SO nice.

If I had played this game, I would looooove to have this.

I like this even though I did not play this.

This is part of the wonder of being in Japan.

Always seeing something I like …

Many visual excitement.

Did not mean to buy this.

Not my type, but I need this in that day cause I forgot to bring my usual one.

But after I opened this, I start to appreciate it.

Not as bad as I thought …

User-friendly.

At work, we came across a lot of Moomin these days.

And I came to like Moomin.

Read the first story, even though I almost never interested in western things, but the locals here sure knows how to transform some non-cute western characters into something that just make you want to consume.

Plus, Moomin is not non-cute at the first place, so I guess it works well.

SOOOOO CUTE !!!!!

The above is just a cake from convenience store.

Except the cameral sauce, I think it taste pretty darn good ~~~~~~~~~.

OH MINE OH MINE !!!!!!!!!!!

LOOOVE this wonton, sooo close to the one from Hong Kong it really taste great !!!!!!!

Except the fact that the 店 itself was in a dirty area and ended up I found a small bug inside the delicious food … ><

Japanese bread very expensive,

but very creative.

I did not eat this but 実際に見て、写真よりもっともっとattractiveだよ！！！！！

My most favorite 長崎ちゃんぽん！！！

Those think sauce !!!

Taste wonderful with the hard noodles !!! ><

This is a corner of the DINNER buffet during the resort trip.

It was soooooo easy to overlook cause the theme of the buffet is まぐろ,

and ALL types of まぐろ were lining up openly in front of us,

but this little salad place, it seems dark and hidden.

PLUS, look at THAT tube ………… does it look like a salad holder to you?  -_-

The above is the breakfast buffet!

I think it looks COOL, cause of the beautiful ham and scrambled egg and all,

it was very nice for a breakfast, and it is a … BUFFET.

yummy !!!!!!! ><

Flower from one of the attractions close to the resort.

But the attraction itself was not that great …

Scenery was beautiful, but not as nearly as attractive as the brochure.

Problem: no flowers at all, this is the only one …

Beautiful sky eh?

This area, 山中湖かなあ。。。

Sky and the lake, not bad.

実際に見て、悪くない。

写真で見て、ちょっとキモかなあ。。。

seems soooo crowded …

How beeeeeeeeeautiful the sky is !!!!!!!!!

It was a nice trip.

It was a trip to go to a little resort.

As a foreigner living in Japan, people ask me a lot about culture shock, or the language barrier, or other things they imagine make life in Japan a real struggle.

But honestly, all that’s OK. The worst part is really that Thor: The Dark World came out in November in most of the rest of the world, but that I have to wait until February to see it in Japan.

I won’t try to tell you that paying the 4,000 yen to get to the highest point in Tokyo Skytree isn’t a scam. But I will tell you that, if you’re willing to buy into this scam, now is finally the time to go. A friend and I went on a weekday evening, after she finished class and I finished work, and there was no wait, and the tower was practically deserted. After hearing on the news that Skytree tickets were booked a full year after its opening, it’s nice that the rest of us who weren’t passionate but still vaguely interested can go see what all the fuss is about.

A month or two ago, around my two year anniversary of living in Japan, I got the worst craving for Pop Tarts. Pop Tarts, if you don’t know them, are dry, flat little pastries that come in a box, shelf-stable, thin enough to drop in a toaster. They come in various flavors, the classic being plain strawberry, always with filling, and sometimes with frosting, sometimes without. Honestly they taste horrible. But after two years of never seeing a single one in a grocery store, of not seeing a lot of the foods I’m familiar with and grew up with, having never gone back to the U.S. in these two years, I suddenly, desperately wanted some.

I have a feeling my wanting them was only because I couldn’t have them. What I really wanted was to be home.

I was born and raised in the U.S., I lived there for 25 years of my life, yet after only two years in Japan I find I’m forgetting about Thanksgiving. It’s easier than you’d think when there’s nothing to remind you. There’s no work holiday, there are no turkey-related decorations, there’s just the black and orange of Halloween and then, the day after, the red and green of Christmas. Last year for Thanksgiving I went with some friends to a restaurant, but now this year, when most of those friends have gone back to their countries, I didn’t do anything, and didn’t think much of the day. How weird, to forget something I did every year for 25 years so quickly.