photo album

If you'd like to see pictures of Japan here they are:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wadanoa/

So long, far well...

Coming back to Canada was a long journey. It took me about 14 hours to get back plus 7 hours of airport waiting time. It was worth it though! I really didn't think I would miss Canada that much but I did.


I started to feel claustophobic after staying there for 3 weeks. All the residential streets were one lane. So if you were to be going through the lane and someone was turning, one of you guys would have to back up to get in.

The toilets there were annoying too. There was one where you would have to squat aka squat toilets. I really hated these ones because I'm so used to the western ones.
I'm sure you've heard of Japanese toilets before. The seats are always warm and most come with bidets. With a touch of a button you can avoid a rustygate.
Don't know what a rusty gate is? Click here to learn more from urban dictionary.

One huge factor I missed about Canada was central heating. Although the temperature in Japan was not so cold (usually around 6-10 degrees Celsius), it was easy to catch a cold because of the lack warm air distributed throughout the house. When going to the washroom in the apartment, I saw my own breath! And because gas and electricity is more expensive there, they have to conserve as much energy as they can.

So what happened the last few days of Japan? Why the absence of blog entries?

Well I was hit with a fever. It was quite ironic because that very same day I went the shrine with my grandfather and prayed for good health for the new year. He told me to cover my body with incense smoke to prevent myself from getting sick. I found people starting to get overboard with these sorts of rituals. In the parking lot, I saw the people from the temple give blessing to the cars as they held onto a stick that draped sacred white rags. The idea of it seemed farfetched but then again I didn't want to say anything in order to respect the Japanese culture. There was even one room, where there was a god that looked over your prized possessions. My aunt asked if I had my wallet so they could bless it. Unfortunately, I didn't so I didn't end up participating but rather I observed in the back with my grandfather.

So over the next four days after new years, I stayed over at my aunt's house. My aunt is a dog breeder so she has about 30 dogs! The dogs are kept in a seperate house in the back so it doesn't stink up the place. She keeps the puppies and a big-headed French bull dog in the main house.

It's head is like 1/3 of it's body! lol

I remember this dog the last time I came here because I named it four years ago when it was just born. I named it after a soft white Japanese candy called Milky.

I took a few pictures of the pups. There were three types: Duchshund, Terrier and Chihuahua and I believe miniature schnautzers.

The last few days spent with my family were great. Its a little sad to think that I won't be seeing them for a while. I usually visit ever 5 years which isn't a lot. Visiting my family at this age has made me realize many things too, like how my mom and her family always like to joke around. No wonder she's such a goofball! Or the fact that I'd rather live in Toronto because of the open space, diversity, privacy and laid back lifestyle. Good to be back to home sweet home =)

That's all for now, thanks for reading and until next time. Wow that sounds as cheesy as a reading rainbow slogan.

Dragon Ball

While I was sick my cousin entertained me with his dragon ball obsession. He would wear his pjs and would think that he was one of the characters. Isn't it great being a kid? I can't remember the last time I wore a costume on a day that it was Halloween. Apparently, it's quite common here in Japan though. It's called cosu-purai (short for costume-play).

Happy New Year everyone!

Happy New Year!! I hope you are all enjoying 2009!

I have actually caught a cold here in Japan underestimating the weather. I always compare the weather to Canada so I always tell myself it's not cold when it really is. The temperature is usually 8-10 degrees Celsius. So here I am bedridden typing in my blog.

I don't have pics uploaded onto the computer yet so I won't be putting pics on this post.
For the New Years I went to a nearby shrine with my family where a huge line up of people were waiting to give their prayers and ring the bell. Another thing we did was make mochi (rice cake). It's a tradition in Japan to make mochi together for New Years. So what you do is get hot steamed rice, put it a bowl and hammer it until the rice grains fuse together. Here is a video of my cousin taking part in the ritual:



They gave out the mochi for free and flavoured it with soybean powder. They also gave us free cups of sweet rice wine which I thought tasted kinda gross. There was also a fire to keep everyone warm because we were outdoors for a while.

Well that's it for now, I'll put pics up when I get the chance!