I’ve always been a little nervous about buying cleaning supplies in Japan, because I’m not familiar with the brand names let alone the Japanese words for stuff. But, once again, 100 yen store Daiso to the rescue: they print their packaging in Japanese and English, so I was able to buy some “Orange Smell Grease Remover” and “Lemon Vinegar Bug Repellant” without having to stand in the cleaning aisle with my e-dictionary for half an hour. Better still, my kitchen is now degreased, bug-free, and smells like citrus. Thanks Daiso!

When I first moved to Japan, I chose to stay in a company-organised apartment. I didn’t really know much about the different areas of Tokyo, and assumed I’d be somewhere fairly central… I was out in Myoden, in Chiba. It was quite handy for a couple of days each week because my schools were out that way, but my main school is actually in the south-west of Tokyo. So, I stayed there for a few months while I got used to everything, but, the area wasn’t for me. It was so quiet! And it seemed so far away from everything that I’d moved here to experience.
In November last year, I moved to Oakhouse Kiba. I chose a guesthouse for several reasons:
The location! This place couldn’t be better. Easy to get to everywhere, and Kiba itself has lots of great restaurants etc.
The room – I’m a shopaholic, and as such I need a lot of storage space for everything! My room has 2 really big cupboards which is perfect.
The experience – I’d lived in a share house when I was at University, and it was a similar size and number of people. I’d had such a great time, and made so many friends there, that I wanted the same experience in Tokyo. I love that there is such a mix of people, from all different places, and with such different interests and jobs etc.

I’m glad I moved, and I would definitely recommend living in a guesthouse to anyone moving to Tokyo 🙂

I’m on a quest for miniature watermelons. I don’t know if they really exist, or if they’re a mythical beast that the woman at my hair salon made up. But she swears her grandmother gave her a tiny, palm-sized watermelon, and it was delicious.

Have you seen these unicorns of the fruit family? Are they really out there? They do sound cute, so if anyone was determined to engineer an itty bitty watermelon, it’d be Japan.

Hi everyone!
For my first Oakhouse blog, I thought I would submit a little introduction to me, and why I’m here in Tokyo.
My name’s Natasha, and I’m an English Language teacher. My hometown is a small town in Scotland called Elgin (near Loch Ness) and my other home is in Glasgow. My hobbies are reading, collecting books, vintage jewellery, and burlesque dancing!
I first visited Tokyo in November 2010 for 2 weeks, with my fiancé who was on tour here with his band (you can check them out on www.gormanband.com)
Although I was only here for a short while, I really fell in love with Tokyo! Such interesting and diverse culture, great food, and the people are respectful, friendly, and so helpful. On the plane home from that first adventure, I knew I had to come back!
I’d already booked to study my language teaching course in Scotland, and when I completed that I started to think about coming back… I arrived for my second time in June 2012, and it’s been an amazing year!
I’ll tell you more about some of my experiences next time!

Tokyo does a good job at summer. The city has fireworks festivals, cheap watermelon, and you can wear yukata to lots of fun outdoor events. It’s enough to distract me from the heat and humidity, even if I don’t forget. I bought my yukata years and years ago from Uniqlo, when they were still selling 4,000 yen yukata, but they’ve stopped, and it’s about time to update my wardrobe anyway, so I’m out shopping for a new one. I browsed the Matsuya department store the other day just for fun – but at 30,000 average for just the yukata (never mind the obi), maaaaybe not right now. Marui (the one whose sign looks like “0101”) has yukata as well, at a more reasonable but still pricey 15,000. The up side, however, is that they sell yukata with pre-tied obis! No more standing in front of the mirror for an hour trying to get it to look right. The clip-on of Japanese summer wear is here to save me.

Do you have a yukata for the summer season?

I know that Tokyo Station is huge. I know you can walk under most of the Marunouchi neighborhood, from Tokyo to Otemachi station, by weaving in and around the massive (but well-signed) labyrinth of the train station. I didn’t really know that there are other places in the city where you can do about the same thing. A little while ago, a careful balance of desperation (it was raining really hard) and cheapness (I am a student) drove me to decide I would walk from Tameikesanno Station to Kokkaijidomae station, rather than take the train from Tameikesanno and have to transfer. I walked into Tameikesanno, thinking I could at least escape the rain for a little while, and come out the exit nearest my actual station of choice. But, as I walked along, I saw a sign that said “Marunouchi Line – 750m.” Could it be… could I walk all the way through this station to get to a totally different station? I’d been deceived before, when a sign in Roppongi Station told me that the Chiyoda Line was this way, only to spit me up above ground and force me to navigate to Nogizaka on my own. But no! It was true! I really could walk almost a kilometer underground.

Thank you, extensive Tokyo underground. I made it home a lot less wet than I might have otherwise.

this is probably the first time i ever let a picture to be sooo big …

not the most delicious dessert i have ever had, but sure enough, i think the photo itself is 癒す。

every day, it seems there is not enough time, i like to stay late, however, i have an average normal daytime job to go to, and just won’t allow me to stay late due to my physical limitation.

just like yesterday, i accidentally got addicted to a korean scary movie, and i just suddenly become so wide awake and when it was finished, already past 2:30 …

and this morning, i missed the time that i should get up … and turns out, 3 hours late at work.

not that my work is straight enough to tell me to buzz off, but still, that is not … very nice.

and as i am writing this, now only 12 midnight, my head is already spinning.

today i finally went buy my 鉄 supplement, hope that is going to help me somehow.

i get tired WAY WAY WAY too easily.

something to do with my age, but geez men, how can i go on if i stay this way …

not that i like melon color, but i sure like this translucent feel!

btw, the dessert menu in Denny’s now has become MELON instead of MANGO, disappointing.

i really should have tried while the MANGO FEST was on. now already too late, have to wait for 1 year for it to appear i believe.

in japan, there are seasonal items, or limited items, you can challenge yourself for not getting it fast while it last, but i can tell you this, they DO go away and not ever come back.

a few weeks ago, in a shop i found a very good-looking white STAR きらきら shirt, but since i wanted to look more so i let go at that time, and guess what, of course, a couple weeks later, the WHOLE series were GONE ……….

no matter how many branches i went look, already GONE ……….

ちょっと苦しくてなんかもったいない感じ。。。

the album for the babies!!!!

super CUTE!!!!

以下のは、might not be the most beautiful picture ever, but it is my LOVE for my sibling’s babies …

my WHOLE luggage is this BROWN one and the other WHITE one, at first i only wanted to get this brown one cause it is SOOOOOO soft, but then i realize, there are 2 babies and it would be unfair, right? so i had to buy 2 …

below, is the characters that me and my brother used to love, called kerokerokeropi …

soooo cute!!!!

OMG, THIS blue car thing!!!!!!!!

it was also one of my favorites but nowadays is SOOOOO hard to see this, cause seems like SANRIO altered the version and CAR SERIES are no longer look like this!

however, 幸いのは、i found the one below, super CUTE for babies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

look, i DO realize those 2 babies are girls and we should get “pink” stuff, but the design and quality of the PINK ones just don’t really scream to me at all ….. and super CHESSY. ><

just because they are pink, does that mean we really have to buy them?

no right?

therefore, i got the blue one.

my trip back to the US, i also bought many other cute things for my “family” …

well, there goes part of them … btw, the following are just the cheaper ones …

my sis likes the white Relax Bear.

aren’t they cute ? ^^

there goes Relax Bear bandage! soooo cute.

this is not a good enough photo, the real one really is … very very good-looking … ><

there goes the other one, my goodness, sooooo beautiful >< !!!!

Actually it was not really something happening in June but it is some photos and stories that did not have a chance to mention until now, since I take photos almost every day, just never enough blog …

before i went  back to US to clean up my junk of decades, i had to buy lots of things for families, don’t know if they realize how expensive those things are, but … anyway, just like every other 10,000 things that i did over the past 15 years but never got appreciated … in anyway.

anyhow, and i had to buy a new purse for my sis, and seeing how beautiful they are … and at the same time, mine was also broken, so i could not help but also got one for myself. and mine is yellow instead of creamy color.

it is a very very good-looking one, about 4000yen, the most expensive i have EVER spent on purse.

anyway, and when the cashier asked me if it is a present, i said YES, despite the fact that it is just for me.

i told her, “it is a present to reward myself … i am not going to open it now, and i will when the time is right”

i got this in March, and until now still remained untouched.

because coincidentally, at work, i also received a BLUE purse for free, and it has been perfect ^^.

who would have thought i could have gotten something so great and fit like that ?

geez, look at those ONIONS!!!! my goodness i LOVE them!!!!

this is from the TOFU set of 松屋。

i wish they still sell this, it is one of the best dish i ever had in there.

and there is no rice and i can order just the 単品！！！

recently i tried to force myself to eat the 牛丼 everyday to keep myself full, or from spending extra money on unnecessary food at night … turns out, it only made my belly big … my WHOLE life i have never had a belly, now i do, thanks to the SUPER FATTY WHITE RICE of Japan …

もともとは、i already NOT a big fan of rice, now, i seriously had to quit it ONCE AND FOR ALL.

it made me SOOO super full and … worst of all, cannot digest at night, even though i ate that in the afternoon!

and it had been giving me a hard time.

only a few weeks of 牛丼, already gave me a belly, 気持ち悪くない？？？

YUMMY!!!!　I LOOOOOOVE TOFU!!!!

DONT ASK ME WHY.