Relaxing like an old Japanese woman

I usually don't sleep very well.

 

I have problems with my back, almost daily, and when I sleep it just gets worse. Or I have that sensation of 'OMG FINALLY YOU'RE LAYING DOWN', type tingling when I lay on my hard-ass futon. So I thought I would give in to those commercials I see so often.

'SALON PAS'

For chronic back pain, it literally helps make all the pain go away. I know we have them back in America but never has the jingle stuck with me like it does here. Also, Ryosuke likes to use these warm eye masks to help sore eyes.

 

Considering I hunch over a computer screen for at least a few hours each day---both completely worth looking into.

The warm eye masks have these wonderful scents inside the warming mechanism, so you can not only feel warm sensations on your tired eyeballs, but also smell something lovely too.

Ryosuke had originally given me one of the yuzu (Japanese lemon-like citrus) and I loved it. A bit pricey at about 498yen per box of five--but a usually decent investment.

 

I recently wanted to buy more and knew it would be too much a pain to ask him to drive all around the town looking for a drug store with the specifically yuzu scented ones, so I got the 'lavendar sage' ones instead--and I literally feel like I'm putting drugs on my eyeballs.

 

If you've ever smelled sage, you know what I'm talking about.

 

The leafy smell is a lot more potent than I would prefer, so Ryosuke gave me a few of his yuzu scented ones!

They come individually packed and last for about ten minutes.

 

 

 

You're really only supposed to use it BEFORE sleeping and then take it off and sleep, but real thugs leave that shit on and knock out. What it then does to me personally is causes me to (sometimes) wake up in the middle of the night to take it off...or the creepy, I wake up in the morning and somehow its neatly folded next to my face.

 

Either way the yuzu smell is sooo lovely, and even the lavender one has it's nice points. But for those days when you're eyes are just not having it--highly recommended.

 

SALON PAS!

 

Ryosuke one time gave me a muscle relaxer type sticker tape that is literally the strongest among the medicinal tape type relaxers, and I felt sick within minutes. So I was really weary about using any other kind/brand/strength. But one day I had had enough of my upper back pain and caved to get the small box of 40.

 

To my surprise there was no nausea this time around and even though the sensation was weird I did feel a difference in the pain level.

 

Considering most Japanese take an evening bath (and I don't because it's way too much water to waste on a person who can only sit in hot water for about 20 minutes before passing out), and after paste it on the painful areas and fall asleep.

 

So instead, right before bed, I contort my arms to a specific spot between my spine and back bone on each side and fall asleep.

 

The brand has recently come out with an updated version compared to the last it came with a cute little plastic bag and two pieces were usually stuck together.

 

This time it comes in silver bags that can you can simply fold over the edges and store, and each sticker is individual.

 

Ryosuke says it wreaks of old people...and I'm not an expert on old people...but I don't really mind the smell. It's a medicated sticker--thing, and I think that the benefit of not being in horrid pain far out ways the medicinal smell.

 

I may be an old lady when it comes to this stuff and always trying to be asleep before 10pm...but I think for those of us with chronic back pain who don't want to rely on painkillers all the time--this is much more worth it!

 

Here's to a more relaxing evening!

 

Thanks for reading!







Let's make candy donuts!

This is a penalty game.

(said Ryosuke)

 

 

**Picture heavy post**

 

So I really love these candy--Let's Make～ activities.

This past December I had sent over the bento set and my family and I made it 'together' and everyone was pleasantly surprised by the non-vile taste that it turned out to be.

There are only a few of these and only certain stores actually have them, so when I finally found the donut version, I insisted Ryosuke and I try to make it. I had failed miserably at making the sushi set by myself, so I really wanted him to be there.

 

I was really excited, and thankfully he had made similar things like this when he was little so--I'm pretty sure he was just letting me have my way (like always). It was definitely a team effort, as we both did our best to make these cute little donuts.

 

I was really happy that he actually enthusiastically helped and read off the instructions and we both really tried to make them not taste horrid... (not giving any spoilers).

 

 

 

So usually the instructions are fairly vague and written on the box or the plastic wrap it comes in.

 

Everything you will need is provided and all you need is water that you will use to mix everything together, so have a cup or small bowl with water on the ready.

 



 

 

And most of the time you can use the plastic as it's own little plate..after much fumbling and taking it from Ryosuke, I managed to make it..albeit not the prettiest.

 

 

 

We started to make the donut 'dough' and as always, unsure of how much of the powder to add. It is SUPER VAGUE and you are supposed to know how much to use, we used about half to make swirl donuts after.

 

The 'dough' varied in the texture but we made it work!

(I was very much participating, but was wearing a really chesty tank top and not looking very fly...so no pictures of me.)

After making the 'dough' we had to make the icing, and the colors were super cute! Ryosuke insisted on making the chocolate, which in turn looked like... yeah. You even get a little bag that helps with decorating!

I am clearly not made to be a baker, at least with icing that wild, because mine came out completely ruined...but I loved them, at least the look anyway.

 

 

 



 The final step to the process (before eating) is to add the sprinkles! Which of course, I needed to make a huge mess out of everything!!

 

 (Actually called 'crunch' but, it's basically sprinkles.)

 

The true final step was to actually eat them!

But, I knew from the beginning they would taste terrible, so to be honest I wasn't planning on trying it from the start, but I let Ryosuke try it since he tries anything at least once--and it was the sweetest worst taste every apparently.. thus

A penalty game.

 

Basically..disgusting.

Sorry babe... THANKS FOR MAKING IT WITH ME THO!

 

Next time we will tackle the hamburger one, which you microwave and everything.

 

 

Thanks for reading!

Quick Trip to the Eye Doctor

My eyes are all kinds of fkkd.

 

So for whatever reason my eyes don't want to be made up anymore. Every time I wear makeup these days, I get a stye in my waterline. It's literally just a little bubble, but it's itchy as hell and bothersome as fuh.

Thankfully, Ryosuke tells me that I am pretty without makeup and probably prefers that I can't wear it anyway. He says my eyes look alien huge and it's weird. I don't mind either way, because it's easier to not have to take off mascara all the time.

 

Anyway, as of a couple of months ago, whenever I was driving and it was really sunny--my eyes would hurt really bad and start tearing up and have to shut my eyes while I looked like I was crying. It was really bothersome and interfering with driving, and since I wear contacts I figured it was because I wasn't changing them often enough (the two week pair). So I made sure I put on new ones, and it would only get worse. I gave up on my contacts and just wore my big harry potter glasses for the past month and a half.

 

Last week on Tuesday/Wednesday? I finally decided to see if I could wear my contacts again. But by lunch time, my eye was itchy and sure enough, I saw the beginning of a little bubble in my waterline. I quickly took them out and threw them away since I had brought my glasses, I went the rest of the day in them.

 

I knew that that was the last straw and I needed to go to the eye doctor, so I asked my other teachers where they suggested and it just so happened that there was a location right near my house! It was a new place and the teacher who sits next to me also goes there. Though I was warned that I might wait for two hours but to try anyway since it was so close and revered.

 

I walked in and as most doctors' offices in my town, you take off your shoes and put on the provided slippers. I asked how long it would take and they said about an hour, well that's better than two I figured and started to fill out the usual form for visiting the doctor--'Why are you here' (i.e. what hurts/wrong), 'Do you have an allergies to medication' etc.

 

I only actually waited about twenty minutes though! It was lovely, and I was quickly brought in to get my eyes checked out. For those familiar seeing any sort of eye doctor, you know about the air spat in your eye machine, and look at the air balloon machine. They also had another machine that took pictures of my eyes and I guess since my eyes are closer to my nose than most Japanese, I had to sort of contort my face to take the picture properly.

 

Then they had to figure out how blind I am.

In America, we have to tell the letter down the row.

In Japan, you tell the direction a letter C has it's opening.

Up, Down, Left or Right.

They only show one at a time, and it would get progressively smaller.

I thought it was the coolest thing ever, mostly because instead of this giant machine

 

 

The nice nurse put on these lenseless glasses on me and started putting lenses in that made me see better and better. She then asked me what I could see--the usual questions. I then used my own glasses and put a flap each eye to see how well my glasses helped me see.

 

After this process I waited for a couple of minutes for the doctor to see me (only one of course).

 

 

Upon entering he confirmed my Japanese ability and had my put my face in this machine that would help him see the inside of my eyes. A couple drops of who knows because trust me I'm a doctor and he took a couple pictures.

 

Turns out I have the dry eye.

(Totally aware I used the right now)

It's not too severe, but I can imagine that since I don't blink enough and I probably do have a bit of dry eye--my eyes have progressively deteriorated.

(I concentrate too hard and forget to blink.)

 

So I was prescribed two different eye drops,

 

one  to use for about two weeks

(two bottles..this one I've been using for a week already)

 

and

 

another to use for one day that would be bitter tasting as hell and evidently make me sick to my stomach.

 

Since your eyes, nose and throat are essentially connected--if it tastes bad, you'll know within at least five minutes of putting drops. The scary thing about them was that they were a white color and for me, instantly tasted more bitter than ANY drops I've ever had...not pleasant whatsoever.

 

I will be pleading with the doctor to not make me take those white drops ever again.

 

He told me to come back in a week or two and see about my eyes. If they don't improve, I might have to wear my contacts only on the weekends/sort periods of time and if they do--well, we'll see during the next appointment.

 

I asked to make an appointment but, for some reason, this place doesn't make appointments--just walk-ins. So I have to hope that this week when I go, that it doesn't get so crowded.

 

The lovely thing about Japanese hospitals/doctors offices is that the pharmacy is almost always right next door. So you can be sure to just walk a little bit and pick up your medication!

 

I've been to quite a few pharmacy's and should probably make a post about them, quite interesting I think. But that's for another day!

 

I'll try to take pictures on my next visit!

 

Thanks for reading!

 



Golden Week pt 2★Toy and Doll Car Museum

I Love Japanese Cars.
**Really ridiculously picture heavy**

I was raised by a father who loves cars, and as the daddy's girl I was, am, and have always been (don't get me wrong though--I'm a momma's girl too), it's only natural I would love cars too.

Especially Japanese Cars.

Not to divulge too much, but my father did spend a fair amount of time in Okinawa before I was born and owned a Nissan Skyline (prior to the turbo charged version) as his first car. I have heard about Japan and their lovely cars since infancy, plus add in Sailor Moon on TV since I was in elementary school (at 5am on ABC Family) and my love for Pokemon games following in suite from my cousin--is it really any wonder why I love this place so much?

Anyway, the same day we went to Haruna Shrine, since it was still early morning, Ryosuke suggested we come here--the Toy and Doll  Car Museum( おもちゃと人形　自動車　博物館). This place is literally made so everyone in my family is happy for hours.

There are three main parts of the museum.

Teddy Bears...EVERYWHERE!

Upon walking into the museum (and paying a hefty fee of 1080yen) you will be greeted by a bunch of teddy bears.

Then walking into the room full of them, you will be given a history of famous people in teddy bear history a long with worry about the health of many of the ones that are in bird cages handing from the ceiling. Literally any nook and cranny they could fit a teddy bear, they did.

Super cute though, and while I was too lazy to read all of the history entries of the various women in the glass displays, it was amazing to see all kinds of teddy bears from all over the world and from the past to now.

My mom loves teddy bears, like a lot. She is convinced she can have a pet bear and even though it is a carnivorous predator wants one of her own. So I tried my best to take a bunch of pictures for her, but the problem was, I am only using my phone and the glass doesn't seem very good to cancel out any reflection of all the lights in the place so I'll give you a few.

A walk through Showa period Japan

I like history, and old things especially if they involve Japan. Not a history buff when it comes to America but East Asia, and it's long history really gets my groove goin'. I didn't even know that this was part of the museum and it's really an added bonus! When there aren't horrid crowds of people...

It was probably the worst time of the year (Golden Week) to visit this place considering both of our anxieties with crowds of people in small places--but also this small section of the museum involves small exhibit rooms and a narrow hallway.

EITHER WAY!

It was a really cool way to see old signs, and toys, and a old candy shop--I was so fascinated by it all that I kinda forgot to take more pictures...

Also there was a weird girl with an unnecessarily serious face while having her boyfriend take pictures... Being the horrid people that we are, Ryosuke took a picture doing an impression of her...we laughed too much about it.

After that you are essentially forced into a room of all old toys from the time in a big huge display case! It was amazing, especially because my eyes were drawn to the beautiful display area of Sailor Moon goods. Also, old Godzilla toy!! I LOVE GODZILLA!!!!

After the toy display area, came my most favoritest part--the carssss.

Classic Cars like Woah

Ryosuke clearly knows me best. The main point of coming to this place was for this, the Classic Car Museum!! I'm really bad at planning anything, there may be plenty that I want to do, but it all depends on what is realistically feasible to either our wallets, or time, or gas, etc. So that then makes me unsure of what to do and probably frustrates Ryosuke more than he'd like to admit.

So since we had plenty of time and he didn't want our only reason for driving this far to be for this shrine that I should've taken more couple pictures in...he suggested this beautiful land of amazing cars.

First there was this room that had a couple display areas of a single car in a Showa period setting with a bunch of cars lined up against the opposite wall. Then a room of cars that were not allowed to be taken photos of...not exactly sure why.

No more pictures beyond this point--Ryosuke sneakily took a couple, but they are a bit blurry, so just this one.

Then I saw the sign, for the real show--up to the second and third floors, is the real 'Car Museum' from the Yokota Collection. If you are a car fan, you know about this place. Especially if you are a fan of Initial D. Considering that the setting of Initial D is basically Gunma, hardcore fans will know about this place and spazz to take a bunch of pictures.

After climbing the stairs you are greeted by this amazing scene. Real life Initial D, not like the Chinese live action with Jay Chou (which I did thoroughly enjoy).

The next area is up another set of stairs, to the real show. I almost cried. I wanted to show this to my father more than any one in the whole wide world, so I literally took pictures of every single car in this show room. I will spare you the photo dump, but if anyone really wants--please leave a comment and I'll make a separate post of all 70something pictures.

I was so perfectly happy with this. But there was more!

After a bit of a confusing hallway, there was a small old candy shop--where I should have bought a candy donut making kit... and many other candies that are usually difficult to find, but we didn't get anything there and kept on through the confusing hallways.

In this museum there is also a Squirrel Park, a International Winery, and a coloring booth for the cute kewpie-chan plastic doll (the mascot of Kewpie mayo) to color with pain pens at the end of the whole museum. 

The Squirrel Park, was just a small enclosed space, sort of outside, with some squirrels. You could buy a small packet of food for them to come up and reach for, but since they are such small animals there was already a lot all over the place and no point in trying to feed them more.

After we ended up in the food court/cafe area and also saw the Kewpie coloring booth but decided we needed to eat first. I wasn't driving so I tried the 200yen glass of the daily wine with my meal.

The food...to be completely honest, was really terrible. I suggest eating right before you go. To get through everything, and if you want to take more pictures (though the time I spent on that third floor showroom of cars..was probably a good twenty minutes just there), it really takes a couple of hours.

The food is presented in a white bag that looks like it was steamed, and I'm sure it was...which gives nothing to the flavor and gives the blandest taste. The wine was also super strong for my weak self, but I used so much concentration on coloring my little Kewpie-chan that I pretty much lost my buzz by the time we left.

I had really a great time and despite the really expensive price tag on just getting in, and on all the gifts that I wanted to buy but ended up not getting at all... I would love to go again and take more, better pictures and one day hopefully take my parents.

Please if you have the chance to go, make sure that you do!

Thanks for reading!







Golden Week pt 1★Haruna Shrine

I love Japanese shrines/temples.

 

 

Ever since I did study abroad in Kyoto for a year back in 2007 I've been obsessed with going to Japanese shrines/temples. There's something about the feeling you get--closer to God or something? I really enjoy it, I'm not a religious person, but in Japan there's no pressure and it's more of an ancient based--do it out of respect bit, which I can jive to a lot better.

 

When I lived in Kyoto they were all around me, and that's part of the charm that I loved so much. Ancient temples right in the middle of hussle-bussle city life in downtown and old temples nestled among big bamboo forests and old candy shops.

 

Now that I live in Gunma, I have to say despite the nature all around me, temples are much more scarce. The ones that DO exist are up further in the mountains and a bit more of a pain to access. So when Ryosuke suggested we go to a really famous shrine for Golden Week I got really excited. Also, it's famous for being a 'Power Spot' which is supposed to revitalize and energize!

 

My dad is a big car guy and he knows a decent amount about Initial D so I knew that Mt. Haruna has quite the impact in the car world--so I was super stoked to drive on the toge (mountain pass) and see all the drift marks left from night racing as we drove up. I hope to drive up there myself one day, but due to traffic and not having been there yet Ryosuke drove. We both really enjoyed all the hair-pin curves and speeds so we were pretty revved up by the time we got to the shrine area.

 

 

 

The original plan was to leave at like 6something in the morning and arrive about an hour after the shrine opened...but Ryosuke is the furthest thing from a morning person, and I was still really sleepy at 4:30am so I let him sleep in and at around 6 or 7 something is when I finally decided to send bothersome texts to wake him up. We finally mobilized and got there at about 10 something in the morning.

 

We had already seen the mobs of people, but decided to try our luck at the parking lot which as right in front of the entrance and attached to a good sized gift shop/mom and pop restaurant. One of the workers there helped guide traffic since the spaces were limited and tight fitting, but we were able to snag a spot fairly quick.

 

Both of us had to use the restroom and I hadn't actually realized the rule of the place until I thought about it at that point 'Free Parking if you Buy something.' No big deal though as there were plenty of cute things that anyone would want to buy anyway, and a big theme seemed to be owls (Ryosukes' Moms' favorite collectible) so I got her some chopsticks for health and a cute stuffed ram for me (year of the Ram aw yiss)! He got his mom a coin purse which we put in the car and then set out for the mountain.

 

 

 

I've climbed up worse mountains for the sake of a shrine (Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto and another temple I can't remember the name of in Nagano). It was a BEAUTIFUL scene to see, so much so that I barely took any pictures past a certain point but did my best to capture beautiful scenes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

When we got to the top we were greeted by a huge line for prayer time so we waited a bit and stood together, clearly I had more on my mind because I was standing there longer.

 

 

 

We then got the really famous reveals fortune in water paper fortune and also another cute fortune that has a piece of tiny gold and a special character/design or if you're really lucky a 5-yen coin which is like the jackpot!

 

To reveal the water fortune, we had to go back down so we waited on that to explore a bit--as for the small gold attached fortune, I got a daruma! He's supposed to protect the family and will never fall even if pushed over. Ryosuke got a frog--I REALLY hope it brings money like it says.

 

As for the fortune itself...spoiler alert, both were the same. 末吉 which means simply, 'Ending of Fortune' or 'Half-Fortune.' (Depends what website you look at.)

 

Since I didn't know the water revealing one yet, for that moment I tied the one that came with the daruma to the tree in hopes of fixing my luck up a bit.

 

 

 

Then we took a separate route down than we did up and decided that since there was a random bench on the side of the path leading towards this giant lake (which was 7km away and we decided to go at a later date), and had the sammichs I had made. Clearly I was a novice when it came to Ryosuke's jam sammich, because I emptied the whole little carton of it in one sandwich...he died of sweet overload. Woops.

 

We both ate about a half of our sandwiches (mine was full of too much peanut butter) and I re-upped on my sunblock and we made the trek down and saw the most beautiful river where monks must stand under these little waterfalls and strengthen their--holiness... Either way it was magickal.

 

 

 

Then we found the area where we could reveal our fortunes, and once revealed you place it in the slot of the year of your animal (ram for me, monkey for Ryosuke) and spin the contraption.

 

We even made friends with this little old lady who sold me a nice sized coin purse (with owls on it of course) and she told us about a festival going on later in the month. The journey down was super quick, and not much left to do after that.

 

Despite being Golden Week it wasn't overly crowded, but it was a great idea to go early in the morning because once we got back the lines for the parking lots were insane.

 

 

Thanks for reading!