Selamat Berpuasa: Mon 25 Sept 06

To my dearest family and friends who are fasting. Selamat Berpuasa! Maghrib here is around 5.30pm, so its not too bad. The weather is also getting cooler too :)

September Babies: Sun 24 Sept 06

Tomoko and Me

Wow this September is a busy, baby month for me. I just came back from visiting my ex classmate, Oo-san and her lil new addition Tomoko. What a darling she was. Did I mention to you all that I am also a proud auntie of another nephew? Whilst Oo-san gave birth to Tomoko on the 9th of September, three days earlier, my eldest sister gave birth to her 6th son! What an amazing woman huh? Not to mention it was on the same day Japan welcomed its new emperor.


Yasmin and AJ Junior

This blog is dedicated to all the mom's and September babies out there... Did I mention, im in love with a September baby too?

For more pictures: Click on the link 'Tomoko-chan' under links on the right column

Yey! Term is over: Fri 22 Sept 2006

Dedicated to my fellow shoe-loving girlfriends!

Wow! 3 months has passed by sooo fast! My first school term is now over. Today was a looong day, we had all sorts of speeches and presentation for the closing ceremony. I was happily surprised to get the best student award for my class, and had to go up to receive it on stage. Hatzukashi!!!! Well I worked my ass off for the exams anyway, I think 2nd time round when you get the chance to study again after uni, you are so much more enthusiastic. After the ceremony, I did a bit of shopping at Zara and bought myself a pair of 'celebratory' shoes. They were hot and sparkly! I needed a new pair anyway. The winter boots here are sooo amazing! The chicks are equally as stylish here in Tokyo. After Zara, we had to hurry back to school to meet our sensei. Then we went straight to an 'izakaya' (a japanese pub). Its different than a western pub. Its like a tatami mat restaurant but with lots of rowdy, drunk people. It was quite fun, because students from other classes were there too, so there was a bit of intermingling happening. I was so embarrased, because the 1A class said my name was so famous, and they had all wanted to meet me. hahaha.. later i found out because Aby, when spelt in katakana as 'ebi' means prawn. Anyway, after the rowdy as hell drinking and eating session, we went out to a club, and danced off all our stress. The 1C class kids were on an outbreak. They're really wild! Even their sensei was ripping out some hardcore moves on the dance floor. It was an awesome night all up, except for a few indecent groping happening, the girls were all safe and taken care off...

China in Yokohama: 10 Sept 2006

This man was a real blast from the past, I just dont know whether he was Chinese or Japanese!
Yokohama is Japan's 2nd largest city. The crowd puller is its Chinatown and the seaside development Minato Mirai 21. This time however, Theresa and I just concentrated on Chinatown. Even that was enough for the day. I really felt like I was propelled to China, however this was one of the cleanest Chinatown I've ever been too. And of course, the people were all speaking Japanese. I couldn't hear a bit of Mandarin/ Cantonese at all! There are tons of little shops, and restaurants selling Chinese food. I even got myself a prawn pau. I would have gotten the red bean one, but I misunderstood it for an Apricot pau! Apart from the food and the chinese temples, the highlight of my day was buying 4 novels (in good condition) for just ¥50 each. All together it was RM6! Yokohama, is a place I will definitely return to for a 2nd visit.

For more pictures: Click on the link 'Yokohama' under links on the right column

Tsukiji Market: Sat 09 Sept 2006

Picture courtesy of www.perkowitz.net

I had to wake up at 6 am to go to this market. Its a giant fish market, where most of Japan's fishes are caught and sold in wholesale auctions around 4 am. I missed all that action though, when I got there it was around 7am, and the crowd was dying down. My digi cam died on me at that time, so I had to take photos with the Holga. Should be sending you the films in the mail soon darling. Anyway, the most surprising thing that I saw were tuna heads the size of a 4WD wheel. It was HUGE! wish i could upload the pics... aah well no regrets.


Picture courtesy of Julio Marcos

Happy Birthday Jeff: Sat 02 Sep 2006

Im sorry I missed it! Hope you had a great one darling!

My first earthquake: Wed 30 Aug 2006

Finally, I am up to date on this blog! I experienced my first earthquake whilst sitting at Starbucks, a TALL building over my head and the earth wobbling for about 3 seconds. It was after school around 5.18pm. I was having a caramel frapuccino and suddenly the ground started swaying like a rubber platform. It was quick, but the scariest thing was watching the building we were under 'sway'! It was as if my vision faltered a bit and went zig zaggy. The earthquake wasn't really violent, but we were more afraid of aftershocks. The whole cafe was quiet for a few minutes, then business went on as usual. The news reported the strongest magnitude being 4.8. I think the one in town was around 3. No damage or loss of life reported. I wonder if the earthquake is like a wave effect, or if it happens all at once. Apparently, the movement types differ depending on what sort of tectonic plate you are on. Only proffessionals can tell, so I won't even bother. Well all is fine, Im glad I wasn't in the subway!

Gelman@GGG: Thu 24 Aug 2006

Since I have been craving for design these last few weeks, I have been stalking the internet for various talks or exhibitions I could go to. Tokyo, known as the 'big mikan/mandarin' like its sister city, NYC has much to offer in terms of design. So I found myself after school one day, at the Ginza Graphic Gallery listening to Alexander Gelman speak (thankfully in English!). So who is this Alexander Gelman, I wondered?To quote the Museum of Modern Art in New York: Gelman is amongst the “world’s most influential modern and contemporary artists in all media.” Hmm.. I was intrigued. The talk ended up good. I managed to ask him a few questions and even got an autograph on his book. You can check out his work at: http://www.designmachine.net/

Summer Holidays: 10-20 Aug 2006

Omatsuri Parade

Believe it or not, I did not go anywhere during the summer holidays. I spent most of the days lazing around at home and going to work at Hakuhodo. On the weekend, I went to visit Mom's friend, Auntie Kiku and her husband Uncle Hirao. They used to live in KL during the late 70's. But both are not doing so well now. Hirao-san just got out of the hospital after a year of hospitalisation and Auntie Kiku has cancer. So it was really kind of them to ask me over to their place. Usually, the Japanese rarely invite people to their home. Anyway, having arrived at their place, we had 'koroke' (fried potatoes) and looked at photos of me when I was a child. They still kept it! I think I was around 12 years old, and Auntie Kiku, kept insisting that the girl in the photo was Dezryn and not me! It took me awhile to convince her, but in the end I did. Apparently, she thought mom had only 5 kids. So I didn't exist. How sad huh... Anyway, let's rewind to the morning. Before I went to Auntie Kiku's house, I went to see the 'Omatsuri' with Baba-san (one of Auntie Kiku's friends who used to live in KL too). The Omatsuri is a festival/ parade, where the Japanese carry these floats ( with mini temples), supported on big long bamboo sticks. That was during the time of Obon, when dead ancestors come and visit this world and family members return to their hometown and give offerings. I think it is similar to the Chinese version of 'Hungry Ghosts'. After watching the parade, we went to the temple which was full of food stalls selling lots of yummy food. Surprisingly I didn't pig out, as I still had lunch to go to at Auntie Kiku's. At the temple, there were kids playing Kendo. I even considered joining but I don't think Im tough enough. One of my classmates, does Kendo near our school. And he is a tank. Ok, I won't waffle on anymore. Im glad I got to meet Auntie Kiku again and experience the Omatsuri. That sure was a nice day!

For more pictures: Click on the link 'Omatsuri' under links on the right column



Well, working at Hakuhodo was fun too. I was surprised at first when I arrived there, the creative staff all worked separately in cubicles. Only when they brainstormed, they get together in one of the rooms. Anyway, they put me to work immediately, and I was to sketch out ideas for one of the clients and present to the director and then of the week. Apart from the sketching, I met two international creative directors. They both are a duo from Italy, but Jonathan was originally from England. In fact they reminded me of Ming and Ton. Both have worked together for awhile now, and are each other's sounding boards. Jonathan and Annaritta work freelance at Hakuhodo, and surprisingly don't speak much Japanese at all! Both of them were kind enough to take me around to a little design studio called 'Cosmos' to meet some real Japanese designers. Some work usually gets outsourced to external design studios. These small studios then work directly under the Art Director at Hakuhodo. The studio I went to was really small. It had around 5 designers, similar to freeform. But the work they did, was pure corporate stuff you see in Advertising. Nothing too interesting. Anyway, the way they work is crazy though. They might come up with 20-30 sketches of a bottle packaging and even mock it all up! Because of confidentiality, I could not really see what they were working on, so I ended up showing them photos of Malaysia from my mac. They were all especially impressed with the photos of Redang and my Kampung house. All in all, I had a nice holiday and couldn't wait to return to school to hit the books again!

Heaven's Door: Mon 07 Aug 2006

Well it was a Monday night, and we were headed for a LIVE HOUSE at a place called Heaven's door. Why at 7pm on a Monday night? Beats me. But it sure suits my schedule. After all, with a curfew at 12am, my life as Cinderella sure limits my late nights out. Anyway, LIVE HOUSE is when newbie bands get together and perform on a stage. I guess you could call it an 'open-mic' night. But its catered to specific genres and the bands have to bring in the customers by selling tickets. We got to know about this through Ryoko (daughter of akiko. ming's yoga friend in KL). Ryoko is such a sweet girl, and was dating the lead singer from one of the bands. The music was mainly punk and hard rock. It was really underground. Both in terms of the music style and the place they performed. Heaven's door was 50-60 steps below street level. Most of the kids there were really kids (from 16-25yrs). I felt a bit old. he he... They were also mainly international school kids, so Theresa and I did not stick out too much!

For more pictures: Click on the link 'Heaven's Door' under links on the right column

The way of the Samurai: Sat 05 Aug 2006

Miniatures from the Edo Period

Well it was a boring Saturday morning, so I decided to go and visit the Edo Museum and pay my Samurai ancestors a visit. The museum was a wonderful experience. I could have stayed on for hours. They had beautiful period costumes and live size installations as well as miniatures which depicted life in the Edo period. Half of the museum was dedicated to the Edo period (when the Samurais were still around) whilst the other half of the museum was pre-industrial Japan up to WW II. It was great looking at all the propaganda in those days, and the illustration styles. Very 1950's. And to top it off, there was also a step by step display of woodblock printing to show how they printed books during the Edo period. Unfortunately, I left my camera, so I had to use my mobile phone but I haven't managed to upload it on to the Mac. Believe it or not, my mobile phone is only PC compatible. Anyway, here is a shot from the net.

Hanabi Flower of Fire: Tue 01 Aug 2006

We went to see the Hanabi Fireworks. Hanabi literally means Flowerfire in Japanese. The end of July and early September is the time for Hanabi. The bigger towns usually have the Hanabi. It usually lasts for 1 and 1/2 hours, with about 10,000 fireworks shot into the sky. It was really beautiful, but towards the end of the night, my neck was aching like crazy. I went with Teresa, her host family and Shu-hey, a pen pal I made from World Friends before I left for Japan. There were soo many people, sitting by the riverbank. Our Hanabi was not so famous, but this particular one in Minami Sunamachi happens only once every 24 years. So I was lucky to see this. Anyway, enjoy the pictures. It might be a bit lengthy. I think I went overboard, taking all those shots!

For more pictures: Click on the link 'Hanabi' under links on the right column

Meiji Jingu: Sun 30 Jul 2006

Marriage procession at Meiji Jingu

Okay this post is a month late. So sorry. Anyway, this is a shot of Meiji-Jingu, one of Tokyo's most famous Shinto Shrine. Completed in 1920, Meiji-Jingu was constructed in honour of Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken, under whose rule Japan ended its long isolation from the outside world. It was obliterated in the WWII bombings, and sprang up again in 1958. The walk to the shrine was beautiful. It was a wide gravel path that could fit 4 cars in between a row of pine trees. It was a peaceful change to the busy neighbouring Harajyuku. Okay. I better stop now before I write the whole Lonely Planet guide down. Anyway, on top of it being peaceful, we were lucky enough to see a wedding procession. The guests all looked like models, a change from the Cos-play kids we saw modelling at the bridge. Cos-play means dressing up in costumes, either of their favourite anime characters or some sort of role-play. The ones I frequently see are the lolitas and the gothic vamps.

For more pictures: Click on the link 'Meiji Jingu' under links on the right column