KitKat Mission 2011

Been stumbling upon lots of amazing (some are weird) Kit Kat flavours and I have decided that I will attempt to try all these "interesting" sounding Kit Kats in this year. Better to do it now while I'm still in Japan rather than to buy them from the Japanese supermarkets back home. These special edition Kit Kats cost twice as much in Singapore.

First up, I bought a packet of the mixed Kit Kats meant for Oshogatsu. As part of the Oshogatsu (New Year) celebration, Japanese eat red and white mochi. Hence, for the Oshogatsu Kit Kats, we have white chocolate Kit Kats, as well as the regular ones. What I found really interesting was the message box at the back of the Kit Kat wrappers. You are supposed to write your wishes in the box before you ate them and at the current moment,  Kit Kats are really popular amongst students. "Kit Kat" sounds like "Kitto Katsu"/ きっと勝つ (which translates into "you'll surely win or in broken English "win without fail"). According to my JTE, another popular snack is this Pocky-like biscuit sticks named "Toppo" aka "Top the class/exam". Gave all of my 3rd graders one of these Kit Kats and got them to do a wish board ;). Going to take a pic of it soon!

Second, I came across these "Mixed Juice" Kit Kat while shopping at Supercenter. Was a little apprehensive about this flavour but they tasted surprisingly good. The chocolate had a fruity smell which was really pleasant and it wasn't too sweet. They came in a cheerful orange colour too :). Handed some out to my teachers and they fell in love with this flavour too.

Next, I bought these "Annin Dofu" aka Almond Tofu (one of my favourite chinese desserts) flavoured Kit Kats in Yokohama. Apparently you can only get these from Yokohama because Almond Tofu is a Chinese thingy and Yokohama has the largest Chinatown in the whole of Japan. I was pretty surprised to find out that Almond Tofu and Mango pudding are really popular sweets in Japan. I still prefer the Hong Kong dim sum ones I get back home but the ones sold in the supermarkets are rather decent too.  As for the Kit Kat, I didn't really enjoy them. They taste ok but not great. Eating almond-flavoured chocolate is not my thing >.<

Kanji for husband (主人)

Was reading the Pera-Pera Penguin column from the Daily Yomiuri website when I came across the Kanji characters - 主人. In Japanese, it's pronounced as "shujin" and it means "husband". In Chinese, 主人 refers to "owner" or "master". Guess, you can tell just how chauvinistic the society is by looking at their language.

Welcoming 2011 on the peak of 大平山（姫神山）

My 2011 started off in an amazing way. Three other "aliens" (the term Japanese use to refer to foreigners) and I joined a local hiking group for a hike up a 387.6m tall hill to welcome the first sunrise for the year.

For once, my New Year's Eve was surprisingly quiet. Instead of staying up late to welcome the New Year, I was in bed by 2330 so as to ensure I got enough rest before my climb the next day. Despite all my efforts, I tossed and turned quite a fair bit before I finally managed to doze off at about 0100. Guess I was just too excited about the hike.

At 0450, we meet the organisers for the hike, along with the other Japanese participants at the Omagari JR station. Our leader was a fit old man who looked nothing like his actual age. He was over 80 and he was really lean and fit. He had a great command of English and was really excited about us foreigners joining in the climb. This is the 51st year they are organising the climb and the number of participants has been increasing every single year.

Our journey started off smoothly with a brisk and quiet walk from the station to the foot of the hill. The weather was great. It wasn't snowing and there was no wind. The skies were clear and we could see the stars clearly. Coming a city country, I am constantly amazed at how pretty the stars look at night. Some days, I would just gaze at the stars from my kitchen window and think about how beautiful nature is. Being in the country definitely makes you appreciate the wonders of nature more.

The climb from the foot of the hill to the (蛭川薬師神社)shrine was pretty simple. Despite the thick snow, the tracks were obvious and you could follow the path easily. As the path wasn't wide, most part of the climb was done in a single file manner. I tried to snap some photos but it was just too dark. At the shrine, we stopped for a short break before we continued on to the summit.

Before coming for the climb, I got my kind JTE (Japanese Teacher of English) to call up the organisers for some clarifications. I was concerned that the climb might be difficult because I had not exercised for ages. I was reassured that the hike was not difficult and was suitable for beginners. Well..... it was NOT EASY. Parts of the climb were really bad because of the snow. It's difficult to find your footing in the snow because it's soft and it also makes things slippery. Also, it was tiring and at times, I felt like my calves were going to cramp. What made it was worse was that you can't really rest because we are climbing in a single file and resting would mean you were slowing the rest down. There was no place for you to step aside to rest and most people were in a rush to get to the top before the sunrise. Some parts of the climb required you to pull yourself up using ropes and if you did lose your footing, there was a real danger of you rolling off the hill.

Thankfully, all of us did made it up to the summit. We didn't get to see the whole sunrise but we did witness some of it. The scenery was gorgeous! The sky was lit up in many different shades and everything below looked so pretty. The snow left everything with a glittering white snow which sparkled in the soft sunlight. Despite feeling really exhausted, I was re-energised by the beauty around me. The clear skies also allowed us to get a good view of Mt Chokai ( the Mt Fuji of Akita). It looked so magnificent and I can't wait to climb it once winter is over.

The climb back down to the shrine was bad. We were one of the last few to leave because we were busy snapping photos. The slope was steep and without any visible tracks, we were uncertain about how we should attempt our way down. In the end, we slided down most of the way. Yup, on our bums. (Thank our lucky stars for our waterproof trackpants.) It was pretty fun despite some hard knocks here and there. The locals went down using a "jump and dig in" technique that looked really scary to me. I guess if you have been doing so since you are young, it would be really easy. But for someone like me who is so uncomfortable with the snow, that method looked deadly. I was just unable to summon enough courage to try jumping down a hill. NO WAY!!!!!!

After reaching the shrine, we were handed pipping hot mochi soup (mochi is a traditional dish eaten during Oshogatsu (New Year Day)) and bowls of sake. It was a great treat after a long, wet and cold hike. The locals were generally pleased to see us aliens and some made an effort to introduce us to the Japanese culture.  Aside from feeling good about successfully completing the hike, I also came away feeling a need to exercise. It's kinda of demoralising to see how folks older than you (much older) breeze their way through this hike while you huff and puff the whole time. I wanna be fit too!! And I wanna be able to climb a hill like this when I am 70 too!

(gotta figure out how to post my pics)

Hello 2011! Why I'm in Japan!

Been wanting to get a blog up since I first arrived in Japan. Thought it would be a great way to keep my friends updated on my life here, as well as, to provide a record which I can look back at in the future and reminisce about. So... after almost six months here, I have finally taken my first step towards creating a blog. Hopefully I will continue to post regularly and not just get lazy and give it up.

It's amazing how fast time flies when you are away from home and enjoying yourself. Yup, it's been a wonderful six months for me. While I do get short bouts of homesickness, I'm lucky that these bouts pass by real quick because of  visitors from home and the constant string of emails from my dear friends. Parcels of Old Town Kopi, Prima Taste Premixes, Kong Guan biscuits and Ya Kun Kaya also help keep my food cravings away.

Before I embarked on this journey in Japan, I was really hesitant about it. It really wasn't an easy decision to make. Choosing to leave my job of five years was especially difficult because of the close friends which I have made over the years. While I know that we will still remain friends after I leave, I still felt sad that we will no longer be able to work together on joint projects, have our bitching lunch sessions and get drunk at DnD. Leaving the job also meant that I had to give up my Masters scholarship offer and face the possibility that I might have to start from scratch again at my next job. To add, my pay was comfortable and I was doing well at my job. I struggled with the decision for a good three months and in the end, after much encouragement from close friends, I decide to just bite the bullet and come.

Looking back, I don't regret my decision to come. I feel that I have grown significantly in my past six months and that I will return to Singapore as a stronger individual when my term ends here. Why? I guess being on your own in a foreign country, especially one where a language barrier exists, forces one to be creative and speeds up one's ability to adapt and learn. Being an Asian also made my adjustment phase easier because I don't gather as much attention and there are many similarities between the Japanese and the Chinese culture. Coming here also forced me to come out of my comfort zone. It was also a good break away from the hectic working life back in Singapore. The pace of life in Akita is much slower because its an agriculture-based prefecture and people here are a lot more relaxed. The strangers you meet on the streets will always greet you with a smile and a greeting. Drivers on the roads are courteous and you rarely hear a horn given if the traffic is slow.

All in all, it's a nice change after five years of rushing to meet deadlines and attending endless meetings and I'm glad I did it.