This weekend is a long weekend in Japan (Hooray, my first long weekend as a working professional in Japan!) where Monday July 15 is 海の日 (Marine Day). What is Marine Day? The origin of Marine Day goes back to 1876 or 9th year of Meiji dynasty, now the 4th dynasty back from the current dynasty … Continue reading Marine Day and Tokyo summer of 2019
In July along Azabujuban shopping street, bamboo sticks decorated with colourful paper with wishes written on them pop up🎋. It slightly reminds me of "Christmas in July" in Australia where Christmas trees pop up again in July simply because it's winter in Australia and Australians can celebrate Christmas like the Northern Hemisphere folks. Someone wants … Continue reading What is Tanabata?
Time travel back to the Edo period by catching a train for 30 minutes from the northern big city in Tokyo, 池袋(Ikebukuro) to 川越 (Kawagoe). This ideal day trip location from Tokyo is located in Saitama Prefecture and is known as 小江戸 (Little Edo) where rows of clay-walled warehouses called 蔵造り (kurazukuri) are beautifully preserved. … Continue reading Eat and wander around the Little Edo, Kawagoe
早稲田大学 (Waseda University) shortened to 早大 "Sodai" is one of the prestigious private universities in Japan where tens and thousands of Japanese high school students strive to attend🎓. Located in Shinjuku, Tokyo since 1882 (initially established as a specialist school then formally renamed to Waseda University in 1902), around 55,000 students attend this university with … Continue reading The blend of academic and all mens cheerleading: Waseda University
June in Japan is a rainy month☔. Although the week was pretty sunny, my first weekend after my first week of work was very gloomy, cool and rainy🌧. Yet, why waste a weekend now that I work? Living in Sydney, we saw the harbor every day and we can’t remember the last time we saw … Continue reading Walking on a Rainbow: A walk to Odaiba on Rainbow Bridge in Tokyo
This week marks my first week of working in Japan! Working in a startup scene, my job isn’t a traditional Japanese company but the company was established in Japan, for Japanese consumers and many Japanese clock in and out every day (although 22 different nationalities work together). Also, my New Zealander husband works for a … Continue reading Working in Japan
To the western world is to Disney, Ghibli is the childhood (that continues onto adulthood) animation utopia for Japanese. I remember watching となりのトトロ (My neighbour Totoro), 魔女の宅急便 (Kiki’s Delivery Service) and many other Ghibli Studio films growing up and even played some of the catchy, beautiful tunes on piano. Around an hour on the train … Continue reading Visiting the magical world of Ghibli Museum
Before I start my very first job in Tokyo, Japan, I am visiting my lovely sister who lives in Germany. As Germany and Japan are approximately 12 hour flight away, my sister cannot visit Japan often and unlike in Australia where we grew up, Japanese grocery stores aren't readily available where she now lives. Hence, … Continue reading Japanese food that Japanese expats love and miss
I brought my two-year-old phone with me when I moved to Tokyo just over 2 months ago from Sydney - with a promise to myself that I'll reward myself with a brand new phone (Google Pixel 3 🤤) when I land a job. However, I needed a phone number for recruiters and companies to reach … Continue reading Moshi moshi! How to get connected in Japan
Japanese work hard. Japanese work really hard. Long hours, suits 👨💼 for men and pantyhose for women👩💼 and you have to accrue annual leaves by your tenure. On top of that, sick leave isn't a thing so a lot of people reserve their annual leaves just in case they get sick and cannot come to … Continue reading What is Golden Week? and the cheapest way to Narita Airport
Native Expat 