I got a package from America!

I got a mail from my friend Damien and his little sister Kiz.

I was soooooo excited to open it.

Damien knows I like a toy. So he sent me two dolls of PUFFY.

They are really cool! Thanks, Damien :)

And I got A LOT OF American candy!!
I have never seen candy like that!
American candy look like toys :) They look very fun and cute.

And I got a special necklace and a letter from Kiz.
I didn't know she knows me but it was really really really good surprise.
The necklace was made by Kiz and I LOVE IT!!
She sells necklaces and something eles.
Can you believe that she is only 14 years old?
She is a little bussiness woman :) Cute!

I sent a mail for Damien before.
But it was for Damien, not for Kiz.
(Because I didn't know her when I sent it.)
I decided to send a mail for her as "THANK YOU".
I bought a lot of Japanese candy, and......secret :D

I hope she likes them :)

Valentine's Day with Maki

Anna took this video on Valentine's Day.
And Brian edit it for me :)

Guess what ! ! ! !

I got a passport today!

I'm so excited because I got a passport today!

It means "I can go anywhere!" WOOOOOW!!
Am I crazy? Who cares?
It is a first passport for me! Can you believe I can go anywhere?
I cannot wait to go to America!

She is a cute dog with a boy's name :)

My friend Yuma came home to see his family and friends from Tokyo.
He saw me to give me a lot of pictures.

This is the most favorite picture which he gave me.

He took this picture about a year ago.
This is Yuma's dog who is called Edy.
You think this dog is a boy, right?
NO! She is a GIRL!
I don't know why she has a boy's name...
I asked Yuma about her name before.
But he didn't know why she has a boy's name too.

Hey friends! I wanna know popular names with dogs in your country.
What do you think? What is your doggie's name?

The day before the beginning of spring.

Today is the day before the beginning of spring.
We have a traditional event today.
We scattered the parched soy beans to drive out bad luck.

When I was a little, my teachers appeared in the likeness of a damon/ogre in a preschool.
And we(students and some teachers) aimed the parched soy beans at the teachers as we said "Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!"
It means that we hope good luck come on in, bad luck and damon/ogre go away.
Some teachers with damon/ogre uniforme was very scary and ugly.
They scared us very much!

Damon/ogre scare people.

You can get the parched soy beans and a damon/ogre mask at a store.

Stolen my car!

My car was stole by Anna!
She drove my car to go to a book store with me.
110! (It is the phone number of the police station.)

I visited her to give the cosmetic which she wants after work.
And she asked me "What are you doing tonight?"
I said "I am going to the book store which you really like."
She wanted to come with me.

When I was waiting for her, Brian called me.
And I was waiting for her as I talked to Brian.
She said to me something.
But I could not listen well because I was talking to Brian.
It seemed that she wanted to get my keys.
I thought "She will open my car for me. She is kind!"
(I had talked to Brian.)
Somehow, she walked to the driver's seat and got on.
I thought she got on the driver's seat as a joke.
She made my car start.
You know...she drove my car without Japanese driver's license.
I shouted for help because I was scared.

In Canada, you drive on RIGHT side.
In Japan, we drive on LEFT side.
In Canada, you sit LEFT side.
In Japan, we sit RIGHT side.
AND the streets are very narrow in Japan.

I said to her "I believe you." but she said "Don't believe me." with a smile.
I'm sure it is the most scary occurrence in 2007.
She made my life shorter, hehehe :)

Spirited Away

I watched "Spirited Away" on TV today.

Liz had talked to me about this movie before.
(Liz is a big fan of Studio Gibuli.)
But I had never watched it.

I was watching as I ate a snack.
I couldn't keep eating when I watched it.
Because It drew me from start to finish!

This story is too difficult to explain.
Because it is composed of Japanese ideas.

You can get some information here.(Click here!)

Spirited Away (Japanese version)

Spirited Away (English version)

Learning new words

I have been sick for two weeks...

I think I had a really bad stomach virus.
And some of my friends too.
Does this virus spread in Japan? ...I don't know.
I went to the hospital to have an injection. It helped me :)

I have not had a fever and stomachache since I had an injection.
But I still have a cough. That's all! I will be super soon :)

By the way, I have watched some movies and read some books lately because I could not go out.
"50 first dates" is the most favorite movie which I have watched lately.
Have you ever watched it? It is love story in Hawaii.
I have never been to Hawaii.
But the images and the music in this movie made me feel Hawaii :)

I got some new words from my friends!

1, Guess what
-I got this word from Damien.
After that, I said to Steve and Tiffany "I got a new word!"
They said "What?" I said "Guess what!"
They said "What??" I said "Guess what!"
They said "What???" We repeated 2 times. It was funny :)

2, hypothetical
-I got this word from Damien.
After that, I said to Steve and Tiffany, Anna "I got new word!
But I forgot about it... H,Y,......C,A,L" They thought about
this word. It was like a quiz. Tiffany got an answer!

3, G'day mate!
-I got this word from Steve.
He taught me about difference of British and American, Canadian,
Australian accents.
It seems that when I speak British English, I have to stand with
a straight back. And act politely with a stick :) hehehe.
It seems that Australian English is very casual.

I learned English from conversation with my friend and songs in English.
So maybe I learned BAD words sometimes.
When I cannot find the words in my dictionary, I ask my friends about them.
And it seems that I make them annoy with the questions.
Sorry, Steve and Tiffany, Anna!

Welcome and farewell party

We had a welcome and farewell party.

It is really good to have new coworker.
But it is really sad to lose coworker.

A girl came to our store to work together.
It was first time to see her.
She looks a very nice girl.
She is a year older than me.
I hope we will be good friends.

We had a good coworker who was transferred.
We were very sad because he is liked by everyone.
I cannot believe he will leave our store.

I hope we all can meet up some time!

Think about foreign food

I went to Hard Rock Cafe with Brian.
It was third times to go there.

We ate Mexican food and salad.
I had never eaten Mexican food before I saw Brian.

He showed me a lot of things.
Mostly foreign food.
I know about Chinese and Korean food a little bit.
But he showed me American food, Mexican food,
Thai food, Italian food, Balinese food, Indian food...etc.
They are very interesting for me.

And it changed my mind.
I thought the best food is Japanese food.
So I had never tried to eat foreign food which I had never eaten.
I was silly.

Brian took salad for me.

And he made cute face

Hair : lettuce

Eyebrow : shrimp

Glasses : onion

Eye : olive

Ear : bread

Mouth : tomato

I got mad at...

I was waiting for calling from Brian today.

He is in Yokohama which is close to Tokyo.
He siad to me he is going home on 11th.
And he asked me if I am free. So I didn't have any plans.

I send email to him yesterday. "Are you going home tomorrow?"
But he didn't write back. I thought he was too busy to send email to me.
I decided to wait his calling.

I got up early to answer his calling. BUT he didn't call me until afternoon.
I got mad at him getting more and more...:(
My mom asked me if I go to the temple with my mom and dad, brother.
I went to the temple with my family.

When I was in mom's car, Brian called me.
"Hi! How are you?" He sounded happy. I told him about waiting his calling.
He asked me "Are you free tomorrow?"
My mom asked me to buy cosmetics in Nanba. I can go there with him.
But I was angry. So I said "I'm going out!" He said "Ok"
....What? Why did you say "OK", Brian?
I said to him "I have to go to Nanba because my mom asked me to get new cosmetics." He said "Can I go there with you?"

I made up with him.

It is Japanese food restaurant which is traditional Japanese style.

My dad and brother

We went to the temple to do good business.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is the Brian's street performance!

I went to Kobe to watch Brian's street performance today.
It was windy but the performance was really good!

He juggles with a lot of stuff. Balls, knives, boxes, sticks with fire...etc.
And he rides the loooooooong unicycle.
I love it :)

Usually, he speaks Japanese very well like me!
But when he did the performance, he spoke funny Japanese.
It is one of the causes of fun when he does performance :)

Looooooong unicycle!

He juggles sticks with fire!

Welcome back, Anna!

Anna came to Japan again!
She went to home (Canada) before last Christmas.
We had never seen each other for 2 weeks.
I missed Anna so much.

I went to the airport to pick her up.
But her plane didn't arrive on time.
It was first time that I went to the airport to pick someone up.
(I had been there to say goodbye some times.)
And I have never been to foreign country.
So I didn't know that the plane was late.
I worried about her so much... I thought her plane broke.

After a hour, she arrived at the airport WITH a problem.
Her baggage was gone!
I cannot believe this problem. Is it usual?
But Anna is fine :) I was so glad that she could come to Japan safely.

And we went home safely with mac-mobile :)

New Years nabe party!

Have you ever eaten "Nabe"?
Nabe means...umm...I have to use a dictionary:(
Ok, I found "Nabe" in my dictionary.
It means..."a dish (meal) cooked in a pot at the table."
There are many kinds of nabe in Japan and they are very popular in winter.

Ritsuko made nabe for us. It was really good!
I really really really like her. She is so sweet and funny.

I introduced my friend Kazu for my friends.

It was weird how to meet Kazu.
My mom and his dad are very good friends.
Kazu's dad said to my mom "Kazu has no girlfriend. He is 29 years old.
I worry about his marriage."
My mom said "I have a daughter who has no boyfriend."
And we knew each other. This is very weird.
But I think we will be good friends.
I really hope that we will be good FRIENDS.

Top: Steve, Maki, Tiffany (left to right)

Bottom: Kazu, Kel, Kathy, Tiho, Ritsuko

George is very cute:)

Happy New Year for my friends!

I paid a visit to a temple on New Year's Day with my friends.
Many Japanese people go to a temple or a shrine on New Year's Day.
And we hope "This year will be good for me."

How did you celebrate New Year's Day?

Saori, Maki, Sayori

It was very beautiful.

The first sunrise of the year.

Korean BBQ

I was so excited !!
It was first time that my mom saw Kel and Kathy!
We went to Korean restaurant.
AND we ate a lot... too much...:(

I think it was first time that Kel and Kathy ate Korean food.
They really like Korean food.

When I ate Korean food, I remembered my birthday party.
Steve and Tiffany, Anna took me Korean restaurant.
I wish you were here, Anna!
I miss you... I hope you will come back soon!

Nice food, nice talking, nice friends...everything is great here!
Funny picture!

Welcome to Japan, Kel and Kathy!

Tiffany's parents Kel and Kathy came to Japan on December 23rd.
I saw them on Christmas Eve. They are so nice!

I went out with Steve and Tiffany, her parents, Mitsuru, Hiroto.
And we ate Takoyaki and Yakisoba, Okonomiyak...etc.
It was really good! I love Takoyaki:)

Everything is new for Kel and Kathy!
I hope they like Japan.

Yum yum Takoyaki!
Steve, Hiroto, Kathy, Kel, Maki, Tiffany, Mitsuru.
Maki, Tiffany, Kathy:)

Party season!

PARTY! PARTY! PARTY!
I had some parties with my coworkers.
Welcome parties, farewell parties, year-end party...

We ate a lot, drunk a lot, talked a lot...
It was really good time!
But I 'm afraid of putting on weight:(

My coworkers!
We are very good friends:)

Japanese culture

I went to watch "Noh" with my coworkers and my mom yesterday.
It was really good! I had never seen Noh and Kyogen before.
Noh is a classical Japanese performance.
Kyogen is the classical comic theater which balances the more serious Noh.
I am sorry, I can't explain about them well.

Click here! You can know about them!

When I was a little Maki, I danced Japanese dance like Geisha.
I really liked it. (That is why I can't dance in club. hehe.)
Noh and Kyogen are different from Japanese dance.
It was very gorgeous, but Noh and Kyogen are not gorgeous.
(Because most of player are men.)

It is Noh.
Noh playhouse
It is Kyogen.

Takoyaki party

We had "Takoyaki party" at Yuki's house.
Takoyaki is my favorite food:)

Matthew, I remember that you said to me you do not eat octopus.
But I'm sure you will like it!
It is very very very very yummy:D
I wanna eat takoyaki now!

Yuki's nephew Hinata wanted to eat takoyaki.
He is 3 years old, very cute boy.
He is very interested in Anna!
And he try to talk to her. But he did not understand what Anna said.
When Anna sang the Canadian national anthem, he tried to sing with her.
He was copy-cat:)

These are takoyaki.

Anna is making Takoyaki.

I am making takoyaki!

Hinata and me:)