Japan trip - Shizuoka and Tokyo

I went to Japan to see my family in May.  

I left Japan 20 years ago. 

The price of the food is really affordable if you choose. For breakfast, I had rice, miso soup, salmon, and pickles set for only 500 yen or so, I bought a ticket at the machine and gave it to the lady who works by herself cooking, serving, clean up, doing everything! There were at least 8 customers including me. She was working hard. at 8:00 AM it was the peak time serving for guys before going to work. After everybody left, I told her, "You were doing all by yourself, what a hard worker you are!" 

I didn't take a picture of the food. Too bad.

On the other hand, expensive food like this one a cake for 780 yen 810 yen with tax exists. It was good though.

Potato cake (heavy and filled me up) 

I stayed at Shizuoka where Mt. Fuji is, and also my family. In Tokyo, I stayed at Shin Okubo (near Shinjuku). This area is a Korean town in Tokyo. I booked at booking.com the rate was 8500 yen a night. I met up with my brother to visit my dad and grandma at the graveyard. After that, I went to Yurakucho to see my friend. 

When I got off the station, I thought I was in Harajuku. There were tons of teenagers who love K-pop (Korean pop idol group) like BTS and Twice.

I took Shinkansen to go to Shizuoka. It takes only one hour. The day I got to Japan was raining hard. I couldn't see anything but on the way back to Tokyo, I could see Mt. Fuji very clear.

Mt. Fuji from Shinkansen.

The view of Shizuoka

Shizuoka Oden: Shizuoka's soul food.

The statue from Kita san Yaji san: Travelers who walked all over Japan in the Edo era. (Fiction)

Some Shrine near Shizuoka Station.

Japanese Korean Town in Tokyo Shinokubo

Shin Okubo is filled with young people but is hard to see in this picture.

Omoide (memory) yokocho at Shinjuku. I love a little street like this.

Boba at Shin Okubo. 

I had Takoyaki (Octopus ball) final snack before leaving Japan at Narita.

Reserve your flight and hotel! Booking.com 

Gift for Dad 

Gift for Dad
by peacewing

Spark Joy or not? Tidying Up With Marie Kondo

I read a buzz about Marie Kondo's Netflix show so I watched the first episode yesterday. Marie Kondo is very famous in Japan and she's called "Konmari" in short. I've read her book once or twice and I tried her method, (don't ask me if it worked or not) but after I've watched it, and I actually wrote about her book 3 years ago and I totally skipped the most important thing she's talking about.

"Does it spark joy or not for you?"

I have watched the first episode with a young couple with two little adorable children in a beautiful house. Their house doesn't look so bad but got a lot of junk.

Before starting tidying up the house, Marie Kondo sits down on the floor in the house and greet to the house, like meditating.

Then, take out all the clothes you have and put into one pile

Next, take the clothes one by one in your hand and see if that particular thing spark joy or not. If not, you say "thank you" and say goodbye.

She separates into four categories; Clothes, Paper, Miscellaneous, Sentimental (maybe wrong, but something like that) and does (let the family do) the same method.

After completing the cleaning, everybody's life gets better with extra space, and most of all, they can live life with something sparks joy for you.


By the way, 1/21/19 was a full moon, but not the usual full moon, it was

SUPER BLOOD WOLF MOON

within the spiritual people, we wish to the moon twice a month. Once at the new moon,  then at the full moon. You make a wish at the new moon and at the full moon, you let go your old thought that you don't need like negative thoughts, and see how you're doing towards your wish.

so until the next new moon which is Feb 4th, 2019, it's a good time to let go that doesn't spark joy for you.

Carton Box Compost for the small area gardening

I have a little gardening space in front of my apartment. I planted tomatoes, watermelon, but the soil is poor, and space on my side is shady, I planted flowers but they would not grow another flower bulb or just withered.

I wanted to try "Cartonbox Compost" I read in Japanese. It's a compost system made in a carton box so it doesn't need big space, you can put fruit rind, peel, vegetable scraps, it's eco, environmental, so I tried.

You need,

1) Carton box, you need one more layer of carton box at the bottom for the extra reinforcement.

2), 3) Peat Moss and Charcoal (ground) ratio 2:1



Espoma PTM8 8-Quart Organic Peat Moss




Wakefield Biochar Soil Conditioner - Premium - 1 lb Bag

4) Mix with vegetable/ fruit/food waste and mix every day.

5) Cover with big t-shirts the box to prevent bugs to get inside.

6) Put the box on an upside-down basket or grates for the airflow under the box.

in 2-3 weeks, the compost is ready!

You are supposed to use "Rice husk charcoal" but I couldn't find it. Maybe this is the closest one, it's not the charcoal though.




Rice Hulls - Organic Use - Weed Free - 1lb Bag

If the compost is successful, it gets fermented and warm. You might find some fruit flies, bugs, when you find those, add some rice hulls or fish guts to make compost extra fermented and kill off the bugs, or I sprayed some essential oil (like peppermint),  with alcohol and water mixture.

What Halloween Costume are you gonna wear this year?

Shop early for the Halloween Costume

Halloween is coming soon. I just went to Costco and Target with my 7 years old daughter. She is not in a "Princess Phase" anymore. Last year, she became a wonder women, this year, she wanted to be Jojo Siwa, or something cute and scary but Costco didn't have her size already! She took a witch costume but she didn't click on it so we went to Target. I was surprised her size was out already, I didn't ask the store so not sure if they are really out or not, but my daughter wanted to buy the Descendant costume and wig. We went home and try out but she didn't like it, so we went back to exchange for target brand (hyde and eek) Magical fawn costume. It's not a princess but it's cute and girly.

Time to put on last year's costume on eBay

I tried posting on eBay for the first time. I just sold one Mario Brothers two listing still there. It's good to buy pre-owned because it's cheaper and better for the environment. 

Wonder Woman Costume 4 -6 years old girl

What's this 2018 trend?

Judging from what my kids like for now, maybe Fortnite and Jojo Siwa would be hot this year?

Have a happy halloween!

The Third Door - Book Review - (audible) by Alex Banayan

A Japanese aura reader blogged about this book (in Japanese) so I wanted to read this. I'm Japanese too so honestly, it takes a long time to read in English for me. The Japanese bloger heard the book using Audible so I did the same thing too.

I listened to it in a day! (8 hours) but I was doing something here and there at the same time so some parts didn't come into my head so I'm listing to it with my 12-year-old son. I forced him to listen to it with me 1 or 2 chapters a day. I like audible. The author himself was reading it. The real chapter and audible chapter is different and I don't know why.

It was a really inspirational story. This young guy wanted to interview well known successful people like Bill Gates when he was an aspiring USC pre-med student, unsure with what he really wanted to do, and what to do, he decided to go on a quiz show, The Price is Right, which he has never seen completly and he won with his brief research and tactics at the spot! He got a prize and sold it as a fund for his mission. That episode alone was pretty amazing, he interviewed so many successful people over the years and finally published his book!

He had some hard rejection, of course. You can't just meet anybody who says wants to interview you without credible background and benefit, all the more if you are really well known and powerful people like Bill Gates, Mark Zukerburg, or Warren Buffet. Or, I read people around well known successful people has very protective administration around them.

He tried to connect with other successful people less known to the publics but huge on a field. I liked the story of Qi Lu. He's a legend softwere engenner worked for Microsoft, Yahoo, Skype and more. He is from China and born from poor village but he was really smart and sleeps only a little to work alot more. He couldn't afford to pay $60 test to go study in the United States because he only got paid $7.00 a month. One day, a professor from the U.S. came to his university and because he was there and had some reserch paper to show, he was invited to goto the Carnegy Melon University with full scalorship! Qi says, "Luck is like a bus. If you missed it, it will come again, but you have be prepared for it."

I urged to use my "Qi Time" to grab a chance and be prepared for it.

I lked the story when Alex became an entrage for Eric and went to New York and Utah.  I aslo liked the interview with Jessica Alba, she is beautiful inside and out.

Alex seems like traveling all over the world recently to give a speech to motivate people. I wonder what's his next mission is. I wonder if he can get an interview with who he couldn't before like Warren Buffet and Mark Zuckerburg now.

French Toast with French Bread

French bread gets dried and hard just after a few hours if you left out, You might cut your mouth if you’re  eating this as it is but you can make the best French toast out of this! I mean I can’t eat other French toast anymore.

About 1/3 of French toast Cut into slices

Soak into the mixture of these

1egg
3/4 cup of milk (about 170 cc)
1 tablespoon of sugar
cinnamon (optional)

You flip the bread and coat with the mixture.

Heat up the frying pan, put some oil, maybe some butter and cook for a few minutes each both sides.

Put on the plates, enjoy with butter and powdered sugar.

Non-Stick Frying pan

Salmon Teriyaki dinner at home

Salmon Teriyaki with rice, miso soup, vegetable

This salmon Teriyaki is very easy. No marinade necessary.

 First, mix these to make a sauce and set aside.

 1 Tablespoon of Soy Sauce
 1 Tablespoon each of water and sweet sake
 1 Teaspoon of Sugar
hint of grated ginger (optional)

Heat up frying pan, coat with oil, Place the salmon, skin-side up in the pan. Cook until golden brown on 1 side. Turn the fish over with a spatula, and cook until it feels firm to the touch and the skin is crisp if desired.

Add the sauce, cook till the sauce get a little thicker. Serve with cooked rice and enjoy!

Here's Mirin (Sweet Sake) you can use white wine instead.