Rewind....

Well... I had a very nice weekend. During the weekend I looked at some of my old Japan pics. So I decided to do a picture rewind... hope you don't mind.

This was at the choral competition.... I still remember Miyuki!

This is part of why I love kendo so much. Mayuko kicking some serious butt!! How awesome is that??

Irish music.... Tokyo pub.... one of the best nights ever!!!

Alisha and Ro in the snow.... we had a great time. Even if I did get a bit grumpy because I'm a crap snowboarder. Heehee...
And that's enough of the rewind... believe me I could go on!!

Pictures...

My mom visited in July... we took pictures with her camera mostly, so I've only gotten the copies today. Here are some of the highlights...

This was a picture taken out in Kawagoe City, Saitama. It was a pretty rainy day, but we were determined to do something. So we met up with my friend Gabe and headed out. Even though it looks really rainy, it wasn't that bad. :-)

When she was in Japan, Mom got to see me practice kendo for the first time. Afterwards, we took a kendo girls picture to commemorate. There were only a few girls that day... but it was still a great picture.


We also visited Shinjuku-Gyouen, formerly the Royal families private garden, but now open to the public. It was amazingly peaceful and nice. Mom loves gardens so she really enjoyed this spot, as did I.

These were all taken at the park. I think they're pretty good... There was so much to see that we just couldn't do it all!


We had lunch one day with my friend Shin-chan. She's from Taiwan and let us try a bunch of different Taiwanese treats that her family and friends had sent. It was really a treat!


We also got to participate in tea ceremony. From left: teacher, mom, me, my friend Kassandra, and the other teacher. (Never got their names, just said "sensei.") It was really a great experience, but it reaffirmed my choice to do kendo. I'm definitely NOT graceful enough for tea ceremony!! :-)

Here's the end of part 1... there's SO many pictures!!

The Summer of Drama!

And I don't mean for me!! Yay!! hahaha... I mean the summer of the Japanese Drama. I am HOPELESSLY addicted to two dramas at the moment: First Kiss and HanaKimi. They are very silly... and could even be characterized as guilty pleasures. But I love them!! And now that fall has arrived (along with rain and the possibility of typhoons), I am even more inclined to ignore the real world and just watch my dramas.

First Kiss is about a heart patient who returns from LA to Tokyo to visit her brother whom she hasn't seen in over 10 years. Ro, do you recognize the guy in the bottom middle pic?? If not, I'll give you another pic and a hint. He's from one of our FAVE movies!! And I must say, he's looking awfully hot in this pic. ;-)


Next drama... is the one that can really be called the guilty pleasure. It's called Hanazakari no Kimitachi e (HanaKimi for short!). It's based on a manga (silliness alert!!). AND... the basic story line is that a girl sneaks into an all-boys school that is renown for picking their students for their good looks. Girl sneaks in to help one of the guys start high jumping again... and so the story spins. The subtitle for the series is: Ikemen Paradise = Hottie Paradise!! You be the judges.

This is the full cast... best ones? As follows... Oguri Shun.


He's been in other dramas that I like as well... so he's bound to be one of my faves! Then there's Ikuta Toma. Newish face... but the funniest character in this drama.

The only person missing from the bunch is YamaP (Yamashita Tomohisa). With him the show really would be a Hottie Paradise for everyone to enjoy!! ;-)