Anyone who has grown up around snow will laugh at me, but this winter, after Tokyo’s big (and only, so far) snow, I learned the magic of table salt. The steps in front of our house had iced over, and it was too hard to break apart easily. Coming from a place that doesn’t have snow, I thought that the salt that they sprinkle the streets with to de-ice them was some kind of special formula. But, faced with slippery steps every time I tried to leave for work, I decided to see if the bag of table salt in the kitchen would do the trick. And it did! I threw handfuls of the stuff onto the sheets of ice, and they crackled and broke apart right away.

So, a lesson for all of us who aren’t so familiar with snow. Thank you table salt.

There’s a Japanese saying that goes “If you’re prepared, you’ll have no regrets.” Earthquake preparedness is an important part of living in Japan, and an important part of making sure you get through a disaster with as little stress as possible. Do you have enough water in your house, or non-perishable food, to last you and your family for a week? What about flashlights, extra batteries, or an emergency plan to notify your loved ones that you’re okay? Though it can be a little stressful to put these things together, as in a way it makes the idea of another disaster more real, that will likely be worth the relief that this preparedness provides if a disaster does happen. Next time you have a few hours after work, school, or on the weekend, get an earthquake preparedness kit and an emergency plan in place. If you’re not sure what your kit needs or what kind of resources are out there during a disaster, volunteer organizations like WaNavi (www.wanavi.org) provide free resources. Stay safe!

valentine day is coming,

the very first time of my life, i will try to make something.

just to have something to 記念。

end of last year, for the very first time of my life, i made cookies.

it was going very smooth, well you have to admit i have talents in many ways except i hate studying japanese.

and now with my wonderful iphone i can take pictures or send them to anyone anytime i want !!!!

THANKS APPLE! THANKS STEVE!

seriously, with his invention, i can communicate much better with people that can speak mandarin IN WRITTEN CHINESE, aint that something … ?

and, somehow, shortened our distances and misunderstandings.

improve mutual understandings. maybe can put in this way.

hope FEB is going to be ok, too.

i had a wonderful JAN 1

suddenly got invited to see sunset, to go to shrine,

i never took one second for granted, … just that i did not expect it to be SOOOO darn cold and when it started to hurt my feet i had to demand leaving …. sorry kawaii …

then i got invited every week … very suddenly.

i wish there was an earlier promise so i know how to schedule my weekend.

but like i said, i cannot demand, because that is not part my life, i dont have these privileges …

i felt like the good feeling is back, but i got no promises …

but like i said, i cannot demand.

today i went to the immigration.

cause this weekend FEB 2, my visa will expire.

i got up around 10am, really awesome feeling. because i dont think someone like my boss deserve anyone to work punctually.

every time i think of how cunning my boss is and how hideous his smile is when i told him i was poor.

he disgusts me.

he is SOOOOOOOOOOOO much richer but SOOOOOOOOOOOO cheap.

with my monthly salary lower than a person that work in convenience store, i told him, he has a wife, how 幸せ、he said, that is expensive.

i said, you have a dog, how nice, he said, that costs money. insurance not cover.

i said, you live close to the ocean, how sweeeeeeet, every day next to the sea, he said, it is the same as mine …

btw, i share a room with someone i dont even get along.

my share of room is only 4.5 tatami.

i said, my salary is the lowest, he said A san is even cheaper (but A san is a happily married female, she has a very nice husband) so i told him i had no one.

then he said B is also low salary, but B san has another job, and he is about to quit. so why compare me to him????

then, he said C san has even lower salary, but C san has no experience and she just started …

so my conclusion is, my boss is AN ASSHOLE and i hate even talking about him.

he disgusts me. just about in every SINGLE way.

i wanted to upload photos here but recently it does not allow me to do so …

reason is probably due to the fact that iphone has and upgrade now i can take HIGHER res pict, and this is why the volume becomes too big …. and now fail to upload …

how sad … actually recently i have reached 4000 photos ever since i got my iphone, it was pretty awesome!

i took photos almost everywhere i went, every day if i see ANYTHING that is pretty or caught my attention or even things that i need to keep a record of …

well, pretty much like a digtial diary. but with ONLY photos.

There’s not a popular equivalent to Rakuten where I come from, and that, plus the language barrier, made me confused and wary of the internet megamall. Until now. At a recent food festival, I noticed a lot of vendors had links to their online stores – and rather than run their own websites, most of them were on Rakuten. When I investigated, and braved the shining, flashing, half-incomprehensible kanji, I found a wealth of good old consumer products that I thought I’d either have to search for in person or that were unavailable to me. The joy! Still, I don’t go shopping on Rakuten much, because it’s like the internet equivalent of walking into Don Quixote, but it’s good to know that, if I brave it, what I want is probably in there somewhere.

One of the halmarks of Christmas in Japan is the “Christmas Cake.” Don’t think too much about it, that’s all there is to it. It’s Christmas, you eat a cake, that cake usually says Merry Christmas and is decorated in a Christmasy/wintery theme in some way. I don’t normally eat Christmas cake, but this year I found a special cake, made by the macrobiotic restaurant Chaya Macrobi, and couldn’t resist. Chocolate with layers of pistachio and raspberry and other flavors. A little pricey, but some indulgences are worth it. Did you have Christmas cake this season? What did you get?

Summer in Tokyo is no fun, but I always forget how harsh the winter can be, too. We’re not suffering in the same kind of cold that you’d face in Hokkaido or further north, but it’s still chilly and dry and not at all good for the body. One of my essentials to surviving the winter is a humidifier. You wouldn’t believe the difference between waking up in the morning, having had one running all night, and waking up without. I don’t catch colds as often, I feel less like a dried-out husk of a human being, and it makes me feel a little less bad about running my heater and drying out the air even more. There are itty bitty ones available at drugstores, so think about picking one up and save yourself a lot of winter woe.

The best part of the holiday season leading up to New Years is, for me, the “illuminations.” There has been a Disney themed light-up in Harajuku and Omotesando for a few weeks, a light-made fireworks show in Roppongi, and countless other displays strung up around the city. Despite Christmas as a holiday not being that big a thing in Japan (I mean, you don’t even get off work), there’s an impressive dedication to dazzling light art that makes walking around in the city at winter a magical thing.