Arriving in splendid shape

Hi dear sisters ...... hope you are doing fine in the past 2 weeks. I have been back for a few days but am still quite shaken both mentally and physically from my home trip. It's the thought of coming back to Japan - the country I love so much, that revives the last few living cells in me. Hehe, the handsome prince didn't really allow too much time for 'moi' to rest. His Royal Handsomeness left Seoul on Sunday and landed at Narita Airport around 3:20pm, despite BOF's announcement of Sep 28.

The last few days had been a whirlwind of activities for overseas visiting fans and the Japanese sisters in Tokyo. Today I am finally stepping out of my shell to join some fans activities (hope the visiting sisters can understand), and the much-awaited Winter Sonata Anime Event tonight at 6pm! Can't wait to see Yong Joon in his short hair :) We are all very excited, aren't we?

Leaving from Incheon


closer look at the haircut, I love it!
Full view of that black ensemble

Greeted at Narita by thousands

Lucky fan - Yong Joon picked her rose :)


Pictures credited as shown

Home sweet home

Hi hi ..... Thank you for your well wishes. Everytime when we have to leave Tokyo and travel somewhere, I just couldn't wait for the trip to be over so we can come back to the city I love. Last night when I was talking to Kiyomi san and she asked me, "Canada must be very beautiful in the fall now". "Yes", I thought to myself, "With the maple leaves beginning to change colors, the country side is revealing a palette of bright yellow, burnt orange and deep red. Boy! I have actually forgotten how beautiful my home country is!"


Thanks Jenny for writing about "Home sweet home", hmmmm...... what is home like after 2 years? After what we have experienced in Japan, will we see things differently? Well, I'll find out very soon :) Please take care, my dear sisters!

H1N1 free

Dear sisters ...... sorry for the absence. We will be going home to Toronto tomorrow to visit my aging parents. This is kind of a sudden trip, so I was busy scouring around town for Japanese souvenirs. Hehe afterall, this is our first home visit since we moved here, can't really just bring along 2 bunches of bananas with me :) BUT I will be back (hopefully) for our Yonsama's events, I wouldn't miss this precious chance to see our handsome prince, and moreover the so many overseas sisters.

About the events, have you read from gaulsan's translation (in Quilt) that the organizers have hired a flu prevention team to install measures that control any H1N1 infection, like the thermal imagers, maybe hand sanitizers throughout the venue? They are even contemplating a liability insurance for the fans who might get infected after attending the events. Considering Japan has over 150,000 infected cases now, YES, the risk of 40000 people coop up inside a Dome does pose a risk. I think most of us fans who signed up to attend have never even linked Yonsama and H1N1 together. How thoughtful of Yong Joon and his teams to consider us at this level of details :) I hope we'll all keep ourselves safe and healthy to enjoy this wonderful meeting together :)

Since I will not have internet access back home (hehe, country side, what can I say?), so please take care my dear sisters. See you in 2 weeks when Yonsama appears to us in his handsome self, love :)

Furoshiki

Hi dear sister ....... Have you seen those very pretty Japanese cloth wrappings that are used on gifts and bento boxes? And wish you knew how to wrap and tie them? Me too!


Last month I attended a Furoshiki workshop with sister Olivia and moichan. Furoshiki (風呂敷) literally translates to ‘bath spread’, it became popular as a cloth wrap to hold personal belongings in public bath houses during the Edo Period (1603-1868). Furoshiki’s predecessors – Tsutsumi - can be traced back as early as the Nara (710-794), Heian (794-1192) and Kamakura Shogunate (1192-1338) Periods for wrapping valuables stored in the house. Furoshiki was replaced by cheap plastic bags and paper wrappings during the Industrial Revolution in the Showa Period (1926-1989). As we step into the environmentally-conscious 21st Century of recycle and reuse, furoshiki is once again thrived as the eco-friendly (even hip) choice in wrapping objects.


Hehe, enough with the history lesson, let’s find out what furoshiki is. Basically, it is nothing more than a rectangular cloth that you fold and tie knots to make it into different shapes to hold different objects. BUT as we know it, nothing is basic in Japan! Japanese interpret every object with an aesthetic eye and elevate it to an art form, that’s why this refined culture enchants and fascinates me.

Our pretty sensei, she studied lifestyle aesthetics in France, is a sommelier and now owns a furoshiki shop

The furoshiki that Olivia and I chose are floral pattern, pink and spring-y!

First, there are 2 basic knots we need to learn. From there, you can wrap in many styles


Like this double-knotted style for a boxed gift

or a carrying bag style

How about a kawaii shopping bag?

A watermelon pouch?! This has got to be a baby melon :)

A tissue box (Hi Olivia : does this ring a bell? I tried this again, think it's just tieing both ends with a knot :)

A beautiful way to give wine


You can also find many sizes, fabrics, colors and patterns of furoshiki - according to the seasons and occasions. Some special ones have story designs like this painting :
or this one with a Kabuki theme
or with reversible face for the visual effect.

The etiquette of using furoshiki as a gift wrap is a respect to the recipient and implies a message of well wishes. Furoshiki is not considered as part of the gift itself and the recipient is usually expected to return it. I suggest leaving the furoshiki with friends who receive it the first time, I'm sure they'll be delighted. Think I will try using furoshiki for gift giving too as it is both beautiful and eco-friendly. So, are you interested to try it out? There are many instruction books and internet links out there, have fun!

Wholesome love

Hi hi sisters ...... last weekend my friend came to Tokyo for a visit. She's a passionate animal lover, told me that her apartment in Hong Kong resembles a mini petting zoo! She wanted to check out what's the latest and greatest in Japanese doggie stuffs, so I took her to the only pet store I know - in Tokyo Midtown. Nestled in this exclusive mall, Dogdays sure caters to the elite canines. Some of the spa services and designer gadgets offered there, you'd think their clientele is human!


Yes, Tokyokians really treat their pooch as human. Unlike my 2 plain human feet, these pooch's precious 4 feet never touch the rugged Tokyo streets as they are either comfortably tucked inside their fashionable LV carrier case or being pushed in their own doggie strollers (sorry, the baby of the family has to walk, juz kidding :) There are dog health food and organic snacks in any flavor you can imagine, I thought to myself in self-pity, "Sigh, even I don't eat this well!". While I looked onto my friend snatching one of every kind from the display without even glancing at the price, as if she's pouring all her love into that shopping basket. Well, I must confess there are times that I don't look at prices too when I shop, but that only happens in the Dollar store :) I don't mean to be judgemental as everyone's life and value system is different. I am a dog lover myself, but with the hunger and poverty issues around the world, I ponder how does one draw the line from living life to enjoying life?


Dogs are passionate and loyal animals, they have generous hearts and will return 100 times the love you show them. I feel the love between a dog and human is very direct, pure and wholesome. There is no intention, no expectation of return; human just melts into a dog's love and vice versa. It is with this thought that I re-look at Yong Joon's interaction with dogs, we can observe a more natural him totally uninhibited by this wholesome love :)



I love the young him so much (I meant the human here) @@


Now that's putting a bit too much trust in your pooch, don't you think, Yong Joon ssi?
Hehe, remember our 'very excited' discussion on this lucky lucky pooch's left leg in bb's blog :)

pictures credited as shown

Questions?

Hi hi dear sisters .... hope you had a great weekend. It'd been a really stressful week for me. Hehe on this late Sunday night, am fortunate to sneak in some 'me' time for a rejuvenating face mask and a relaxing cup of green tea. What better than to look at the heavenly pure and warm face of Yong Joon @@

Hmmmmm.... just wondering in my mind :

1. Is the 'folding cuffs' on a formal suit jacket a new style now? I've seen other Korean male stars doing the same thing??
2. Those leather and studs, is he into the 'Goth' look now?
3. What brand of chocolate bar is he munching on? Coffee Crisp, Kit Kat or Mr. Big? Hehe just kidding, I jsut can't remember the name of that instrument he's playing on. Can anyone refresh my memory please? Love :)

official 2010 calendar picture from cafe.daum.net/byjgallery by style

Book cover revealed

Hi dear sisters ...... how do you like the book cover that is chosen for Yong Joon's 'Journey into searching for Beauty of Korea'? I guess having BYJ with scenary of Korean natural landscape as the background isn't really a big surprise to us, eh? What transpires from public dicussion is how solitary and weary he appears from this back shot. The 'black & white' approach is of course very unflustered, very Yong Joon; however the monochromaticity does cast a melancholic mood about this journey.

Perhaps a quote from his preface (thanks to Gaulsan's translation in Quilt) will allow us a glimpse of his thoughts on this book :

"This is a record of my trip as a beginner of studying Korean culture - an unskillful result of my earnest effort. I would like to share this as a small gift to those who love Korea and those who want to know more about Korea."

The good news is the pre-sale of this travel book (Japanese edition) is already over 20000 so far and it'll sure explode around the September events time and with the subsequent language versions. I never doubt the popularity of Yonsama in Japan, not only is he the icon of Hallyu Wave, he really has established himself as a well known celebrity in the competitive Japanese entertainment market. Not all Japanese people are BYJ fans, but most here have sure heard of Yonsama :)

You know as a Yong Joon fan, I am trying to stretch my imagination :) After all, our handsome traveller did invest over a year of his precious time on this travelling/writing project. I hope BOF will create a collector's box for his fans which comprises of the travel book, a picture book of his gorgeos pictures on the road, a DVD of the whole creation and making process, and some Korean travel momentos too :) Hehe just a dream, it's not too much to ask for, right?

Pictures original from freezonenews
reposted in Quilt by Joanne