Masayume: My Life in Awesome Tokyo

はつたいけん

Sat, 26 May 2012 22:30:23 +0800

とうきょうのきゅうきゅうしゃ。
たんせきしょう。

Oh my gawdddd!! I took a 90-min long journey to Saitama’s...

Fri, 25 May 2012 14:59:18 +0800

Oh my gawdddd!! I took a 90-min long journey to Saitama’s Museum of Modern Art just to see Kusama’s exhibition but it’s closed! (Taken with Instagram at 埼玉県立近代美術館)

My favourite dishes over the past month. Food should be kept...

Sun, 13 May 2012 22:40:00 +0800

My favourite dishes over the past month.

Food should be kept simple.

Home and back

Sat, 12 May 2012 21:24:00 +0800

It’s been a week since I returned from my 12-day trip back home.

The trip was good, as I managed to catch up with my dearest luv, my family and my closest friends.

A lot of things have changed at home recently, and it’s been a rather trying period for everyone. Through the 12 days, I felt like I had learnt a lot about life, saw many things that made me understand more about myself and the people around me, and forged stronger ties with my loved ones. This journey home felt like a journey through life.

“A man travels the world over in search of what he needs, and returns home to find it.” - George Moore

Very apt.

How i spend my off day. Taking it nice and slow, reading and...

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 16:22:56 +0800

How i spend my off day. Taking it nice and slow, reading and studying about Kashiwa Sato and Japanese advertising giant, Hakuhodo. (Taken with Instagram at EXCELSIOR CAFFE 三田店)

The Sakura season is here! I finally saw it! I’ve been to...

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 18:59:27 +0800

The Sakura season is here! I finally saw it! I’ve been to Japan so many times but this is the first time I actually came close to those beautiful cherry blossoms! And when I first came to Nakameguro many years ago during which I was flying, I told myself that if I had the chance to live in Tokyo, I would want to live in Nakameguro because of the famous cherry blossom trees lining along the Meguro River. And so here I am, living in this beautiful neighbourhood and fulfilling my dream!

On another note, I think spring indeed has an effect on people. I noticed that people are more cheerful and positive compared to during winter. People’s moods are definitely swayed by the climate!

Resting and striking a balance.

Fri, 23 Mar 2012 19:50:00 +0800

I’m happy that Daddy’s getting much better now! At least I have a better peace of mind.

Gonna head home for about 10 days over Golden Week to see my family. The tickets are SO expensive! Burnt a huge hole in my pocket.

Gonna have less dinner outings and do more free activities! Sakura is blooming soon, time for walks in my beautiful neighbourhood! Can’t wait~!

Halfpipe: checked! (Taken with Instagram at 石打丸山スキー場)

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 15:07:59 +0800

Halfpipe: checked! (Taken with Instagram at 石打丸山スキー場)

On the way to my last snowboarding ride of the season!...

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 05:50:29 +0800

On the way to my last snowboarding ride of the season! Lovin’ my Suica ekiben (shinkansen-limited ‘Bento’ mealbox!) (Taken with Instagram at JR Joetsu Shinkansen Max (上越新幹線))

2 months into 2012...

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 11:34:45 +0800

Wow, it’s been more than 60 days since my last post. I’ve been keeping myself occupied (rather, busy!)

My dear friends & my dearest Kev have come and gone…

Snow season came and is almost gonna be over… Explored Yamagata Zao, Joetsu Kokusai, Kagura… and possibly Naeba and Kandatsu for some spring snow next week.

Went back home for a visit over Chinese New Year and spent some time with my dearest family…

But something that took all of us by surprise happened last Saturday when my dad suddenly got a stroke and went to hospital…

He’s much better now, and as my sister & I have discussed, he’s been blessed with heaven’s mercy, as his physical ability is still strong, just that he now has some problems communicating what he wants to say. It’s probably the slightest stroke damage that anyone could receive, I guess. So it’s just his brain processing system we need to work on. Linking, storing, and retrieving information… and through this, I really feel the need to understand the brain a lot more.

But of course, we are hoping, and praying for the day he recovers fully and can function in his daily activities while being able to communicate what he wants to say.

I guess it will never be the same again, and that’s what hurts me the most.. but we can work on it, and things can be helped (which is a relief..)

I feel bad that I am here while everyone back at home is trying their best to help…

I’m rethinking through my length of stay here..and perhaps I might have to go back home soon..

Anyway.

My prayer for my dearest Papa..

Please get well soon & I miss you!

Day one of 2012

Sun, 01 Jan 2012 18:01:11 +0800

Exciting start to the new year:

1) Experienced power outage twice in our pension’s room in Nikko (not like I didn’t have enough of it in my own room due to an overuse of the heater during winter.. haha)

2) Brisk-walked half-way across Nikko in about 15mins so that we didn’t miss our train. A power workout to start the year?

3) Lost my scarf (it disappeared mysteriously…)

4) Experienced a 4.9M earthquake while on the subway. Didn’t quite feel it but it apparently caused quite a bit of hoo-ha. The quake was 7M at the epicentre which was somewhere in the sea. But at least nothing happened. Just a little weird way to start the year.

5) Forgot to take my luggage (which I left on the overhead rack) in the train. Had to report to lost-and-found and took a round-trip to Jiyugaoka to retrieve the bag. (Well, the good thing is that I got it back!)

6) Almost burnt my curtain with the full-blast heater in the room. (Almost, phew!)

Let this just be a little interesting way to start the year. Not to continue like this please… haha.

GOOD YEAR AHEAD!!! ヾ*(◕ั◡◕ั)*ﾟノ

Finally got the chance to experience traditional Japanese new...

Sun, 01 Jan 2012 17:47:24 +0800

Finally got the chance to experience traditional Japanese new year! It’s a little like Chinese new year back home, just that the Japanese one is celebrated according to Western calendar (Jan 01) while the Chinese one follows the Lunar calendar (Jan 22). I love the festive feeling!

Last sunset of 2011 (Taken with Instagram at JR日光駅 (JR Nikko...

Sat, 31 Dec 2011 15:25:57 +0800

Last sunset of 2011 (Taken with Instagram at JR日光駅 (JR Nikko Station))

Last post of the year!

Sat, 31 Dec 2011 11:31:31 +0800

It’s the last day of 2011!!

It’s been a year filled with many events, emotions and excitement!

Just to sum up my year:

- Probably the biggest thing I did this year, I moved to Tokyo!!!! I went through a lot of very tough decisions, such as considering about life after post-quake Japan and talking my parents and loved ones into this decision.. Starting out here was really very tough, but I’m glad I went through all of it all on my own. It definitely made me stronger and I’ll never forget the sort of satisfaction I felt after setting everything up with my own brain and hands. Just a little wasted to give up the amount of effort I have put in after such a short time (‘cos I can’t stay here for long due to various reasons…. ) Nonetheless, I’ll definitely maximise my time here. Never felt more satisfied with my living environment. :)

- After living here, I really start to see who really means to me and who doesn’t. Some friends really make my life miserable and I should really stop wasting time with them.

- Another milestone marked in my life: Kevin and I got a place together! We’ll only move in in 2015 but here’s a good start eh?

- Not really a milestone, but erm, I have a new ‘title’? I am officially an aunt. My sis has a little baby and here I am, Aunt Mel! Scary title haha but I guess that means I’m up one level? Hahaha. But I must really learn to like kids more. Hope that comes a little more naturally. Haha.

- I’ve been blessed with meeting SMAP with my amazing luck that I think it got a little scary? Hahaha.. I have friends who have tried all their life to meet them but never did. But i met them in flesh 4 times this year. Even touched their hands and met eye-to-eye. A lot of people never really understood why I liked SMAP but the one thing that I really look up to is the way they have worked so hard to reach their level of success. They honestly don’t really have the best talents in the world, which makes them just like everyone else, just like anyone of us, eh? And yet with proper hardwork, you’ll get to what you can do. And that’s what I want to achieve as well. I may not have skills and I am honestly not talented, but I just want to do the best in whatever I can do (that 一生懸命spirit that I told myself to learn from the Japanese- part of the personal spiritual reason for me moving here)..So yup, seeing in flesh what 一生懸命 means makes it more of a reason for me to charge ahead in that spirit.

I’m not sure if I really want this wonderful year to end, but I’ll be looking forward to even better things in 2012! Just don’t believe in the New World Order and I think we’ll be fine eh?

Some things I would want to do better this year. Not gonna label them as ‘new year resolutions’ just they’ll probably be jinxed to not materialise hahahaha. Anyway, I just want to work these things out better this coming year:

- Decide on my future plans. Masters? Next career plan?

- Seriously consider brushing up on my Japanese. I reaaaaaallllyyyy hate feeling like an idiot sometimes. And I really want to communicate better in the language. So far i have been feeling rather half-assed. テキトー？

- Be more organised, multi-task better, stop stressing over small things and be more ‘mame’ as how they say it in Japanese (which means being more in-tuned with and on-top-of things).

Guess that’s it. Have a great year ahead!

もうすぐ正月が来る〜

Thu, 29 Dec 2011 08:23:49 +0800

昨日は今年最後の勤務です！今日から、来週の金曜日まで８日間の年末年始のお休みですよ〜！

いっぱい活動がありますね〜日光へ行ったり、キンキのコンサートへ見に行ったり、友達とディナーなど予定が埋まりつつある。楽しみですね！テレビで红白とか、CDTVとか、サンタクなど見れるよ〜！

今年はとってもSMAPにとって運の良い年だったね。一年でSMAPさんと４回会えました。素晴らしい運命だわ〜！

来年もこんなにいい運が続くかな？祈ります！(^人^)

My Christmas in Tokyo! I felt so happy when my friends, Sawako...

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 18:01:56 +0800

My Christmas in Tokyo!

I felt so happy when my friends, Sawako and Hama came over on Xmas eve to join Serene & Siru (and Siru’s friend) for crab hotpot (which translates to kaninabe heheheh!!) We had a jolly good time stuffing ourselves with food (which was way too much even for a second round of tomyum kaninabe on Xmas night)!

It was great seeing my family on Skype later in the evening too! (◍•ᴗ•◍)♡♬

Have I mentioned that I’m going Senbei-manic ever since I...

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 11:19:14 +0800

Have I mentioned that I’m going Senbei-manic ever since I moved here? Gonna try senbei everywhere I go!!

Had a fabulous, relaxing time with my dear friends Serene &...

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 11:04:00 +0800

Had a fabulous, relaxing time with my dear friends Serene & Siru at Shizuka Ryokan, Atami! This place is RECOMMENDED!

Had a great time doing pottery at Do 陶芸館 in Atami! It’s...

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 15:03:00 +0800

Had a great time doing pottery at Do 陶芸館 in Atami! It’s been such a long time since I last did it, so it’s really awesome to restart it! Shall consider doing it regularly here…

My first time visiting SmapShop in person!!

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 20:11:00 +0800

My first time visiting SmapShop in person!!