Jewel

"For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words on kindness; And for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone."

--Audrey Hepburn--

What a beautiful quote!

Reaching you.

Hey peeps!

First of all, I'm feeling incredibly sorry for my current infrequency of updating...I am very very busy.

Past few weeks have been an absolute whirlwind, and I've been swamped by tons of job-resumes to write; so here's me, moping around the house wearing pj-esque clothes, hair's a mess, in need of girly session with my friends and wishing I was living someplace else.

Despite my cliched-excuse, I can see, in the tiny box on the right hand, that you guys still day-to-day visit here for me. I genuinely appreciate it! arigatou:).

With regard to that, I put that web tracker to simply piece out where all my generous readers are from. So please do not worry, I'm not knowing any more info than that, and not spying on you or anything(!). But honestly, it 's wonderful to know that I'm now having visitors from Korea, Hong Kong, US, Germany, France, Canada, all over Malaysia, Ausralia.... and of course Japan. This is why this blog is here for. Thanks so much guys, and I'll try to make my posts as enchanting as I can.

As to me, no exciting item to tell now, just hoping my current wish for a dream job will eventually drift ashore to the sands.

P.S. ...soon more pictures with humans to come! ;P

Shinjuku

"Like a star in the dark of night
Like birds lost in flight

Like clouds in the sky of blue"

Love Today

I love Valentine's Day, I mean, as much as I hate it; seeing many shops dripped with heart-shaped goodies just leaps up one's heart while it could be no more merciless without having beloved one to give it.

We Japanese celebrate Valentine's day in a unique fashion, which is simply described as a day when only women give chocolate gift to thier special someone. Not a mutual exchange or any sort...boys are undeniably blessed in this country:(.

Anyways, I'm sending love and appreciation for all my favorite people who always make my day brighter and my life a little easier. And not to forget, special one for my truelove.

Also I send my deepest thanks for many earnest readers around the world.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! I love you all!

austerity

"Manifest plainness, Embrace simplicity, Reduce selfishness, Have few desires."

---Lao-tzu, The Way of Lao-tzu

Happy Chinese New Year--- a little thought on Made in China ethnicity

When I was in Melbourne last year, I was amazed by the fact that Asian population in Australia had remarkably increased since I was there in 2002. Indeed, there were hardly no areas in the city where we didn't see any Asians, and majority of them were Chinese or overseas Chinese mainly from Malaysia or Singapore.

I too had a chance to get to know them very well last year, and became pretty close with some of them. One time I asked my Malaysian-Chinese boyfriend whether he thinks themselves as different from those Chinese who were born in China. He told me that they may have slightly different mentality, and he indeed felt a little foreign to them. Contrarily, I also found it very interesting how Chinese people retain their own cultures, and are proud of their ethnicity no matter where they live or have grown up. That's probably something which we Japanese need to reconsider about ourselves.

Anyway, today is Chinese New Year, and as you know I'm not Chinese. But I still send a greeting to all my Chinese friends/readers if it's okay to share a little sense of their festivity as a same Asian fellow:).

By the way, I've just known that our otoshidama ( a Japanese New Year custom of giving monetary gift from parents/relatives to children) had an origin in Chinese red packet which is also given during Chinese New Year. I truly appreciate our ancestors who took over this awesome tradition from China:p.

Happy CNY guys!

Greeting from Japan,

Little Miss Sunshine

The whole story began with a bizarre encounter at shower room in college dorm. It wasn't long until I realized that this tiniest girl had the greatest love for others which I've ever seen.

Years elapsed, and now Ranko is moving back to Nagoya where her first office life awaits.

Best teammate whom I spent the prime of cheerleading days together; the best partner who snuggled each other and bemoaned the shortage of boys in our university during the time of singleness:P; and the best girlfriend who always shared the laughter, pain and even stupidity.

I'll miss you my little miss sunshine!

All the best for your brilliant future.

Deepest love for my beautiful tiniest friend,