Tanabata Matsuri

This should be a last week story, but this week I'm too busy sorting our things and make a lot of lists for our moving out (#_#)

Tanabata (七夕, tanabata), meaning "Evening of the seventh") is a Japanese star festival, derived from the Chinese star festival, Qi Xi (七夕 "The Night of Sevens")．

It celebrates the meeting of Orihime (Vega) and Hikoboshi (Altair). The Milky Way, a river made from stars that crosses the sky, separates these lovers, and they are allowed to meet only once a year on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month of the lunisolar calendar. Since the stars come out at night, the celebration is held at night.
Source: Wikipedia

We spent this year's Tanabata Matsuri at the hospital for Iki's yearly check up. People can hang their wishes on small decoration trees there because Japanese believe that they would be fulfilled. It was in hospital, so most wishes written are "getting well soon" papers.

Sendai is famous for hosting the biggest Tanabata Matsuri in Japan, which interestingly is held on 6-8 August instead of 7 July.

The Sendai Tanabata festival began shortly after the city was founded in the early Edo Period. The Tanabata festival gradually developed and became larger over the years. Although the festival's popularity started to dwindle after the Meiji Restoration, and almost disappeared during the economic depression that occurred after World War I, volunteers in Sendai revived the festival in 1928 and established the tradition of holding the festival from August 6 to August 8.

During World War II it was impossible to hold the festival, and almost no decorations were seen in the city from 1943 to 1945, but after the war, the first major Tanabata festival in Sendai was held in 1946, and featured 52 decorations. In 1947, the Showa Emperor Hirohito visited Sendai and was greeted by 5,000 Tanabata decorations. The festival subsequently developed into one of the three major summer festivals in the Tohoku region and became a major tourist attraction. The festival now includes a fireworks show that is held on August 5.
Source: Wikipedia

Every shop along the main matsuri's street prepared their own kusudama (ornamental ball). These are some famous shops' kusudama.

Softbank's:

Starbucks':

Adidas':

au's:

Also amos':

There are famous anime's characters' kusudama too. Like Pikachu's:

This is us with the kusudama

And this one is Tanabata's bamboo trees decoration at Sendai's station (Iya Pre, tanganku emang ketok guede disini hahaha)

Similar with other Matsuri, there were also lots of children's traditional games. This one is taking superballs for 500 yen (expensive!!!). Iki was not patient enough to wait so he almost got inside the pool and wanted to take the balls by his hands (@_@)

And also catching small fishes. Iki really wanted to do this game but I didn't want him too. Well, what would I do with that small fish if he could get one?! Bringing it along to Tokyo?! No way!. And I was pretty sure he would cry if he couldn't get any fish hahaha

We really enjoyed that matsuri. Oh...we did shop too!!! Look at Iki with his huge shopping bag!

Thank you for accompanying us between your busy time, Mee-chan (^_^)

"Jatuh Cinta"

Today was a single day out again (^_^), but this time I went out with my good friend, Aki-chan. Actually it should be the three of us: me, Aki-chan, and Na Young-chan; but last midnight Na young's son got very high fever that she couldn't join us today.

Iki's grandparents picked him up in the morning, so we started at about 11 o'clock. We went to Roponggi Hill first, had some windows shopping and lunch there. Surprisingly there were not many people on Sunday in Tokyo. It's now Obon holiday so most people go to their hometowns.

This was my lunch. My fave Carbonara spaghetti. It was good!!



Then we went to Roponggi Midtown, a very fashionable shopping center in Tokyo. There I fell in love with this bag. It has a unique shape - and I always love the unusual goodies!!



The rope can be extended, and voila!! Suitable for a fashionable mom who likes to go around - either for shopping or traveling :p. An all-in-one unique bag.



But that thing is for damn 63,000 JPY = about 630 USD.... (_ _o). My heart was broken when I saw the price tag....(though Aki-chan said cheerfully: hey...but you will have to pay 100,000 JPY = about 1000 USD for a small Louis Vuitton bag, and almost everyone in Tokyo is bringing it around!!! - pasaran gitu lohh)

Moreover, I'm moving to a small town in Indonesia that I won't need such an expensive bag (sadly...). But again Aki-chan said: Oh come on...you have to stay 'fashionable' wherever you live. Just be yourself!!.
Damn, she really made me 'on fire'!

Oh yeahhh....I do fall in love that I couldn't let that damn bag out of my mind (T_T). But it is damn expensive and I just DON'T need it. Anyway I had a picture of myself bringing it, and that's enough for a sweet memory with a bag hahahaha. I think I will buy a sewing machine and try to make a similar bag for myself later on :)). You know...woman and her weakness towards 'pretty goodies' :p. I definitely will forget it as soon as I have another day out and see another pretty bags hahaha.

The most important is that I had so much fun today. Aki-chan is a great shopping partner :p. Time run fast, and surprisingly we spent like 6 hours in Roponggi today. We visited Na Young on our way home too. Poor Kenshin was very weak (and very HOT). Waiting forward for our next "single day out".

Next destination: GINZA.
Papa-chan, be ready to see my credit card bill :p

Hanabi (Fireworks) in Sendai

Iki longed to see Hanabi but the ones in Tokyo are way too crowded, and too far from our place. That's why we were so happy to get the chance to see the Hanabi in Sendai last week.

We decided to walk from our hotel to feel the festival aura. There were lots of people, mostly wore yukata, heading to the hanabi area. At first we thought that we would join some Indonesian students there, but it was too crowded that we couldn't cross the road. At last we decided to find another strategic place to see the fireworks. Which luckily we found! Though there were bunch of small trees covering the small fireworks, we could still see the big amazing fireworks clearly from our place.



We bought some festival's food specialty like yaki soba (Japanese fried noodle), onigiri, yaki tori, boiled edamame, cotton candy, and a huge paper cup of draught beer for me :p

Look at Mee-chan enjoying the cotton candy



Iki-chan saw many people walking around bringing balloon so he also wanted one. It was too crowded so Mee-chan came to a girl in Yukata bringing a balloon to ask where did she buy it. But surprisingly she gave the balloon to Mee-chan hahaha. Iki-chan was of course very happy :p



We couldn't get good shot of the fireworks. I didn't get any!!! Blame my old camera hahaha (or it was ME who didn't know how to take a good shot?!). But Mee-chan sent me some so here it is :)



The hanabi was amazing. It was really big, and beautiful. I could hear lots of "sugooooi" (great), "kireeeei" (beautiful) screams from the crowd around me.



Here is another one:



It was an unforgettable night. Thank you, Mee-chan (^_^). We really really enjoyed it!!

Beijing Olympics

I am now watching the opening ceremony. It is really spectacular. I just realised that there are many countries I've never heard before hahaha. Let's say: Lesotho. Where is it? what kind of country is it?.
I could hear such new countries for my ears only from this kind of international event.

Shinkansen

We just got back from Sendai today. It took about 1.5 hours trip by Shinkansen. Iki was excited to ride a shinkansen again that he became very very active!



Lately Iki usually gets his own seat inside an airplane. He also sits on his baby seat in the car. That's why this time he also wanted to sit on his own seat inside the Shinkansen, which was impossible because I only bought one ticket (>.<). He was upset and made a lot of noises.... Until then the woman sitting in front of us got mad. She stood up and rudely said: "Urusai!!" (= noisy!!). I said really really sorry but she continued: "Kodomo to Shinkansen de noranaide kudasai!" (= please don't ride Shinkansen with a kid). Which for me was really rude. COME ON!!! There's no rule that a kid is not allowed to ride a Shinkansen!!! GRRRHHHH
Anyway I said sorry again, because I realised that Iki's behavior disturbed other people. But because I was hurt with that woman statement I said sorry again and added sarcastically: "Sumimasen....Nihon-jin wa yasashii to omotta!" (=sorry, I thought Japanese are friendly!)

Which made an old lady sitting behind told me not to worry. That she might have no child that she didn't know how it feels travelling with a kid. I said thank you to her and walked away. I was really sad and hurt.

A foreigner sitting on the front side of that compartment then talked to me. He said that it's a public secret that many Japanese are not friendly towards kids. Which actually I know :p. They rarely helped me out when I got difficulty pulling out the-stucked-stroller-between-the-railway, for example; or giving me "annoyed" eyes if I get inside a train with a stroller. Noone ever gave me a seat on the train eventhough I hugged a heavy-active-kid, they would just pretend to sleep deeply (but amazingly woke up at their arrival stations). But I just didn't expect someone bursted out such a rude statement to me. It's like a slap on my face (@_@).

What a bad ending of my fun getaway to Sendai!!!!!

I had lunch with my mother in law at Ikebukuro and this is what she said when she heard the story: "That's why you shouldn't travel by yourself. If you went to Sendai with ME, someone wouldn't dare to say such thing!" hahahaha. Yeah right!!!


PS: Fun stories about Sendai are coming soon (^_^)

Fun Sunday

We spent our Sunday afternoon at Keiko's (Sakurako's mom) house. Iki-chan and the 4 girls enjoyed playing together, especially in the big plastic pool they prepared for the kids to play in.



They ate ice cream, glasses of ice tea, and boiled corn. I felt so good watching them enjoying themselves!



It was damn hot, the kids had fun with the cool water meanwhile the parents were sweating a lot. The sun was really unbearable. I love sunshine, I love summer, but my skin just couldn't take it anymore. It's painful now :(

After everyone got hungry then we went upstairs to have dinner. The kids loved playing here too, because Sakurako has looots of toys. What a lucky rich girl hahaha



The kids can play together too this time. Look at them working with that hiragana puzzle.



They even sat together during snack time hahaha



Then the kids played with sakurako's father in the other room, while the mothers had some more food, chats and laughes. It was really really fun. Everyone enjoyed the gathering. This would definitely be something I will miss.....!!

Bon-odori

This evening we went to Bon-odori at the station nearby our house with Tomomi's family. At first we passed a jinja (Japanese temple) decorated with many lanterns. We didn't get inside but we could see that there were some people dancing to a traditional Japanese song in the garden.



Then we walked to the matsuri (festival) area. It was full of people that we could hardly move. I regretted bringing Iki's bike, but anyway it was too full that I had to leave it at an empty street nearby. I was "ready" actually if I had to lose that bike :p.

We could see a Taiko's show. It was really interesting. I like to see this kind of performance :)



Even little Iki also enjoyed it.



There were many food stalls and children games along the street but we didn't do many games. It was very hot so we bought kakigori (? is it correct) - shaved ice with syrup on top; and some cans of beers. Drinking beers on that very hot weather was heaven!



Iki-chan did some children game too, the easy one. Like choosing a rope tied to a toy for 100 yen. Iki wanted a mini car, but he got a mickey's shape necklace instead hahaha. He gave me a very dissapointed face :p

Then we did this water balloon catching using paper string. We must not brake the paper string to take that balloon, which I successfully did!



But Iki then just pulled the paper string and broke it (>.<) We lost the second chance then. But anyway I could bring home his yellow balloon.



There were also people dancing to the taiko's beat along our way home. It was really fun. And I think it was because we went there with the right people (^_^). Thank you, Tomomi!



Iki-chan also enjoyed that matsuri. I was wondering why he was so quiet on the way home. Tired or sleepy?!
But seemed that he really needed to pee hahaha. After we parked his bike, he said "toilettt toilettt, oshiko yooo. mama, Iki-chan cannot walk" LOL

Hello and Goodbye

Life is about Hello and Goodbye. Today I got both a very good news and a sad news!

I said "hello" to Kimberly, Yunita's newborn. It's really happy to hear the news, that the baby has finally "arrived" in this world. I'm really waiting forward to see her pictures (^_^), and stories about her.

But I also heard a shockingly sad news. A friend's husband is dead. Well, we are not close friends but we did have a quite long chats everytime we met. And the last time I met her was exactly last week, when she told me that she (and her son) would be very lonely that the husband is moving to another country on Tuesday. She would go to her parents house after sending her husband to the airport and spend the rest of summer holiday there. Her son is a Thomas and Friend's freak too, so his last words to me was "I want to play Thomas with Iki...!!!".
And today I heard the news that the father died in that foreign country....(_ _o). I couldn't imagine that 4 years old talkative boy having no father. So sad....

Yeah...life is really about hello and goodbye.

Tomomi

This afternoon we went to Tomomi's house for lunch. She is a friend who can speak English fluently, and is very very friendly and charming!! Time always flies away quickly whenever we meet!

Iki also enjoyed playing with her son, Aki-kun who is about a year younger. Whenever Aki-kun cried, Iki would came to him and said: "Aki-kun, stop crying yo...let's play car?". He really plays as a big brother hahaha!



They are going to Osaka this Sunday for three weeks. I will definitely miss her!!. Actually tomorrow we plan to go to a summer festival together, but my parents in law are coming over - and I'm not sure how long they will stay here :p.

She invited us to visit them at Osaka, though. And perhaps a trip to Kyoto as well if possible. But I'll just see first how Iki would behave during our trip to Sendai!!

The Lucky One (^_^)

This morning Iki-chan picked up one lucky person who gave comments on this blog's 4th birthday. Thank you for all the comments. Thank you for following my life -oh no, OUR lives through this blog. Thank you for being my best friends through this blog too :)

So...Ehm ehm....look at how Iki-chan chose the lucky person :p



Let's see who he/she is....?!



TADAAA!!!



Congratulations!!!!



Dear Lady in Red, please email me your address. I actually prepared Japanese cool "summer goodie", but I know you are having winter now in Aussie hahahaha. So you'll get special souvenir from my next week trip to Sendai instead (^_^).

Again, congratulations. And thank you for all the comments.

Visiting Rui

We went to Shin-Urayasu today to visit mbak Maria and Rui. The station is just one station after Disneyland's station!!!! The train was loaded with excited kids going to Disneyland. I think I will go to Disneysea later before we leave Japan (^_^), with Mbak Maria and Rui, perhaps? :p

To my surprise, look what Mbak Maria prepared for lunch!!! I couldn't remember how many times did I said "Oh My God!" :p

Nasi Kuning topped with abon sapi and sambal goreng tempe



Siomay



Ayam Goreng



Es Buah



Iki had fun too. He is definitely the quietest among Kiyo and Rui, but he enjoyed playing by himself. That's why I could eat as much possible hahaha. I forgot my diet programme completely today :p



Oh, I also tried Mbak Maria's rodeo. It said that that machine could reduce the waist line (and perhaps my fatty stomach too) so I wanted to give it a try hehehe. I think that machine reduce 1/12 calorie of all the food I ate this afternoon :))



I even brought home some food for our dinner. Iki really loved that nasi kuning and the ayam goreng. He kept saying: "ayam goreng enak, ayam goreng enak yoooo".

At the end of the day, I asked Iki-chan if he was happy today. Sleepily he answered: "very happy. Bu'de gave kakkoi cars". LOL

Thanks a lot for today, Mbak. We definitely will come again (^_^)

Scared

It's raining hard outside. With thunders and lightning, the big ones. We both are really scared. Iki just fell asleep after hugging me tightly while crying for half an hour. I'm afraid to turn my PC on. Even I'm too scared to go to toilet.....

I hate thunders and lightnings.....

Our future neighborhood?

I got these pictures from Hiro this morning.



A house. Not an apartment anymore.
With space where I could have some real gardening. Not on small pots on the veranda anymore.
Perhaps a bit more space where Iki-chan can have a small sand box, or a small plastic pool to play in, or a small slide and a small wooden swing?
Or perhaps a back garden too, where we could have BBQ with our new friends? :p



Look at that! A beautiful lake within walking distance!
And I think city center can be reach by bicycle too :p

Isn't it cool?

Would this place be our future neighborhood?! (^_^) I would love to!!!

A treat to myself

This afternoon I had a late lunch at Ikebukuro alone after cleaning up the house the whole morning (at last! :p). Since Hiro was away, this living room has become our bedroom too. This time of the year I feel lucky that we are using Japanese style bed, that can be fold during the day and moved anywhere easily. We only bought one air conditioner and put it in the living room. I hardly want to go to the other rooms during the day then (read: I don't want to clean those rooms too). Classic reason, because it's very hot there!! :p



Anyway this was a treat to myself today: Chilimenjako to mentaiko spaghetti with Mayonaise (Spaghetti with anchovy and spicy cod roe topped with mayonaise). Something I would never try if I dine out with Hiro :p. I'm leaving Japan soon, so suddenly today I wanted to try something with Japanese' extraordinary menu.



It was shocking at first, but actually it didn't taste bad :). I think those green things you could see on the picture ruined the taste!! (and made my mouth smelly, huh!)

"Busy"

Papa-chan has been away for two weeks. I haven't cried or longed for him yet :p. First because we still could communicate everyday (thanks to Skype), and second because I try to make myself busy and I think I'm successful!

Thanks God I have a lot of friends that keep me "occupied". In a day I could have two appointments with two different groups of friends. By the end of the day then we both are tired already, so that we could enjoy our relaxing night time, and sleep in no difficulty at all.

• I could spend one day going to Saitama to visit Nova and Kiyo.
• I could spend the other day playing at the park with Tateyama, went back home for a shower, and met her again for having lunch together. In the evening then I met Tomomi (with her son, Aki-kun) for some shopping and walking around the neighborhood.
• I could also spend the rest of afternoon having lunch with Keiko and her daughter Sakurako after Iki's swimming class; and then having pizza party for dinner with Aki (with her daughter, Hanon) and Na young (with her son, Kenshin), and went back home a little bit too late :p.
• I even spent my supposed-to-be-staying-at-home Saturday with Tomomi at The Children Support Center today.

Meanwhile I also already have long list of appointments for the coming weeks. Including visiting Iki-chan's grandparents tomorrow, visiting Rui, lunch at my place with Tomomi, meeting Misao, visiting Emmy in Sendai, visiting Aki's new house at Saitama, and going to Ropponggi with Aki and Na Young (minus the kids - we plan to leave them with the grannies!).

I think I must start "thinking" to find some free time for sorting and packing our stuffs already. We are moving out of Japan soon!!!! (^___^)

For you who are still interested to get my blog's 4th birthday giveaway, there's still time to give comment until July 30th. Who knows if you're the lucky one :p!

I actually really want to upload my "busy" days photos with my friends, but Japanese don't like publicity. They won't be happy to see their faces on the web :p

Anyway I'm enjoying my days here. Our last few months of living in Japan. I'm both sad and happy leaving what I already have now. Sad because I have to say goodbye to those very nice friends and in-laws. Happy because we're going to live together again with papa-chan, and start a new life again at a completely new place........


PS: this post is an answer to Diva's emails too. Thanks for making me smile -or laughing everyday :)

Doyou No Ushi No Hi (どようのうしのひ）

Is a day in the middle of super hot summer when people all over Japan eat Unagi (eel). Japanese believe that eating the nutritious Unagi during the very hot summer time can bring back their stamina. If you want to read more about this eel day, this web has the answer (^_^)

I actually had no idea about Unagi day, but was wondering why they were so many unagi(s) displayed at the supermarket yesterday. Today when I had some shopping with a friend and passed the Unagi display, she told me about this Unagi day.

So I bought Unagi obento for our dinner tonight:



Hopefully I will have good stamina (and good mood too!!) to face the rest of summer here (^_^)v

PS: how many times did I mention "hot"??? :p

4th Birthday (^__^) giveaway

Happy birthday, my blog
Happy birthday, my blog
Happy birthday, happy birthday...
Happy birthday, my bloggggg.....

On July 22, four years ago, I finally started this blog after almost everyone at the office had one. Since then this blog has been my best friend, where I could write whatever happened in my life. The happy moments and the crappy ones.

I will send a small "surprise" package to one lucky person who gives comment to this post. Iki-chan will pick up one name on July 31st, so we are waiting forward for your comments until July 30th (^__^).

And this is how we celebrated my blog's birthday:



Macaroni Schotel. It tasted good though was not satisfying. But little Iki ate his portion excitedly :p

Grumpy Boy

Iki just fell asleep, still with watery eyes. He caught a cold today, perhaps because he was too tired yesterday, or because of the high temperature nowadays.



He said, "Iki-chan inside neck painful", this morning.

He is weak, cranky, and wants full attention. Poor boy, hope he will recover soon.

Gtg now, it's chance to do my housechores while he's sleeping :p

Tired

Yesterday I slept over at my parents in law's place and today we went to Yokohama to visit my sister in law's family. Just got back now, very late, but I couldn't stand another night at my parents in law's house. It's mentally tiring :p

Night night...I don't bother to take shower tonight!

Single for a day

My husband is abroad and my son excitedly said goodbye to me when his grandparents picked him up yesterday morning. What could be better? haha.

So eventhough it was damn 35 degrees celcius, I was off to enjoy my single day. At first I went to Omotesando area to pick up my sunglasses at Oliver Peoples, and then had a bit walk. It is a very fashionable and expensive area. I could see row of branded shops, from Channel to Louis Vuitton, crowded with customer at that very first day of summer holiday. How Japanese love branded goods!!.
I enjoyed watching pretty women in their most fashionable outfits, as much as watching the hot guys. I saw this very handsome one, sitting in front of me on the train. He has beautiful nose and lips. I regretted that I had to get off at Shibuya haha.

It was the last day of summer sale every shop was jammed with people. I lost my shopping mood yet could buy two tops and a cheap big sunglasses :p.

It was indeed a satisfying single day (^_^)

Next two (or three) months resolution

• Pilates Abs at least 4 times a week
• Hands exercise at least 2 times a week
  
• Legs exercise at least 2 times a week
  
• No food after 7 p.m
• Once a day only "heavy" snack
• Body weight 40 kg
• Waist size 58

You can do it, Imoet-chan!!!!!!!!!!!

Tonari no Totoro (となりのトトロ)

I watched this movie before actually, the English version: My Neighbor Totoro, when we lived in Korea. At that time I just thought that this movie was fun, and a very good animation.



But today I watched the Japanese version one, with some of my friends plus the kids. I felt really different this time. I love this animation!! Somewhat I felt that it was really funny and touching in its real language, Japanese. And perhaps watching it together with friends plus the wild screams and laughs from the children made it even more interesting.



Too bad then the kids were starting to be sleepy and became grumpy so we all decided to stop watching and went back home :(. I think tonight I couldn't sleep thinking about this cute Totoro. I hate not to be able to watch it until the end *sigh*

This is a definitely recommended movie. You can read about this old animation (1988) here in Wikipedia, if you are interested. But for your information, this movie is still in everyone's heart after 20 years!!!



It was really a relaxing afternoon with some friends accompanied by Totoro-chan :p, though it was hot and raining and humid (_ _;)

(>.<)

After throwing out garbage into the public trash bin, I planned to bring Iki playing at the park. As usual, I put on light make up first before going out. It was when my eyes spotted something yellowish, moving slowly among my front hair.

It was a small caterpillar!!!!
On my hair!!!!
Alive!!!
Moving!!!!!
DISGUSTING!!!!!!!!!

I screamed my heart out, trying to find something to take it out of my hair. Shocked Iki gave me tissue, and without thinking I used it to grabbed that damn little moving thing from my hair. I was just a bit too strong. I squeezed that poor animal. I wanted to cry to see some yellow liquid mixed with the crashed caterpillar on my hair and forehead (>.<).

What a bad start of this very hot day!! (34 degrees, for God's sake - and it surely will get hotter and hotter in coming weeks)