A week to cherish - I

Hi sisters ..... after a week of emotional rollercoaster (on top of the exhaustion, dehydration and malnutrition), this unforgettable reunion with Yong Joon and his kazoku has finally closed its curtain. It was very trying for me as I started this past week physically exhausted from my Toronto home visit and jetlag, mentally burnt out with the uncertainty of many personal issues. Not exactly the right kind of mood to prepare for 'a dream date with the prince', you would say? Nevertheless, I remind myself of Yong Joon's motto 'Ichigo Ichie', that I tried to draw strength from within and cherish the moment – as there may never be another time like this one!

Way before the month of the Events, I have diligently jotted down the arrival, departure and activities of different overseas sisters. Hehe, not because I was any important host calling the shots or anything, but just so I could make myself available in case anyone needed a local person around. The BIG week started off reuniting with my Toronto sisters Ivy and Gosijo, and a rendezvous with the Chinese Baidu sisters in their hotel. Even with my jetlag and heavy heart, the smiles and warmth of these lovely sisters have rejuvenated my sagging spirit. From that moment on, my heart had officially stepped into the mode of ‘2 days with Yong Joon ssi’.

In the morning of 29th, the kind kiyomi san extended her hospitality to some overseas fans in joining her ‘April Snow and Now’ circle for a pre-event lunch gathering at the Tokyo Dome Hotel. By now, I am quite familiar with the friendly faces of the ‘AS & Now’ sisters. They always greet me with such warmth and cheerfulness, I only wish my Japanese were proficient enough to converse freely with them. It’s a delight to see princess bb again after my Singapore trip, and met her unnis from Korea and Singapore. Happiness seemed to have filled up my stomach, all I remembered was drinking, chatting and more drinking. BIG mistake! Every sensible BYJ fan knows that one has to stuff one’s tummy with good food and leave the bladder empty before an event, and obviously I am not in the 'sensible' category.


Umichan led us on a short dance to cheer for Yong Joon and we all toasted to the success of his 2 events. Meanwhile, Yong Joon ssi and Choi Ji Woo were holding their press conference in Odaiba...


Since the Winter Sonata Anime Event didn’t start until 6pm that evening, we had ample time to explore the event venue. By now, we have gathered up more sisters, mariko, olivia, moichan. The hotel lobby was packed with weary fans dragging their overnight luggage waiting to check in. Cafés and restaurants filled with fan friends eagerly anticipating their meeting with Yonsama. Needless to say, the ladies washrooms always turn out to be the most popular. Looking at this hustle bustle scene, I couldn't help but be grateful to cloudnine for our wonderful stay in Osaka last year.


This time however, we did not have to line up for 3 hours to buy BYJ souvenirs. Event goods were readily available for purchase as these sales booths were located throughout the Dome. This one is located inside the hotel :

Nikkan Sports on that day w/ life- size Yonsama pictures

The surrounding bookstores had Yonsama’s magazines displayed right at the front. I bought my copy of the ‘Journey to the Beauty of Korea’ too.

Even street vendors were around attracting lots of onlookers

Outside the Dome, banners from many fan clubs could be seen

More booths for event goods

Our arms were quite tired carrying lots of souvenirs and gifts and the rain started to come down. Since the Dome opened at 4pm to the fans, we decided to go in and get ourselves settled ......
to be continued......

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