2023: Hajj and Free Palestine

Here comes again, the last day of a year. In general, not many extra ordinary personal events happened in 2023. However, I'd like to keep the only personal highlight of 2023 in this blog. I cannot remember and too lazy to check on past posts so I'm not sure if I ever mentioned it in this blog, but I had been thinking about going for Hajj since around 2018. If I were living in Indonesia, maybe I'd have to wait for years. Actually according to a news article, the waiting period per July 2023 for my city is 23 years for regular program. No kidding! For readers who don't know what Hajj is, please check this link for your information. The reason why people from Indonesia and many other muslim majority countries have to wait so long to go for Hajj, mainly because there is cap for the number of pilgrims each year. Hajj can only be performed during a specific period of time in each year with rites and rituals in specific places. Therefore, this cap is meant to control and ensure the safety of pilgrims. Well, considering I have lived in Japan for years now, going for Hajj from Japan is actually an option. Muslim population in Japan is still small, thus the yearly quota for Hajj from Japan is not huge but just enough for most people who intent to go in the same year they apply. At least for now.

In 2019, I started looking for information on how to go for Hajj from Japan. In Indonesia, Hajj is managed under the Ministry of Religious Affairs but not in Japan. There are several travel agencies approved by Saudi Arabia in Japan that can accommodate Hajj travel. It is especially important for me to find out which travel can accommodate a non-married woman without any male family member to travel with. So I managed to confirm one agency that would be able to accommodate me and had a slot available for 2020. Then I requested them to put my name on their list so I could secure a seat. Well, God had different plan! With the Covid19, obviously the whole world was put to a stop, and Hajj was not an exception. In 2020, only 1000 pilgrims from within Saudi could perform Hajj. In 2021, there were less than 60000 pilgrims still only from within Saudi could perform Hajj. In 2022, Saudi welcomed pilgrims from worldwide but still limited the number to less than one million and sadly Japan was not included. 

As we entered 2023, I started to feel nervous as I hadn't heard anything from the travel agency whether they would have the 2023 Hajj Tour or not. I emailed the PIC on March 2 asking if they had updates, but he said they're still waiting for official announcement from Saudi. Mid March the PIC sent an email to hopeful pilgrims to be, mentioning that they were still waiting for announcement but providing us the estimated departure and arrival dates. They also mentioned the estimated fees which was a very huge increase from the price announced back in early 2020. They finally contacted us on April 18, almost at the end of Ramadan, that they would accommodate Hajj Tour this year. Alhamdulillah, Allahu Akbar! I remember discussing with my travel mates which Hajj tour plan should we choose on the last day of Ramadan, because the agency we chose offered 4 plans and we had to give them quick confirmation.

Alhamdulillah Allah blessed us with ease during the preparation for visa application etc. Our group departed on June 19 and arrived back in Japan on July 9, with 1 day stop in Qatar on the way back. I pray that my Hajj was accepted and I can return to the holy land again and again in the future. I wish I could write more details about my Hajj experience but maybe I'll do that in another post, but let me share few photos here though.

The Kaaba in Masjid al-Haram, Mecca

The Green Dome of Masjid an-Nabawi, Medina

Now, the other highlight that isn't applicable only for me personally but for many people with a right sense of humanity across the world is the ongoing atrocities on Palestinians especially in Gaza imposed by Israel and its allies. Israel is committing g-e-n-o-c-i-d-e as deemed by many human rights organizations. It has to stop! Palestinians have the right to be free, they have the rights for liberation, and they have the rights to stay on their land and have their homes returned! Free Palestine!

I cannot believe we are still witnessing such cruel and unlawful attacks after 3 months since things were escalated. Important to note, Israel attacks on Palestinians did not start on October 7 this year but since many many many years ago, such as since 1948 known as the Nakba which caused millions displaced Palestinians. However, as a Muslim, I should stay strong to my faith that God have promised the victory for Palestinians in the holy land. Free Palestine!

That's me with my two arms up, joining the crowd protesting in Tokyo last October

Covid-19, Ramadhan, and Golden Week

Hi people!

I hope everyone is healthy and safe despite the pandemic happening around the globe. So, how have you been coping with the situation?

I am trying to recall when I first became fully aware of the virus, I am not certain, but maybe back in January soon after I arrived back in Tokyo after spending the new year holiday in Indonesia. A colleague at work also came back from China, so after some chats with him, considering we were sitting next to each other we agreed to put on mask for two weeks. Thankfully we were fine.

But then the number of Covid-19 patients started to increase in Japan, including Tokyo. We started to wonder if our company would consider enabling work from home policy. Thankfully the group where I was working with was quite proactive in negotiating with HR to make this happen. Then I began working from home on March 2nd, so it's been approximately two months of working from home now.

I would say I have been enjoying the WFH so far. Although it is not as comfortable as in the office because I only have low desk, which would cause worse stiff shoulder and back pain if not followed by enough stretching. I am happy that I don't have to spend 40 mins train ride each, I am happy that it is so much more comfortable to do my daily prayers at home, I am happy that I have the energy and time to cook properly. Most of all, I am thankful to Allah s.w.t that work has not been affected by the pandemic. I have been blessed that I only have to refrain from going outside unless necessary to try protecting my own health.

Hopefully those badly affected by the pandemic, financially, will have more ease to overcome this difficult time.

Now, Covid-19 has also made Ramadhan this year so different than any other Ramadhan we observed before. Ramadhan 1441 H started on May 24th, in the midst of nationwide state of emergency in Japan, or even lockdown in other countries. Normally, for Indonesian Muslims in Tokyo, we would gather every Sunday to attend Tabligh Akbar, where Islamic Scholar would have been invited from Indonesia, followed by the break-fasting. However, due to Covid-19, we are now doing it online. Normally many Muslims would prefer to go the masjids/mosques to do the Tarawih prayer, but now we are encouraged to do the prayer at home as most masjid in Japan are closed to prevent the virus from spreading. If we looked back to the days of the Prophet, he also practiced Tarawih prayer at home to show to the other believers that Tarawih prayer is a sunnah.

Nevertheless, this situation doesn't stop us from having a break-the-fast together with friends. With technology, I just did an online break fasting for the first time ever yesterday 😄

Besides Ramadhan, it is now the Golden Week, the long awaited long holiday. In the past two years I spent Golden Week by going for a solo driving trip. In 2018, I went to Aomori prefecture then rent a car to drive around Aomori. Last year in 2019, I went to Okinawa, drive around island, and observed the era changed from Heisei to Reiwa. This year, as I knew Golden Week would be during Ramadhan, I didn't really plan to go for a driving trip. But, not going anywhere at all throughout Golden Week, would be my first experience after 11 years in Japan.

Anyway, hopefully the virus can be controlled soon, and we can be free again to go out and see family and friends. Aamiinn..

Have a blessed Ramadhan all 💕

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 ❤

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. :)

Unforgettable March

March is another part of my long spring holiday. Thus, i've been making many plans to do on March. First, spending time together with my mom for a week since my mom had to go to a seminar in Niigata University. We planned to spend a whole day in Tokyo after the seminar. Second, me together with Dhilla and Fani were planning to go to Disney Resort (Disney Sea and Disney Land) for two days on 14th and 15th of March, we've also booked the hotel.

Everything seemed so fine. I spent 3 days in Niigata with mom starting from March 7th, then headed back to Tokyo on 10th. We walked around Shibuya for a while till then i had to go to work so my mom walked around other places by herself. After i finished my work, we went home together again. 

The next day, which was March 11th, was a very sunny day. It was a perfect day to travel. So, me and mom decided to go to places that she had never been to. Odaiba and Yokohama were the options that we chose. We left home before 11am. We decided to go to Odaiba first because i thought of enjoying Minatomirai , Yokohama view at night.

So, there we were at Aquacity, Odaiba. After we had lunch, my mom prayed first. It was around 2pm and we were on the 6th floor. When my mom done, i got my turn to pray. When i was still praying, i started to feel the quake. At the first time i thought i was normal, since there are always a lot of quake in Japan. But, it was getting bigger. I started to loose focus while praying. And it was still shaking until i finished praying. The quake was REALLY STRONG. I've never experienced earthquake as strong as that one. I was confused, i didn't know what to do. I wanted to run but my mom said we should just wait there because the shake was too strong. Yeah, it was even really hard to move. We waited for quite long until the first quake stopped.  All i could do were keep praying that the quake would stop soon and the building wouldn't collapse, and keep holding on my mom. There were high school students crying full of fears near us. When it stopped we hurried go down stairs and went out from the building. I saw some lights and decorations had fell down.

People were gathering outside the building. Some people seemed panic, some others didn't seem so panic. There was even a kid throwing up. But it didn't stop there. Another big quake happened then followed by  dozens of quite strong aftershocks. There was also smoke which i thought it because there's a building on fire not so far from the place where i was standing.

Me, mom, and a lot of other people were just waited there for a while. When we felt that the situation has gotten calm, my mom asked me to take photo at the Tokyo Decks. So, yeah even after a scary earthquake, we could still able to enjoy taking photos.

mom, Liberty Statue Miniature and Rainbow Bridge as the background

people sat and waited at the Tokyo Decks

If you figured by the pictures, the weather that day changed drastically after the quake. the warm weather changed to be so cold. We tried to go to the train station but it was closed due to the quake. Then we heard an announcement that we were suggested to go to a higher place because there's a tsunami warning. Oh, alright. There i was, started to get panic. I couldn't imagine if the tsunami would really hit us. Bus and taxi were so crowded. There's no other choice, so me and mom decided to walk to get far from Odaiba which was on the sea shore area. It was around 4 pm. We walked for few hours until we finally crossed the bridge to Tokyo area. We tried to get on the bus, but the street was so crowded that the cars couldn't even move. So, we got off from the bus and continued walking until we found a police box in Ginza area. We already knew the worst scenario to go home was to walk. Yes, walk! So, we asked the police man the direction to go to Setagaya area. This police man was very nice, he told us that we had to go to Shinjuku first, at least we could check if the train has continued to operate again while walking. From Ginza to Shinjuku, we had to pass Hanzomon and some other areas. We walked for hours, mom's feet were getting hurt. But, we tried to keep walking and took a rest for 2 or 3 times until we arrived at Shinjuku. Along the way, we walked together with hundreds or even thousands? of people.

We found out that all trains were still suspended and the traffic around Shinjuku was really bad so cars couldn't barely move. We tried to ask police men there on how to walk to Setagaya area, but they didn't even have a map! They couldn't tell us the clear direction. So, the only way that i know was if i walked from Shibuya. So, we aksed the direction to go to Shibuya. It was already 9:53 pm. It means that we've walked for about 6 hours!

From Shinjuku, we needed to follow the Yamanote Line track to go to Shibuya-- Shinjuku-Yoyogi-Harajuku-Shibuya. Between Yoyogi and Harajuku, we found a police office then we took a rest for a while there. I was glad because the police officers there were so nice. I even told one of them that we've walked from Odaiba, then he told us to rest first. Along the way, i watched the news about the tsunami that hit northeastern part of Japan. But, in that police office, they didn't show the news. They just showed another video. I thought maybe they didn't want to make us "the walkers" panic. 

So, after sitting for a while, we walked again and arrived at Shibuya at around 12 am. We first checked the bus that goes to Setagaya area. But the man there said it would take about 5 or 6 hours (normally it only takes 40-60 mins). Fortunately, the man told us that Den en Toshi Line had started to operate. Ya, it was the  first and only line that's moving since the quake. Luckily it passed the station near to our place. So we decided to take the train, buuuttt, the queue line was very long. It took about 1 hour until me and mom could finally get on the train! And the train was very crowded even worse compared to hectic hours when people go home after work. 

But, thanks God we could arrived at home safely. Aftershocks were still happening almost every couple of minutes. We couldn't just sleep right away. We still needed to check the flight for my mom but there was no information about the flight schedule. Then we decided to sleep and wake up early to check the flight status again in the morning. The flight for my mom that day was cancelled. We tried to find flight ticket for the next day but we only got the flight ticket for Monday, March 14th. 

I felt happy because i could spend more time with mom but in other side, i also felt worry. I wanted her to go back to Indonesia as soon as possible to be safe. Anyway, on the day after the quake, March 12th, i just stayed at home (*guest house actually) with mom for the whole day. Both of us were exhausted after walking for about 8 hours. 

Sunday, March 13th, mom was bored and trying to convince me to go outside. But i didn't want to go because i thought that it wasn't safe enough, since there are still some aftershocks. Mom still tried to convince me to go somewhere. So i decided to take her to a department store near our place. Going to a far place was way of too risky because the train could stop anytime. We could also have dinner together with my Indonesian friends in Nodai at a restaurant near our place. Before we went to sleep, we checked the access to Narita airport first because most of the transportations to the airport were suspended after the earthquake.  But, there wasn't any infomation so we just made sure that my mom's things were packed neatly and slept. 

Early in the morning around 4:30 am, after we prayed, we turned on the tv and there it was the infomation about the access to the aiport. Apparently there were only 2 units of skyliner that're going to the airport for that day. So, we hurried go to the Ueno station. Luckily we still could get the ticket for the last skyliner. So, there i said goodbye to my mom. A bit sad because i couldn't go with her to the airport. If i went to the airport, i wouldn't be able to go back to my dorm since there's no access. 

Days after the great earthquake and tsunami

Now it's been almost two weeks since the earthquake and tsunami hit northeastern part of Japan. The disaster weren't only quake and tsunami, but they are followed by the cooling system failure of nuclear power plant in Fukushima prefecture. People were panic, even there are some embassies of some countries that suggested their people to leave Japan. How about me? I've been trying to keep calm. I'm still in Tokyo now. I don't plan to go to Indonesia unless the condition gets too serious and dangerous. Air and water in Tokyo has been contaminated by the nuclear radiation in low level. But government said that it's still on the level where it won't cause health problems. Anyway they suggested to the infants not to drink from the tap water directly.

Graduation ceremony at my campus was cancelled, the welcome ceremony for the new students has also been cancelled. The shedules of the guidance for new students and classes are postponed for about a week. So, i got my holiday period extended. But i'm not so happy about this. I'm bored already.

Tokyo Isn't a Ghost City

It's so funny that some media in countries outside Japan published these kind of articles which say that Tokyo is a ghost city. We're living normal lives here. It doesn't seem as normal as it should be because of  the lack of electricity and fuel supply. Egg and toilet paper are quite hard to find, but we could still buy them in some stores even with higher prices than usual.   

Anyway, thats all that i want to share for now. Actually there's still a bunch of things i would love to share but i'm tired of typing everything. hehehehe. So, see you again everyone and stay safe! Adios!