Let me look back at my past by looking at the food I ate

This is SHINBASHI!

I've talked about it in my previous before (click here) about how its like a crazy place where its filled with business people in black suits. And again we chose this place as a place to meet my friend from Canada who was going back to Canada the next day.

And since this post is filled mainly with food pictures isn't it always? 

I will explain what I have done in January by flipping through pictures of food.

And after meeting my friend and drinking one cup of this very nasty milk with mango flavoured ice we moved to a chinese restaurant to have a big feast!

At this chinese restaurant my friend invited friends from all over the country and friends from almost every connections she had. Something like starting from her Canadian friends like me to friends she met through her blog. It indeed became a wild party with creative and unique people gathering around one table.

I got to eat some what authentic Chinese food (which is really hard to eat in Japan)

Amaaazingg :D

Beer!

Mayonnaise and shrimp and Chili sauce with shrimp.

Coconut milk.

Fried dumplings!

Start of the year means "Hey nice to see you again this year!" parties

Above is a picture of an egg roll I had at the

"Yee-ha- It's start of the year. Let's hang out this year as well. Yoroshiku!" party

with my zemi people.

We ate and drank and talked. 

This is a culture in Japan called "Shinenkai" where people get together at the start of the year to celebrate. 

Fried garlic chives and bean sprout.

Before: Hot pot

After: Hot pot

Thick Fries!

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I also had a "Shinenkai" with another group of people later on the month.

This was with the volunteer members for the earthquake relief.

Korean Food!

Goodbye dinners with Teachers

Japanese school year starts in April

and ends in March.

Well technically Japanese school year for University ends in January.

Which means lots of end of the year parties with your classmates and teachers!

And many of my classes were in english which means not many people were in it.

Only several Japanese students enrol in those courses and maybe 5-10 english speaking exchange students are in it.

Some of my classes had only me and another girl.

So we had a very small goodbye parties at Japanese Bars called

Izakaya (An izakaya (居酒屋) is a type of Japanese drinking establishment which also serves food to accompany the drinks. They are popular, casual places for after-work drinking.)

We went to an Izakaya near by our school.

This is chicken on a stick with egg yolk!

A picture with lots of impact but it was very delicious! $3 per stick.

This is pan fried gyoza $3.

To do list update 2!!

And the list shall grow...

Try Japanese Bar (Izakaya)

Eat 鯛めし

Eat some good Pork Cutlet トンカツ

Manga Cafe

Class Reunion

Fuji Rock Festival

Johnnys Store

Arashi Concert

Volunteer for Tsunami Relief

Eat Monjya Yaki

Go to Akihabara

Meet all my friends in Japan

Japanese Magic Straight Perm

Get a part time job

Go on an internship

Okinawa

Japanese Clubbing

Backpacking

Comedy Show

Try Street Snap

Maid Cafe

Go to at least one restaurant that got introduced in Arashi shows

Eat Sardine Soba にしん蕎麦

Eat at Caprichoza カプリチョーザ

Eat Horse Sashimi 馬刺し

Tokyo Modern Art Museum 東京現代美術館

Go watch a TV show as one of the audience

Go to the temples around my house area

Eat Tempura Rice Ball 天むす

Eat Blow Fish Sashimi ふぐ刺し

Eat Fish Sperm (sounds disgusting i know) 白子

Try getting a decorating nail in Japan

Japanese Gay Bar オカマバー

Go up Tokyo Tower

Takarazuka 宝塚

Go see AKB48

Go see Sky Tree

Go to Aiba's restaurant

Climb a mountain (Mt.fuji)

Arashi Bar

Niconico cafe/ Niconico Bar
Go to Tokyo Disney Land / Sea
Watch Japanese Musical (Cats)
Ghibli Museum 
Host Club 
Kamakura/Enoshima
Imperial Palace
Nippori Station
Hakone (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hakone,_Kanagawa)
Yoyogi Park
Shinjuku-Gyoen (for Hanami Plum blossom viewing)
See a Bunraku performance
Visit Tokyo-Daigaku 
Ueno Zoo/ Aquarium
Tokyo Bay Boat Cruise
So-kei Sen Baseball Game
Watch Pro Baseball Game 
Cake Buffet
アフレコカフェ
Visit the Canadian Embassay
Go to Hiroshima
Cat Cafe
Perfume Concert
Fuji-Q Amusement Park
Kichijyouji
Morning Tsukiji
Odaiba
Kyushu Area
Hiraizumi - Iwate Prefecture
Kakunodate - Akita Prefecture
Kishiwasa - Carnation Tour

Photography Club: Nippori/Ueno/Yanaka

 

I went to go take pictures of muscular men the other day.

Just kidding, my friends from my zemi and I went to take some pictures at the Nippori/Ueno/Yanaka.

I've been to Nippori before but this time I got to spend more time at one place to take pictures.

We first started off at Ueno.

In ueno they have museums and zoo.

Didn't end up going to any of the above but walked around the parks and took pictures.

Gross pigeons. Cherp cherp.

They also have temples in the parks.

You need to wash your hands when entering temples.

Hatsumoude: First shrine visit of the year!

Hatsumoude is a Japanese tradition where people visit the shrines in New Years.

It's usually done to make a new years wish and to buy these little bags with papers in it (called omamori) to have a great rest of the year.

This year I went to hatsumoude in Osaka as well but also went with my zemi friends!

We went to Kamakura this time which is just a little west from Tokyo. 

Even though a week has past since the new years, there were still many people at the shrine.

People write their wish on these boards and put it up.

This is called an ema.

We also wrote one as well with everyone's name on it!

The shrine, the drums, the ema, and the people.

They also have little booths like this that sells food. This one is for mini potatoes!

We then walked around the Kamakura city to eat lunch.

Ended up not eating anything here but just walking around and looking at the very energetic city.

Apparently beautiful cherry blossoms bloom here in the spring.

We then visited the hugge daibutsu. 

Some old men wanted us to take pictures of them :)

Look at this very curly hair.

This Daibutsu has wings!

(You can climb inside this daibutsu and look out this window)

They also have very cute trains that looks like this that takes u around the city.

I bought this purple sweet potato and maccha green tea ice cream!

My friends also bought some ice cream and sweet potato fried croquette as well. 

This is my omurice I ate for lunch.

It was a very lovely mini trip from Tokyo to Kamakura.

It's only like an hour away and u get to experience the very japanese scenery.

New years in Osaka!

After leaving Hiroshima, I went to Osaka to visit my grandparents and cousins to spend new years with them.

New years in Japan is very important as the first three days after countdown is for family. 

People stay at home and eat, play games, and visit temples :)

So that's what I did this year!

I first visited the Fushimi Inari Temple in Kyoto.

This temple is known for the amount of Torii.

My couin in the middle of the Torii.

And we climbed up this temple/mountain at night so I got to take a really nice night scape of kyoto and osaka. 

On new years we ate osechi which is a tradtional meal we eat in new years.

Each food has meanings, such as "Long life" "Having healthy kids".

My grandma made half of the osechi and ordered the other at a restaurant.