Musical, Straight Play, and Concert!

Year 2022, covid 19 is still here, but most countries have decided to lift up restrictions, either completely or little by little. That includes Japan. This gives me a little sense of ease to go to places with crowds.

Surprisingly 2022 is actually the year where I went to expose myself with shows the most in my life. So,  I would like to note them all here for memories.

1. Musical "Ryusei no Neiro" (Timbre of the Shooting Star)

An original musical show produced by Shochiku and Johnnys. The musical starring Taiga Kyomoto, my current celebrity crush 😉, built up the story based on Japanese Tanabata Festival. Besides playing the main role, Taiga also composed some of the musical numbers.

I was simply excited that I could finally see and listened to Taiga singing live in person. His performance was great but I definitely looking forward to seeing him play in broadway musical someday with more challenging numbers.

2. Musical Miss Saigon

I got the ticket of the show where Mitsuki Takahata played the main role. She is Japanese actress whom I knew first through TV drama, but actually her debut was in musical show.

As many of you may have knew, the story is kinda sad, but the stage was really extravagant as expected from a West End and Broadway Musical. Especially that I just saw Japanese original musical few weeks before, I could really tell the difference of the scale. The only thing I was not satisfied about it was the seat at the Imperial Theatre which was not comfortable.

3. Straight Play Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream

I did not know what to expect. I was afraid it was going to be difficult to understand considering it's based on Shakespeare's work and all dialogues would be in Japanese. But, it was totally fine. I was very entertained with the comedy presented. I was excited to see Yugo Kochi, Taiga's mate member of SixTONES, who was recently recovered from covid. 

Although the main story line still kept Shakespeare's work, it also adapted some Japanese cultures into the show which was interesting. Despite getting the balcony seat (2nd floor) and the seat space was a bit tight, but I could sit comfortably which is a plus point!

4. Bruno Mars Concert

Went with Anin and Jojo to the concert in Tokyo Dome. This was my first western artist's concert after a while, after Celine Dion's concert back in 2018. Fun! However, I was not too happy with the sound system. I wasn't sure if it was due to seat location or the sound system was just not as good as it should be.

As usual I knew some of of the songs such as Billionaire, Grenade, and Mary You, but figured that I forgot many of the lyrics 😁. What's different between Japanese artist and Foreign artist concerts since the pandemic is that the foreign artist does not care. They would make you sing with them. While, for most Japanese artist concerts, they stick to the rule of 'silent' crowds.

5. Calum Scott Concert

Honestly I did not know who he was until Joice asked me to join her. So, I listened to some of his songs in Youtube to give me an idea of what kind of songs he normally sings. It was my first time seeing live performance at the Ex Theatre Roppongi. Overall I enjoyed the show.

6. Maroon 5 Concert

Lastly, Maroon 5 in Tokyo Dome. I did not get the ticket through ticket ballot at first but Joice who initially planned to go with her senpai had to go for business trip so I took her ticket! Luckily Joice's senpai were nice so I could still have fun 😁. The sound system this time was a lot better than Bruno's.

I have some concerts to go to next year but a bit sad that I could not get SixTONES's arena tour ticket early next year. Honestly, I try not to listen to music too much, but in the past year, when I listen, mostly it's been SixTONES's. That's why I am sad 😢.

For you who do not know who SixTONES are and their musics, please have a look at their Youtube's playlist ♪. Do not judge them because they are Johnnys' idol group because their musics are good! 

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?

  

Double Storms Through Weekend

I know the title sounds too much like a weather forecast news. LOL. But it's true, there're literally two storms approaching toward Japan around this time. Thank God that the initially forecasted route of one of the storms changed into a more favorable one. But still some areas in Japan are getting quite great impacts out of it. As for Tokyo, tomorrow will be raining perhaps until around 7 pm.

Btw, talking about storm, which in japanese is translated as arashi, I'd like to talk a lil bit about it. But this one that I wanna talk about is not the arashi storm, but the other Arashi, a japanese idol group. :p

This might be such an old story but with some lucks and miracles, I managed to go to their *last* kokuritsu concert (ARAFES) \(^_^)/. Kokuritsu Kyogijo or National Olympic Stadium Tokyo was once used as the venue for Olympic in 1964. The opportunity for an artist to hold concert here could be said as extra premium. Because of the maintenance for the grass, Kokuritsu only allows one artist to perform there each year. The first artist to hold a concert there was SMAP, another japanese idol group, and they did that for two consecutive years, followed by Dreams Come True, Arashi, and L'Arc-en-Ciel. And among the artists who had performed there, Arashi holds the records of performing for 6 consecutive years. But, with the recent proposal of hosting 2020 Olympic in Tokyo, it was decided that Kokuritsu will go through a mass renovation next year. Thus, this year would be the last chance to hold a concert there *at least before the renovation which will take time until 2019.

At first I didn't get ticket for Arafes through the FC ballot. I was disappointed at the beginning but then gradually forgetting it. But when I wasn't really thinking about it anymore, suddenly an email came telling me I got the ticket through 復活当選 (which google translates it as winning revival *what a strange one!). Actually there is a quite dramatic story about it but I'm too lazy to type everything, huh. So I hurried pay the ticket and didn't stop being excited. Especially because at that time I was in Indonesia, I was really excited to go back to Japan as soon as possible. Well going back earlier wouldn't make the concert start earlier though. So I just tried to enjoy the rest of my stay in Indonesia.

By the time I got back to my dormitory, the ticket for the concert was already inside my mailbox. And instead of doing other stuff, checking where my seat would be was the first thing I did. haha. And it was an arena seat!! Arena seat in kokuritsu was such a miracle! Although I didn't know where it is exactly cuz I haven't been there, plus the arrangements for arena seats have always been different based on how they arrange the stage.

And the day came. Sunday, September 22th, 2013.

Since I only applied for one ticket so I would be going alone! But it was not a problem for me. I knew I would enjoy it anyway :p

The official concert T-shirt that I wore to the concert.
The color is actually a lot nicer than what it looks in the pic.

And there was another excitement when I finally found out my seat. It was so close to the stage. Kyaaaa~!! I sat next to a group of older ladies, came so far from Osaka. The lady next to me was especially very nice so it was another great luck. I will not telling point A to Z about the concert though. All I can say, I could see all 5 of them clearly without binoculars. And all Arashi members, especially Jun, have great auras. You know, something like a STAR-aura. Haha. I'm happy to be able to go there.

Thank you Arashi ❤

New Blog Title :D

Hi friends!

For you who have been here before, as you can see yourself that I just changed my blog title from puzzle of life to Not your Home. Puzzle of life had been the title since this blog was first created in 2009. But, I suddenly had the idea to change it yesterday! There's no specific reason for it, but since this blog isn't that popular, making such a big change wouldn't be a big deal. haha.

Along with the change, of course I have to change the header picture,  too. So I decided to come with a whole different look from the old one. I hope you like it :) I also plan to change the background picture, but I'll use this one for a while until I find another one. About the contents, basically nothing's gonna change, will still be around my daily life.

And, for you who is new here :) Welcome to Not your Home! As written on the blog tagline above, it's my freespace and you're free to come as well to leave a comment :) 

Graduation Yeay!

Alhamdulillah...

Finally I officially finished my undergraduate study last March 20th. Felt so blessed and happy that I got to spend the day with my family (minus my dad though because he refused to come --") and friends. The happy moment became more wonderful because of them :D

At the university where I studied, students who are graduating for undergraduate and graduate schools do not wear graduation toga like at most universities in Indonesia or other countries. But there is a custom for female students (especially the undergrads one) to wear kimono and hakama (袴). In the past two years, my Indonesian female seniors wore Kebaya. Then I thought it would be nice to wear kebaya because it would let people know about Indonesian traditional clothing. But kebaya isn't specifically worn for graduation. We can wear it for other events or occasions. I wanted to wear something indicating graduation, you know, for the sake of special memory :p That's why I chose to wear hakama :D It's common for Japanese students to rent hakama from rental shops. Although they're Japanese, not everyone of them has kimono and hakama because they're expensive. So I also visited the rental shop which was cooperating with the university. I chose a simple kimono, which was cheap, but was the only one available at the campus so that I wouldn't be worried that I'll run into another girl who wears the same kimono. And I chose a simple hakama, too which has some sakura flowers in the bottom part. I registered the rental even when it was around half year before graduation day! hahaha. I hadn't even started writing my undergrad thesis by then :p I might seem to be over confident about that, but hey, that could be my motivation to finish everything :D

I was already happy with everything until one day in February, my advisor told me casually that my final GPA is the highest in the department. At that time, I think it's okay to feel even happier but since he told me so very casually so there's still a part in my mind that thought well he might be kidding or whatever. hahaha. But two weeks before graduation day, the official letter from university came and informed me that I got 「国際バイオビジネス学科　成績優秀特別賞」. 

So, here are some pictures from the graduation day :)  

Me wearing hakama :)

Mom, brother, sister

Nodai family

Receiving the award from Univ President

Yeay :D

With some Japanese friends

Guys from the same laboratory

PPI Nodai graduates and family

Me and a friend who always be there, Dhilla :) Thank you for the Duffy!

With my sexy friends! Hahaha Gonna miss you all!

Girls from the same laboratory and my advisor :D

Me giving my graduation speech for the first time ever!

Me and my lovely Joyce

Guys from many other parts of the world :D haha

Yeay our laboratory's graduates!

Arashi Wakuwaku Gakkou 2012

In the past few months, I've been a huge fan of one Japanese idol group called Arashi (嵐). I think I couldn't recall that I had ever been such a fangirl before. So basically this is the first time for me. In few months (I think in the past three months) I've been collecting some of Arashi's dvds and cds and also I've been trying to always watch their variety shows on tv. They have three variety shows air every week at the moment. My most favorite one is VS Arashi, which airs every Thursday 7pm in Fujitv. Then the other two are Himitsu no Arashi chan (Thurs, 10pm, TBS) and Arashi ni Shiyagare (Sat, 10pm, NTV).

As singers, their voices aren't so wonderful, but they have lots of great songs such as 果てない空, Love So Sweet, and the newest one Your Eyes. But as entertainers, they are absolutely fabulous! So interesting.

As a very popular idol group in Japan, it's known that to get the tickets for their concerts or events is extremely hard. Even if you join the family club, it doesn't guarantee that you will get the ticket.

So, last month I found out that Arashi was going to held an event called 嵐ワクワク学校２０１２ (Arashi Exciting School 2012) starting from June through July in some cities in Japan. For Tokyo the event was scheduled on June 16 and 17 and would be take place in Tokyo Dome. And when I tried to find information about the ticket, there's a playguide where you have to draw lot. So, unless you win the lot, you can't buy the ticket. And since it's opened for public (doesn't matter whether you're in the family club or not), I decided to give it a try. But i didn't get picked :( Well of course I was a bit disappointed since it was my first time doing such a thing. When I started to let go the disappointment, four days before the event in Tokyo, one of my senior contacted me and asked me if I wanted to go with her to the event because she still had one ticket left. And of course I said yes! Haha.

So, last Saturday, June 16, I attended Arashi exciting school and got to see my favorite idol group directly. By the way, among the members, there two favorite members of mine, Matsumoto Jun and Ninomiya Kazunari. Hihi :) The event itself was great. I laughed a lot and also shed tears during the event. Of course it's not complete without buying the event's goodies. Luckily I went to the pre-event sales so I got to buy Matsumoto and Ninomiya clear files. On the event day, most of the clear files were sold out already. Hehe.

Since it wasn't allowed to take pictures inside the venue, so I will just shared these pictures.

in front of the venue

the goodies i purchased. two totebags, a mini school bag, clear files, a photo album (+arashi's photo), pin badges, and a notebook. :)

Nice Pose!

ボロ市

Since there wasn't any class to attend today so i went to the annual festival, alone. Sometimes going by myself feels more flexible, especially when i'm in need of a 'me time'. As usual it was so crowded and cold. And just like the last time i went there, my fingers were freezing. I brought my gloves but it's just less helpful when i needed to take coins from my purse, so i didn't wear them. Anyway this old man was fine enough to let me taking a pic of him :)  

My Snowboard Trip 2012

Hey people! I just got back from Nagano area last night. What did i do there btw? Well, let me tell you then. hehe. I was snowboarding there for one and a half days. At the first time i was not so excited to go, especially when i found out that the weather wasn't great either. It was snowing heavily, which i said it felt like a snow storm. So, i was not really enjoying for the first half of the first day there. I even intended to just stay in the room for the rest of the day. But suddenly the sky got clear and i could see the sun far far away. Then i decided to have more rounds before the day got darken.

Can you guess what? By the time i was ready to slide again, there the snow started to fall heavily again. But i thought 'ah, never mind. i've already at the starting line anyway.' So, yes i started to try enjoying the snowboard. Then, one of my senior came to me and Dhilla and asked us if we would like to learn the new technique. Since i just knew how to do the most basic technique and i started to get bored with that, so why not?!

We went to higher starting line, cuz my senior thought that there were fewer people there. So it might be better to practice there. But, it was sooooo foggy that i could barely see what's in front of me. Luckily we managed to practice safely. And of course this practice session was full with felling down, yelling in pain, etc. But i think i enjoyed it much more than before. I was so tempted to be able to master the skill/technique. And yes, after a hard work, me and Dhilla could finally do that! Sometimes we still fell down when we tried to do the technique though. hehe. At least we got better :p

From what i experienced there, i knew that in life we need to do or try something new sometimes instead of just keep on doing the routines. By doing something new, we could have more spirits, motivation, and we would enjoy our lives better.

Trying something new, or learning something new doesn't mean that you're changing into somebody else. But it means you yourself are getting more abilities, knowledges, etc. Aren't you all agree with me?

I didn't take many photos in Nagano, but as soon as Dhilla shares photos from her camera, maybe i'll share some here too. And we also recorded few videos :)

So, see you when i see you!

Daisuki na Dorama, Daisuki na Uta

Hey everyone! It's been a while, isn't it? These couples of weeks have been crazy. Harvest Festival has passed. It was exhausting but fun at the same time. Followed with a week full of essays. Most of my energy probably used up and I finally caught cold. But I'm a lot better now, at least i don't feel pain on my throat anymore.

Btw, Eid Mubarak for all of you who celebrated it yesterday :D The funny thing about yesterday is that when RIP Shaun the Sheep became a trending topic on twitter. Wasn't that hilarious? It was probably because many non-moslems didn't get the joke created by some Indonesians. Haha.

So anyway, the next thing doesn't related to the stuff i talked above, but it does to the title. I'm gonna share to you one of my favorite songs, which is the theme song of my favorite Japanese drama. It's titled "Ohisama, taisetsuna anata e". Enjoy :D

      

Some Snaps!

I'm so bored today. Can't wait till around 4 pm so i could leave my room and do something. So, as i tried to chill out a bit, i decided to post some photos that i took last weekend when i went for hanami *enjoying cherry blossoms* with my friends. Just so you know, that day was a real great day! We were all happy :D

Hemp Lip Protector From The Body Shop :)

Hellooo..Did you have a great friday night or sat night?? I hope you guys did :D

I spent my friday night together with partners from Indonesian Agricultural Sciences Association (IASA) holding a year end seminar. The keynote speech was delivered by a professor from The University of Tokyo who could speak in Indonesian language pretty well.  Besides, there was also a discussion panel with 3 Indonesian students as the speakers. Overall it was success. Many guests came even without registering first. We even ran out of chairs, but we could maintain to get more chairs for the guests. I think, besides those very competent speakers, the free consumption (bakso: Indonesian food) was one thing that attracted people too. But, since there were some enregistered guests, so not everybody got a bowl of bakso (neither did i. hiks)

Then, today i spent the day with Dhilla walking around Shibuya. We went to love first to look for good agendas for next year :) yeah i need to buy it as soon as possible cuz there are lots of plans, appointment, tec which need to be written down there. So, i bought it :D and also some stickers which are sooo cute..hehe..

Owyaa, right after me and Dhilla arrived at Shibuya, we  went to The Body Shop store. Dhilla wanted to buy a limited edition body lotion and i was just looking around. But then i found this "Hemp Lip Protector" which was described as intense moisturisation for dry and cracked lips. And i need that soo bad because i've always problems with my very dry lips. Even my friends were also being sooo much talkative when it came to my lips. So, the normal lip balm is not enough for me. hehe..

Well, it costs me more than the usual lip balm, but it's worth it. And it's also perfect for this cool season and of course for the soon coming winter season :) 

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

Ied Mubarak (Ied Adha 1431H)

Hello everybody!! It's getting so cold day by day. And the weather today was one of the coldest days so far and believe me it's killing me so bad! I couldn't even differ is it autumn or winter already? hehehe. Then I finally caught a flu after a very very long time being a healthy teenage (i hope a-21-years-old-girl is still counted as a teenage ;p). Wish me get better so soon ;)

Well, anyway today i went to Indonesian School at Meguro, Tokyo to pray Idul Adha. Luckily i didn't have a class at all so i could celebrate the day with joy unlike last year :D

I went there together with almost all Indonesian students in my campus then we met other Indonesians there.

FYI, the pray was also attended by Indonesian Vice President Mr. Boediono and wife, and also some ministries of the country. One of them is Mr. Hatta Rajasa, the Ministry of Economic Affair, who also gave a khutbah after the pray. Somehow i felt thankful for ever seeing them directly here in Tokyo  *not only in TV ;p* (i also attended a meeting with the Vice President, Ministries, and also Indonesian Ambassador for Japan two days before). Because maybe i would never have that opportunity if i stayed in my own country. hehe.

Then after the celebration at Indonesian School over, me, Dhilla, Mbak Rani, Mas Asad, Rama, and Akira (too bad Ayu and Mamet who went together with us had to gome home earlier) went to Shibuya to eat Lamb curry :D Why Lamb curry?? I don't know for sure but celebrating Idul Adha doesn't feel complete without eating lamb!! hehehe..and i ♥ lamb curry!! ;9

We also tooks some purikura photos!! Yeayy \(^o^)/

So, again, Ied Mubarak friends! 

The 119th Nodai Harvest Festival

Hellooo people! I'm back after those tiring days starting from the preparation till the 2 and a half days of selling indonesian mie goreng at The 119th Nodai Harvest Festival. So, this is my second time joining the harvest festival, but what happened during this year's festival was soooo much different with the last year's. Lots of unpredictable situations happened. And the most unexpected thing was the number 14 typhoon, which then known as Chaba Typhoon, hit most of Japan's eastern area, including Kanto area. So, the second day of the festival was really hard. It was raining heavily, then the wind was also getting stronger since the typhoon was getting closer. Since i was in the promotion section, so i wore a raincoat  (thanks to Dhilla for lending me the raincoat ^^) and tried to promote mie goreng together with my promotion partner, Rama. Cold, wet, frustated (haha), a lil bit down, maybe that's how i felt on the second day. Moreover, on that day, we could only open the store until 12 pm, because of the typhoon. sigh. Then to attrack customer, we lowered the price from 300yen to 200yen. Even it's quite effective to attract customer, but we couldn't get so much profit because of it.
Anyway, overall, harvest festival this year, is all about training my muscles. hehehehehe. just kidding (but also true actually ;p).
*sorry i don't have any photos to post*

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.

When Everybody Should Stop

Harajuku

2010.09.26

Look at the traffic lights. They were all red at the same time.

Of course, it wasn't because there was en error. Nope. Hey, it's Japan! ;p

There were actually festival parades crossing the road there :D

I wanna Go Home

Actually i will go home soon. Yeah very soon after the final tests over. I really wanna go home not because i don't like being here in tokyo, but simply because i miss my home, my family, my friends, and of course my dearest boyfriend.

But, i'm not ready for the tests yet which will be held starting from next wednesday *actually i just had one today*. It's really hard to find a will to prepare (study) for the tests. I'll have 3 japanese tests, bio-business network test, bio-bussiness accounting test, and also toeic prep class test. Yeah, those all make me stress. Especially japanese and accounting *why did i register for this class??*. 

By the way, i will be going to some festivals for the next two weeks; Kyodo Matsuri, Fireworks Display, and Setagaya Matsuri. Actually i'm hoping i could arrange my schedule so i can visit my host family before going to indonesia, but seems like it's sooo impossible ;(

So, everybody! Wish me luck ;)

Joyful Weekend ;)

How was your weekend people? Mine was great ;) Spending three days of holiday, started on saturday and ended yesterday (yeah yesterday was monday!!) with fun stuffs.

On saturday, me together with dhilla had a shopping day. We went to some stores in Roppongi hills and Shibuya to feel the euphoria of summer SALE ;p if only we had unlimited budget, i couldn't imagine how much money we could spend that day. hehehehe. Yeah, but since we're good girls, we could keep everything safe ;p

On sunday, i went to a festival where we could see fireflies and some traditional japanese cultural perfomances. And the best part was...the FIREFLIES! That was the first time i saw fireflies. And it was totally beautiful ;)

sorry for not being able to share the beauty of the fireflies. i finally could take this picture of those fireflies when i was almost giving up, it seems like a group of dots though ;p

On monday, me and the other 5 people (dhilla, rama, aki-chan, mba rany, and mas asad) went to Disney Sea. It's located exactly next to Tokyo Disney Land. I was soooo happy and excited there eventhough it was very hot. We rode some attractions (i don't know if this word is right or not, but according to the guide booklet, they called it attraction) like StormRider, RagingSpirits rollercoaster, IndianaJones Adventure, TowerofTerror, etc. The Bon Fire Dance performance was really great, i loved the coreography so much. They made me wanna dance, too ;p And the best part of this special summer entertainment was the water program Chip 'n Dale's Cool Service "Deluxe" -- "SPLASH!". We were splashed by the cool water. Eventhough we got really wet, but since it was very hot, we enjoyed the water splash so much :D

So, what do you think? Great isn't it? But one think that was making me soo disappointed, i really wanted to buy a teddy bear doll but it was too expensive *１万円だよ！マジで？！* T_T noo way. I won't waste that much for a doll ;(