Here comes the year of rabbit!

The Year of Rabbit is just around the corner. Japanese celebrates Solar new year, so the year of rabbit starts from the 1st of January 2011. Attached is our new year card, reflecting what we have been doing for the past one year represented by selected pictures of the past four seasons.Here wishing you a happy new year and may the coming year offers us great health, joy and happiness! Amin~

Japanese Christmas eve

Do you want to know how my Japanese friends celebrate Christmas eve?

Below are some interviews with my colleagues at 7pm last night, the Christmas eve.

O-san (a female scientist, just wed last year): We will be having dinner at an Italian restaurant nearby. Of course, with the Christmas cake as well.
Me: Then you should be going home, get dressed and touch up your make-ups!
O-san: Oh, we are going there straight from work. He finishes at 8pm. There is still time for me to finish writing up an article.
Me: Yeah...very typical scientist!

N-san ( a male surgeon, just wed a surgeon last year): I don't know. No special plans yet. Oh, but she did say she will pick up the Christmas cake on the way home!
Me: Oh, any presents for her?
N-san: I don't remember giving her any special presents. hehehe...
Me: Ah? very typical hardworking surgeons... :)

NS-san (a technician mother with 3 children): I will pick up the Christmas cake from the nearby bakery. Maybe cook something special tonight.
Me: And maybe a present from hubby?
NS-san: Ever since our first child was born, there was no presents from him.
Me: Yeah...we tend to save for the children. Very typical mother. :)

M-san ( A scientist, wed last year and just came back from Harvard Uni this year): I will cook dinner and bake a Christmas cake. We will have dinner together!

That sounds more like it!

And me?
Like any kid in Japan, Sya wanted a cake. So we decorated the cake together...

Sya and the hat he made in nursery

Mommy I want to blow the candles...

Mommy, can I have your cake, with that big strawberry please?

The remainder of this cake will sit in the fridge for a while. Any volunteers?

Sya received a teddy bear from his Japanese Obaachan (the landlady)

A present from his piano friend...

Merry Christmas to friends who celebrate and Happy holidays to all!

Santa-san

Santa-san is how the Japanese refers to the Santa Claus.


A few days ago, everyone in Sya's nursery had received a Christmas present. When I came home, Sya excitedly approached me and showed me his present, still nicely wrapped.

Sya: 'Mama, mama...see! My present!'
Mama: 'Ohh...lovely!! Did Santa-san come to your nursery today?'
Sya: 'Ermmm....yeah! Let's open the present, mama.'

Then Sya and I unwrapped the present. It was a toy, which was appropriate for his age. It's a 'gasing' in various shapes. The end product...a wooden dragonfly! We can paint the dragonfly to make it more colorful but Sya prefers the wooden color.


Anyway...back to the story of Santa-san.
Mama: Everyone must have been happy to receive presents from Santa-san. How did the Santa-san come? From the chimney? I asked jokingly.
Sya: No mama, from the front door...and mama, please promise me you won't tell anyone about something I am about to say?
Mama: Huh? Ok...why?
Sya: Because if teacher knows I would be scolded! Just like Tarou-kun today!
Mama: Ohh? ok...so what is it?
Sya: 'Mama, I think the santa-san is our headmaster. Shhhh.... 'Sya whispered to me.
Mama: 'Ohh really?' I pretended not to know.
Sya: 'Shhh...Mama...you are too loud! Yes, I am quite sure!' I noticed he looked a little disappointed.
Sya: 'Mama...I think Japan doesn't have santa-san.'
Mama: 'Ohh...why?'
Sya: 'Because there are no chimneys in Japanese houses.'
Mama thought for a while.
Mama: 'Does that mean there is no present for you this year?' *wink, wink*
Sya: 'No, no...there can still be presents. Tarou-kun's mama and daddy buy him presents. So mama, please buy that transformer autobot for me, OK?'


Mama...speechless!

Hiking trip

It was a fine warm day at the end of November. We, just Sya and I had decided to spend the morning at the Seibu park as daddy had to work. Seibu park is situated on the hill of Bizan, not far from our home.

This was our first time hiking, without daddy. Although on and off, Sya would come to me and say, 'mama, nak dukung (mommy, can you carry me)', I managed to brush him off and encouraged him to walk on his own. There were many routes to the Bizan hill but we chose to use the easiest way as the other route could be dangerous (more challenging and secluded from others, and we found a snake once!). On the way up, we bumped into a few senior citizens walking up the hill. And wow, their pace was fast! So much faster than us. Malunya! But as a first timer, we were alright I think! hehehe.

Observing the nature and asking mama tons of questions...sigh...

We first saw these two little kittens...having their meal. Someone must have come and fed them!

The stairs are senior-citizen friendly.

An overview of Tokushima city could be seen from here...

We passed by maple trees with red leaves still attached. Aha, we came at the right time for red leaves viewing in Bizan...

The contrast of blue sky and red leaves were just wonderful!

Unfortunately the trees here had gone naked! haha....Do you know what trees they are?

Yes dear, they are sakura trees. In spring, this is what you see. Aren't they adorable?

A shot of sakura at night...with the lighting and all, it was just awesome!

Now, going back to the hiking. We managed to climb up in 30 minutes time. Yay...it was not that bad after all! It was enjoyable. We're planning to do this every weekend when the weather permits. :)

Sya straight away went searching for his two precious little cats...

We found these two beautiful mother and daughter black cats instead...They were not as friendly as those two cats they we had met previously.

Ohh...this must be the father and the BOSS in this hill! Every cat was afraid of his existence. He's wonderful too. He didn't bite or scratch...just shied away when we went nearer.

Another black cat...drinking water from ohh...the fresh water fountain. You guys are just so lucky! Tsk tsk tsk...to think that we have to drink from tab water!

Aha...look who's coming! It's that shirokuroneko-chan (Sya named him that...yeah)

And Heather (Sya named her too!) was here too...they were playing kejar-kejar! haha...

Ooohh...no wonder you guys are happy here!

We fed them with some food...Shirokuroneko-chan was already full. Now doing his sunbathing!

Sya was watching the cats enjoying the beautiful sunny day running around!

Geramnya!

How can they not be happy with this beautiful environment?

Huh...did you just snap my picture while I was sunbathing, without my consent?

Shuh, shuh...she wants her privacy too! the bodyguard said.

Aren't they adorable!

Meow~ you can touch me now. Just a little, ok...

Sya: I love you!
Shirokuroneko-chan: Yeah yeah...I know, everyone loves me.

We decided to leave them alone...they seemed to enjoy some privacy after that hearty lunch!

Bye-bye...come again! And don't forget to bring our food!

Sya wanted to play at the playground before going home...

Though not many choices to play with, this is by far Sya's favorite playground!

Ok, it's noon time already...back to the reality. Mommy is hungry. Let's go back for lunch!

Off we went!

Spending time without having spent a cent is still the best way to find peace in our inner selves! At least to us!

Enjoy your weekend!

紅葉狩り Momiji gari

We went momiji gari yesterday. Momiji gari literally means red leaves hunting in English. Just as cherry blossom represents spring, the momiji or autumn leaves has traditionally represented autumn in Japan.

If you had lived in Japan long enough, you will notice that the Japanese are very sensitive to changes of season. It's in Japanese tradition to appreciate every little details that come with it. For example sakura viewing in Spring and autumn leaves viewing in autumn, these practices are deeply rooted in their lives. Like the cherry blossom, the momiji reaches its peak in a rather short time and then fades and drop off the trees. It represents delicate short-lived beauty that Japanese people are traditionally fond of. Just like a samurai that led a short but honorable life.

Like every other year, I had been constantly checking the news and website for the best time to view autumn leaves. Finally, the forecast reported that the best time to view autumn leaves in where I live was last weekend and what more thrilling was, the day was blessed with great weather too!

This year, we had decided to view the autumn leaves deep in Iyakei valley, a 3-hour-drive from the city. Iyakei is famous for breathtaking autumn scenery. We were so excited!

On the way to the mountains...

As we went deeper into the mountains, the color of leaves changed from green to yellow then red...

We had to pass through many narrow roads...

Almost there...

Ooohh...look at the crowd. This must be a good spot.

So we stopped and snapped a few pictures too...

Our next stop was Iyakei camping site. The place where we went camping last summer.

Isn't it beautiful?

Next, we stopped at an observation platform. A place where a good overview of the whole valley could be seen.

Ooohhh....

Aaahhhh....

My personal favorite

Sya loved it too...

Couldn't resist to take pictures of ourselves ..:)

But someone lost his energy here...he was so hungry that he couldn't even walk! hahaha

After feeding Sya with some food in the car, we headed to another spot with a statue of manneken pis, a present from the Belgian embassy.

The statue was placed in a piece of rock, 200m from the bottom!

The statue was said to be placed there so to challenge anyone who would dare go up and pis...haha

Let's go closer...

A little closer...

Ooohhh...scary! That was the farthest I could go! But look at the view...breathtaking! Mountain with yellow and red carpets...

The view here was awesome too!

Our next destination was kazurabashi, Iyakei's best-known attraction. Kazurabashi is a precarious-looking vine bridge which was built in 1646 and is one of the oldest bridge in Japan. The bridge was made of vine, twigs and twine. But don't worry, they do regular check-up! hahaha...We didn't plan to cross the bridge because ayah was afraid of height. He tried it once and told me that he would never want to cross that bridge again.

However, my son who loves excitement, headed straight to the entrance! 'Mommy, quick! Let's cross the bridge. It's fun!' So...it was mommy who had to take him cross the bridge!

Look at the gap! My friend actually had lost his snicker here...ahahaha

That's us in the middle...me terrified!

After all that adrenaline rush, we headed back to the car park...

On the way, we saw a nice little waterfall...

We saw people eating along the road...reminded us that we were hungry too.

Many stalls selling Japanese grilled fish...they looked very tempting!

But instead of grilled fish, we had ice-cream and a Japanese delicacy called dengaku.

We also had Japanese soba for a late lunch...

Our last stop was Oboke...a place with beautiful Japanese garden.

Refreshed and home we went!

It was worth all the effort and energy. We really had a wonderful time. Watching changes of season and experiencing the beautiful nature, for us... is the best way to destress.