2014 Golden Week: Day 2

Hirosaki, Aomori

It's Sakura Festival Week in Hirosaki, Aomori.
Since all the other (known) prefectures sakura had already bloomed and fall weeks ago, it's nice knowing that I can get my sakura revenge while it was still blooming all over in Hirosaki!

And I meant it, sakura all over!
Damn, so beautiful, that it made me cry (apparently in my head, though).

while walking in the city, a Beni Shidare Sakura

紅しだれさくら

beni = crimson

shidare = sweeping

again, throughout the city, sakura in blossom!

Just not a sunny day though.

Before entering the Hirosaki Garden, walking down the road circling the garden with sakura!

The sakura was so full that even the small stream turned pink with the petals!

Never thought that I would see the day where everywhere in an extremely wide space, sakura blossom all over!

Oh yeah, because Aomori is also famous for apples, me and M enter every cafes for the best apple pies!

Fujita Memorial Garden, which served an amazing size of apple pie.

Both are apple pies, one with chocolate filling, and the other was a bitter apple pie, using the apples from Aomori. It was so good. 

The signboard next to Aomori Tourist Centre, apple pies!!!!

At Nebuta village, making senbei with peanuts filling. I ate while it was still warm, and taste delicious. Warm, soft yet crunchy senbei!

We went on for sakura viewing until 7 p.m, wanting to view sakura in the night sky. The soft colored petals of sakura in the day time turns vividly red in the night. 

Just after the sun set, and several lanterns were lighted up. 

No wonder the sakura in night time seemed like a haunted yet beckoning us to come spirit.

The sakura viewing experience in Aomori was indeed a breath taking experience. To see everywhere in white and pink was again telling me to take time and enjoy the purity of life, and to do your best!

Till then,

Ha Hu Hi

2014 Golden Week Trip Day 1

Day 1 starts off with waiting a friend of mine, M who was coming from Nagoya in Tokyo. We agreed to meet up in Akiba since both of us wanted to eat halal dinner, and decided to eat kebab in Akihabara at 7.30 p.m.

The bus to Shichi-no-he Towada (七戸十和田駅) departs at 9.30 p.m from Tokyo station. The gist of the route is just like this.

We arrived in Shichi-no-he the next morning at around 8.30 a.m.

Since both of us haven't planned anything yet, we decided to plan our trip at the station and also refreshed ourselves while charging our empty stomachs and phones.

It was outrageous since our planning took 2 hours before we decided on our first activity on the first day, which was visiting the museum in Towada. Yet, we didn't proceed as planned. That was all because we found out that to go to the Honshu northernmost site takes 3 hours drive from the station. So, our first day ended up going to the northernmost site of Honshu, which is Omazaki(大間崎) in Shimo-kita hantou(下北半島）.

We arrived in Omazaki at around 1.30 p.m and my, it was so cold! It was already summer in Tokyo yet, it was so cold here in Omazaki. I didn't even brought my winter coat, thinking it may be not that cold at all.

The drive to Omazaki was amazing. The north of Honshu is just beginning to embrace spring, and the sakura was blooming all along the road. It was such a calming view and the drive had been such a joy that all my fatigue and sleepiness flew away! (M could not drive, so M the one who took the photos while I drove all the 6 hours, while sleep-deprived)

And it's the sea! It's been a long time since I'd been to a seaside, and wow! Didn't I miss the sea so much!

The sea breeze, the salty air, the fish smell all over! And it was so cold!!!! Hokkaido can be sighted from the Omazaki cape, making me wanting to go cross over the sea.

My lunch was Maguro, fresh from the sea!

That was the trip from the first day. I drove back to the station just in time for our lodgings in Aomori city.

Until then,

Ha Hu Hi.

Golden Week 2014 Trip Overview

This is just an overview, since it had been a year I post.
To start with, congratulations to all who had started working since April last year, Man, such a long time ago we were just students of jeans and shirts, and now, pants and white shirts (never forget the neckties), crashing the clock from 9 a.m to 6 p.m meeting with clients, drafting schedules, drawing designs and so on. So, as a reward for myself, I went to a trip to the northernmost of Honshuu, Aomori Prefecture.

The trip takes me from Monday night to Friday evening. I just came back home this morning to be precise.

This will be post according to the dates of trip.

Until then,

Ha Hu Hi

poems and literature

My last post had been about books.
Yeah.. reviews on books.

Personally, my readings are more towards those of stories.. yep, that's right. Novels and manga alike.

But lately, after watching 超訳百人一首　（Chou yaku hyaku ninn isshu: Literally translated as a poem of 100 poets of Japan), I suddenly have an appreciation for it.

I did learn poems, sajak, syair, pantun, puisi and etc.  all through school, but it doesn't have that much of an impact of me until the anime. Yes, it's the anime that brought me back to why poems are in fact beautiful as it is.

My favorite poem from Hyakuninn Isshu is

Hana no iro wa,

Utsuri ni keri na,

Itazurani,

Waga mi yo ni furu,

Nagame seshi ma ni

- by Komachi Ono

The blossom's tint is washed away,

By heavy showers of rain;

My charms, which once I prized so much,

Are also on wane, ---

Both bloomed, alas! in vain 

-translated by William N. Porter 

Color of the flower

Has already faded away,

While in idle thoughts

My life passes vainly by,

As I watch the long rains fall 

-I copied from Random Curiosity blog... in no means this is mine, all credits must go to the author of this blog

Right now I am reading The Masnavi by Rumi. I had found one that captured my eyes, which is this.

Now listen to a further point, my friend,

Clear as the soul but hard to comprehend:

At one stage on this path snake venom changes

To wholesome food-it's God that rearranges:

Poison can be a drug that brings relief

And lawful things there are here unbelief,

Things harmful to the soul in that pure sphere

Can it be a remedy when they're down here:

Unripe grapes are too sour for us to eat

But when those same grapes ripen, they taste sweet:

As wine it's bitter and prohibited

But vinegar's use is unlimited

Till then,

ponders on the poem too,

HaHuHi

reading materials

I'm a bookworm.
Not much maybe compared to real bookworms, but I believe in my family I'm the worst case of bookworm.

I really love reading with passion. Moreover when I found a good book, it's hard to let go of the contents from my head. Really.

My reading materials are categorized into 3

1. Novels
    May it be in English or Malay language, I read those I think worth reading.. (though my novels are a lot in English), and this is sub-categorized to two; a chic lit and young adult fiction for lighter reading (mostly from Cecilia Ahern, Diana Wynne Jones, my new favorite, Jessica Day George and others) or something heavier (Grisham, Jeffrey Archer, Yann Martel, George R.R Martin  and the likes).
    I'm still exploring the Malay novels yet, but I really like Ramlee Awang Murshid. It is still hard for me to find a book that I won't throw 1/4 way out because the very typical storyline.

2. Mangas
    My source of love stories and action actually. I usually read shojo. josei and a bit of shonen genre.
    I love mostly Kaoru's mangas from Gempak Starz in Malaysia.
    Mostly shojo's stories too, but lately the shojo's genre has that too annoying heroin without spine or too much of an air-head. And too dumb to be compared to their hero. Please.... We need a model heroin here!!!!
    Well, some of my favorites mangakas would be:

• Masami Tsuda (His and her circumstances; high school students coping up with exams, love, and society)
• Naoko Takeuchi (Sailormoon, of course... still dumb girl but at least her development is encouraging!)
• Motomi Kyosuke (Dengeki Daisy)
• Tsubaki Izumi (Oresama Teacher; the adventures of a delinquent high school girl in disciplinary team trying to make her delinquent school a better place )
• Nakamura Yoshiki (Skip Beat, Tokyo Crazy Paradise to name a few her heroins always a strong willed girl to the end, that's why I like this mangaka)
• Clamp (Cardcaptor Sakura!!! the sweetest girl)
• Tsujita Ririko (Warau Kanoko-sama and Koi dano Ai dano → a story about a high school girl manipulating the school in the shadows)

   
    My josei... still hard to find a good one. But I like

• Yuchi Yayomi (Fukuyado Honpo; a story about 3 sisters and their lives revolving around their ancient wagashi shop), 
• Higashimura Akiko (Kuragehime: a girl who trying to save her living apartments before sold to developer by starting her own cloth-line)
• Yachi Emiko (Ashita no Ousama; a country-bred girl becoming a successful screen-writer) 
• and Ogawa Yayoi (Kimi wa Pet; how a career woman juggling through love, work and personal relationship).  

    My shonen would be One Piece by Oda Eichiro and Until Death do Us Part by Takashige Hiroshi.

    I do read some uncategorized mangas though. I like Tokeino Hari's Gakuen babysitters, a story about a boy helping out in nursery after school and Corseltel No Ryuujyutsushi Monogatari, by Ayuma Isuragi, a story of babysitting too, but dragon babies instead a human. Kumeta Natsuo's Bokura no Kiseki is a story about a princess reincarnated in modern times as a boy and how he dealt with enemies from her(?) time in modern way.

Oh my, I do wrote a lot about mangas here eh?

3. Non-fiction and others
I read this just when I think I am lacking too much of knowledge here. Not much but, the Sun Tzu's Art of War, Mahathir and Drucker are in my list. Right now, I am searching for books on Japanese culture and economy.

Wow! I wrote a lot this time.... Maybe I should wrote a lot for novels too. I read a lot more than what's written.

Till then,
HaHuHi

cosmetics.....gergh

ok, I'm done.

Not that.
I never actively wear makeups.
Now, late in my 20's, I started wanting to use them.

But the BIG questions comes whenever I standing in front of racks showing a lot of cleanser, creams, etc...

I am a muslim.
I am now living in where there's a very small population of muslim.
In regards of food, somehow I manage to survive... there's a lot of fish and an online halal food delivery.
But, how about cosmetics?
It's easy to recognize back in my country, but here?
So, first I started with brands I know back in my country.

But recently, when I looked back at PETA: an animal cruelty free site... somethings are just......
and there's a lot of unlisted Japanese companies.

Now for my daily toner, moisturizer and face cleaner, I use products from ROHTO. Typical drug store products.

肌ラボ HadaLabo

I love the HadaLabo series. They didn't contain any animal derivatives and no alcohol as checked from Malaysian site. Moreover, they did not test in on animals. Safe one hurdle.

Then a new product called Yuki Gokochi (literal translation very comfortable snow) came out.

雪ごこち　Yuki gokochi

I really wanted to try it. So I sent a questionnaire to them late last night, and today they called me to say that there is no animal derivatives and alcohol in the cream. Yes! Score another one!!!

That's from typical drugstore products.
Then as my willful wills, I just type halal cosmetics.
There is one with Halal certification of products from a Japanese company. A little bit pricey. I'm so going to buy it when I am a little bit richer.

Here's the site:  http://www.royalgoldcream.jp/en/

Royal Cosmetics

Cool!

But now... the rest of the makeups... it seems quite hard to find, and the other option is for me to buy online as Cruelty-Free, Animal-Free, Totally Vegan cosmetics are all outside Japan...(to name a few, they are Tarte, Urban Decay, Fx Cosmetics) 

Good thing I didn't buy the whole set during the time being ignorant as I am. 

Now I just need to find a good mascara, eyeliner, and foundation.  

so, till then,

HaHuHi.

After the depression willful days

nice weather? Not today.

It was supposed to be sunny, and I happily laid out my late-due-to-one-week-rain of laundry.
Then, I'm off to college. Just about having my lunch that these tiny drops of water fell. lightly, with strong wind. Light shower on a sunny day. Japanese people said that during days like this the fox will take a bride. A fox wedding day huh? Congrats then.....while my laundry piles up again.. huhuhu

Now,
a little late for my promise but here it is!
The summary for novels read on those willful days.

1. Princess of the midnight ball

A retelling story from our beloved fairy tales; the 12 dancing princess.
It told the story of 12 princess, cursed from birth due to her mother sacrifice, to dance for an evil underground King and the king's sons.
It adapted nicely and just like in the fairy tale, a soldier who was given an invisible cloak rescues them from the evil clutches.
Here, our hero does a bit of knitting and gardening, which comes handy in defeating the King.
And the budding love between Galen, the hero and Rose, the oldest princess brings fluttery feelings in my stomach. The story also involves politics a bit, to add reality to. Castle politics, I suppose and the relationship between neighboring princes and countries when the King (the princess father) wanted to solve the mystery shrouding our princess dancing shoes.

2. Princess of glass

This time, a Cinderella story, but it's not Cinderella who the heroin. It's one of the princess in the above mentioned story. The battle between the new evil underground King continues in this story, as the new evil King wants a bride (well, the old evil King wants the princess to be his sons' brides). I don't want to spoil the story so here my very little summary. The princess were sent to neighboring countries to mend the relationship because of what happened in the first story. The heroin this time, Poppy, was sent to their cousins and at the same time a neighboring prince was attending. Not much of a romance here, but I like the banters between Poppy and the prince, who seems to think that almost every girl will think of him as the next husband target. A maid was cursed and the one who realized it first was Poppy. But how can Poppy help her if the girl herself wish not to?

That were two books that kept me till dawn. 

After that I finished reading Entwined, Hunger Games, and Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow. I am waiting for the last in the trilogy when the youngest sister gets her own adventures in Princess of the silver woods.

Till then, 

HaHuHi  

P.s: My thirst for books is really bad. I can finish a novel a day......and with all the mangas lying around, I wonder how in the world my room has turned into a library?