Koinobori and Tokyo Skytree

Last year on the same day, May 5th, I posted pictures of Koinobori at the feet of the Tokyo Tower. This year, today, I went to another tower in Tokyo, the Tokyo Skytree.

Children's Day and Koinobori

Children's day in Japan is celebrated every year on May 5th. As part of the celebration, normally a Koinobori set will be flown at families with kid houses.

What is Koinobori? Koinobori means carp-streamer, or carp-shaped wind socks. Is it hard to imagine? Don't worry, I have prepared few pictures that I took today at the foot of Tokyo Tower. This year, 333 carp-shaped wind socks are flown in Tokyo Tower.

Can you spot Luffy from One Piece?

  

Indonesian Ambassador for Japan, Letter of Credentials, and Horse-Drawn Carriage ;)

So, today when i checked my facebook (on the newsfeed) i found my friend was sharing a video that was quite interesting. Then i watched the video and started wondering.

Here, first i'll share the video to you..

 

Then i knew that it had something to do with Letter of Credentials which was going to be delivered to  the Japanese Emperor, Emperor Akihito. But i wonder why Mr. Lutfi (Indonesian Ambassador) had to dress like that, moreover riding the horse-drawn carriage to the Imperial Palace? I really want to know the meaning behind them. hehehe.

So, if you're interested to know more about this, you may check Indonesian embassy's site at this link CLICK ME
Anyway, i'm gonna take JLPT today, wish me luck :D

Good To Share :D

Hey people, so i found this video on facebook when my friend, Dhilla shared it to everyone. Then i watched it and i thought that it would be nice if i also share this video here. 

Be prepared, guys..Because you might be surprised with the facts of this developed country.

 

Some facts about Japan, like the huge number of food that ended as garbage and the high number of suicide, are so ironic. But, for me who's now living in Tokyo, i feel so thankful to God because here i just feel like i'm home. Compared to my hometown, Bogor - Indonesia, i should admit that living in Tokyo is much more comfortable. I always feel safe, i don't care if i should go alone by train, i don't feel scare even if i have to go to new places by myself. That's soooo much different when i'm in Bogor. Honestly, during last summer holiday, which i spent in Bogor, i refused to use public transportation and prefer to drive a car by myself when i should travel alone after an incident on a public transportation called Angkot. Pickpockets are everywhere! I met them once in the beginning of my holiday in Bogor, luckily i could save my own self, eventhough i got scary stares from the pickpockets right after.
Yeah, anyway you may say a country is strange in one perspective. But, no matter how strange Japan is, i still love it :)

*additional picture for you who don't have any idea how an Angkot looks like..

got the image from here

Jari Lentik :D

I had a really busy week, compared to many other weeks that already passed. It's kinda rare because i don't actually like being too busy for a whole week. But it's not just about being busy, but i can't sleep as much as i usually do. Some people say i'm more like a baby cuz i sleep a lot. hehehe.

So this week was started by having full row of classes on monday, then dance practicing every night which really made me feel tired everyday, replacing my friend for doing a part time job at the computer center, guiding a guest from my home country, attending international student summit for two days, taking the same guest i mentioned before to the airport limousine bus which was heading to narita airport, then finally today performing the dance which i had been practicing for about two weeks during my vacation in indonesia and for the last few days. The performance was great i could say. We're satisfied because in only 4 days, we should re-arrange the dance's choreography and it was quite hard, but we could make it. yeay ;) Btw, the dance that we performed called as Belibis Dance from bali..

We were performing as volunteers in an event held by some volunteers under HandsOn Tokyo group. We perfomed at a kind of nursing home, where most of the residants were sooooo old. I felt so happy when i saw those happy faces of the residants when they enjoyed our dance performance.

Well, btw, i performed together with dhilla and mbak rani (whom has invited me and dhilla to join her dancing team). I'm so happy eventhough i'm also tired to the max.

Anyway, here is a photo of us which we took at a photobooth after the event finished. Unfortunately i can't share any photos when we were dancing because there're some privacy regulations in the event.

A Little Secret

 

hehehe. It's embarrasing but really true ;p I remember when i used to live at the dormitory of Bogor Agricultural University, each time i had some apples, mangoes, etc, i would bring the fruit to my dorm then called some of my friends and told them i would share some fruits. But then i told them to peel some for me first ;p It happened a lot and still happens sometimes here in Japan. But the situation would be different. Because i know i can't peel the fruit, so i rarely buy one. But several times, my senior (mbak Rani) offered me some fruits and she always said, "don't worry i would peel it for you..". Soooo glad to have such a nice senior like her ;)

Anyway, last week i attended French Food and Culture Exchange at my campus. And we were about to cook some french cuisines together. So the menus were Potato Gratin, Tatin Pie (like an apple pie), and Mustard Sauce Chicken. Apparently i got the task to make the Tatin Pie. And guess what was supposed to be done first? Peeling some apples! And yeah it was frustrating like hell >.< And i even had someone taught me how to peel an apple, but still, it was hard for me. Luckily, with my best effort, i could peel about 4 apples eventhough the shape of the apples were weird afterthat. But, in the end the apple would be sliced into smaller slices, so there's no problem :)

And from those three menus, the taste of Mustard Sauce Chicken was the best for me. *hey don't  you dare to think that the tatin pie didn't go well, the rest of the members in my group said it was the best for them* hehehehe.. 

Do You Know? (1)

Hi people! Now, i'm gonna share a little fact about japan :) I'm not really sure is it a kind of culture shock or not. Anyway, this fact was making me felt shock, surprised, etc. So are you curious?? hehehehehehe..

Okay, so here is the story. It was a couple of months ago when i went to the movie in japan for the second time. I went there with some of friends. We were planning to watch Avatar. Luckily we've booked the seats from the web the day before because it was soooo crowded. Then we sat inside the movie theater, three of my friends were sitting on the left side of me. While on the right side, there was a woman sitting there. As i know, it's very normal; (1) to laugh when there's a funny scene, (2) to scream when there's a scary scene, (3) to give some other expressions due to some other scenes. Of course it's acceptable as long as we do those expressions in acceptable ways (i mean not too loud, etc).

So, me and my friends were whispering several times (i'm swear we were just whispering with very low voices) each time we watched a cool scene. Then suddenly i heard the woman next to me started to say "うるさいよ！" (read: urusai yo!), which means 'you're noisy', and kept saying that till the movie ended. But i kept pretending that i didn't understand what she was saying. hahahaha. I knew she must be so upset but i didn't care.

Well, maybe the way i acted (by pretending like a foreigner who didn't understand japanese)  is not good either, but hey, it's a movie ma'am! We were not the only people who laughed or whispered, most foreigners did, too! What's wrong with japanese? *sorry no offense. peace (^_^)v

The Upcoming Indonesia Festival

Hello, friend! For you who live in Japan, especially Tokyo and its surrounding, Indonesia Festival  2010 is going to be held on July 10th and 11th, 2010 by Indonesian Embassy in Japan and Indonesia Festival 2010 Committee. Be sure to come! ^_^

For more information please visit the official website for Indonesia Festival 2010 here.

Be a Friend Of Mine, Coffee...

*that's my favorite cup! Bought it only for ￥100!

Before i moved to Japan, i rarely consumed a cup of coffee. I just didn't like it. I liked tea much more than coffee. I remember about 2 days after my arrival in Tokyo, i went to celebrate one of my senpai's birthday at Starbucks. Well, luckily they also sold something else other than coffee. hehe.

But lately, i start to consume coffee a lot, especially before i go to some classes.  Every monday before i go to Bio Business Network class, i always stop by at the cafeteria to buy a cup of coffee. Why? Because the class is held at 1 o'clock and that is the time when i always feel sleepy. While it will be a regret if i couldn't pay attention during the class because i like that class. I still don't really like coffee though.

Anyway, yesterday me together with other indonesian in nodai, held an exchange culture program with japanese people in my campus. unlike last year which i performed a traditional dance in the same program, yesterday i sang some songs from indonesia with rama, mamet, and aki. The songs, which  were selected by the boys, were Doraemon theme song, Kopi Dangdut, Sinyo Hitam, Si Patokaan, Anak Kambing Saya, Lupa Lupa Ingat, and Secret Admirer. We also sang Cik Cik Periuk in the beginning of the performance with the help from dila and kiki. The whole program was great. After the program finished, we went to play bowling and to have dinner together. Fun! Fun! Fun! :)

成人の日 (Coming-of-age Day)

How old should you be to be said as adult in your country? For example in my country, Indonesia, when we reach 17 years old we can be said as adult. Adult here means that now we have a full responsibility as a citizen. We can be jailed if we do crime, we can also participate in president election at this age, and many more things.

Here in Japan, you'll be called as adult when you reach 20 years old. And there's a celebration day which is being held every year on January 11th. Me, as i reached 20 years old on November last year, was invited to come to the celebration. Since i didn't have such a kind of celebration in Indonesia, so i was curious and excited to attend it.

Mostly, the girls who attend the celebration will wear kimono. But since it's so expensive even just for the rent, i didn't wear kimono. hehe.

The celebration itself, for me, there wasn't something incredible. There were some speeches from people whom i didn't have any idea who were they, a video (this should be touching my heart, but since i was not really good in Japanese, so i didn't understand. hehe), and a cheerleader performance (why they prefer cheerleader rather than band or anything else?).

Anyway, here are some photos that i took with my new camera (yes, it's the first day i used it)

Syokubunka 食文化

Today we moslems celebrate Idul Adha. But since i have full schedule for classed today, i couldn't go to pray together. So sad, i really loved to go.

Anyway today was such an roller coaster day for me. Started from didn't go to morning baito. And then i have big quiz for japanese class. As i finished the quiz early so i could leave earlier. Then i was heating a bread using microwave, and i didn't realized what's going on until i smell smoke in my room. And i found out that the bread was already burnt. And the worst thing is i can still smell the smoke until now even it has been 10 hours passed. Oh my God.

Then in the afternoon, my senpai called me and told me that i needed to go to 経営者フォーラム as soon as possible because the forum would be held only until 16.10 which means it's held from the 3rd period to 4th period while i need to take a substitution absence for the 5th period class. Since i had class at 14.40 (on the 4th period) so my senpai said to me that i'd better go to the forum before the class (on the 3rd period). Then i was hurried and ran from my dorm to the hall. I was so tired and hungry because i haven't ate anything that afternoon.

After the forum, i had english class. Thanks God today we didn't talk much about our news project. Because i'm kinda bored about it for now. We were only listening to some people's experiences about stereotypes.

Then i went to syokubunka. It's such a cultural introduction on food. And today's foods were korean foods. We saw the cooking demonstration from korean students then we tried to make the foods in group. We made Stewed Kimchi, Cucumber Kimchi, and Chijimi. Well, actually i should have been able to eat cucumber kimchi and chimiji because these foods don't use pork as the ingredient. But, one of my group member was doing such a suck thing. She cut pork and vegetables with the same knife without washing it first. So when she cut the vegetables, the knife was already being used to cut pork before. So i couldn't eat anything. Huuuuhhhh..It was making me in bad mood.

But after that syokubunka, i went to kyoudo with joyce and tree. I ate takoyaki there. Oishikatta!

Ooohh..so tired today. And i have to wake up early tomorrow because i will go for momiji hiking. So, gonna go to bed right now. Good night all x)

Stewed Kimchi

 Cucumber Kimchi

Chijimi

My cooking group

The delicious takoyaki

Twisted

These lately days has became so tiring. Many activities that should be done. Started from the 9th international student summit, shuukakusai no junbi (preparation for harvest fest in campus), accompanying a lecturer who was in tokyo for several days, saman dance practicing, and finally saman dance performance.

The eight of us were very spiritfull facing the upcoming saman dance performance in Hamacho. Because we 'heard' that we would be paid for ￥10.000 per person. That is a big amount of money for sure. So we did all the preparation and the performance wholeheartedly.


People there seemed to be satisfied with our performance. We were happy of that. Then when we're ready to go home, we waited for our payment. And at the time when the man who invited us gave the money. We all were shocked. It's only ￥10.000 for all + ￥5000 for transport fee. So there're only　￥15.000 that we should share together. We got twisted for sure. Maybe there was a misunderstanding. Anyway, even though we were a bit disappointed, but we forgot about it right away, and be happy again.

And these are some of the happily crazy photos on the way home (on the train!)

Anyway, thanks to Indra who was kindly taking photos for us :)

Japanese Culture (Fireworks Display and Yukata)

When it comes to summer, every year there're gonna be several fireworks displays which are held in many places in Japan. Starts from the smallest event up to the biggest event.
What i like related to fireworks display in Japan is that there will be many girls wearing yukata. Yukata is one of Japanese traditional clothes.
Here i give you a photo of mine when i wore yukata and also a photo of fireworks display i had.



Well, actually it's not a close shot because i want the whole LOVE statue could be seen. I took this photo in Shinjuku.

Homestay at Yugawara Machi

Hey, everyone! How's life been doing these days? I hope you guys had great days. I just got back home (well, not exactly home, but dormitory) after spending one-week-homestay in Yugawara yesterday. Never imagined that I would have such an experience like that before. It was great. The whole week during my homestay period.

Start from the very first day, it was started from Kyodo Station. We (me and the other three girls) took an express Odakyu Line to Odawara. Well, even it was an express one, but it didn't help at all on making short the trip. Yeah, it was a long long long trip. It took about 80 minutes from Kyodo to Odawara. After we reached Odawara Station, we transferred to JR Tokaido Line which was heading to Yugawara Station. It took about 15 minutes from Odawara to Yugawara.

When we arrived at Yugawara Station, I started to feel nervous. Wondering what kind of host family would be my new family. I was so happy when I easily found my host mom because she was holding on a welcome board with my name on it. She also put some greetings in Indonesian language on that board. I didn't talk so much that time. Well, just as usual, i'm not really good talking with 'new person'. But then, after the opening ceremony and brief explanation about the homestay program, my host mom took me to her sister's coffee shop. We started to chat general things that people might talk about at the first meeting. Yeah, it was a bit hard because i'm not used to talk in Japanese. While my host mom often talks with many 'strange' vocabularies that I haven't knew before. Then after spending about an hour there, finally we went to my host family's home. I should say it is a nice house. It is the collaboration between Japanese classic style and modern equipped house. And I also got a nice room with TV, CD player, and air conditioner. When it came to the time for dinner, I was a bit shocked because the family served so many foods. I was a kind of worry that I wouldn't able to eat them all (of course what I mean 'all' here are only those foods on my plate, my bowl, and many others). It took almost an hour for me to eat them all and I was so full after that. And every meal always be like that.

On the second day, I went to some places in Yugawara with the other students. We went to a museum and onsen for feet (maybe it almost like feet hot spring). After that we went to a park (too bad I can't remember the name of the park) and had barbeque there. We also played a 'hitting the watermelon” game. I got it. Yayy. I hit it. Hehehe.

On the third day, me, the other students, and all of the staff Yugawara International Exchange Association participated in Yassa Matsuri. The girls wore Yukata and the boys wore Happi. We were dancing Yassa odori and walking about 1-2 km around Yugawara. I was tired but it was fun though.

On the fourth day, the daughter of my host family came, then we went to Odawara castle and a shopping place. At night, me and my host sister went to see firework display. It was great.

On the fifth day, my host dad asked for a holiday from his office, so we (the whole family) went for a family trip to Hakone. Well, it was a great place. But since the road is a kind of mountainous road (more extreme than Puncak if you know) and I didn't feel well from the beginning of the day, so I vomited several times. Oh I was so sick that day and I couldn't really enjoy the trip. Anyway in Hakone we went to some places. One of them is Musee du petit prince de saint exupery a hakone, which is a museum with French style. My host dad bought me a souvenir from that museum :). We also got on Hakone-Ropeway. We could see a great view from the ropeway.

On the sixth day, we were learning a bit of Japanese culture like tea ceremony, ikebana, and zazen. Well, I enjoyed it even though I didn't really like the tea in tea ceremony. At the night, me, my host mom, and my host sister went to see firework display. Yes you may say 'Again?'. But this time we were gonna see the firework display from a fishermen boat in the sea. It was totally awesome! I was so happy that night.

On the seventh day, we had a farewell party. We should bring food that represent our countries and also we should show our countries' cultures. And I decided to dance and made Pisang Goreng (Fried Banana). That night, me and my host family stayed a bit late than usual. We had a long talk. Yeah, maybe because it's gonna be the last night for me in that house.

And finally on the last day, I felt like I didn't wanna leave. I wanted to stay there longer. But I had to leave. I was crying on the very last time. Yeahh. I had good times during a whole week.

又会いましょう！

Yugawara I'm Coming..

No more exam and it means the long summer holiday is getting started. This year, i have an opportunity to go for homestay in Yugawara. It only takes a week actually, but i hope it's gonna be a good experience for me. Living in stranger's house (or maybe they let a stranger to live in their house). I hope my host family is a nice family. I am so nervouse if you know.
So, today i will go to Yugawara, together with Joyce, Paloma, and Lucia. I wish we won't take a wrong train so we could arrive at the meeting point on time.
See you everyone!

Indonesian Day 2009 at Odaiba

Yesterday, Indonesian students from Nodai, including me, went to Odaiba. We were going to perform Saman Dance in Indonesian Day which was held by TEIC Odaiba. It was the first time for me going to Odaiba. Do you know the history of Odaiba? It is a man made island made by trash. Well i don't know exactly how did the people made this island with trash. But, it is an interesting fact, isn't it? The other fun fact that i had yesterday was, from one station (i forget the name of it) to Tokyo-Teleport Station, we took Rinkai Line (train) which passed through the rail under the sea. Eventhough i couldn't see the sea, but i was so interested about it.

Anyway, i was so happy yesterday. First, because everyone was enjoying our performance so much. They said that it was cool. And another reason was, finally i ate chicken satay a.k.a sate ayam and fried rice a.k.a nasi goreng.

Then, after the event finished, we went around Odaiba. First, we went to the bay area. We saw the beautiful view of Rainbow bridge, Tokyo Tower, and the sunset. After that we went to see a giant gundam. It wa so big. But, since i'm not a big fan of gundam, i didn't really interested about it.

After that we went to Odaiba Aquacity. It's a kind of mall. We found a yukata (similiar to Kimono, but mostly being wore on summer) store on a big sale. I bought an obi for my yukata. Can't wait to wear it next week :). There also an replication of Liberty. Finally, we went home after a very long tiring but happy day.

Shopping at Shimokitazawa

Last Saturday, me and my friend went to an elementary school to be guest speakers in english club. Then me and my friend also did Cendrawasih dance and taught those elementary school students a basic pose of Bali dance. It was very interesting. I like Kumi-chan. She's so cute. She couldn't stop talking. But sometimes i couldn't understand because she spoke so fast.

On the way home, we dropped by at Shimokitazawa, and found out that there's sale! Finally i bought a pair of purple heels. Hehe.

Uhh yeaahh..
Today i went to Shimokiazawa again! Together with my senpai, Mba Rani, we went there at wednesday afternoon. What a perfect day! Hehehe..

Even now i'm in a condition of run out of money, but i can't hold my desire to buy a unique pants that i found at one store in Shimokitazawa. At the first time, i decided to leave the store without buying that pants. But after going around Shimokitazawa, finally i went back to that store and bought that pants. Hehe. Relief cuz finally i got that pants, but then a bit worried of how life would be some weeks later. Well, i hope i'm gonna be okay. Hehe.

It was My First Time Doing the Saman Dance

Yepp. As i mentioned in the title of this post.

So, it has been a kind of habitual that Indonesian people in my campus become the volunteer to take part in entertainment session of Komaba KIND welcome party for the new monbugakusho students. The entertainment is to do the saman dance.

Since this is my first year in my present university, so it's going to be the first for me to take part in saman team. Although i ever saw the saman dance for many times, but i never imagined that i would do that dance myself.

It was very hard for me to practise it. While my feet were so terrible when i had to sit in such position. By only practising 4 times, finally i had to be ready to perform.

Oh yes, it was May 16th, 2009 around 8.00 pm (GMT +9).

I was soooo nervous. Haha. But finally my team and me could make it. Yippeee!

Here are some photos when we were dancing..

After dancing..

Well no matter it was perfect or not, i was so happy that day. I wish there will be other chances to do the saman dance again^^.