l'isle joyeuse

リーダーの誕生日 leader’s birthday

Posted by: plueonigiri on: November 26, 2009


:) today it’s the birthday of someone special! ♥

the best dancer amongst his group members, with vocals that can’t be surpassed by anyone else! not only is he good at acting, he’s also quite the artist! the sexiest hands i’ve ever seen, and the cutest expressions at any given time!


大野智 ohno satoshi
1980.11.26


a very happy birthday to arashi’s leader, ♥ oh-chan ♥, who turns 29 today!!


i’m really glad to be an arashi fan! because of you, who leads the group without actually leading the group. because of you, who is able to eat anything given to you and then proclaim it as delicious. because of you, who cried for the first time in a concert after 10 years. because of you, who daydream so much that you forget to speak in a tv program recording.

i’m glad he’s the leader! may he catch some maguro soon, and that his lifelong dream of opening his own bakery can come true!

リーダー、お誕生日おめでとう!今日からはもはや29歳になるんだけど、これからも可愛い大ちゃんのままで嵐のリーダーとしていて下さい!いつかパン屋さんになる夢が叶えますように~そしてマグロを釣れるように~

大ちゃんで嵐のリーダーで本当に良かった!感謝してます!こちこそ、ありがとう!!!♥


he’s shown magnificient growth over the years and i hope that he continues to prosper ♥ i wish he would grow his hair out though, he looked really good in maou!

public holidays and classes

Posted by: plueonigiri on: November 23, 2009

this is the second time i’m having classes on a public holiday :( it upsets me all the more when i look out the windows during class because the weather is awesome for going out.


after my classes i walked to the 100yen lawson to buy groceries. not that the photo has anything to do with groceries… i took all the photos in this post with my cellphone because i didn’t have my camera with me. it’s sad how it is almost better than my camera lol


after that i emailed angel to whine about how unfair it is that she doesn’t have classes while i do, and we decided to meet up for dinner hahah! so i waited for her in front of ippuudou, where i have been wanting to eat for a long time but couldn’t because it’s ALWAYS crowded.


it was still early when we went so it wasn’t full of people. yet.


一風堂 ippuudou specializes in hakata ramen


hot ramen on a cold autumn night feels good


we had the dinner set, where with an additional 200円 we get a plate of 5 gyoza and a chashiu riceball… it was delicious!! (the riceball is not on the menu and the dinner sets are limited to 50 customers per day)


cute little gyoza… the tiniest i’ve ever eaten


on the way back i looked up to see a really bright star next to the moon and according to the weather report on my cellphone, it’s actually planet jupiter. it looks really beautiful but it doesn’t show up as well on my cellphone, as expected.

tickets for the nodame cantabile orchestra concert goes on sale this thursday and i want to go! it’s on the 14th of january at nhk hall… anybody interested??? :)

oh and before i forget… my little happiness of the day :

六義園 rikugien gardens

Posted by: plueonigiri on: November 21, 2009


today the weather was really good so i went out to catch a breath of fresh air! guess where this photo was taken?!


my destination for the day :) the train departure melody for this station is sakura! the traditional japanese folk song, not the one by moriyama naotarou or kobukuro

六義園 rikugien is one of the quieter spots in tokyo for autumn leaves viewing :)

waseda –> [tozai line] –> iidabashi –> [nanboku line] –> komagome


from the station’s south exit, cross the street and turn left, and you’ll soon come across this sign leading you towards the garden. the entrance fee is 300円 for adults


autumn leaves :)


maple leaves, known as 紅葉 momiji in japanese


awesome weather today, really


the garden was really pretty <3


one of the professional photographers ojiisan offered to help me take a photo hahah :D he asked me if i was going to an お茶会 ochakai (tea ceremony), and i laughed and said no, then he said, “ah so you just felt like dressing up today huh? it looks good on you!” it made my day >w<


hiro’s first time at maple leaves viewing!


lots of old ojiisan with their awesome slr cameras capturing the beauty of the autumn leaves


lots of families were there today too!


late shichigosan celebration


i love her kimono and hakama!!!


:) quality family time


she was staring at me the entire time hahah


i’m glad i managed to capture this sweet expression >w<


while her brother gets down and dirty, playing with the soil


posing for her parents’ camera


not maple leaves, but pretty all the same


:) a foreigner took this for me… he was so shocked to hear me talk to him in english XD


view from the top


and on the way down…


i used to say my favourite season is autumn before experiencing it, but now that i’m here, i really do love autumn!


after walking around for quite some time, it’s time to rest in one of the teahouses!


i ordered something and waited for it to arrive…


while breathing in the cold autumn air and gazing up at all the beautiful maple leaves


matcha green tea with seasonal wagashi (traditional japanese confectionery)


i love the bitterness of matcha!


autumn sweets, with a maple leaf carved into the mochi and filled with red bean on the inside


the perfect balance


maple leaves *O*


i love the colors of autumn…


neh would love the amount of green here :D


at the entrance, while i was leaving (when i arrived there were lots of people sitting here so i couldn’t take a photo)


ecologically friendly paper weights


i’ve seen spider lilies, but this is my first time seeing spider crysenthemums!


hiro is amused by the colonel dressed up in a santa suit


i don’t know if you can see it, but the tiles on the bridge were arranged to look like a cherry blossom… it might be a bit hard to tell with the sunlight and shadows though. and i’ve just realized that i caught my own shadow too hahah


an intruiging signboard…


on the streets. i wonder if this place is famous for cherry blossoms…


and that concludes my day out in the sun at komagome today! i wandered down into the alleys and found a shopping district of sorts, and went home with a cabbage and a pack of shimeji mushrooms because it was cheaper than what i usually pay here in waseda :D

normal

Posted by: plueonigiri on: November 19, 2009

i’m surprisingly normal right now. i remember taking this test a couple of years back and i scored high for dependant and obssessive compulsive. what happened? :)

Disorder Rating
Paranoid Personality Disorder: Low
Schizoid Personality Disorder: Low
Schizotypal Personality Disorder: Low
Antisocial Personality Disorder: Low
Borderline Personality Disorder: Low
Histrionic Personality Disorder: Moderate
Narcissistic Personality Disorder: Low
Avoidant Personality Disorder: Low
Dependent Personality Disorder: Low
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Low

Take the Personality Disorder Test
Personality Disorder Info

i’m happy to think that i might have changed or grown up, even if it’s just a little bit. in my opinion it’s all thanks to the people around me who never stopped giving me endless support and love ♥ thank you for being you. i love you!

Tags: , ,

rainy days

Posted by: plueonigiri on: November 19, 2009

yesterday i received emails from kao-chan, the girl who was closest to me during the school visit ^o^ we held hands while we walked down the hill when i was leaving!


i’m really touched by her messages ;w; i want to see her again! in the message above she says “ちーちゃん大好き ♥” (“chi-chan, i love you”)


wednesdays are bento days because i have classes back to back so i don’t have enough time to come back to my room to cook lunch


my lunch yesterday


i received a postcard from yousuke-kun yesterday too!


i woke up this morning to the freezing cold and went downstairs to the kitchen to prepare some breakfast (hotcakes with maple syrup and butter ftw) and spotted this on the table


and this is why i love my dorm despite it being old, and the fact that nobody knows where it is, unless we tell them it’s somewhere in between nishiwaseda and hoshien. oh henrik you amuse me… i took a few so if anything happens to me you know what happened. but he’s still alive, so…

春夏秋冬 shunkashuutou

Posted by: plueonigiri on: November 16, 2009


recently, i fell in love with the song 春夏秋冬 shunkashuutou by ヒルクライム hilcrhyme :) they’re not very popular (yet) but this song really struck a chord in me. the title means the four seasons; spring, summer, autumn and winter. to me, it’s a pure love song with simple, honest lyrics that are straight to the point. i love how the rap parts sound a bit hip-hop like, but the chorus somehow sounds bittersweet to me. i also love how he mentions all the different representative things in each season :)

春は花見 満開の桜の下乾杯 頭上広がる桃色は Like a ファンタジー
夏は照りつける陽の元でバーベキュー
夜になればどこかで花火が上がってる
秋は紅葉の山に目が止まる 冬にはそれが雪で白く染まる
全ての季節 お前とずっと居たいよ
春夏秋冬

flower viewing in spring, toasting beneath the peach-pink cherry blossoms in full bloom
swirling above our heads Like a Fantasy
summer barbecues under the sun
when it turns dark fireworks go up
gazes stopping at the red maple leaves in autumn
that are stained white with the snow in winter
i want to spend all the seasons with you
spring, summer, autumn and winter


今年の春はどこに行こうか?
今年の夏はどこに行こうか?
春の桜も夏の海も あなたと見たい あなたといたい

where shall we go this spring?
where shall we go this summer?
the spring cherry blossoms, the summer sea
i want to see them with you, i want to be with you


今年の秋はどこに行こうか?
今年の冬はどこに行こうか?
秋の紅葉も冬の雪も あなたと見たい あなたといたい

where shall we go this autumn?
where shall we go this winter?
the autumn maple leaves, the winter snow
i want to see them with you, i want to be with you

i uploaded the mp3 onto mediafire so if you’re interested do listen to it and tell me what you think :)
download link

original pv on youtube can be found here

happiness

Posted by: plueonigiri on: November 15, 2009

today was a good day for me in many ways :)


the flowers outside angel’s dorm

we went to harajuku because angel wanted to get a new pair of shoes, and i wanted to go to meiji jingu to buy a lucky charm for neh, plus get photos of the children since it was 七五三 shichigosan!


:) the huge, huuuuuge arashi display at the other end of takeshita st.


someday we’ll come back and get our tamagotchi


lots of children clad in their finery as their parents and random strangers (like me) take photos of them


they were looking really tired and grumpy though! they must have been up since morning, getting ready and being good


:) father-daughter love


:) mother-daughter love!


balloons against the sunlight make a pretty picture


千歳飴 chitose ame, meaning “thousand-year candy” :) wishing for a long and healthy life for the children


vibrant colors


i love their kimono ;w;


all the gold thread sparkling in the sun light


a great father-son moment captured!


this girl was really pretty, she has mixed blood <3


elaborate knots and intricate patterns


this young girl was so fascinated by the mascot! she kept following him hahah


another half!!! it was really hot so she was squinting in the sun


he looks bored… really smart to hide from the sun though!


they all get tiny medals hahah


my favourite kid of the day… she’s sooooo adorable!!! ♥


can you resist?!


i don’t normally like kids but she was really sweet, posing for all the photographers


this boy was trying to hog the mascot all to himself


♥♥♥


sisters with their plump, pinchable cheeks haha


looking proud of himself


a tiny kid :D

before we left we took purikura! so unresistable >w< it's so much fun!

i wore my dress out today and got interviewed and photographed by a russian woman who was writing a book about japan lol XD so random!!! another russian woman was with her, as the interpreter :)

i bought the best thing in my life today as well, but that’s a secret for now ;)

ice fingers

Posted by: plueonigiri on: November 13, 2009

i’ve realized something really weird lately. the weather is cold here now that it’s autumn, and when i put out my laundry to dry… even if it’s dry, i have this really weird feeling that it’s still wet, because it feels cold. hmmm, i suppose it’s only natural since the wind is quite strong at night, but it still makes me think if it’s dry but cold, damp and cold or just plain wet.

in other news! lots of people have been stopping by my blog and left really sweet comments, thank you all for all the awesomeness! these little things are my daily happiness ^o^ i hope more people can read about my experience in japan and maybe somehow find out some things that they didn’t know before this! keep the comments coming, i love reading them!


i walk past this tree every day on my way to class and i’m still unsure as to what sort of tree it is. it looks like oranges, but with pointy ends… persimmons?


here, a closer look. i have no idea what they are, but this tree is full of them :D

also on tuesday night after my kanji class i went to tower records at shinjuku to collect my cd ♥ there were lots of people there!!!


limited edition version of the new single :)


i find it weird that their name is written in romanji though…


sparkly cd is sparkly :) you can actually see a bit of my nino posters reflected on the cd hahah


booklet ♥


the back of the booklet


i’m addicted to cream puffs now ;w; why are they so good?! this one is from the patisserie around the corner ♥ i have a loyalty card now, which is tempting because everyday i walk past the shop and it just smells heavenly

cellphone happiness

Posted by: plueonigiri on: November 10, 2009

over the past two days, after i came back to tokyo from saitama, i received some emails from the children at the school… i was really touched and happy!!!


from chika


from kahori-chan


from chitose

they’re all so sweet! <3 i can't wait to go back again!

on a totally different note, i saw a photo of nino in a magazine that i absolutely couldn’t resist and took a photo of it… it’s my cellphone wallpaper now <3


so cuuuuuuuuuuuute


this was the previous wallpaper, i’m using it as a screensaver now

i’m still waiting to see if i can get tickets for tokyo dome *prays hard*

really, i should be studying for my kanji quiz instead of thinking about arashi

神泉中学校 kamiizumi junior high school

Posted by: plueonigiri on: November 10, 2009

on the 7th and 8th of november, i went to 神川、埼玉 kamikawa, saitama to participate in a cultural exchange program with a small countryside junior high school. there were 8 of us from different countries – malaysia, singapore, estonia, lithuania, hungary, thailand, canada, china.

nishiwaseda –> [fukutoshin line] –> ikebukuro –> [saikyo line] –> ohmiya –> [rapid urban line] –> honjo


arrival at honjo station


with gea from estonia. she lives in my dorm :)


with pipe from thailand.


my nametag given by the school


on the way to the school in the bus


arrival at the school! a warm welcome from the children >w<


reception in the sewing room


we all had our own tables with little flags hahah


the sparkling clean hallways


shoe boxes :) so nostalgic!


walking towards the gym


after the opening ceremony, we had lunch back at the sewing room with the kids, who brought their bento boxes from home


apparently most japanese elementary and junior high schools have orange trees in their backyard…


art room


a typical japanese classroom… how cute!!!


traditional japanese games


the kids and teachers who were in charge of the traditional games


the cutest first year student <3 she had a lot of power though, her drumming was the best!!!


handmade udon noodles!!! i’m so proud of mine ;w; they’re just the right thickness!!!


yummy!!! we got some yuzu skin flakes in our soup too~


the girl with the yellow kerchief, nao-chan, is a fellow arashi fan… we both love nino!!! the one on my left, kahori-chan, likes sho-chan ^^ they were both really cute!!!


the children are growing up in a really healthy environment :)


self-shots!!! kim’s long hands come in handy


a nicer one!


pipe-chan laughing at our own stupidity


kim acting all shy haha


hahah with kim!


i love love love this shot!!! self-timer for the win <3


i love this school! so beautiful! i want to study here too~


hahah united nations!


we drew our own faces beside our flags at the end


group photo session with everyone at the end of day 1


dinner at genki plaza with the children and teachers… the wakame rice was so good!!!


our room for the night. i shared with en-chan and gea


no doraemon in the cupboards lol


our futons


the beautiful sunrise at kamikawa :)


autumn creeping in on us


awesome autumn colours!


hiro’s first trip outside tokyo


hiro enjoying the sunrise with his scarf blowing in the cold wind


we climbed up this mountain last night lol


more group shots! this is a no-go because pipe-chan didn’t manage to get in the photo


okay this is slightly better


autumn colours


a colourful breakfast


kao-chan and yousuke-kun ^_^


welcome to malaysia!


a simple lunch


my group during mealtimes


kahori-chan and kao-chan… i love them so much!


farewell ;_;


dinner at saizeriya with angel and kim back at takadanobaba

it was a really eye-opening experience for me, and i really loved my time there. i wish it was longer though… the kids were all really well-mannered and sweet, although some of them were really really shy. i got quite close to a few of them and when i left i hugged them, and they started to cry, saying, “it’s lonely! please don’t forget us!”

i want to go back to kamiizumi junior high school and see them once more :(

welcome!

slice-of-life entries of my life in japan as an exchange student :) feel free to comment... they're my daily pieces of happiness! thank you for dropping by, and have a nice day ♥

 

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