You always wanted to wear a Kimono but you didn’t have the money nor the special occasion to wear it?  Well, you can always wear a Yukata in the summer with no special excuse and very little money! Yukatas, unlike kimonos, are made out of cotton and they are very informal. They usually have more vivid and have tropical stamps with bold patterns for the young, and geometric and more monochrome-like for older fellows.

So where can you buy one? I have seen one shop that sells dresses in Omotesando right next to exit 4 of the subway that sells Yukatas for cheap. If not,I’ve heard that UNIQLO has really unexpensive  deals. I am also sure around Asakusa you will be able to find many.

Where and when can you wear it?  Well, last weekend I got to wear one for a Yukata Cruise party. Now, I know it sounds expensive but it was not! The Cruise (2hrs) with drinks included (beer, soft drinks, juice) was 2, 500yen! We got to see a show and we were able to buy food in the boat (not included in the 2,500yen but you can still find cheap deals like kebabs and takoyaki). To go to this cruise you need to go to Takeshita Pier (10minutes on foot from the nort exit of the JR Hamamatsucho). Once you get there, you can buy the ticket to the boat ( arrive on time, the boat leaves at 7:15pm!) or you can book it online :

http://www.tokaikisen.co.jp/event/noryo2011/index.shtml (in Japanese ) If you forget to book it, don’t panic, they really never sell out and you can always have hopes to find tickets on the spot.

If you don’t want to go to a cruise, check the local matsuri with Japan times or you can buy in a conbini the ultimate Matsuri guide for 700yen. They will tell you where and were you can join a Matsuri and wear a Yukata 🙂

How can you dress with a Yukata? Well, I would be lying f I said it was easy for me to do the obi knot..NO,it  was not, I asked for some help. Even if yukatas are more relaxed and informal than kimonos, you wanna look your best and get a decent obi knot. If you want to give it a shot, there are some guidelines here in this video :Yukata. Gambatte!!

Here are some pictures after the jump:

你可以想盡辦法去放棄，去滿足自己嘅好奇心，去肯定自己嘅能力…

但到頭黎只會發覺，所有嘢都只不過是神嘅恩典 …

but nothing more …

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

this is so crazy, it is beyond words.

i don’t get this theory by “understanding”

i got this conclusion by the things that happened to me …

満足できない

落ち着かない

そのままの状態我慢できない

なんでもできない、なんでも意味がない、

結局、神様の恩徳／恵みもらえなければいけない。

半分以上の人生は外国に住んでる私、一体何を考えてると思う？

maybe for some people, they really have to be put out of this planet, in the middle of the universe “Floating”, only under these conditions, they will believe there is a creator for all things.

everyday we only look at the streets we walk on, the 4 walls around us, wonder whether it rains or not, wonder how other beings think of us, wonder how to pay bills …

i am sooo mentally tired sometimes and just want to give up. 　速く天国行けるとあんまり悪くないと思う。地球に結構寂しいなあと思って。

even though, comparing to last year, i finally seem to have a normal relationship with someone, 10 times better. i was SO unfortunate for so many years.

but just as i thought things are good now, i only seem to realize, my luck was just too horrible before. completely insulting.

寂しいです。

i remember my ex.

i remember how he wanted SO bad to live with me, to me, it is one way of his showing me how much he wanted to be with me, and of course, this feeling is mutual.

and also many other things …

how he will try to help me in many ways, how he bought this and that for me … but that time i felt, he also did it, or EVEN MORE, to his ex.s, i felt very not enough, something so normal for him, it means nothing to me. i don’t feel very special …

but recently, i looked at the ipod he gave me, and VERY recently, i started undress the “white/half translucent” cover … 中は … very きれい silver …

i used to tell him,

“i find you very dirty, cause i do not know what type of people you have been with, it made me mad!”

then he told me,

“but my love for you is pure and clean”

i was too young to realize what that really means at that time, i was purer and i kept myself that way intentionally and turns out i had to be with someone that is has a lot more experience than me in relationship, while i was just a clean paper.

i did not understand. i did not understand WHY it is so unfair.

i have always wanted to be someone that is pure, but it never happened.

actually, until this year だけ、i am starting to realize more how he, my ex., really is, after he left me for 5 years …

i have no doubts, he will always remember me.

and he would regret the things he did to me. and so am i.

i know very clearly, we cannot live peacefully together, but because of my current relationship, the boy who is the same age as him (at the time i was with him), even though NOW and THEN is like 15, 16 years apart …

the things that the current boy did, SAME age as ex. 16 years ago, 想像できない、only then i realize, how mature, how protective, how generous, how 偉い、he once was.

same age, how can the mentally, capacity, be so different?

what really hurt me most is, i realize how much my ex. seemed to love me, makes me feel like, i am a fool …

やっぱり、こんな奇跡も一回起きることない。no matter how u put it, the way he used to take care of me, is SOOOOOOOOOOOO unbelievable.

he really was CRAZY about me, no matter what happened. for many many many years.

the white cover that i took off from ipod, i put it in a big Sanrio pink bag, but maybe i just took too many things to work these days, it fell off somewhere, and i just don’t know where, i tried to trace back the road i walked the day before, but found nothing … sigh, there goes the cover that was with me for more than 10 years, so lovely, coming from him, … あの時、当然と思ってたけど、now i know, how shit the whole wild world can be.

i was told, u not see shit, u not know how good things are.

but i think the 順番ちょっと間違ったかも。

if he is an asian, the has no temper, and share some of the same background with me, i would have wanted to be with him forever … but, things not go this way …

the white cover is gone, i really want it back …

it was his gift for me …

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

i was looking at the current boy’s sent message, yes now, i suddenly can read japanese, i don’t know how and why…, the way that i always wanted to be while in america, i wanted to tell him, but, am i really better off this way … i feel not so sure sometimes.

one thing i know for sure, he is so かわいそう、he is probably one of the most かわいそう person i have ever met.

it is true he has a pretty face and body, but other than that, i don’t know what he has.

trauma, his whole life is full of it. so complicated.

if i have more than enough money, i will never hesitate to help him. even until now.

he was so messy at so many points, but he never tried to deceive my assets or anything.

he now, probably has no real friends, no real family …

how can someone be so sad … may the creator be with him for real …

yes, it has been like this for more than 2 weeks, and today i found out i pretty much started to shake a little, my hand … i don’t even want to think about why …

休みないです。

給料まだもらえないです。

that is what made me mad.

if i go to work every day and can see the money in my hand or in my bank quite right away, i would be sooo happy to start counting and stop complaining.

but sadly, in my case, i started working one of the part-time in MAY and now in July i still NO pay …

-__-

hope u can feel my pain.

after ALL the crap trouble i went through with that job because i was super desperate.

but i did not forsake my duty and still kept going in JULY to keep my promise with professor. cause i am also indebted to his kindness, and no discrimination.

but 4 hours back and forth of commuting, i don’t think everyone can handle this.

and now, bring my own computer to work everyday during this hot summer, that is another PAIN. and AGAIN, of course, the work that i did in JUNE, i will not get the paid till end of JULY, and i now have 0 yen in my bank, just for your info.

so i cried, i also cried because i realize something more painful …

i don’t know what it all means, but suddenly there is “one more” “seem-to-be-designer” here.

at first i really thought she was only for sales. but then later i saw her work on some very boring “menus”. then later she kept coming everyday.

=======================================================

the above is from a few days ago, now even worse, the manager just told us, “have u guys been told already? there is 1 more designer coming tomorrow …” -_-

i really do not know what is the meaning of all these, but i guess it is a good thing since that means even i left, nothing bad would have happened to them …

sigh, why it has to turns out to be this way?

i still なんでも分からない。

why EVERYTHING has to come at the same time?

i was SO free before but now i cannot even seem to able to breathe properly …

=======================================================

today i only have 1 question in my head for this company, just EXACTLY HOW MANY designers they try to hire?

crying out loud, i kept seeing them letting candidates come and did the test.

i do admit, i was the FIRST one and also THE ONLY one that was tested by 社長、but still ….

=======================================================

そして、あの日、i think it was yesterday, 社長 finally shows up, but, maybe i am wrong, seems to be someone is reporting to him how my PC is not working, since serial no. no good, then 社長 came to office that day, and personally asked me, if my computer is ok.

he fed us KFC.

he came and tried to ask me a question.

but i immediately said, 社長、美味しいチキンありがとうございます。

he immediately did not know what to do and said
“i was not the one that made the chicken”
and then he kind of left without asking me what he first intentionally came to ask me …

he is so sweet … and he seemed to get a little how my gratitude towards him.

and i want to show him, too.

i still remember very clearing what he told me during the interview,

he said,

“we do not have objections towards hiring foreigners”

thank you 社長

this is the Udon that i like, there are other ones that i love too, but this one is good. not only they made their UDON in the shop by themselves, and the price is just awesomely CHEAP!@

guess how much this thing is? i think it is 300+ yen.

and the MOST wonderful thing is, you have ALL the green onion you want!!!!! u know how troublesome it is to buy the darn onion and cut it? and then have to store them and ya ya ya, whatever that is. i mean, green onions here are not cheap, when u see them in the supermarket, i don’t know if the price is “attractive” enough for u to want to buy them, seriously.

oh mine oh mine, and look at the egg … the infamous half-boiled egg, just irresistible!!!!!!!!!!

sorry i am only being a darn asian appreciate some super great simple food.

look at this green onion, it is so heaven to me!!!!!!!!!!

thanks LORD.

um, actually i do not know how to cook.

the guesthouse i live is great, but there is one setback, the kitchen is on first floor, super beautiful, don’t get me wrong, really, pretty. but i live on 3rd floor and if i get hungry and have to cook i need to go to 1st floor? and bring ALL the crap with me while i am super forgetful?

nah. so, i am super lazy at about “cooking”. if i am hungry, i want to eat and i WANT IT NOW!!!!!!!!!!! i mean, i cannot imagine myself wasting time everyday to stand in front of the kitchen, probably more than 30-40 min., to make a meal that looks liek a real meal, however, it would have the same “NUTRITION” as i would just microwave and can be done in 3 minutes?

i think i prefer the latter.

call me lazy, but efficiency is very important. i care not the taste but only the nutrition of the food. i mean, i would still spend time at “cutting” the darn cabbage, but “home cooking” is all just about “nutrition” to me, if i want real food, i bought it outside, like i said before, the food here is … still keep me entertained.

so i talked so much trash before and what am i trying to say?

here, see the egg? of course u do.

and the power below it is “pancake power”, u know the thing u mix the powder and the egg and you can fry some pancake? ya, that is a great idea but not for me when i want sometime at midnight and the kitchen is a mile away.

so i decided to try to make a “cup cake”, not the CHEESY american one but a cake in a CUP, so cute, isn’t it?

i mixed it, put some water …

and there you go, a cake in a cup … so nice, i LOVE it ^^