April Announcement!

   I missed the chance to create a blog on Mother's Day, and I was going to make a blog YESTERDAY, but after realising the date I thought it would be better to wait till after the Day of Fools. Right now I am full of cold, even though Spring has finally begun here in Japan and the cherry blossom are finally out! My area however does not have anything grand to look at, well nothing I have discovered -- yet.

   So, Mother's Day is in March for us British folk, and even though I am in Japan I still sent my Mother something home, I sent her a custom card (thank you MoonPig) and she was delighted with them. Yesterday I managed to send her a little extra for Mother's Day, although it was late, it's been difficult preparing her something, however over the last 3 months I have managed to finally get it done.

   Cute huh? Unfortunately for me, Japan doesn't celebrate Mother's Day until May (I believe, please correct me if I am wrong) and by now you are probably wondering where this is heading, with that strange assumption, you are probably right. ASIDE from the fact actually buying Mother's Day related items is difficult when Mother's Day is celebrated in different months, I couldn't actually celebrate it myself - yes myself. I have an announcement to make, thus the dates this blog is posted on needed to work right (ie; is she lying?). I have a Son, who is going on 12 weeks tomorrow. Those who follow Facebook/Instagram will have known about him since January a few weeks after his Birth. For our own privacy and personal reasons, his online alias is Bug or occasionally Lil Mix since his Daddy is Japanese. Why Bug? Because after awhile he was no longer a "Jellybean" and I was often feeling sick hence BUG.

   My entire pregnancy was a secret until he arrived - only two Friends knew, and our Family. So yeah, no Facebook updates, nothing, the whole thing was a secret so many of my Friends were shocked! I did drop hints here and there, hospital visits were mentioned, my weight gain wasn't so efficient so I often complained about that, however people assumed I was sick - SORRY. I will in the future blog about my progress, and answer any questions in comments.

   For now, my Motherhood duties are being taken one step at a time, and boy is it a big challenge in a country that is not my home, so there may be a few posts about how I cope with this, the differences (trust me, there are a LOT) and why I chose to have him in Japan away from my Family. But other than that the blog will remain it's usual non-existing consistency of nonsense, especially since cherry blossom season is out, I have a cute sakura blog in the making.

DOGinTheパラレルワールドオ ーケストラ

At the start of March I had been invited to see DOGinTheパラレルワールドオ ーケストラ, or rather DOG in the PWO for short! It was my first time seeing them live in concert, and it was their final live of their Japan tour so as expected the Band gave it their very best and put on such a dramatic performance.
DOG in the PWO are such a creative band and I enjoyed seeing them live, I was also given the chance of meet and greet, or after show guest, which you could casually talk with the band after the show (and if you asked nicely had a photo opportunity with them).

The band announced the Live would be recorded and released later this year on DVD, so I look forward to watching that at some point. They also announced a few other release dates, tour dates and ended with "SECRET" which the crowd gave shocked and disgruntled responses.

I don't really follow DOG in the PWO however, but I have not been to a concert in a while now. Of course their Vocalist was crowded with Fans after the show, so a simple and small gesture was all I was bothered with rather than crawling through a mass of Fangirls. Their Drummer amusingly had a gathering of elderly Women, who I am wondering if they are Family Friends or relatives, but it was so sweet watching them fawn over him! I managed a photo oppertunity with one member, who completely trolled my photo, so I was given a second one. After we said our good byes we left to go home. Sadly we couldn't keep our passes, but I did get a photo of mine.

Happy White Day

Ahh, I've not blog again in a long while, again. So I'm juggling my chores to quickly get a small blog out the way!

Today is White Day in Japan, my Partner got me this cute flask. I never have time to finish a hot cup of tea, so this flask is really handy! Do you celebrate White Day? This is my first because I'm in Japan, and honestly, I wouldn't have cared if I got nothing. HAH!

Yesterday we visited a British Pub - in Japan! However I am not disclosing the name, purely because of the bad attitude of the Bar man. They don't deserve the review. One comment almost tipped me over the edge for a reaction, I wanted to stand up and go 'Oi mate, I'm British, if you want me to act like a senseless drunk, I will.' But I decided against it but now I regret it because of his further attitude to my Friends made me wanna smash a bottle over his head - woo Britain.

I have a few more blogs to come, recently I only have web access by my phone, but I am doing a 100 Happy Days challenge on Instagram. It's kinda fun but seems so much like a chore and I'm bound to repeat what makes me happy, like nabe, I love nabe. I could do 50 photos on nabe, maybe I'm just too hungry right now?

I'm going to edit this later, I swear.

♪ Late new year ★

It feels like an eternity since I last blogged here as I've been super-super busy. I actually lost a few readers during my unannounced hiatus, but oh well. Maybe now is a good time to update?

The New Year: I'm gonna mash together New Years eve-eve, New Years eve, and New Years day.
So it's not my first time in Japan to ring in the New Year, however it was my first time not as a concert hopper "celebrating" with visual-kei bands.
   New Years eve-eve (is that the correct term?) I celebrated with my Japanese Family, however my Partner was celebrating with Work mates - which I wasn't told about until I arrived and he said he was leaving, which gave me no 'preparation' for an anxiety attack. Which left me a little shell shocked, oh if only I could have drank beer. It was fun, but everyone's name escaped me apart from one person, oops. There was a comment about my ring, which at the time my fingers were swollen and she said; "trapped and bound by strong love", which was rather cute.. even if she was mildly drunk.
   New Years Eve I spent the day with a very hungover guy who didn't roll in until 2:00am. We spent the entire day moving furniture into the other room - which was meant to be our bedroom from the start only we stayed in the tatami floored room on a futon since moving in for some unknown reason. Anyway we purchased a kotatsu and Winter here is basically kotatsu season, so cosy and warm!! We (he) managed to stay awake to watch TV and see the New Year in. It was far too cold for me to be outside - even though I insisted I was fine, damn health worries, I wasn't to get 'too cold'. Anyway we opened the doors to listen to the people at the shrines surrounding us ring the bell, it was oddly soothing yet eerie? After I wished my Parents a Happy New Year from Japan we both went to bed.
   New Years Day, SHOPPING. I was surprised to see people going about their daily life as normal? Actually my Partner had to go to work but certain things were possibly happening, and he called in to explain. Yeah I felt like I was dying, so much for insisting I was fine the previous day. We still oddly went shopping, and Japan is famous for it's LUCKY BAGS, which I purchased a couple, so finally, picture spam.

I love this brand "DIG DEEP" I previously purchased a long shirt from them and when I was this as a Lucky "Box" I couldn't resist. I was torn from many other sets, but I only liked one item from them, plus this came with a cute fuzzy room set. It came with 5 pieces and a badge accessory. 

Fuzzy room wear set

2x t-shirts (blue + black)

1x long sweater (grey)

Of course they have random bits of English on them which always amuses me, the grey one reads "BUT HERE" and leaves me asking, "BUT WHERE?"

   My second purchase was this bag, I have so much to carry at the moment that a shoulder bag hurts, and I hate wearing a bag where the strap crosses my chest and simply says: hey, I'm separating your boobs and making them look more noticeable.It came with a hat, not that I wear hats but it's cute and I did actually wear it on one of those QUICK WE HAVE TO GO OUT BUT YOUR HAIR IS AN AFRO moments.

It also has a purse which I have not transferred anything to. It took me 3+ years to change to the one I have now I am that fussy with certain changes. But anyone who has been in Japan long enough to be offered a point card and unknowingly says 'yes' you end up with thousand credit card sized cards overflowing your purse in no time! At the moment my count is: 10 since arrival, 11 if you count a train card, and 15 if you include business cards, it's not even an obsession! 

   During the New Year in Japan, Children are given these little envelopes as presents. It is probably the same as Chinese New Year - hence the Horse. However it's my first time here with a Japanese family keeping me under their wing, so they gave me an envelope too. Isn't it just cute!?

Bonus photo: Yokohama has a Krispy Kreme, this is my attempt at persuading my Family to visit. We only seem to have mini vendors in the UK, unless there are restaurants too, probably in London. Although we never went inside, I'm a fan of Mister Doughnut, yum.

Double Bonus Photo: My drip tried to kill me during my Hospital stay. I had to call (my wonderful) oba-chan nurse to unhook me at 4:00am, the tape was so hard to remove she basically pinned my arm to the bed to rip it off, uncomfortable when there is a needle wedged in your arm. 

Stay tuned for more.........

( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ Merry Christmas!!

To all my lovely blog readers, Merry Christmas!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! 

I spent Christmas this year with my Boyfriend, so it is my first time being away from home; family and the UK. So I am not shy to admit, yes it's been emotional, and yes I do miss the Christmas festivities of my UK home. Please excuse any emotional outbursts!

A couple weeks ago we went on a date to Yokohama because there was a Christmas Market - it was as usual German themed but mostly just food stalls which were identical to Oktoberfest. The tree however was magnificent! It's not exactly cold either, I'm pretty sure it's par-level with the UK right now.

   Speaking of trees, it's not super common at all in Japan for households to own a Christmas Tree and thus some weird anxiety developed. It was quickly solved and we found a tree, after I refused several times; one for feeling guilty, and two -- we don't have space for a 5 foot + tree!!

   We found an adorable Disney Mickey Mouse themed tree at Toys R Us, although I am not a super big fan of that Mouse, it was perfect non the less, (wow I sound so ungrateful). 

   We also purchased some silver and purple tinsel and once decorated at home I placed Stitch at the top! He fits perfectly, size and colour. 

Christmas Cards from Home!

I eventually received my "surprise" Christmas parcel after WEEKS of it being sent from the UK. It had been stuck in Shanghai customs for some time and my Parents had been informed and asked to contact me, which lead to MORE complications. My Parents shipped with ParcelForce, who EVENTUALLY responded to me the same day I received my parcel to say; 'We got your e-mail and are sorry about your parcel being delayed. Please contact_____' TYPICAL? Thankfully before all this my Mother contacted them via phone with my details, which were then exchanged over to Japanese FedEx -- as a result, my Boyfriend had to respond because the e-mails were all in Japanese. BUT they were so quick at responding.  

The parcel is definately worth it. I also FINALLY got my cheki camera back. I dumbly forgot it which is strange for me, it never used to leave my bag. 

So much FOOD and CHOCOLATE and CALORIES. Yes there is a tub of gravy, I was sent two and WOW I think my Boyfriend was more happy to see a tub of gravy than he was the entire box!! When living abroad you do slowly start to miss such things that they do eventually become a luxury treat if - and if - you can find them. Cadbury does exist, in small and expensive quantities. Teabags obviously are easy to come across, but you cannot say no to a familiar British brand! Fact.

I also received mince pies, truth be told; I don't enjoy mince pies THAT much, but of course once you are in a land where things like mince pies (apparently) don't exist, you are going to end up craving it -- no doubt!! Of course they were a bit battered in transit but they taste just as sweet and sickly as I remember. Good! It was my Boyfriends first taste and he was surprised at the flavours as a lot of people expect a MINCE pie to be MEAT. No!

My Father keeps sending me photos of my Cat (even though this one is old) I can't resist decorating the photos I receive. WEH I do miss my Cat so much however. Next year I will celebrate with my Family again as a promise. It also saves me from cooking, but I enjoyed it with the help and support of my Boyfriend. We hosted a Christmas Eve party which I had to produce 'English Food' which weren't actually THAT English? But everyone enjoyed the food and no one died in the process - cooking and eating. So it has actually been a wonderful Christmas 2013. I look forward to 2014. Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year!!