bed to rest after not sleeping well on the plane the other night. Woke up few hours later and it's lunch time. Again, another great feast made by the great cook sis. After meal it was normal computing session to update myself etc. Later that evening went to The Mines to had our dinner with some other relatives.

The hearty breakfast.

And then, the day goes on and on, with many exciting events happening in between. Thankfully, most of the events were happy ones. Notably would be Chinese New Year celebration, sister's wedding and having successful dates.

However, the disaster that struck Japan in 11 March does somehow cast doubts on future prospects continuing study in Japan. I'm again, thankful that when the disaster struck I'm not in Japan and the area I'm residing was reported to be safe from much of the disaster. Thanks for those who asked for my well-being, I'm really pampered back here in KL.

Of course, this isn't a slack off holiday after all. By observations and interactions, a lot of lessons of life one can learn. Having witnessed how my sis handled event details so carefully, one being writing thank you notes for those who've helped her preparing for the wedding event, and some of the attendees. Gratitude to the others for what they directly or indirectly contributed to our life, can goes a long way to secure a solid social network (nothing to do with Twitter or Facebook).

Hereby, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank those who've been doing great deeds to me and people around me.

First of all, of course the family.
Parents had been working very hard lately as many things were going on, but I can see that they're quite happy to see the family is finally reunited again as a whole, albeit a new member has been introduced.

Of course the next will be eldest sis Lynn and the brother-in-law Shaan! Am glad that I'm able to help out as much as I can here and there, tiny little bits. In return, am grateful for the iTunes store allowance too! :)

2nd sis Liesl, just a week she's been with us but funnily still managed to tease her like what we used to do. She still owe me a meal heh.

The rest, fellow relatives from many sides that also helped us for the big day wedding, and not to mention helped us to solve transportation problem by lending us car.

Then, some of my friends whom I managed to catch up with. Initially I thought of making a gathering again but timing isn't that right hmm.....

Thanks to the bunch of mates namely KY, Danny and Tuan Kee for the lift to Gerard's place. It's been years since I last saw him hah.

Thanks for Michelle and Emily for hanging out and exploring near Puchong and LUCT!

Of course, not forgetting Yun which make things even sweeter. ^^

There's definitely a long list of people to be thankful for. As far as I can recalled, thank you all from the bottom of my heart. :)

Good thing is that at the moment I'm feeling rather calm, at ease.... I guess I don't have the time to "emo" as once I'm back in Japan, gonna settle my university's new semester and back in class on Thursday, pretty rush huh!

Now I'm actually thinking how am I going to spend the 7 hours flight huh.... Since it's a daytime flight it's unlikely that I can fall asleep soundly. I have iOS devices to play with but have to conserve the battery too. Books, luckily I've prepared 2 hopefully enough to kept me entertained.

I just hope that, tonight I'm able to sleep well hah. ^^

I think that's all for now, from Malaysia. Next post, likely will be written from Japan. 'til then people, take care and see you all again maybe this summer, or next year? :)

I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing

2011-03-24T01:09:00.000+09:00

Does the title sounds familiar? Quoted from Aerosmith's most popular track to date. Yes, this is what I'm thinking at the moment, don't wanna miss any single thing, any single moment in Malaysia.

Eventually the 2 month's break will come to an end soon and gonna get myself back to Japan for good. Even though the current situation may not be stable yet, but the university decided to get things go on according to the schedule, as I heard Saitama's side wasn't damaged or so, but the looming radiation contamination risk is something even scarier because you can't really sense it until you've succumbed to it.

Limited knowledge I have regarding radiation but one thing is sure, that the effect of it will remain for quite some time. Currently it's the most gripping news happening around Japan after the tsunami and earthquake disasters, at least that's what I gathered from multiple medias.

AirAsia is nice enough to provide flight changes for free under such circumstances and I'm likely to delay my flight back to Tokyo by a few days. Tentatively 5th of April, but if the university's side suddenly came out with change of date again, will reconsider the date again. Given my university's reputation, I doubt they will change again though.

Well it's not that I'm not looking forward to go back to Japan, a few factors here and there does somehow influenced me to decide which date to fly back. Anyway, I'll try to keep April 3rd free from any events but one particular. Like what I told my junior, do not speculate anything until it's confirmed heh.

OK now let's switch the channel to a merrier mode shall we?

Few weeks ago on the 13th of March the family had a wedding reception for th eldest sister.

The long-awaited family picture! :D

It's been awhile since the family can gather together, to celebrate a joyful event~ Talk about this cousins around the 25+ age are getting married within these few years huh.... so I guess years to come more and more cousins or perhaps siblings will be tying the red knot heh. So I wonder, when will it be my turn? :P

Anyway, I really appreciate and glad that the family is reunited once again, as after all we siblings spend most of our times abroad instead of at home in KL. I think this is good enough to declare my trip back home as a successful one.

Talk about this, it'll be more memorable if I can somehow spice things up a bit here and there. Looking forward for 2 particular days ahead. If these 2 days were successful, I can go back to Japan with a big smile on my face, devote myself to the recovering Japan with confidence!

Then again, it's because I don't wanna miss a thing! ;)

今思っていること

2011-03-19T04:04:00.000+09:00

帰国しばらく二ヶ月に経つんだが、まだ最後の二週間しか残らぬ。（；゜０゜）

誰も三月十一日に災難が起きたのを思わなかっただろう。東北地方で被害者皆様のことをとても悲痛だと思ってって、心より彼らのためにお祈りしておる。m(_ _)m

僕が今のところ、母国で無事に生きていることを非常に幸せだと思っておる。
もし今関東に居れば、キット家族や友人に心配を掛けさせるんだね。(´･_･`)

忘れずのは、ある人に「あなた、日本に戻らないで…」って言われたが、遅くても戻るはずだよな。
でもあの人が言い出したから、なんとか心を暖めてると感じる。(*^ ^*)

そして、大学の方からお知らせが来たが、災難で大学に影響はあまりないそうだ。
僕が活躍している川越市とふじみ野市では、節電の問題だけがあるらしい。
大学の近くに住んでいるから、交通のことあまり心配なく、自転車まだ走れればありがたいな。
ただ電車が動かないとどこへも行けないし。
戻った際、部屋のドアを開けると、何の様子が見えて来るか、多分バラバラになっちゃったもんだと思う。
帰る前に確かに「もし地震があったらどうなるだろうか」という考えがあったからな。ｱﾜ((ﾟﾟдﾟﾟ ))ﾜﾜ!!

なぜ「戻る」と「帰る」を繰り返し使っているのか。
「帰る」って、自分が安心できる・帰属のある所に行くから。
「戻る」って、なんか心が落ち着ける範囲じゃないという気がするから。

大学にこういう文を書いて送った：
「正直に言うと、私はまだ少し時間マレーシアに留まりたいと思います。状況を観察してから決めたいと思います。今の時期多くの方々は日本から出ていて、日本にいるマレーシア学生も帰国させられたそうです。確かに東京では皆は普通のように過ごしているとネットで見ましたが。」

実はあの人のために、まだ少し時間が欲しくて、一緒に過ごしたいな。
だって、次回いつ会えるのか、わからない。今年の夏休みか？また来年の春休みか？考えたくないんだ。

この２ヶ月間休みの最後、後悔しないように、最後の出会うチャンスをくれ！｡ﾟ(ﾟ´Д｀ﾟ)ﾟ｡

不希望这两个月的假期最后留下遗憾。因为下一次到底是几时呢？暑假？还是明年春假？最后的机会....

After this 2 months' holiday, I don't want to leave with any regrets. Last chance, please....

ヽ(д｀ヽ)｡｡ｵﾛｵﾛ｡｡(ノ´д)ノ

Earthquake in Japan #PrayForJapan

2011-03-11T22:58:00.000+09:00

It's shocking to learn that an earthquake measured more than 8.0 magnitude struck north-eastern Japan hours ago. Watching the video of how the tsunami struck one of the worst affected region is horrifying.

I'm very, very glad that at the moment I'm not in Japan, as I'm still in Malaysia enjoying my rather peaceful holiday. I couldn't imagine what will it be if I'm at Japan at the moment. Anyway I'm kinda worried how my room back in Saitama turn out to be..... Perhaps mess is what will "greet" me when I'm back there in April huh...

Although the earthquake struck north-eastern Japan, damage accounts are reported through out the Kanto region (Tokyo) too. According to news reports, all train services are halted until tomorrow morning, as currently the aftershocks still occur.

Japan is known as a country frequently bothered by earthquakes, but today's earthquake is considered severe even by the Japanese who're trained to face crisis like this.

So far more than 300 casualties have been reported, and the figures are likely to rise within these few days. Prayers goes to those who're affected. I'm kinda worried as I have some friends still in Japan at the moment, but judging from their Facebook updates they seems to be fine for now. It's amazing that while the phone lines are down, Internet is still available.

Well, is this enough to be classified as the 21st century Great Kanto Earthquake? Possibly....

地震や津波でお亡くなられた方々にお祈りしましょう。

Busy Weeks, for the good

2011-03-09T13:50:00.000+09:00

Hello folks, I'm officially back in Malaysia for about a month now, and another month to go before holiday ends for me heh.

Well for this 2 weeks, I've been, and will be busy preparing my sister's big day, as well as the plans to bring the in-laws do some visiting around KL. As you can see, the in-laws are from elsewhere so it's time to shower them with some Malaysian hospitality eh? :D

Nowadays would be running errands around the town, glad that friends and relatives are very supportive helping us as well. I find this errands-running quite fun as I can see parts of KL which I've never seen before. There are still alot of places in KL which I've yet to explore.

Putting that aside, last Sunday was my birthday. Very simple celebration I had. This time, instead of usual birthday cake, I've requested it to be replaced with chicken rice hah!

Eventually father bought a half chicken from our favourite stall at Kelana Jaya.
What a feast for birthday celebration lol!

Besides that, thanks everyone leaving wishes on Facebook, it's overwhelming 'til I can't reply 'em all at the moment. Anyway, thanks alot again~ :)

Shaan bought a box of Godiva for me heh!

Alright that's all for now.... shall update again when I'm free again. Cheers people! :)

Pictureless Update in KL

2011-03-01T02:36:00.001+09:00

Today wanna try a bit of tricks, try to write like how I did years back. Back then I used to blog almost daily without fail, until recently that this blog's role had slowly turn into a comprehensive, summary-like blog on things doing lately.

Well then, it's been 3 weeks back in Kuala Lumpur and I'm enjoying every single bits of it.
My agenda back here is eat, online, and sleep heh. Most friends would throw such comment like "rotting at home". Well yeah I've to admit it is, as after all I'm back for holiday!

Because of this, lately I also trying to monitor the weight without increasing too much. Tried to jog within the housing area but evening rain forced me to abandon the plan halfway. Perhaps tomorrow I shall continue again.

Talk about jogging, I actually don't jog frequently. I'd either burst into speed in short seconds or walk at a normal pace somehow. Although I'm kinda into sports but stamina isn't my strength. I do however, more interested in exploring places on long walks though. :)

2 more weeks to go to my sister's wedding reception in KL. It's gonna be busy and exciting at the same time. Naturally, I'll be playing a part and will be helping as much as I can. One of it would be co-driver fetching the in-laws to tour KL.

I'd love to meet more friends while I'm around, or perhaps visit some places around the country. So far plans have been made, so just a matter of time for execution. One of it might be a trip to Penang. :)

Oh yeah..... it's March already, which means my birthday is getting closer heh. Nothing much I wish for my birthday, just a peaceful life and things will go on smoothly for everyone. :)

I think that's it for now, a short post without pictures. Well hope things will work out well for everyone out there. Peace!

Spring Holiday in Malaysia [Part II]

2011-02-23T02:17:00.001+09:00

Been back in Malaysia for second week, so far did quite a lot of things, part of the highlights would be almost-non-stop feasting on glorious food thanks to Chinese New Year open houses.

As usual this will be image-intensive post, so please bear with me. :)

During the 15th day of Chinese New Year, went to Thean Hou Temple (天后宫) to celebrate the ending of a year's Chinese New Year celebration, which in Chinese we call it "元宵节".

It's been 2 years since my last visit here, for the same occasion as well.

Was lucky able to feast on some traditional Chinese Hainanese cuisine, especially the steam chicken that I like very much.

Absolutely love the red lanterns.

Panorama of the night. (larger view)

I think it was last Tuesday when a bunch of good mates came to my place and we hanged out together at One Utama. First time there and was in awe with the build-up area of it, simply one of the largest shopping malls I've ever visited!
Any Japanese coming here would be shocked of the scale of the shopping mall as well I presume. :P

Lunch was at Italiannies. The fried cod fish wasn't that bad, but for guys the portion is definitely not enough hah.

Later we crashed in Gerard's house at Damansara. Heard he had quite serious accident just a week before and surprised to see him with just a bit scratches considering the entire car was totaled.

Still yet to meet with some other friends. Thinking of having gathering somewhere, will look into it....

Yamcha with Jason while handing over his orders of Starbucks tumblers. Thanks for the treat at Old Town!

Dim sum dinner at a popular restaurant at Puchong.

Strictly non-hahal. Roast pork and char siew!

Fat Rabbit.

Dined at this Di Wei restaurant.

This could be the ride of your life for just RM 12! Empire Gallery Subang Jaya.

Revisiting the old house at Wangsa Melawati. Now it's barely recognisable.

Can't believe this was the living room I'm so used to, had been extended beyond the study room!

Even the rear has been utilized close to the maximum limit. The upper-right window was where I've been sleeping for the past 20 years. :3

Finally.... after getting Starbucks tumblers for others, I've got this for myself.
Many said the design is too dull. I've to agree but well, it's not that I plan to use it in KL. :P

Valentine's Day VS Malaysia Politics

2011-02-19T03:20:00.001+09:00

If you're a fellow Malaysian, I believe that you should've heard of the recent media reports on certain party condemning the celebration of Valentine's Day which eventually made it to BBC News' Top 10 list. How "proud" we Malaysians can be, once again making the headlines on the international scene.
[link]

Can't help but find it not amusing the fact that they made such remarks without really going through the details about the celebration. The name does sound like a figure from another believe, but ultimately, modern times celebration of Valentine's day is indeed based on a religion, that is MONEY.

Isn't it obvious that Valentine's day celebration is carried out as a commercial gimmick to encourage people to spend money and time on their love ones? Inevitably, so-called inducing vice activities might occur at some places, as people getting hanky panky but I don't see the point condemning the practise on that particular day whereas it can be carried out anytime 365 days a year.

Lame attempt trying to accuse the others for the responsibility that themselves should have bear, especially educating people to take responsibility of their own action instead of putting the blame on the others. Blaming others is one of the trait of Malaysian, apparently.

Well, that's just one of the many problems happening now in Malaysia.

Ignorance on religious knowledge and understanding, I find it disturbing. As much as most of us tried to live peacefully in this country, some people have too much of free time trying to figure out ways to disturb the harmony.

It seems that there're some backstage parties trying to manipulate things supporting the argument. I've no ill feeling but respect to each religions in the country, but certainly not towards those who didn't do their homework well to understand not just themselves but others as well.
People's interpretation on religion may not be accurate nor correct, all the time.

It's an open secret that most Malaysians are aware of, just that we aren't allowed to speak publicly about it without the threats and wraths from the trouble-maker parties. To make things worse, those parties seem to be immune from judiciary judgement, to the people's dismay.

Try to imagine being insulted and abused by others, but multiply the scale close to the entire nation. As what I believe, that those trouble-make parties consist of minority of the general population but unfortunately they're also the minorities that hold most power for the time being.

Well it's just a matter of time when the people speaks. We have already demonstrated it in year 2008 and judging from the current trend, future looks bleak for the "minorities". But of course, they won't bow to their defeat without causing further havocs in this beloved nation.

There are a lot of great talents and professionals among Malaysians, but many chose to "leave" Malaysia instead of "live" here in Malaysia. Why is this outflowing happening? Obviously, we aren't treated fairly and the grass look greener on the other side. Many countries utilized Malaysians to achieve success and further developing the country into a stronger nation. It's a real waste of talent.

I still love the country, but the country may think differently. Malaysia is a great country, minus the politics.
And yes, I'm fully aware that this entire post is political-motivated, just like some Malaysians love to turn petty matters into political issue, pouring oil on the spark.
I'm also aware that the content of this post may share similarities with other Malaysians out there. Maybe there's no sense of "freshness" but the volume of the point speaks for itself.

I do have to admit that the stereotype and racism issue in Malaysia has deeply spread it's root inside the Malaysian society and surely it ain't easy task to de-root it.

There're still some stories to be written but to conclude things for now, the ending of this post would be written in Malay....

Untuk negara Malaysia menjadi sebuah negara yang maju dan disanjungi dunia, bukan saja usaha satu parti, tetapi usaha semua rakyat Malaysia untuk meraikan, membanggakan negara yang tersayang.
Persefahaman antara rakyat Malaysia adalah sangat penting, bukanlah sekadar kutuk-mengutuk orang lain tanpa memberi pandangan atau tindakan yang sewajarnya.
Kalau kita boleh ketepikan prasangka dan masalah dahulu, bolehlah kita mencatat sejarah Malaysia yang gemilang, bersatu ke alaf yang baru.

Sebagai anak Malaysia, saya masih mementingkan Bahasa Malaysia setakat mampu berbahasa dan menulis, tidaklah saya melupakan bahasa ini walaupun sepanjang tahun berada di luar negeri.
Malaysia tetap negara yang saya sayangi. Inginku tinggal kat tanah air dengan orang yang tersayang, semacam kehendak kebanyakan warga Malaysia.

Spring Holiday in Malaysia [Part I]

2011-02-15T01:34:00.001+09:00

A little review on things that I've done so far, a week since I landed home sweet home Malaysia~

Great timing that I've managed to came back to Kuala Lumpur just a few days before the cold stream struck Tokyo, it was snowing crazily there. Am glad that I don't need to suffer the close-to-zero degree 'C temperature while sipping a chilled can drink to cool off the heat in KL heh.

So far the biggest agenda is EAT, literally. Had been eating almost non-stop for the whole week as my sis' back in town so would love to be more adventurous when it comes to food.

Lunch at home. Chicken marinated with Coke! 可乐鸡.

Roast pork at a Chinese New Year open house. Yummy~~

First time trying Pappa John's pizza. Surprisingly it's good! Love the pickled Jalapeno pepper!

Dinner at Pappa Rich. Was a great round of dinner as every dishes turn out to be quite good.
This Hainanese Chicken Rice aren't that shabby too.

Bento lunch at FGS Dong Zen Temple. Looks similar to Japanese cuisine but it's cooked ala Malaysian style. Best vegetarian food!

Then, some places that I've visited so far....

Chinese New Year open house where I had the roast pork above. Rich man's house huh...

As usual, yearly visit to FGS Dong Zen Temple (东禅寺) at Jenjarom, Selangor. This year's theme is Rabbit!

While on the way to Putrajaya via Dengkil route we managed to stumbled upon Paya Indah Wetlands. It's huge and would love to spend some time here one day!

It's been some time since I last visit Putrajaya.
The Prime Minister's office complex.

Putrajaya mosque.

Haven't been to too many places yet, but more to come I guess. And yes, this mean I'll be eating even more too muahahahah!!

Random takes on life....

Home Sweet Home~ <3

Angpow for Chinese New Year! :D :D :D

Currently re-reading Harry Potter 7 again. Haven't watch the movie though.

Who is this uncle?

Peaceful neighbourhood.

New ride at home! Nissan Sylphy. Kinda nice to drive, sort of "lighter" than previous Proton Perdana and much quieter.

Hand-made chocolate received from someone. Simply meltz into the heart~ ^^

Last pic, this is where I'm writing this post. :)

Homecoming Feb 2011

2011-02-09T01:58:00.000+09:00

Hello again, I'm back in Malaysia again yeah!! Thankfully came back with everything in one piece heh.

This time instead of flying from Narita airport, I flew from Haneda airport which is much closer to Tokyo. Briefly speaking, Haneda Airport (羽田空港) usually serve Japan's domestic flight and limited international flight (mostly to China, Korea or Taiwan). In order to ease off the busiest Narita airport's burden, they decided to build a new international flight terminal at Haneda airport.

The terminal has just opened since last October so it's very new.

One of the attractions of the airport is the ancient Japanese theme shoplets called Edo Koji (江戸小路). Mostly shops are selling souvenirs, as expected from an airport.

Open air observatory deck.

Web check-in is pretty convenient to skip the long check-in queue.

This was also my first time on board Air Asia X, is proud that Malaysia have 2 reliable world class airlines to ferry people around the world.
Glad that this time I'm not traveling alone. Travel mate of the day is Jian Shan, whom we studied at the same Japanese language school before heading to respective universities.

Pre-booked the in-flight meal. Teriyaki chicken rice. Not much comment but at least the chicken doesn't taste that bad.

Not enough with the small portion meal, ordered this Maggi cup noodle for RM 6 lol.
在几千米的上空吃杯面的感觉很幸福。 :P

My initial impression of Air Asia X is....
The airplane captain to cabin crews are great advertiser and promoter.
Besides, the staffs' service is many times better than Air China.

How can I describe this time's homecoming, rather calm as what my travel mate said. Not that rush, not that "high" compared to last year's journey.

So-called going back to celebrate CNY, but the most passionate first few days were over. Anyhow, it's still a good thing to catch up with family relatives and friends again. Always appreciate the chances to meet them again because I'm only back in town for a limited time.

Well then, allow me to spend some quality time with family and friends back here, for I'm not sure if I'll be back this summer though.

Happy Chinese New Year to all although it's slightly late now heh.

Final Sushi

2011-02-04T23:56:00.000+09:00

One of the thing I enjoyed the most while my stay in Japan would be SUSHI.
Yea yea.... no need to explain what's the WOW factor about raw seafood slap on top of vinegared rice....
Today's meal was probably the last sushi meal I had before heading back to Malaysia this Sunday.

Shop of the choice would be Choushimaru (銚子丸) located less than 500m from my place, heaven.
I'm very lucky that I can enjoy good sushi without traveling far away heh.

Last month's sushi set. They call it 劇団セット (troupe set).

Service in the restaurant is great, since I've almost become a regular there lol. Decided to get there earlier around 5pm to avoid the crowd.
Since I was the only one just now, I dare to ask for specific request on how my sushi is to be prepared.

3 ways to enhance the sushi-experience.

Exhibit #1. This is Madai (真鯛, red seabream snapper), one of the top class fishes in sushi ranking.
One is coated with "snapper soy sauce" (鯛醤油) and another one was left coated with nothing.
Verdict, the one with the special sauce tasted better than the one dip in normal soy sauce.

New discovery!

After the initial start off, I'm pretty convinced with the new eating style so next plate, I ordered my favourite Hotate (帆立, scallop)

Exhibit #2. I requested it to be torched and apply some salt seasoning (炙りと昆布塩).
Turns out that it's enjoyable even without soy sauce. Still juicy despite being grilled for awhile.

To make sure my stomach won't complain hours later the meal, ordered this month's set.

Exhibit #3 is something I kinda enjoy casually, though this is the first time I eat it in this way.
This is Salmon torched ala Saikyo style (サーモンの西京炙り).
Instead of being grilled with cheese, it's grilled with some creamy sauce resembles miso paste. I like the rich flavour of it overall.

Was very happy experimenting different eating combinations and eventually ordered Exhibit #4 and #5.

This is Engawa (えんがわ, chewy part of flatfish). Usually I'll had it Saikyo style but this time I requested one being dip with the "special sauce" mentioned above and another one with pinch of seasoning salt.
I'd say.... both are enjoyable with the different tastes accompanying the fish since itself is kinda bland.

Next one was Mongo Ika (紋甲イカ, squid).
Perhaps it's the characteristic of this particular species of squid, it's much rubbery to chew thus the "special sauce" may not work that well this time. However the salted one was good though.

I thought I'm done for it, so decided to order this pudding (pronounced as "purin" in Japan).
It's very normal to finish a meal with dessert, no?
Friends of mine may noticed I seldom take stuffs like his but occasionally I do.

Just when I wanna flag down the waitress for the bill, this Shimasoi (しまそい, Striped Bass) was being served. Haven't tried it before so decide to make it my last plate of the night.
Texture-wise, abit firm but it was chewy.

So there goes my last sushi meal in Japan. I might not miss it though, because back in Malaysia there'll be lots of delicious food waiting to be devoured!

'til then. それじゃ！

The 2nd Semester

2011-02-01T02:01:00.000+09:00

So here am I again, doing the bi-annual summary of university semester. As the title suggested, this is the 2nd semester (aka Autumn sem, 秋学期) for university's 1st year.

It's interesting to see how things had developed to this stage, as some of the subjects are tied up with those I took in Spring sem.

University's plaza.

Compared to the 1st sem, the 2nd sem isn't that packed and busy. It's kinda surprising that making 1 subject lesser can make the entire time-table so loose-up! All thanks to my effort completing maximum credits during 1st sem heh.

And to make things even better, many of the subjects I took in this sem doesn't have final exam so even though January is said to be the busiest month but I'm still kinda relaxed and even have time for my own plans too lol.

New semester means encounter with unfamiliar lecturers. Safe to say that this round I hold high regards to the lecturers. One who's expert in career planning; One who's into multimedia with vast knowledge in digital music; One who's been working in recording field for decades and he even worked with Kitaro before(!!).

Mac Mini + keyboard console in one of the classes.

At the same time, there're a few lecturers who'd taught me in the 1st sem. I only realised that one of the lecturer I hold highest regards is actually the dean of the faculty! His charisma is great enough to contain the entire class and focus on his lecture. He has my full respect. Period. And besides, there's no harm to gain trust from the dean of faculty eh? :)

Anyhow, as for the lecturer I condemned earlier, things seem to become worse in the 2nd sem. It's not just me but other classmates were frustrated with the lecturer as well. Basically I learn pretty much nothing for the entire year.
Japanese language is such an important subject to us (foreign students) and yet the university filled such personality for the job. Speechless. I bet there're a lot of better Japanese teachers out there that can teach way better than him.

You may catch a glimpse of my comments in this lecturer's evaluation paper sheet.
The longer I wrote, the worse it is lol.

OK end of my rants on the particular lecturer. I've got unofficial confirmation that we'll be having a new lecturer in the new semester. Pray that the words are true.

Overall, I had an enjoyable semester to be honest. Just hope that the results are good enough to further aiding myself financially by some means. Am aiming for the Top 3 in the faculty. :P

Putting university's campus life aside, I'm much more happier compared to Spring lol. I guess moving out from the hostel was a good decision.
Although the current room rent is pretty cheap, it does come with a cost, that is cheap material used build the so-called "apartment". I dare to say that not a single brick is used at all lol, just plywoods.
I had some issues with the Korean guy living above me but thankfully it's all good for now. Can't stand the noise especially during late nights arghh....

Headphones used in one of the lessons.

May seems to be immature to complaining things like this, well I do it just for the sake of records. You know, tits and bits of life that you can look back years later and replay the memories of the time.

Will be back in KL in less than a week's time. Funnily not as excited as previously, perhaps it's just been 5 months since I last went back. Anyway to be able to go back celebrate CNY again is definitely a great experience eh. :)

This time will be staying back there for almost 2 months (maximise my holiday!). But then, I'm doubtful that I might be returning during summer's break. Hmm....

To end the post, need not to introduce the food that I love here.

Mid January 2011

2011-01-17T13:48:00.002+09:00

Lately time seems to pass pretty fast eh, just less than a month to go and I'll be back in KL....
But funnily this time I don't feel like going back just yet lol, homesick hasn't struck lol. Maybe is because the interval since previous homecoming was just a mere 5 months.

I guess when one's busy, the time will seems to move faster while the pace is actually fixed all around eh. Then again, "Theory of Relativity" kicks in.

January.... could say busiest month of all, but for some reason this Autumn semester doesn't seems to be as busy as July, during the Spring semester. I guess there must be the combination of classes and subjects I took for this term, slightly more relaxing yeah....

Lesser final exams and in return, a few more reports and assignments.... but I don't really mind it since we're given ample time to finish it off.

Now that we've roughly know the exam time-table, good thing is that last exam, which is programming falls on the last day of January, which means from Feb onwards it'll be HOLIDAY!!! :D

My flight is scheduled on the night of 6th Feb, reaching KL the next morning. This time will be staying a little longer than previous summer holiday, close to 2 months!! Well at least I can "enjoy" the hot air of Malaysia while Japan's still kinda cold. *sneezes*

A few pics to fill up the spaces.....

Wasn't feeling well few weeks ago, coughing quite badly so putting on the mask. It has been more than a year since I last put on mask again here in Japan lol. Thankfully I'm almost OK now!

Went to the Embassy of Malaysia in Tokyo for the first time.... Reason is to attend MSAJ's annual general meeting.

Malaysian-style bento! The ayam masak merah is spicy enough!

OK so here's something a little bit extreme.
The other day went to have sushi with my friend, and decided to order this rather exotic item on the menu, the Shirako.
Shirako (白子) is actually cod fish's sperm, considered a delicacy in Japanese cuisine.

Video of me eating it.... and the verdict lol.

Well, it taste like mayonnaise and although tasted nothing foul, it's unlikely for me to order it again next time lol.

So yeah..... that's all for now. Programming class later!! ;)

P/S: this is post #2000 on this blog!!

Winter Holiday

2011-01-07T22:51:00.000+09:00

Today's the last day of almost 2 weeks of winter holiday. Let's summarize abit what I've done....

23 Dec: Malaysia Night 2010

As per advertised earlier, it's the first event that I ran into on the winter holiday.

I was sort of enthusiastic into it as this is my first time to get involved in the audio & visual department.

The location: Sumida Sangyo Kaikan at Kinshicho (錦糸町にあるすみだ産業会館).

It is quite close to the under construction Tokyo Sky Tree, taller than the last time I saw it.

The workstation. My job is to regulate music playback and presentations during the night.

Fellow ex-schoolmates of the Japanese language school, Ming Han & Chava.

Guests enjoying Malaysian style chicken rice. Too bad I had none that night.

It was my first experience and to be honest, there're still a lot of things to learn about managing such event from now onwards! Many thanks to the fellow committee members who helped each others to bring the event together, especially my mate Omar Shafiq!

24 Dec: Christmas eve dinner with friends

Just when I thought that I'll be "celebrating" Christmas eve alone, a friend asked me to join 'em for dinner at Nishi-Kasai (西葛西) .

Mmm..... it's been awhile since I had such delicious homemade meal!

The Taiwanese chef Yusheng and fellow countryman Jian Shan.

A few drinks while playing poker cards. Me having mango lassi while they're having cassis orange.

Spent a night at their place and went back on the next morning.
Simple breakfast at Doutor, cheese toast and tiramisu latte.

My Christmas "gifts"....
Discount coupons from my favourite sushi shop lol.

Stickers from HootSuite!

26 Dec: Exploring Ikebukuro

Somehow I got the leisure of walking down Ikebukuro (池袋) after attended a function briefly at nearby Itabashi. Ikebukuro is the closest Tokyo city from my place but I haven't really managed to explore it thoroughly as it's kinda huge.

Ikebukuro station hosts a few train lines, but it's not as complicated as Shinjuku station.

JR Narita Express NEX resting on the track.

To know what's this tall tower about, read here.

I ended up spending most of my time in the Amlux Toyota showroom.
Driving Lexus LFA on Gran Turismo 5 in 3D!!

The new Toyota Vitz (or Yaris in various countries).

Too bad my favourite Toyota Majesta wasn't on display on that day but was given the catalog of it. Very grand I must say.

It's not just Majesta, I've also completed the collection of Crown series' catalogs as well! Royal Saloon, Athlete and Hybrid.

27 Dec: Exploring Minami-Furuya

Eventhough it's holiday I've not forgotten my usual leisure of exploring on bicycle during free times. This time I've headed to Minami-Furuya (南古谷). It is a station away from Kawagoe (川越) heading towards Omiya (大宮).

Railroads.

JR Saikyo line train (埼京線) heading towards Kawagoe.

Total distance covered for the day was 20km, as recorded on RunKeeper.

28 Dec: Meet Ken Lee at Shimo-Kitazawa

Actually there was a classmate gathering planned on the day, but due to low attendance we have to called it off.
Upon contacting Ken Lee, we met up at Shimo-Kitazawa (下北沢).

It was my 2nd visit to Shimo-Kitazawa, a bustling township filled with streets of shoplets.

Our late lunch was having ramen at Ichiran (一蘭).
If you know me well, I prefer tsukemen to ramen but for this one the soup is so nice that I managed to finish off the entire bowl with nothing left lol.

We then explored a few shops here and there, quite a lot of interesting shops around. Lots of restaurants and I noticed quite some foreign cuisines here as well. It's really a shopping heaven here too!

The feel of walking down the streets of Shimo-Kitazawa is very different than walking in Shinjuku or Shibuya, although still crowded but at least here people are walking at a more relaxed, slower pace, no rushing.
Would say this is my new favourite spot in Tokyo heh.

29 Dec: Tsikuji & Ginza with Chava

OK this trip was rather spontaneous as we turn a few comments on Facebook into a real trip down to Tsukiji (築地). Chava haven't been to Tsukiji before and I'm carving for sushi, so why not go explore there together?

Everyone's busy for year-end shopping preparing for the New Year.

Those in Malaysia may be familiar with the Japanese restaurant "Sushi Zanmai". But it's totally different story what's inside the restaurant though.

We eventually dined at a quieter shop as we're hungry and don't feel like queuing up to enter the shop. Our decision was a bright one.

This set of sushi usually cost 3500 yen but we managed to have it at 2500 yen. Not to mention, top notch ingredients used!

Worthwhile mention, the shop that we dined at. Tsukijiya.

Tempting sushi menu... The price isn't that expensive for once in awhile indulgence.

First time visiting shop like this L'Occitane. In normal circumstances I would never enter it but when having a lady around, so why not?

Landmark of Ginza, the Wako clocktower. Also one of my favourite spots in Tokyo.

Golden hair playing PvZ on iPad, Apple store Ginza.

Forever 21 seems classier after changing their logo to XXI Forever.

Adidas' lucky bag for the new year. Very tempting but it wasn't on sale during that day.

As we walked, we were getting hungry again. Since we had Japanese lunch, decided to have something Western. Someone's carving for pizza so a little Google search suggested this restaurant, Vino Vita.

Fellow gourmet, Ms Chava. We were hungry so we attacked any food that's in front of us hah.

Pizza made from 4 different cheeses.

Her mushroom pasta and my crab pasta.

This outing was really enjoying as we have similar interest and communicate on the same frequency hah.

1 Jan: Explore Miyoshi

It's new year's day!!! Hello 2011!!
Decided to take my usual stroll checking out what the Japanese are doing during new year's day.

It's their virtue to visit local temple/shrine during the new year, to wish for a good year ahead.

Hatsumoude (初詣) is the term used for first visit to shrine/temple in the new year.

Lunch was this zaru soba and seafood rice set which cost less than 1000 yen!

Actually I've cycled to quite far away that day, but didn't took much pics. Cycled all the way to Miyoshi (三芳町), another neighbouring township with a rather huge Unicus shopping mall and some nice houses.

RunKeeper activity, 22.24km clocked.

3 Jan: Dinner at Omiya with Komatsu

I had the honour to meet up with Komatsu at Omiya on Monday, been eager to catch up with each other and have a drink or two.
While we wonder around Omiya looking for food, came across this Thai restaurant slightly hidden from the main street.
We're confident with Thai food's quality, and what's more eating spicy Siamese food during winter sounds like a good idea heh.

It was a home-style restaurant, at first we don't really have any idea what to order but one wouldn't go wrong with tomyam when eating Thai food.

One of the surprise of the night was this shrimp dish. It's raw but it was marinated with chili spices so makes the taste very unique. Imagine eating a shrimp sashimi loaded with Thai's fine chili.

The outcome, satisfied meal albeit it's the spiciest, hottest meal I ever had in Japan. Instead of tuning the spiciness level to suit the Japanese's tastebud, this restaurant does wonderful job of bringing authentic Siamese taste attacking the tastebud.

There was this guest who came earlier than us, we had a brief chat and kinda clicked on together. After the Thai food we headed out for 2nd round at an izakaya.

Chit-chat a little and drinking ala the Japanese style. Of course Japanese style, as the other guests of the night were Japanese as well lol!
So the normal beers, and a few stuffs to go down together with the alcohol.

Not really a beefy person, this was the first time I had beef sashimi!! Normally one would dip the meat into a boiling broth but we just ate it with soy sauce. It was good!! さすが和牛だな！

-------------------------------------

That was the last day of outing for the winter's holiday. I actually had a list of places to go during the holiday but only managed to fulfill one of it, which was the Tsukiji trip.
Now thinking back.... if I were at Tokyo, I might be going to more places though.

So this week back to university, it's gonna be a busy month to go! Then when February arrives, it'll be holiday again weee~~~ :D

Looking Back at 2010

2011-01-02T04:40:00.000+09:00

Finally I have my own sweet time to jot down what I've been through in 2010....

As I was granted university's entrance permission, done with the 2 major Japanese language exams (EJU & JLPT), January & February was sort of a free months. It was the last moments where I can enjoy care-freely with friends around me.

At Asakusa's Nakamise Dori. 22 Feb.

My birthday celebration with close friends, 5th March.

I left Tokyo in March, where I moved to Saitama to further my study in university.

The day I left Tokyo. 9 March.

I'd say year 2010 to me started in March/April instead of January.
April is spring, the season where school season starts alongside blooming Sakura flowers. The beginning of another new chapter in my life, university life.

To some extent, it was a mental torture for me initially, being in the transaction of rebuilding my social life around the new environment. To separate with bunch of close friends and live by oneself is harder than I initially expected, though it's not unforeseen.
But anyway, am glad that right now I can look back and say the worst is finally over. Phew!!

Summer of 2010 (Aug~Sept) was probably one of the better times I supposed, having summer holiday break as long for slightly longer than 1.5 months.
Went back to Malaysia after my last visit home Aug last year. This time, many things had changed.

Most importantly, that now we've moved to a new place. It's kinda sad when we visited the old house, now no longer our property. While cleaning up my stuffs collected since all these years, can't help but to felt nostalgic over tiny details on the cards, toys and photos (yeah I admit, I'm nostalgic person).

It's important to remind myself that I've to make peace with my past, so that it won't hinder me to move forward to the future.

At least I've managed to compensate myself back in KL. Back to somewhere you're familiar, surrounded with people you're close with does make help you to "recover" faster. Managed to went to quite a few places, wallop good foods, as well as reconnect with some old friends. Although we have social networks nowadays, but nothing beats the usual way of having a drink together and talk like there's no tomorrow heh.

Gathering at my home. 11 Sept.

Came back to Japan in mid-Sept. Made an important decision of the year, that is to move out from the hostel to a new room. Felt that in long term, staying out by myself would be more viable than confining in the hostel for the entire 4 years of university life. I've no complains over the hostel's facilities, staffs are friendly, just that distance and financial factor influenced my decision.

October was the month I'm busy moving stuffs over to the new place. Am lucky that I've managed to secure the room unit with quite cheap rental. But the only downside is that the Korean guy staying above me made quite some noise during late night which disturbed my sleep initially. I guess I'll get used to it soon.... Can't be helped, the construction materials used weren't the best considering the rent's cheap.

The new room unit.

Talk about university, academically I'm doing pretty well so far. Just hope that with the result I can manage to secure a scholarship when I enter 2nd year.
As for friends.... I did made a few of 'em, but not really that close, not even the few fellow Malaysians students whom we're studying together right now. The chemical bonding just isn't good enough I guess.

I noticed why I'm so active into MSAJ, is perhaps that I wanna get surrounded with bunch of Malaysians that we can work things off together. Besides the events held were pretty interesting and engaging. MSAJ really helped to paint my year 2010 with more colours.

At Pn Siti's Hari Raya open house. 3 Oct

Anyway, am glad that year 2010 is finally over!!

-----------------------------------

So that puts fullstop on year 2010. So what's my objectives for 2011?

Secure financial stability (by means of getting scholarship or working)

Learn skills and knowledge that can be useful for me in the future.

Say goodbye to lonely life! (by means of getting more friend or....?)

Be mentally-stable and stronger than ever.

Just a few simple wishes here heh..... Hope that it's not just me, but you readers will have a wonderful year 2011 too!!

Currently am looking forward going back to celebrate Chinese New Year in KL in almost a month's time! :D

Malaysian Night: Rediscover Malaysia

2010-12-16T19:09:00.000+09:00

Cross-blog from Ben's original post

MSAJ Kanto is proud to present the final event of the year 2010!!!

Bringing you through the colourful Malaysian cultures in this Land of Rising Sun.

** Stage performances, featuring Malaysian dances **

** Fashion show **

** Games and treasure hunt, of course prizes to be won! **

** Malaysian food! **

Entrance Fees
======================
Students (Member of MSAJ): 500 yen
Students (Non-Member) 700 yen
Non-students: 1000 yen
======================

Open to everyone, so please bring your friends along!

Take this chance to meet old and new friends!

And re-discover the beautiful cultures originally by Malaysian Students!!

Please reply to RSVP on Facebook or the Google Spreadsheet below to confirm your attendance.

Facebook Event

Google SpreadSheet

See you there!

----------------------------

Personal notes...
Re-discovering.
It's about closing both eyes and look deep inside.
See who we really are.
Who we really want to be.
Critics and comments, lay down and stay down.

P/S: I will be messing with audio and sound system during that night! ;)

Facebook VS Suicide

2010-12-14T14:30:00.000+09:00

Facebook VS Suicide

In case you haven't heard of the piece of disturbing news lately, here's a quick review:
"A young Malaysian had recently jumped off from an apartment after breaking up with his girlfriend of 4 months, not before leaving his final words on Facebook before committing the final act. [link]"

Suicide is not an uncommon "practice" in Japan, and in fact Japan has one of the highest suicide rates in the world. It's actually a norm to hear announcements of train delays due to human accident, as jumping off the rail track seems to be one of the easiest & fastest way to commit suicide here in Japan.

Back to the Malaysian youngster's story, I have ZERO sympathy for his death, and in fact I would said he was, and is a fool.
Using past tense, as he's no longer alive; Using present tense, as what he had left in the world is an example of a fool's action.

Personally I believe that one is responsible for his/her life no matter what's the outcome and ultimately, taking your own (or other's) life is deem to be the ultimate fool's way of doing things, which I'm frown upon. I value life dearly. No matter how tough is the challenge, how impossible it seems to be, there must be a way of solving things out. Sometimes, it's just a matter of time, really.

This poor soul whom definitely lacked of EQ seems to had a heart made of glass I think. Once it's broken, it just shattered like that and can never be recovered it seems. A 4 months relationship is just an infant, and to see a couple breaking up, reunited together is not unseen before. I've witnessed stronger relationships of years broke up so yeah..... 4 months big deal huh?

Another thing I frown upon is how the Facebookrians (namely immature youngsters) actually saluted and "bestowed" the deceased with the title of "love saint". Blasphemy!!!
He died because he couldn't fix his mind and heart thus commit suicide, such an act of cowardice. If he's dead by the means of protecting his love ones however, he deserved to be celebrated then. But not when he committed suicide.

I know I may be harsh here, but I don't think that he deserve any condolences for whatsoever mess he had created. He seems to loved family, friends, and the ex-gf but apparently his action is totally opposite from what he's trying to achieve.
Worse, is that some other foolish souls out there might echo him and commit similar mistake again, which is something I'm sort of concern of.

Facebook is supposed to be a tool to communicate with living beings, not to leave your will and receive condolences. Whenever a "hit" news or info landed on Facebook, it can be spread easily and rapidly with just the click of [Share] button. This can be depressing as my Facebook homepage was spammed with his (undeserved) condolences.

Thereby, I urge friends out there stop sharing news or links related to such suicide cases, whether it's genuine or fabricated.

Suicide due to breakup is a foolish idea.
为情而自残，愚蠢的行为。
失恋により自殺することはとても愚かしい行動であると思います。

University's Autumn Trip

2010-12-08T00:47:00.003+09:00

Apologize for lack of regular updates as usual, as life seems to be slowing down with all the routines heh. So this is December, the last year of 2010. Oh boy I've lots of thoughts wanna share it out here, but let's start with the recent trip organised by the university....

尚美学園大学秋の社会見学
Date: 27 & 28 Nov 2010.
Location: Ibaraki (茨城県) and Tochigi (栃木県).
Organiser: Shobi University International Affairs Support (尚美学園大学国際交流センター)
Fees: JPY 4,000.

To put it in a nutshell, it's a 2D1N trip to visit various modern and traditional landmarks of Japan located at the north-eastern part of Kanto region, with the main agenda of staying at a hot spring hotel in Tochigi.

First stop of the day was Kirin Brewery located at Toride, Ibaraki (茨城県取手市).

Nothing much to say here as in the factory area photography is prohibited, and we were just briefly briefed about the factory's operation. Well, in most of our minds we're looking forward for the beer-tasting session heh.

Besides Kirin, the factory is also responsible for making Heineken beers (contract-bonded) too. Personally I would prefer the European to the Japanese though.

Later quick lunch at a hotel by the lakeside. Simple bento lunch but it was beautifully presented.
Taste-wise, I'd say this set would easily cost more than 1k yen lol.

Up next was the scientific city of Tsukuba. First stop was a science center.

Was expecting some Gundam-like figure but a bit disappointed heh.

However this cuddly baby seal is so cute and realistic and it's POSSIBLE TO PURCHASE IT.
..... with the pricetag of 350k yen (~MYR 13,500) LOL!

Just beside the science center is the Space Center JAXA.
Used to be a big fan of space when I was a kid but nowadays these shuttles look merely, plastic and aluminium foil to me.

As expected from the creativity of the Japanese, so-called "space food" as souvenir! How convenient!

I wonder how does beef curry taste like in the outer space.

Outside the exhibit hall there's this 1:1 scale rocket model (or is it the real deal?) overlooked by the JAXA HQ.

After JAXA, we took like 2 hours++ to travel to the final destination of the day, the hot spring hotel located at Yunishigawa (湯西川). Nothing much to do in the bus except for sleep and some quizzes.

The hotel was かめや平家の庄 (link). The traditional atmosphere was great! Words and the pic couldn't do justice for the place!

Something that I've been looking forward the most, DINNER!!
The dining hall, got the "feel".

Lots of great stuffs here.... We've quite some fishes, pickled stuffs, vege, tofu and various other fresh ingredients. It's safe to say that this is one of the best meals I ever had in Japan so far!! :)

After the hearty dinner, it's time for some hot spring!! But I didn't brought my camera along, the feeling of dipping into a 50'C hot spring when outside's close to 3'C.... what an experience hahah!! Carving for more hot spring from now onwards!! <3

Back to my room, too bad didn't took any pic of it. Slightly old-fashioned, but it's very comfy. Not to mention, the 29" flat screen LCD lol. Roommates were 2 Malaysians from the other campus, a Hong Kongnese, a mainland Chinese and a Sri Lankan. We get along quite well and joked quite a bit that night hah.
I slept quite well that night, all thanks to the earplug which helped to reduce the noise of snorings lol.

The next morning, looking outside the room. It's a shame that we came late Nov when all the leaves were fallen off. Heart this region the red leaves season is slightly earlier than the rest of Kanto region.

Went to morning shower and managed to dip in the outdoor hot spring which is quite another experience. Too bad due to the time constraint I wasn't able to enjoy it thoroughly, but will do so next time when I have the time. :)

Buffet style breakfast! Then again, quite a few unfamiliar stuffs but as daring as I'm usually is towards food, devoured everything hah.

So.... this was the hotel we stayed. Link can be found slightly above.

We continued the journey on the bus, towards Nikko (日光).
As you can see, the mountains are changing colours.

Somehow I kinda like this setting, hillside and running river.

Was at this pickled stuffs shop. Didn't bought anything as not really a big fan of pickled stuffs.
Tried one of their so-called "spiciest" pickle and I had a laugh. It doesn't qualified to be called "spicy" by Malaysian's standard heh.

This is how the Japanese used to boil their water. I find it pretty cool and wonder why it's only found in Japan huh...

Main attraction of the day is the Nikko Toshogu Temples (日光東照宮; link), a series of temples/shrines built almost 400 years ago.

It's a popular tourist spot, and the limited area doesn't help much either... crowded.

Nicely preserved shrine.

One of the attractions, the 3 wise monkeys who see no evil, speak no evil, and hear no evil.

The main one's up ahead.

The main entrance gate, Yomeimon (陽明門).

Towards this point.... I find it kinda meaningless to post further pics of the shrines. First is because didn't manage to get proper shots, and secondly at some parts photography is prohibited.

Toshogu is actually a nice place to explore minus the crowd..... but since it's such a heritage site, I doubt the crowds will get lesser.

Late autumn of Nikko.

The lunch was however, surprisingly, vegetarian. I find it hard to find proper vegetarian meal in Japan unless u DIY or goto those specific vegetarian restaurant (which I haven't encounter any so far). Main ingredients are beans, tofu, pickled stuffs. Surprisingly no proper green vege spotted. :\

OK, so the last destination of the whole trip falls to the Kegon waterfalls (華厳滝). So-called one of the most famous waterfalls in Japan.
Too bad the surrounding trees went bald too early.... so it wasn't as spectacular as it suppose to be.

Some pics of the waterfall during another season can be view here.

Last but not least, a pic of me and the waterfall.

Once we're done with the waterfall, it's time to head back to Saitama. While on the way back, I checked the Map to reveal the sharp hairpin corners the bus' taking.
Drifters would love this place I believe.

Final few words..... I think that overall the trip is not bad, but there're things that could be improved in the future. For JPY 4k, this trip was worthwhile as the meals we had itself can easily cost more than 4k yen lol. I believe the dinner itself would cost more than 2k yen!

Next time, once I get my international driving license, I might be driving there again to explore those places slowly, bit by bit~ :)

MSAJ Futsal 2010

2010-11-21T00:10:00.000+09:00

Ever since coming to Japan I've spent significantly lesser time on football as lack of practise ground and mates to train with. So far before this I only played proper football like once, almost half year back in Chiba.
And nowadays I've picked up other sports such as table tennis and cycling to replace football as my primary sports.
Because of this, skills are kinda rusty and the instinct of the game slowly fades as time passes.

To sort of test myself what's left in me, decided to join the MSAJ's sports festival futsal competition since it's held not that far from my place at Niiza (新座).
Was being asked whether wanna play but didn't really know who's in the team until the matchday.

We are Team D1, Joker.

Was surprised to see so many players when I arrived, but well football is a popular sports among Malaysians so yeah.

First match was against Petropan, another team with acquaintances. I've to admit I was the odd one in the team, can't really blend in well with the game-flow. Then again my not-so-well stamina doesn't help either. The scoreline was 2-1 against us. Jeremy of the other team scored twice and as consolation, Calvin helped to score for our team from the corner I delivered.

The other 2 teams in our group, Roti Bom and Tomidai.

2nd match, we're going against Tomidai, one of the top teams in our group. Then again, 2-1 for the result. I was the keeper and was to be blamed for the goals conceded. First was a shot from blind sight, while the 2nd was not a good save and let the ball rebound to the opponent player.
But anyhow, a long-range assist near the end helped to put the scoreline slightly respectable at 2-1.

Final match in the group, we faced the so-called weaker-team of our group. In fact, we've taken the lead by 2-0 at the first half, but in the 2nd half due to various shake-ups, the 2-0 lead was turn into 2-4 disaster. Well..... as the keeper I should've done better. :(

Years back I used to be a decent keeper but that was like secondary school level, still yet to conquer the phobia of getting hit by the ball.
Talk about the ball, I always have problem with futsal ball because it's not bouncy and tend to be harder than it's normal counterparts.

Although we're at the bottom of the table, we "advanced" into the next knock-out stage by playing against the losing teams from other groups.

Then again, similar story as above, 2-1 final score, just that I've managed to score a goal. :P

In the 4 matches we've played, as a consolation at least we aren't beaten that badly (except the 2-4) considering the other teams trained for quite some time while we're a team only know each others on the matchday heh. And at least, we didn't leave an egg on the scoresheet.

Then again, football is a tough game so abit of knocks here and bang there is kinda normal. I bet for the few days to come I'm gonna recover from the fatigue slowly huh....

Niiza seems to be a more developed city compared to Kawagoe and Fujimino.

皆さん、お疲れ様でした！

Cosmos Flower Power!

2010-11-16T01:15:00.000+09:00

2 weeks ago when I was on my routine "random exploration", I accidentally got lost and found a jewel of autumn! I'm still yet to find red leaves though.

Behold! The garden of Cosmos flowers!!

Cosmos flowers (Wiki) are also known as the "Autumn Sakura" (秋桜).
OK... time to feast the eyes....

Individuals

Live and Deadth. 生と死

3 siblings.

Groupies.

花の世界 World of Flowers

My personal favourite of all. :)

Humans who're lost in the flower world. 花の世界に迷った人間

--------------------------

The garden is actually a base for soba (buckwheat noodle) lovers. I'd love to try their zaru soba one day as I'm a fan of soba. :)

みよしそばの里 (Link)

View Larger Map

P/S: All the pictures were taken with Canon IXY 920 IS and iPhone 4.

P/SS: Would like to dedicate this post to 恶魔宝贝. ^^

上下関係

2010-11-10T00:55:00.001+09:00

Below is a post taken with approval from good mate Ben Foo, the current chairperson of Malaysian Students Association in Japan.

-----------------

上下関係

(Jouge Kankei, means "hierarchical relationship" in Japanese.)

Japanese is famous with it's "up and down" culture. It can be seen not only through actions but also in the honorific language in Japanese language, and so hierarchical relationship is a very important aspect in daily lives. Starting from young, Japanese has adopt this culture. It can be in many ways; according to age, according to academic background, timeline being in an organization etc, and it became more important when one goes into the society.

I think this jouge kankei thing is not a popular term among gaijin (foreigners), mainly because we do not have the culture of placing people up and down in a relationship. (Actually I would oppose the previous statement. Asians do actually have some aspect in honorific language). Even young Japanese today don't really take jouge kankei seriously (I think). I would say it's because of the influence from the West, where the society there looks more to the results, rather than the order.

Of course, some might say it's ridiculous to rank someone through age etc even if the person is showing a lower ability. Or some might say respect is to be earned through hard work, and not just by saying "yes sir!" to someone just because he is older.

I personally like and accept the jouge kankei culture, maybe because I've grew up in different organizations and I've experience the culture ever since I was young. In fact, I think most of my long term relationships are based on junior-senior basis. Communication and trust will be and can be achieved through this junior-senior relationship.

Approving or opposing, jouge kankei is a way of improving communication. Do you agree on jouge kankei?

[source]
-----------------------

A very mindful read indeed, as such jouge kankei exist from Japanese schools up to corporations. It's not hard to notice this is actually happening almost everywhere in Japan, if you're observant enough.

The most common terms used would be 先輩 (senpai, senior) and 後輩 (kouhai, junior).
For example, Ben's my senior so I would refer him as "Ben senpai" naturally.

Change the scenery back to Malaysia, I'd just call his name, without adding anything extra to the prefix or suffix. That's what I'm calling him now, but that doesn't mean that respect of him diminished.
For us Malaysians, we are not used to refer those who're few years elder than us as "senior", but more to peers, friends. In other words, we're all equal.

It was kinda awkward I felt when new batch of Malaysian students from the language school refer me as "senpai", I'm just not used to being called as "Fan-senpai" heh. One of the fact is because some of them are actually elder than me and it would be inappropriate I treat them as "juniors" right.

To me, respect to the elder, senior figure is beyond honorific reference. Respect through attitude & appreciation. I may not follow the way Japanese do things, but that doesn't mean that I'm being disrespectful. Until today, I've yet to encounter any difficulties dealing with jouge kankei in Japan.

Just another write-ups on micro-culture of Japan. It's not just all about otaku and Akihabara eh.... there're still many things to learn from Japan. :)

From Kawagoe to Fujiminoshi, Moved.

2010-11-01T01:14:00.000+09:00

川越市からふじみ野市まで引越ししました。

October has been a productive month, been occupied most of my weekends moving stuffs over the new place and occasionally down to Tokyo to attend some students meet-ups (MSAJ).

Need not to repeat what I've stated in the previous post, the prelude of moving out. But I've to admit that I left the hostel earlier than I expected, say at least until next Feb or March. At the same time, I felt relief moving out finally, to my total freedom. :)

It's actually a chance for me to learn and experience to do (mostly) all things by myself. Tried not to ask for help from others this time. I would however, glad to lend my hand to those who need it, namely the few Malaysian juniors that might be entering the same university too.
Soon, I'll be the one who entrust instead of being entrusted heh.

I moved into the room yesterday (Sat, 30rd Oct), the same day as typhoon no.14 (nicknamed Chaba) rages towards the Kanto region. Was expecting terrible weather but just rather normal drizzle and slightly windy. Was glad though.

The moving company I called was Akabo (赤帽), as introduced by my senior Cyrus. Now I learn that most moving companies charge according to the size of the truck and amount of items instead of distance. That explains why the 15 mins ride is just a few thousands yen cheaper than when I moved from Tokyo to Saitama (traveled almost 2.5 hours).

Grateful I am to the person who helped me to move stuffs. I requested for the extra service of helping me to carry some big items over from the 2nd hand shop. In the end bought a fridge and washing machine for 18k yen.

Rainy day wasn't the best condition to move things eh, when we're handling the washing machine our hands slipped because of the slippery surface. The washing machine took a knock on a side with some visible scars, but after test-run it works so I don't have any qualms over it. The guy did gave "discount" over the miscarriage which I initially reluctant.

In the end I paid 11k yen for his service. Another great example of superb Japanese service, definitely will recommend this guy if the juniors would be moving over.

Since this room comes without furnitures so I have to get my stuffs. Gotta thank Mr Sato, the previous hostel's manager for giving me the table which become my computing desk (where my laptop sits right now).

Buying furnitures can be costly but luckily not far from my univ there's this Super Viva Home mall which houses vast varieties of stuffs at a reasonable price. And not to mention, the nett 1k yen delivery charge to nearby addresses without number of items limit!

My loots, will show the full setup pic once they're delivered this coming Wednesday.
Total damage was 11k yen.

Still need some time to sort out all the stuffs, but so far things seem to be doing pretty well here. Will put up some pics of the room up here when I'm almost done!! ;)

November will only be the REAL beginning of my university life!! :D