Since the second state of emergency started in January 8th, I have been staying at home mostly except for some walks to nearby suburbs to stretch my legs and have lunch out during the weekend. I’ve welcomed staying at home as it’s been quite cold these days, in fact Tokyo enjoyed some snowfalls ❄️ last Thursday! … Continue reading Mysteries of Japan answered…?
As mentioned in the last week's blog, an announcement of state of emergency for Tokyo and 3 surrounding prefectures was announced earlier last week. The word was that the announcement will happen on Thursday January 7th (my birthday 🥳) and the state of emergency was to become effective the following day. Technically, 7th wasn't during … Continue reading Sneak in a snow escape before the second state of emergency
Last Thursday January 7th, the second state of emergency has been announced for Tokyo and its surrounding 3 prefectures of Saitama, Kanagawa and Chiba (happy birthday to me!). As mentioned in the previous blog, Japanese constitution cannot enforce a strict rule to its citizen. For that reason, unlike many other countries that penalise citizens for … Continue reading Kyoto Highlights🪁 & the 2nd State of Emergency🚨
あけましておめでとう(Akemashite omedeto) or happy new year to 2021! Let’s hope that 2021 will bring some light at the end of the long tunnel called covid-19 🤞🤞. New Years is the biggest event for Japanese. We have a lot of traditions at this time of the year (previously mentioned in my blog posts about the big … Continue reading Holy cow: Japanese New Year celebration
Coronavirus has been spreading again in Japan and due to that, as a last minute decision, Go To Travel has been suspended from Dec 28th - Jan 11 since the start of December. This has caused many cancellations during one of the busiest travel period. According to a couple of surveys, over 80% of people … Continue reading White Corona Christmas in Niseko, Hokkaido
December is the time to reflect the year. I enjoy Spotify's 2020 playlist where the music streaming site collated songs that I listened to a lot this year (#5 most listened song in Japan, Kosui by Eito is one of them) and how Pocket aggregated how many words I have read on their article saving … Continue reading A word to sum up 2020
We walk around our neighborhood a lot for exercise (and to stay warm as it's been freezing recently!). Along one of our walk, my husband noticed a bunch of grand orchids outside a patisserie in our neighborhood and pointed it out. Orchids are proudly displayed generally in front of store opening or anniversary and they … Continue reading Ornamental orchids? What a bunch of orchids in front of Japanese shop mean
From this week, Japan is now (finally) in a state of emergency for not only the 7 prefectures (mentioned in the last week's post) but for the entire country. Basically, the conditions remain the same with no strict enforcement but the government is asking people to reduce human to human interaction by 70-80% (aka working … Continue reading The last trip on a plane before covid-19: Skiing in Aomori
February 11th (Tuesday) is 建国記念の日(Kenkoku kinen no hi) which is a public holiday in Japan so we took a day off on Monday to have a 4 day break to explore Hakuba in Nagano, a region famous for ski resorts. ⛷ Welcome to Tsugaike, Hakuba! Firstly, what is 建国記念の日 (Kenkoku kinen no hi)? This holiday … Continue reading 3 days skiing in Tsugaike (Hakuba, Japan)
February 3rd might be just another day in Australia or the western world, but in Japan, it was 節分 (setsubun) and in setsubun it's all beans, demons 👹 and really long sushi?! What is setsubun? February 3rd is the day before the first day of spring. Ages ago, Japan used to call the day before … Continue reading Demons out, fortunes in
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