lioness in japan

Dear reader, I think by now you would have realized I am dog crazy and I’ll probably grow old with a bevy of pugs in my stinky old woman’s house.

But in the past year or so, I’ve grown very fond of cats, a dog person’s nemesis. What changed my mind, or rather who did, was little Rocco.

Isn’t he so adorable? He is actually my student’s cat and he loves taking English lessons. Sometimes he would lie on his back listening to us or purr by my side on the sofa. He’s Scottish, you see, and apparently doesn’t mind my Singaporean accent.

While many Japanese prize their toy dogs, there are probably an equal number who have a cat fetish. In fact, I see a lot more cats being featured in Japanese movies and anime. I’m not sure why the Japanese cat is much more in the cultural dialogue here but it is for some reason.

Rocco is like my student’s baby and she has stopped going on vacation because he gets depressed when he is left alone with a cat sitter. He has also been anchored into posterity by having his own book. My student’s husband, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease, wrote a fictional story of a cat and used a photo montage of Rocco to accompany the text. He penned this book when he had to stop working because of his illness but wanted to keep his mind active.

I was touched that my student would show me something so personal.

You know I don’t normally plug stuff on my blog but since I’m a small online business owner, I thought it fitting to show support for a fellow Singaporean online entrepreneur, morningmoka.

She has a Tokyo expat blog, like me, and she recently opened her precious little corner on the Internet, Moka Trésors, that sells Japanese and Korean fashion and accessories.

After lunch at my place last week, we set off to do a mini photo shoot where I wore two of my favourite pieces from her store. Our setting was a cute hidden temple just around the corner from my apartment building.

I’m in a slinky coffee-coloured dress that can also be worn as a top. I love the subtle shimmery lines on the top and the layers make it an interesting piece.

I threw on my faux tan leather jacket to complete a fall look.

Over here, I’m wearing a studded dress top in black. It looks great with leggings or skinny jeans.

I’m very fond of long tops that can double up as dresses as you can create different looks for day and night.

Other faves that I didn’t try on are an asymmetrical dress that oozes with clubby chicness and a super kawaii floral butterfly top perfect for rocking a sweet Tokyo look.

You can also follow Moka Tresors on Twitter and Facebook if you want the latest news on her promotions.

As a special gift to all my readers, Moka Tresors has a 10% discount if you use this code YUMING10 when you make a purchase.

That’s morningmoka and me in my terrace. Thanks for a fun arvo, babe!

Hey guys, I am officially 32 this year and I’m celebrating my birthday in quite a different way. My birthdays usually involve a lot of eating and imbibing of noxious spirits for the most part but it has changed in recent years.

Last year, I had a fabulous awesome raw dinner at Manna chased by drinks with Tokyo friends at Two Rooms, a super gaijin bar.

But this year, I’m flying to Moscow. Big yay!

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I must say that of all the places I’ve visited in Japan, Sado Island came in first as being the most quaintly quirky.

There were the usual stuff like temples and pretty gardens:

But there were some off-the-wall sutff here…

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Damn, those T-shirts just make me wanna laugh! They were so fabulous and we were totally rockin’ them on Sado Island.

Like all places in Japan, there is something or some food that is unique to the area (can be anything from apples to wasabi to animals) and Sado Island’s mascot is the rare toki bird that is part of the ibis species.

I wish I could show you a photo of a real toki but they were hidden away from noise and prying human eyes because they are an endangered species — seen and treated much like pandas. Tokis have trouble conceiving and have Chinese names like Yan Yan and Ying Ying. Apprently, tokis are also exchanged as diplomatic gifts between Japan and China.

If you’ve travelled around Japan abit, you would notice that a whole industry of tourist souvenirs will be built around the said mascot, and my oh my, were there tons of toki things.

FYI, toki also means time in Japanese. So time is toki…get it, get it? *Groan*…

Don’t worry I didn’t buy any of this tourist crap. But I did buy this: Sado Island 100 per cent pure sea salt.

I love making food and am a bit of a health freak so good unrefined salt would tickle my culinary geek bone. There were kelp and ume (sour plum) flavoured salt — probably great for accompanying tempura — but they were a bit too Japanese for what I cook at home.

Our trip was very well-planned and mapped out almost to the hour but the salt shop was something we stumbled upon.

It was super old school and only one guy was part of the whole salt assembly line…

It was wood-fired — damn!

And there were buckets of salt lying around.

Next to the salt shop was a famous rock formation called fu-fu (means couple)…

And it was fitting for our friend who was getting married.

I couldn’t resist striking a pose in front of this Sado Island icon.

To be continued…

My friend was going to move to San Francisco in mid-July, and she just got engaged, so a hen weekend holiday to Sado Island was organized in her honour.

Sado Island is one of those tucked away places that maybe gaijins would be more attracted to exploring — for the very fact that it is a lot less crowded and has a more untouched feel to it. It’s also not a convenient location (subway -> shinkansen -> overnight hotel stay -> ferry -> Sado Island) which would not lure your average Tokyoite.

Like all hen parties, this one was unique in its own right, complete with identical T-shirts and number tagging. I was sanban (number three) — there were eight of us in all — as we joked that we were like a tour group, and so, “marked” attendance before we set off to another location (ichiban, niban, sanban, yonban…). Corny, I know! LOL!

The T-shirts caused an absolute riot wherever we went — the locals would ask us why we wore the same T-shirts and were curious that there was such a thing as a hen party which is a something that doesn’t exist in Japanese culture. People just got married without any grand send-off because the wedding itself is probably a big enough party, I reckon.

Isn’t this gorgeous?

Sado Island is just off the coast of Niigata, by the way, and is about two hours on the shinkansen from Tokyo and another hour on the Jetfoil ferry (highly recommended as it’s the fastest way to get there).

I’ve never been part of such a big group of women travelling together and I must say it was one of the best times I’d ever had.

I took a photo of this sign at my local station. Yeap, due to the enormous number of gropers on the train at peak hour, there’s a women-only carriage from 7.26 to 930am. I’m all for women-only cars but it starts at 7.26am? I had to chuckle.

It’s also a clue that the Japanese are sticklers for punctuality. I must say I’m eternally grateful to Japan for curing my seemingly incorrigible habit of being late. Coming from Singapore, where things are more relaxed and easy-going, I used to regard time as fluid which has its good and bad points — spontaneity versus flakiness.

What I love in Japan is that you can pretty much count on people and things to turn up on time.

Our very first blueberries…..EVER!

Tadaima means “I’m home!” in Japanese…

They tasted oh-so-gorgeous and slightly sweet, too. They seem to be easier to grow than strawberries which take a few seasons to get plump eatable fruit.

Our garden has been burnt to the ground by the scorching rays of the Tokyo summer sun but the blueberry plant held up well…

I enjoyed the month of July travelling loads but am very happy to kick-back in my home in Tokyo. Looking forward to posting on my trips so look out, peeps, lotsa blogging on my holidays.

Ja, ne!

My stay in Sydney has been busy but somewhat relaxing. We’re spending a lot of time catching up with friends and family like what we always do, but this time it feels a bit different.

A dear friend once put it in a succinct way, “Once it’s official you are getting married, they are so much nicer to you!” Not that the kangaroo clan has never been nice to me but they are even nicer now, if that’s possible. And I think it goes both ways – my folks love the kangaroo and I feel so blissed out that both families accept us both for who we are.

Sorry for all the marriage and family talk but it really does feel like I’m entering unchartered territory and I’m still marveling at what is strewn my way.

Though we both speak English, coming from two different cultures makes for puzzling incidents and funny gaffes. The kangaroo puts “lah” at the end of every sentence indiscriminately just to make me laugh; I finally know what “fair dinkum” means (honest, true) and that only out-of-touch Aussie politicians use it; the importance of Asian face is still somewhat a mystery to the kangaroo…and many more.

Let alone the rest of the kangaroo clan understanding Singaporean culture and my mystifying brand of vegetarianism, and vice versa.

And sometimes I am rendered speechless in certain situations, so I realized all you have are actions, and well, food.

Mrs Kangaroo has been receiving depressing reports about a close relative suffering from a dangerous brain tumor and was in tears this late morning. I wanted to say something kind and comforting but found no words and so I offered to make lunch, to which she kissed me on the cheek and sighed, “You’re making chicken? You’re not eating chicken? Yu Ming you are so sweet.”

So I made Asian chicken stir fry with orange juice (this is not my photo and there was no rice in reality; photo credit here):

Recipe:
Juice of one large orange
2 small chicken breasts, sliced
Half a white onion, diced
5 cloves garlic, chopped
Splash of sesame oil
Dash of soy sauce
Generous pinch of black pepper

Marinate the chicken in everything but the onion and garlic for half an hour. Sautee garlic and onion in olive oil and then slide in the meat and marinade. Simmer for 10 min and it’s done.

I made a huge salad with rocket, alfalfa sprouts, corn, cucumber, baby tomatoes, avocado drizzled with a parsley dressing, to accompany the chicken and I paired my huge helpings of salad with raw crackers from Raw Pleasure, an Aussie raw online store.

Tears were gone and ice-cream was also consumed and peace and harmony were restored for the time being.

Blogging has been a bit slow because I’ve been in the Whitsundays and Brisbane. I just arrived in Sydney yesterday afternoon so I can finally use my iPad like no tomorrow.

The Internet connection on Daydream Island in the Whitsundays was pretty patchy so those of you following me on Twitter or Facebook got a coupla updates from me.

Though I’m totally stoked by having a new iPad, I’m a bit frustrated that I haven’t quite figured out how to easily upload images and put them up onto Wordpress which is the blogging platform I use. I can’t cut and paste URL links from Photobucket either and need to painstakingly rewrite the HTML code for each photo.

But I can email and take care of Beauty Box from afar so that should be good enough for now.

Anyway, what’s going on with me? I’m sniffling from having too much dairy the night before (dairy causes mucous and stomach upsets for me) and waiting for the kangaroo to finish up his work so we can go running at the Centennial Park in Sydney.

The hunt for the perfect wedding location is still inconclusive as we love almost all the places we have seen. We decided that a poll is in order for our friends and family but I can only work on that when I get back to Tokyo, seeing that I need to download a suitable plugin to make that happen and it seems a bit too challenging for my iPad. Gosh i make it sound a bit useless, don’t I?

In the meantime, I’m happy to be out of hotels for now. We are putting up at Mrs Kangaroo’s home and it feels nice to be whizzing up green smoothies and juices in the kitchen. “Babe, is that what life’s all about? Food?” asked a bemused kangaroo.

To be honest, I am happiest when I’m healthy but I am truly enjoying being back in Oz. I cracked up inwardly when our jet-skiing instructor said this: It’s all over, red Rover. – to mean something is doomed to fail. And how to have a deadpan face when doing a wind-up (to have a dig at someone seemingly serious).

“Naps are only for old men, honey,” I said, when the kangaroo mentioned he wanted to lie down after our action-packed day of sailing in a catamaran. He looked indignant then realized it was a wind-up and laughed. Gotcha.

Alrighty, I have to go walk Mrs Kangaroo’s dog, Pixie, because she is out playing tennis. This is quite a different type of post for me and hope you are enjoying it as much as I did writing it.

Will be back soon for more picture-less posts…