Saturday, February 24, 2007

No Rurikei this weekend


Sight from the balcony (cloudy,,,)

Well, this weekend I was supposed to go to Rurikei with my dad as usual but we did not. Because we needed to finish some project designs done. That took us about 3 hours to finish, and my dad got tired enough already then. After lunch, my parents and I sat in Kotatsu, watching a TV program about "Von Trapp Family" in "The Sound of Music". I have seen that movie more than ten times to study English so that TV show caught my attention, and that of my parents'.
The second girl , Maria was on the screen longest, talked about how their life then was. Now they run a big Lodge "The Trapp Family Lodge" in Vermont. It is a beautiful place, I would like to visit the Lodge. If lucky, I can see Maria, 92 year-old lady.
The show ended at 3, when I found my parents were asleep. A couple of minutes later, they woke up, and my dad gave up going to Rurikei.
So we watched "Rush Hour 2". That was funny , but not as good as the first one like many series-movies. I recently like to watch Jackie Chan's movies. He is one of the most popular Asian in the world.
With coke and popcorn, I enjoyed the movie.
Next I watched "Nothing to Lose". I found it first at Tsutaya, so had not known that before. I checked the package, then thought it would be fun, so borrowed it. But it was not as good as I thought. Not so funny, interesting nor touching.
Then I just saw "Shanghai Noon", JAckie Chan again. This is a relatively new one, so he is old in there. His action in that is a little slower than himself in Rush Hour. And the story is cheap, so I did not enjoy it much.

So today I saw three movies. Yeah it is a holiday , I have to get relaxed. But I don't know, recently I enjoy my work a lot, so sit at the desk and reading or writing makes me feel good. But no pressure, it is holiday. I have to tell myself that.

So here, I placed a picture of Rurikei that I took when I visited there last time. It was cloudy but better than nothing. From our balcony you can enjoy a panorama of mountain.

Thursday, February 22, 2007

"All You Need Is Love" DVD has come

I really did not have time to post things here. Finally now I do.
Now I write about "All You Need Is Love" DVD as you saw on the title. If I had to choose the best thing last year, surely this will be one of those few experiences. My intelligent girl, Louana was asked by her friend if she wanted to apply for being in one of the most popular TV shows in the Netherlands, "All You Need Is Love". When she told me about that, I thought it was a great idea. I was positive, but did not expect much.
She submitted the application, her step-father Guido did too. I also was filling that in. At the end of November, I got a call from unknown number at Starbucks. I picked that up, heard a foreign language which was not English nor Chinese. Then that girl noticed I did not speak Dutch, she started talking in English.
Well, who was she? Yeah, she is Heleen from Endemol TV station in the Netherlands. I was so surprised and shocked. My voice became louder and louder , people in the Starbucks begun to hear my conversation which I did not notice at all.
Yes, this is how it all got started.
After that I submitted my application, applied for Russian visa because we were going to film in Saint Petersburg. On 8th December, I flew from Osaka to Amsterdam.
Then a day after staying in Amsterdam, I came to Saint Petersburg. The city was so beautiful, totally overwhelmed me. Oh I wish I could have stayed there longer. Maybe we can go there with our future kids, won't that be fun?
I met people in the TV station, talked about our relationship and how the filming would go tomorrow.
Well then, the next day 10th December, my girl came to the square by a white coach.
I had not seen her more than a year. Finally , after long waiting in a cold square in Russia, I hugged and kissed her ( then I even said a very complicated Dutch greeting to the camera ).

This experience was broadcast on Christmas in the Netherlands last year. I saw the parts we are on the screen (Louana filmed those parts and put them online) but not the entire show.

And now what? The DVD of the show is in my hand, thanks to Heleen and people in Endemol TV station ( Dank u wel! ) .
I have not seen it yet but I'll cetainly see it with my intelligent girl who is going to translate that into English for me then.

"All You Need Is Love" DVD

Sunday, February 18, 2007

Best Weekend Guaranteed in Rurikei

Well, just got home from Rurikei. My dad has built a cottage there so we often go there to get relaxed. Yes there are many things you can get relaxed from , such as beautiful nature, good food, nice spa, onsen, warmed water pool , rock sauna and other relasation rooms.

Normally we have lunch on way there at a restaurant called "Gyu-Fuku ( English translation would be " Lucky Beef" or something ) where you can enjoy very fresh beef that is directly transported from their ranch , next door. They serve you as much rice and misosoup as you want as lunch service, so I usually have 2 cups of rice because their beef is awesome.

Right next to this restaurant , you can buy nice vegetables and rice. I used not to realize the taste of rices, but because of this store, I begun to realize it. Their rice is really good, I like it.

If you drive about 5 minutes to South from there, you can find a really nice fish store, they sell great quality of fish for unbelivably cheap. We enjoy shopping there a lot.

Anyway, after the fun shopping and eating, we enjoy movies at our cottage. This time we saw "Rush Hour". It was funny , made me want to see other movies that starred in Jackie Chan. Luckily this week Tsutaya gives 50%off sales promotion again, so I'm going to go there and get some Jackie Chan.

Then we went to Spa and Rock Sauna. This is the best part. Including warmed water pool, we spent more than 3 hours there. In the building where Rock Sauna is you also can enjoy WOWOW which is one of TV stations mostly you can enjoy movies. We sat in that room and watched a small show then enjoyed Rock Sauna. The workers there forgot somehow to time, we enjoyed it longer than we were supposed to. I was so relaxed.

After that, left the spa house. But I found a very Japanese store, so I took a picture of it. This is called "Hina Ningyo" , we decorate them to celebrate Girl's Day , May 3rd.



Hina Ningyo

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Valentine's Day

Yes, as you might have seen it as titles many times today, I also put that on my title. Valentine's Day. Because of lots of things going on, I have not been able to post my blog but today I decided to post something.
Here I show you what I have received from my girlfriend Louana;


Valentine Present from Louana

You see a pink bag. That is a decoration for bath according to her message. So when she is in Japan, we both can enjoy it together. I wonder how it is going to be, just fun to imagine.

The message she wrote to me was so touching, almost made me cry. I can't imagine how deep she went to inside her mind to message those words to me. Now I feel more loved by her and important to her, thanks to the card. I am even more motivated to give her all love that I possess.

Valentine's Day, such a great day I think.

Sunday, February 04, 2007

Big Sushi for Setsubun

Big Sushi for Setsubun


After getting my new pc , I was hustling for data transferring and such, now I finally can post on my blog with my new pc. This pc is from Panasonic, called Let's Note W5, very light, very strong and has a enormous stamina. This can work for about 8 hours or something without plugging. Anyway then what I am writing here. As you saw the title, I will attach a picture of big sushi here. Because 3rd of February is a day called Setsubun in Japan. On this day, people throw beans at demons ("Oni" in Japanese) to get them away. I looked it up about Setsubun in Wikipedia, they say Setsubun originally was a day which separates seasons. So I guess there used to be 4 days but now it is only one. They say 3rd Feb is between winter and spring in the ancient calender so my guess is Japanese like that day the most of the four.


I didn't throw beans but I had sushi today. You are supposed to look at the lucky direction that is changed every year and supposed not to say a word till you finish it. I didn't follow those rules, but sushi was great and big. So my dinner this day is just those sushi plus soup. Very easy but I enjoyed it a alot.