Why I gained 3 kilos in Japan...

I have been in love with Japanese food, even before I have gone to Japan. Before, I thought the sushi, sashimi and ramen I used to taste in the Philippines actually tasted good; not until I was able to taste authentic Japanese dishes! They have really yummy and healthy food in Japan and it's the main reason why I gained 3 kilos in my 3-month stay there.

Here's a rundown of my favorite food places in Japan. I just can't get enough of sushi, sashimi, ramen, gyoza, yakitori, yakiniku, takoyaki, steak, etc.

 Cafe Gusto

 Genki Sushi

 Ishiyaki Steak

 Italian

KFC Drive-Thru 

 Mister Donut

 Ramen & Gyoza

 Starbucks

 Street Food

 Sushiya

Royal Host

Takoyaki

 Yakiniku

Yakitori

dessert

Besides Japanese food that we used to eat every time we're out, we also cook some Filipino and Japanese dishes at home. But everyday seemed like a fiesta because of a lot of dishes we used to prepare.

Plus Japan got the cutest and yummiest cakes.:)

my cousin prepared this for her mom 

I got these as presents on my 23rd birthday

Yay! I super miss authentic Japanese food! Plus everything about Japan. I hope to come back soon.

I love Sushi!:)

I found this video which won in the Animation Category of the Youtube Video Awards 2010. The most popular videos per category (total of 7 categories) were chosen by YouTube users (by number of applause).

Ready to Rock 2011!

It's been a long time since my last post here in my blog site. But as a part of my New Year's Resolution for 2011, I'll make sure that I update my site more often from this moment on.


Anyway, as part of the yearly tradition of our group, we again had another New Year party at our friend's place. This year's theme: ROCKSTAR! Simply because we're gonna ROCK 2011!:)

It was fun and crazy. Had the traditional photo shoot with the sparkles and the champagne! And every new, we grow in number. More friends means merrier year.

I am very excited to what the rest of the year will bring to me. But hopefully, it's gonna be a FABULOUS year for me and my friends. Now I am more than READY TO ROCK 2011!!!!

Honor and Excellence

I am so proud to be one of her students way back in college. She's such a brilliant professor.:)

The UP Pep Squad is Back on Top!:)

Just to have something to post here (since I have very little time doing blog posts now), I wanna share how happy and proud I am for my Alma Mater for being this year's UAAP Cheerdance Competition CHAMPIONS!!!CONGRATULATIONS UP PEP!:)



I actually didn't expect this to happen, because I was also impressed with what the FEU Pep Squad presented. But after a closer observation, I realized that what made FEU as champions last year was exactly what made UP this year's champions: synchronization & a very neat performance. Due to more complicated routine by FEU, they had a little trouble in synchronizing their moves, more especially in mounting and dismounting pyramids and executing tosses and other stunts. I think, their costume was quite distracting since it didn't look much of a cheerdance uniform anymore; but still, nice concept. For UP, they got a nice theme which actually showed that they were indeed students of the State University. It's very Pinoy, without making it into a Jejemon level.

I wasn't much convinced by UST's routine, but since other schools kinda messed up more than they did, I think they still deserved to be 2nd runner-up; and hopefully, they won't get dropped out of the top 3 again for the succeeding years (given that they'll improve or at least bring back the same skills/level which made them champs for multiple years in the past).

When I was in college, I made sure get to watch the competition live at the Big Dome every year. However, when I graduated, I got lazier in attending the live event due to a growing crowd each year. Good thing this year I only watched with my friends at home, because Araneta Coliseum was too crowded, having around 21,000 audience (a bit  fewer than the record-breaking 23,443 audience in 2008).

Here are this year's scores (out of 500 points):

UP (Hala Bira Fiesta Theme) - 440.9 points (88.18%)

FEU (Japanese Samurai Theme) - 421.4 points (84.28%)

UST (White Tiger Theme) - 407.5 points (81.50%)

Reference: Inquirer Sports, Twitter and Wikipedia 

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1.02.28

breaking the silence...

I know, I haven't posted blog entries for a couple of months now. A lot of things happened so fast, and I got ultimately busy with work.

When I came back from Japan, I immediately got a new job here in the Philippines. So just a week after I arrived, I already started working. Now I'm working with the top telecommunications company in the P.I.--Smart Communications, Inc. What I do here? Uhm, marketing in a different way...we're a special arm that organizes and sponsors sports events within the country. We even manage the country's top athletes of several sports. Actually, it's so not me since I am not really a sporty person....but I'm having fun now!:)

I may be enjoying work now, but there's something in me that makes me want to stop working and enroll at a fashion school. I've been wanting to design clothes and own a boutique, but I still have to figure out to start and sustain this kind of business. I was late for the enrollment at Fashion Institute of the Philippines, but I'm still glad that my friend-business partner made it. She'll be teaching what she has learned and by September, we'll get our business going.

Besides the clothing business aspiration, I am currently working with another business partner on liquor distribution/reselling. I realized I have a very good market for this since almost NONE of my friends are NOT drinking haha! Hopefully, this gets fixed before this month ends.

Since I have been trained with event coordination, I'm also doing some event rakets now. One project I am working with now is the anniversary of a bar, and one of its partnership event with a beer product. Fingers crossed that we'll hit our target.

I am so happy now. I feel like I have everything. Fabulous friends, loving family, great job, good opportunities, and of course, God. Thanks for all the blessings!:) Oh yes, I don't actually need a lovelife haha!=))

Life in Suwa-shi Nagano-ken, Japan in PHOTOS! (Shopping)

Japan is a first world country so we understand why there's a high cost of living here. From taxes to daily necessities; every person in the family needs to work to pay up for those bills. The good side here is that, the cost of labor is enough to cope up with the cost of living. For example, a regular factory worker here earns around 850 yen per hour. With 8 hours of work a day, could earn 6800 yen a day. Less 20% tax, that is 5440 yen, or around PHP 2720 a day...but in the Philippines, the minimum wage is PHP 350 per day. Now that's a great difference. That is why, every time we go shopping, I stop myself from converting prices from yen to peso. haha!

Our apartment is about two blocks away from "Station Park", a place full of shops for leisure, shopping, and dining. It's where we often go for grocery shopping but it also has shops of shoes and clothes, which we truly love.=) But besides Station Park, there are also a lot of shops that we explore within Suwa City. We even visit nearby cities such as Chino and Shimosuwa for more shopping experience.

Here are some of our random shots while shopping...

Groceries

self-service at MaxValue

Megamart

pastries section at Valor

fresh fish & meat at Kakuju

toiletries, beauty needs & med stuff at Kusuri

blame it on the a-a-a-alcohol :))

Seiyu (Chino City)

J-Mart (it also has pets & home stuff inside)

Watahan (plus some appliances inside)

people packing their groceries at Nichigen

Clothes, Shoes, Accessories, and Other Stuff

Shimamura

Hak Yen Shop

Ogino (Chino City)

ShoeMart

Shoe Plaza

kikay stuff

 Daiso (hak yen shop in Chino City)

Jusco Mall (Chino City)

for sports stuff

Brands!

Love Love (kinda similar to Rustan's)

Love Junkie

G.U.

Honey's

Uni Qlo (I love their leggings!)

Tech Stuff, Toys, and Games

Eiden

Yamada Denki (Chino City)

Toy Kingdom (Mister Donut haha)

Game St.

Mandaiteng

Well that's it for now. Will just continue sharing next time. I got a lot more to share: food & dining, health & wellness stuff, etc. So this entry will definitely have a part 2.=)

"sashiburi"

Japanese term for "long time no see"...

Yes, sashiburi to my blog! haha! I haven't posted a blog entry for a month now. Anyway, a lot of events have already happened in my month and a half vacation here in Japan. I wish I have lots of time to post photos and updates here but it's either I'm out of the house, or I am busy doing some household chores haha!

I'll be summarizing my activities on a series of posts soon. I'll post some photos along with those fun stories when I've found enough time.:)