Showing posts with label 日本. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 日本. Show all posts

Sunday, June 8, 2014

とうかさん (Toukasan Festival)

Starting with the kick-off of Toukasan on Friday, summer festival season officially commenced in Hiroshima!

Toukasan is ( I believe) the first summer festival in Hiroshima, honoring the god Touka Daimyojin. If you're interested in the history and activities of Toukasan, you can read about it here and here. Or, if you just want the basic jist: It's a festival that includes tons of food and game vendors lining the narrow sidewalks of Chuodori (one of the major streets, if not THE major street, of Hiroshima's downtown area). Tons of people crowd the streets, many wearing yukata. It's not a great setup if you're in a hurry because there are so many people packed into such narrow walkways, but it's great if you want to experience a Japanese festival!



Unfortunately, BECAUSE there are so many people it's almost impossible to take any good pictures of the actual event. However, I did manage to take a few from last night when my roommate and I wandered around in Yukata of our own after work. 

We ran into a few friends of ours, including Serika from an izayaka we frequent~ We talked for a few minutes before her friend Kanako joined us, and then we all decided to take some puricura together! :)



After taking puricura , Lie and I wandered off. We were walking to another part of town when all the sudden we were ambushed by the staff from Big Boss, a music (especially guitar/bass) shop we've been to a number of times. Now that they were no longer restricted to the constraints of professionalism, they goofed around with us for a while. Eventually, one of them dragged me into Donki to take puricura. He was a little tipsy, but absolutely hilarious! I motioned for the others to follow as he dragged me away. 
The puricura turned out to be absolutely PRICELESS, but unfortunately he said we weren't allowed to post them for the sake of job security. It's really too bad because they're probably the funniest puricura I've ever seen xDD

After that, I walked Lie to a bar where she would be drinking for the night (I have work today). 


Tonight we're planning to attend the festival with friends, so hopefully the few, sad pictures I took yesterday will be replaced with much better ones! See you soon! <3





Monday, December 2, 2013

If only all days were like this one... ❤

What a day.
Really, what a day.
And I mean that in the best way possible!

 It all started when I met with one of my students from my "granny" class this morning (It's technically my day off), which ultimately resulted in me getting an adopted Japanese grandma who wants to take me to cool places and make me awesome food!

I teach a special class twice a month for elderly women, the majority of whom have been studying English for decades. Most of them speak the language almost flawlessly, but there's one particular student who's a little behind the rest. She's an incredibly busy woman, but is so determined to study English, no matter how difficult it is for her. Even in class, surrounded by speakers who possess much more vocabulary and knowledge of the language structure than she does, she always does her best to communicate and explain things as best she can. She's adorable.

 Because of my contract, I couldn't accept her offer of payment because it was technically outside of work. However, she began telling me about her trips to places around Japan, and said she would love to take me to some places in Hiroshima sometime. I was ecstatic! Most of my friends work at nights or simply prefer nightlife to day-time, so I often end up exploring the day time world on my own. I enjoy bar hopping with my friends, of course, but I also love nature and taking long walks in back streets or new areas in the city. All the same, it gets a little lonely at times. I told my student that I would LOVE to accompany her, to which she seemed shocked. When I had reassured her that I was serious, she immediately began planning places we could go--some as far as Kyushu--on day trips. As it turns out, she often travels to such places alone, as well, and was just as excited for the company as I was. It was perfect! We have yet to make a definite first location to visit, but I'm absolutely looking forward to it! It was a perfect start to a wonderful day!



 Once our meeting ended, I had a photo shoot with the agency for my "official profile" (←weird !)
I was SO nervous at first. I've only ever modeled once, and that was for a friend--to be doing a full-out, in-studio, professional photo shoot for my own modeling profile just seemed like something out of my daydreams; something unreal and unattainable in so many ways. But it WAS real and it apparently went really, REALLY well. The photographer gave me a few directions, but almost every shot he would say really encouraging things about the shots he took. When we had finished (I changed clothing three times), he told me I had "nailed the shoot perfectly" and told me I was really good. While I don't believe him, it was still so relieving to hear.  I want to do well in this more than anything; after hearing that, I ended up smiling like a giddy moron to myself all the way home. xD

But, more than just give me an undeserved compliment, my agent also took the time to invite me to a work party this month AND offer to invite me the next time any of the staff or models went for lunch. I know he didn't have to, and just the fact that he did made the whole experience even more encouraging for me. It was the best feeling!

A crappy powder-room picture of one of the coordinates I used in today's shoot~♪



After returning home, I decided that all the excitement gave me enough energy for one of my "extended walks." On my days off, I often tend to walk for a few hours to get some fresh air and try and find places in the city I haven't been to before, but for the past month or so it's been way too cold for me. However, today ended up being much warmer than it has been lately, and I also got a lovely winter coat to keep me extra warm. So I headed out, blissfully unaware of what FURTHER excitement lay ahead of me.

On a whim, I decided to go to Aeon Mall. It was a good walk away, and I wanted to pick up a cookbook and a fashion magazine or two. I walked around the mall for a bit before heading towards the bookstore. On my way to the bookstore, however, I noticed a crowd gathering in a large opening in the mall. There was a stage, and someone was obviously holding a concert. But it wasn't just any local band...it was DAIGO.



DAIGO from DAIGO(freaking)STARDUST was prancing around a makeshift stage in full-out butterfly wings. No exaggeration at all, he was a fricking butterfly in the middle of a random mall in Hiroshima--and it wasn't even in the city center. I don't even know how I keep managing to find all these celebrities in such a rural place like Hiroshima, but needless to say I love my instincts. (So far I've run into MiA from Mejibray TWICE on the street by total accident, and I also stood next to Terry-san, the most stylish Tokyo grandpa/talent you'll ever see in your life, in Starbucks).

I REALLY wanted to take pictures of him, but unfortunately they had cops on every level patrolling for cellphone users. One even followed me up to the top floor to make sure I wasn't going to use mine because I was texting my friend at the time (you could see Daigo from the top floors because there was a circular opening from which you could see all the way down to the ground floor).


Since I couldn't take pictures, here's a PV clip for the single he was performing, so you can at least see what I'm talking about when I say he turned into a butterfly:

And, no, that's not CG. He literally wore those exact ginormous wings in the show. I'm pretty sure they're bigger than I am...


SO YES. I'm so sorry if I come off sounding vain or braggy in this post--I typically try to avoid writing daily posts because I always feel like I'm self-promoting or something when I do....but so much awesome stuff has happened this weekend that I felt like sharing... Forgive me? T_T

Anyway, I love you all <333


Sweet dreams or good morning, wherever you are the in world!
After a day like this, I am so ready for bed. ;)


Saturday, August 31, 2013

Hiroshima Snap #1: A Day at the Beach


It's August here, which can only mean one thing in Japanese Summer: Blasted Heat. 

Heat. Heat and sweat and humidity everywhere! What's a person to do? Go to the beach, of course! :)
A friend took Lie and I to the beach at the beginning of the month to remedy the heat. Most of the day we spent in the water, trying to escape the humidity and sweltering hot. Towards the end of the day, when we were getting ready to head home, rain clouds began to work their way to where we were. The result was beautiful! :)

HIROSHIMA: The Introductory Puricura Post

Because this is Japan,
 and awkwardly sneaking Puricura ("Print Club") throughout every post is what we do ;)
❤ Hey Guys and Gals ❤
It is now time for another round of Guess When the Next Sporadic Post will be! Any bets? Haha!
Seriously, sorry for failing at timely posts ;)
I figured I should post a little debrief about my time in Hiroshima so far, since I've contributed absolutely nothing to the topic since first announcing that I moved here! 
I started work mid-July in the heart of the city, and have been loving my life here ever since I arrived. The city is certainly much smaller than places like Tokyo or Osaka, but it has a very relaxed environment and the people are incredibly kind and fun to be around. The city itself is beautiful--green rolling mountains, a beautiful bay, and colorful neon lights at night all contribute to the unique atmosphere of the place. In many respects, it reminds me of Seattle. :)

Work has also been fun! I enjoy working with my students, and I have the most adorable co-teacher/roommate/buddy in the universe to share all experiences with! It's startling how well we get along. We have all the same interests, but just enough variation in taste that we never feel like we have to compete. For example, we both love Japanese fashion--but whereas I tend to go for elegant, glamorous styles, Rai rocks the cutesy pop look. Our personalities also click perfectly, even though we're almost polar opposites in that respect. When we had only known each other for two days, everyone we met thought we had been friends for years. Getting along with her was by far my biggest concern before moving here, but now that we've met it's sincerely the most effortless thing in the world to adore her. xD

Also, Hiroshima boys are weirder than either Lie or I can figure out how to deal with, but that is a long, long story (rather a series of novels) that may or may not ever be told xD
All in all, life here has been phenomenal so far. Now that things are starting to settle down here and there, it's been nice having moments to appreciate where I am and all the incredible experiences I've had so far <3
I don't know how often I'll have time for diary-like posts, but I'll do my best! In the mean time, I'll try to post outfit pics and at least weekly one-picture posts of things in the city--starting tonight! ;)
Thank you all so much for your patience in dealing with my lame, sporadic posts! 
I hope I can manage my time better and make it up to you someday ;)

Saturday, August 3, 2013

SURPRISE!

Well hiiiiiiiiii, everyone :)

 It's only been wayyyy too long since my last post. Don't mind me.
 At least I have a very valid excuse this time!

 Apart from graduating, wrapping up my job at Disney, and helping my parents move to Florida, I officially moved to Hiroshima and started work as an English teacher about a month ago.



Surprise!


Although I don:t have much time to post about it right now, I've been loving my life here and I've already discovered so much to write about, including daily-life posts. I hope you'll all bear with me while I get used to my schedule and find some time to get some posts in ;)